A Melt-water Hypothesis of Cirque Formation

Abstract

The Bergschrund Hypothesis, when it was enunciated by Willard Johnson (I) at the end of last century, was almost universally welcomed as an explanation of cirque formation. Since that time it has continued to dominate the literature on glacial sculpture. Gilbert (2) and Hobbs (3) in America, Wright (4) in this country, and Penck (5) and de Martonne (6) on the Continent follow his ideas with only very minor modifications. The essentials of this hypothesis were, however, outlined by W. M. Davis (7) contemporaneously with the publication of Johnson's 1899 paper.