Glacial action forming a tarn

Robert Tarn, Mackenzie Tarn and Johnston Tarn (foreground to background), Tarn Shelf, Mt Field National Park, Tasmania, Australia. The tarns were formed by glacial scouring.^[1]

A tarn (or corrie loch) is a mountain lake or pool, formed in a cirque excavated by a glacier. A moraine may form a natural dam below a tarn.^[2] A corrie may be called a cirque.

The word is derived from the Old Norse word tjörn meaning pond. Its more specific use as a mountain lake emerges as it is the commonly used term for all ponds in the mountainous areas of Northern England, particularly Cumbria. Here, it retains a broader use, referring to any small lake or pond, regardless of its location and origin. ^[3]

In Scandinavian languages a tjern or tjärn, tärn or tjørn is a small natural lake, often in a forest or with vegetation close around it or growing into the lake.

[edit] Gallery

Upper Thornton Lake in North Cascades National Park, USA

View of Andrews Tarn at the base of Andrews Glacier in Rocky Mountain National Park, USA

Štrbské pleso, the most famous tarn in Slovakia, High Tatras mountain

Veľké Hincovo pleso tarn, the biggest and deepest tarn in Slovakia

[edit] See also

• Pond

[edit] References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tarn (lake)

Look up tarn in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

1. ^ "Mt Field National Park: Landforms, Flora and Fauna". Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania. http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/file.aspx?id=6757. Retrieved 2009-05-12. 
2. ^ "Illustrated Glossary of Alpine Glacial Landforms". http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/lemke/alpine_glacial_glossary/glossary.html. Retrieved 2007-08-05. 
3. ^ "Fresh Water Tarns". Cumbria Wildlife Trust. http://www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/cumbria/Surveys/What%20is%20a%20Tarn.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-05. 

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