[1] The channel may form on the surface of, within, beneath, along the margins of or downstream from the ice mass.
Different forms of subglacial channel are described in glaciological literature including Nye or N-channels, Röthlisberger or R-channels and Hooke or H-channels.
An urstromtal is a proglacial or ice-marginal channel common in Germany and Poland formed during various of the Pleistocene glaciations which gave rise to the substantial Scandinavian ice sheet.
A spillway is a term sometimes used for a channel carved by water overflowing from, for example, a proglacial lake.
Examples of major glacial lake outbursts creating spillways along the southern margins of the Laurentide icesheet in North America are documented.