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Cirque vs Headwall - What's the difference?

cirque | headwall |

In geology terms the difference between cirque and headwall

is that cirque is a curved depression in a mountainside with steep walls, forming the end of a valley while headwall is the steep cliff at the back of a cirque.

cirque

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (geology) A curved depression in a mountainside with steep walls, forming the end of a valley.
  • * 1982 , (TC Boyle), Water Music , Penguin 2006, p. 344:
    • Of course it's going to be bad whever the clouds let loose, but up here pussyfooting along the perimeter of toothy cirques and dead drops of anywhere from eighty to three hundred feet, it would be a disaster.

    Synonyms

    * corrie * cwm

    References

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    headwall

    English

    Noun

    (en noun) (wikipedia headwall)
  • (geography) The highest cliff of a glacial cirque.
  • (geology) The steep cliff at the back of a cirque.
  • (civil engineering) A retaining wall at the outlet of a drain or culvert.