Drumlins
Drumlins are glacial landforms that are a result of the presence of glacial ice over a large area of land. Their characteristic shape appears as half an egg, lying curved side up. A drumlin is blunt at one end and tapered at the other which helps indicate the direction of glacial ice movement, where the blunt end indicates up-glacier while the sloping more tapered side indicates the down-glacier direction. Drumlins appear as smooth hills that can be as high as 50m high, by several kilometers long. Drumlins usually exist in fields wider than moraines and rarely occur singularly (Gravenor, 1953). Drumlins occur in packs in large fields, and create a “rolling hill” topography. From above, drumlin surface coverage is representative and similar to that of a "basket of eggs".
One of the fundamental problems in the study of drumlins, is the identification of drumlins, specifically the rejection of features which are not drumlins. Drumlins have previously been loosely defined as rounded, elongated hills, however different types have been found, contrary to this definition, as described in the morphology section.
In Canada, Drumlins are found in Alberta, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Southern Ontario and Nova Scotia. Their formation is contentiously debated and not fully understood, however, a variety of theories have been proposed, and further research into these theories is being conducted.
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