by 
Anonymous
ANSWERS: 5
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Important? To what? As in widespread over time? Glaciers create a great deal of erosion (closer to carving, really) in a (geologically) short amount of time -- they're the bulldozers of geology. But they come and go, and only directly erode when they're advancing. When they're retreating it's their meltwater that's doing any erosional work. So on balance, over the course of earth history, water has had far more to do with shaping the surface of the earth than glaciers.
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Look at it this way. How much of Earth's surface is covered by glaciers? The answer is very little. How much of Earth's surface has streams draining it? The vast majority. So, which is going to be more important, running water or glaciers?
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Running water. Most of the planet is covered by some form of running water. Natural erosion is occuring every second water is running. Not so with glaciers. For the most part, glaciers are stationary. even in their movement, it is so slow that compared to running water, its about a 1,000 to 1 ratio.
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I'd say running water over the short term and glaciers over the long term.
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Running water.
Glenn Blaylock 
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