A

David

Darling

U-shaped valley

U-shaped valley

Northeast-looking photograph of a symmetrical, unnamed U-shaped valley cut into the crystalline rocks of the Coast Mountains, Tracy Arn, Tracy Arm-Ford's Terror Wilderness, Tongass National Forest, Arkansas. The valley walls are more than 2,000 feet high and the valley is about 1/4 mile wide.


A U-shaped valley is a valley with a parabolic or 'U' shaped cross-section, steep walls, and generally a broad and flat floor. Formed by glacier erosion, a U-shaped valley results when a glacier widens and over-steepens a V-shaped stream valley.