Other forms: cirques
A cirque is a bowl-shaped indentation carved into the side or top of a mountain by a glacier. In warmer conditions, cirques gradually fill with water to form small, deep lakes called tarns.
A cirque can also be called a corrie. North America has several of these steep-sided natural basins, including the Iceberg Cirque in Glacier National Park and Cirque of the Towers in Wyoming. The rounded shape of a cirque is often described as resembling an amphitheater or an armchair, with one lower edge. Cirques are carved out of the top or side of a mountain by glacial ice, which slowly moves, carving away the bedrock. Cirque means "circle" in French.