[1][2][3] Because of their narrow width and low height, they are often hard to identify during ground or bottom surveys.
[1][3][6] Flutes are found in a number of actively glaciated regions including the Alps, Antarctica, Alaska, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and Spitsbergen.
[2][3][7] According this model, the formation of a flute is initiated when basal melting lodges a boulder on the subglacial bed of a glacial.
The high confining pressures on the glacier bed from the weight of the overlying glacial ice fills the elongate cavity by squeezing water-soaked till into it.
Flutes can often be traced back upstream to single large boulders embedded in the glacial till at their head[3][4][7] In older publications, fluting is used for smooth, deep, gutterlike channels or furrows cut by glaciers into the stoss side of a rocky hill obstructing its advance.