Which of the following is NOT typical of glacial deposits?

• A. A pile of rocks at the base of a steep slope (talus)
• B. Till
• C. Moraine
• D. Drumlin

Answer: (A)

Glacial deposits are materials that are directly moved and left behind by moving ice or by meltwater riding along with that ice. Till is the unsorted mix deposited as the glacier melts and drops its load. Moraines are accumulations of this till at the edges or terminus of a glacier. Drumlin formations are smooth, elongated hills created as sediments are reworked under the flowing ice.

A pile of rocks at the base of a steep slope, known as talus, forms from rockfall and gravity breaking cliffs apart and accumulating debris at the base. This process is weathering and mass wasting, not glacier ice deposition, so it isn’t typical of glacial deposits.