The ice fall in this photo, behind the people, formed as the Athabaskan Glacier flows into the Columbia Ice Field in Alberta, Canada. As the ice falls over an underlying scarp, the ice breaks apart creating the lines and layers shown in the photo. Ice does not flow smoothly over drop-offs, rather it breaks apart forming crevasses. Once the ice reaches the base of the ice fall, it reforms into ice that flows more readily.

Here's another example of an ice fall. This is the Suicide Ice Fall, an ice fall created where a tributary glacier flows into the Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska.