Under-ice Mountains

The morphological structure of mountains forming under conditions of extensive continental and mountain glaciation is described. They are characterized by a general hummocky profile with alternating dome-shaped summits, steps, valley-shaped depressions, and microrelief represented by roche moutonees, greywethers, and nunataks with isolated peaks in the form of high cones and prisms. The under-ice mountains are represented by a step morphological landscape with glacial steps and leveling surfaces. The step pattern of their morphological landscape is assumed to be related to successive layering of ice according to its movement velocity and the formation of a jet current against the background of general dominant displacements of ice masses. This makes under-ice mountains morphologically similar to medium-height and low mountainous relief of the temperate humid belt in the Northern Hemisphere with dominant landslides on their slopes.