Drumlins

Aim: To be able to understand what the term drumlin means.


The term drumlin is originally derived from the Gaelic word of druim. This takes the meaning of a rounded hill (See figure 1). They are usually known as elongated hills of glacial deposits.They can stretch from anything from 500m to 1km in length - normally in the direction that the glacier was going, and it is not unusual to see more than one in the same area.A group of drumlins is named a drumlin swarm or more commonly known as a swarm of eggs.

Figure 1: Diagram illustrating a typical drumlin (Source:Reference)

Other main features of a drumlin include:

• smooth, oval shaped small hills, often resembling the top half of an egg
• can be up to 50-60m in height
• steep end known as a stoss and a gentle sloping end (lee)
• they are enlongated in the direct of the glacial flow with the steep end at the upstream end and the lee at the downstream
• they are formed form unsorted till
• they are found on lowland plains such as the Ribble valley (Figure 2)

Figure 2: An example of a drumlin from the Ribble Valley (Source:Reference)