Why do Earth’s landmasses start to look so ”Jagged” around the poles?

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So, on Google Earth. I’ve noticed that landmasses closer to the poles tend to look a lot more ”Jagged” than landmasses away from the poles. By ”Jagged” I refer to the geographic features of the Canadian North, Svalbard, The Falklands, and Patagonia. I’m not sure if there is a term to properly describe these regions but to me, they tend to have a very distinctive shape to their geography.

If anyone knows what I’m talking about is there is an explanation for this?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

They’re glacial features. Glaciers cut very sharp valleys which, near mountainous coasts, produce deep and thin [fjords](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fjord) that fill with water when the glaciers retreat (as they have in Earth’s recent past, even prior to the more rapid retreat caused by modern climate change). You’ll see similarly jagged features in glacier-carved mountains at lower latitudes, like in Yosemite National Park (which isn’t glaciated today, but was during the last ice age).

You don’t generally see these features at lower latitudes because it’s too warm to form glaciers except at the very highest peaks. Depending on your map projection, the size of these features might also be exaggerated (because some common projections make things near the poles look bigger).