Roches moutonnés

Roches moutonnés, smooth, rounded, hummocky bosses and undulating surfaces of rock, of common occurrence in regions which have been overflowed by glacier-ice. Those which have not been much acted upon by the weather generally show the scratches and groovings which are the characteristic markings of glacial action. Sometimes roches moutonnées are smoothed and polished all over, and have the appearance of whales' or dolphins' backs. At other times they are smoothed only on one side—that side, namely, which faces the direction from which the glaciating agent flowed; the other side, protected from abrasion, being left in its original rough, unpolished condition. The name roches moutonnées is that used by the Swiss peasants—the bare rounded rocks of a valley-bottom when seen from above having a fanciful resemblance to a flock of sheep lying down.