Geomorphologic evolution and landforms

The territory of the Czech Republic experienced both the Pleistocene continental glaciation and the mountain glaciation, but the glacial features have a small extent in the territory of the Czech Republic.

Continental glaciation: Three Northern European ice sheets advanced to Northern Bohemia and Northern Moravia and Silesia during both the Elsterian (700-450,000 BP) and younger Saalian (370-100,000 BP) glaciations. The many types of glacial sediments (till), both erosion and accumulation features can be find here. Repeated ice sheet advances formed terminal moraines.

Mountain glaciation was restricted to the highest mountains of the Czech Republic. The existence of rather small mountain glaciers is only verified in the Krkonoše Mts., Šumava Mts., Jizerské Mts. and Hrubý Jeseník Mts. Although it is supposed that the glaciation of the highest mountains repeated several times during the Pleistocene, recent radiometric dating reveals that morphologically distinct moraine ridges are not older than the Weichselian.

Fig. 1. Glacial erratic in Ostrava-Poruba, a glacially-deposited granit boulder is of Scandinavian origin.

Fig. 2. Černé Lake (Black Lake), one of the glacial cirques in the Šumava Mts. Totally 5 cirques in this mountain ridge is infilled by a lake.

Fig. 3. Labský důl (Labský Valley), a glacial U-shaped valley (called trog) in the Krkonoše Mts. (https://www.region-krkonose.cz/zajimava-mista/labsky-dul/)