Gravity causes glaciers to move downhill. As a glacier moves, it scrapes up rocks and carries them at its bottom, abrading the terrain and changing the landscape, according to ScienceClarified. Sometimes a glacier scrapes out bowl-shaped depressions called cirques, in which smaller glaciers form.
According to ScienceClarified, a cirque glacier can move downwards through a stream valley, resulting in erosion that turns a stream valley into narrow glacial trough. If the glacier carves its way to the coastline and melts, and the trough fills with seawater, a fjord results.
Fjords are located in a number of countries around the world, including Alaska, British Columbia, Chile, Greenland, Norway, New Zealand and Scotland, according to ScienceClarified.