Basket-of-eggs topography is related to
- (a)Drumlins.
- (b)Eskers.
- (c)Cirques.
- (d)Moraines.
Correct — A, Drumlins. Drumlins are smooth, elongated, egg-shaped hills of glacial till deposited beneath moving ice. Because they occur in large swarms, a drumlin field seen from above looks like a 'basket of eggs' — the classic name for this landscape. Their long axis lies parallel to the ice flow, with a blunt, steep end facing the ice and a gently tapering tail downstream.
- (b)Eskers. — Eskers are long, narrow, winding ridges of sorted sand and gravel laid down by meltwater streams inside or beneath the ice — snake-like ridges, not egg-shaped mounds.
- (c)Cirques. — A cirque is an armchair-shaped hollow carved by glacial erosion at the head of a valley — an erosional, not a depositional 'basket of eggs' form.
- (d)Moraines. — Moraines are ridges or mounds of unsorted debris dumped at the margins or snout of a glacier; they do not produce the regular egg-cluster pattern of a drumlin field.
Glaciers create both erosional landforms (cirques, aretes, U-shaped valleys) and depositional landforms (moraines, drumlins, eskers, outwash plains). Drumlins are depositional: streamlined hillocks of till moulded under an ice sheet. A cluster of them gives the 'basket of eggs' or 'swarm of whales' topography.
The phrase 'basket of eggs' is a direct memory hook for drumlins. Distinguishing the four options rests on process (erosion vs deposition) and shape (egg-mound vs winding ridge vs hollow vs debris ridge).
- Drumlins are elongated, egg-shaped hills of glacial till deposited under moving ice.
- A drumlin swarm gives 'basket-of-eggs' topography.
- The long axis is parallel to ice flow; the steep (stoss) end faces the ice.
- Eskers are meltwater ridges; cirques are erosional hollows; moraines are debris ridges.
- Mixing up drumlins (deposition) with cirques (erosion).
- Confusing eskers (winding meltwater ridges) with drumlins (egg-shaped mounds).
Asked by the descriptive nickname ('basket of eggs') or by matching glacial landforms to their process and shape.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which glacial landform is a long, winding ridge of sorted sand and gravel deposited by meltwater?
- (a)Drumlin
- (b)Esker
- (c)Cirque
- (d)Arete
Answer(b) Esker — a sinuous fluvioglacial ridge.
- practice — not a real PYQ
An armchair-shaped hollow carved by a glacier at a valley head is called a
- (a)Cirque
- (b)Moraine
- (c)Drumlin
- (d)Outwash plain
Answer(a) Cirque — an erosional glacial hollow.