A tributary to a U-shaped glacial valley which, instead of entering the valley at the same level as the main stream, enters at a higher elevation, frequently as a waterfall. These different stream levels are a result of the rapid downcutting of the glacier being much faster than the slower downcutting of the tributary stream.
a valley eroded by a small tributary glacier, such that the elevation of the valley floor is higher than the elevation of the valley floor that the hanging valley joins. The erosive power of glaciers is dictated by their size: the larger a glacier, the farther down into the landscape it can erode. Thus the valley floors of small tributary glaciers will be higher in elevation that the valley floor of the larger glacier that the small tributary glacier joins.
Usually a river valley or small canyon that has been cut across by a glacier, leaving it at a high elevation above a larger valley floor. Several waterfalls in Yosemite Valley flow through hanging valleys.
A tributary valley with the floor lying (hanging) above the valley floor of the mainstream or shore to which it flows. Hanging valleys commonly are created by deepening of the main valley by glaciation, but they can also be produced by faulting or rapid retreat of a sea cliff.
The valley left by a melted glacial tributary that enters a larger glacial valley above its base, high up on the valley wall.
a smaller side valley left 'hanging' above the main u-shaped valley
a small valley that empties into a larger and lower valley
a type of glacial feature that represents the site of a former glacier
A tributary that joins the main river through a series of rapids or waterfalls.
A hanging valley is a tributary valley with the floor at a higher relief than the main channel into which it flows. They are most commonly associated with glacial valleys when a tributary glacier flows into a glacier of larger volume. The main glacier erodes a deep U-shaped valley with nearly vertical sides while the tributary glacier, with a smaller volume of ice, makes a shallower U-shaped valley. Since the surfaces of the glaciers were originally at the same elevation, the shallower valley appears to be 'hanging' above the main valley. Often, if water is flowing through the upper glacial valley, a waterfall will form. (courtesy of wikipedia.org)
A topographic feature where the mouth of a tributary valley (formed by a stream or a glacier) is notably higher than the floor of the main valley it empties into due to the more rapid deepening of the main valley. In glacial valleys, this is due to the greater erosive power of the truck glacier. Bridalveil Falls cascades down a hanging valley created during Pleistocene glaciations.
A shallow glacial trough that leads into the side of a larger, main glacial trough.
A tributary valley whose floor is notably higher than the valley it joins. Characteristic of flood coulees*, where flat valley floors suddenly drop off abruptly at one or both ends where they join adjacent coulees.
a valley formed by a small glacier that has a valley bottom relatively higher than nearby valleys formed by larger glaciers.
A glacially carved tributary valley whose floor lies at a higher elevation than the floor of the trunk valley.