REPORT ON “GLACIAL” FORMS OBSERVED ON AMBA ARADAM MOUNTAIN (NORTHERN ETHIOPIA)

Abstract

Some geomorphologic characteristics observed on Amba Aradam Mountain (Tigray region, northern Ethiopia) at altitudes of about 2500 to 2780 m a.s.l. and latitude of about 13°30’ N, are described. These features might be ascribed to glacial modeling: cirques, roches moutonnées, glacial shoulders, moraine deposits and moraine arc and palustrine deposit due to moraine barrage. This framework is strongly in contrast with the fact that in Ethiopia the presence of glacial cirques and moraines was reported only in mountain areas at altitudes exceeding 4000 m a.s.l. An alternative assumption is that all these features might constitute a very singular case of “geomorphologic convergence”, that is, landforms that have the same shape and appearance but different genesis.