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Denudation is the geological process in which moving water, ice, wind, and waves erode the Earth's surface, leading to a reduction in elevation and in relief of landforms and landscapes.
Exhumation by tectonic processes refers to any geological mechanism that brings rocks from deeper crustal levels to shallower crustal levels. While erosion or denudation is fundamental in eventually exposing these deeper rocks at the Earth's surface, the geological phenomenon that drive the rocks to shallower crust are still considered exhumation processes.
Tectonic uplift results in denudation (processes that wear away the earth's surface) by raising buried rocks closer to the surface. This process can redistribute large loads from an elevated region to a topographically lower area as well – thus promoting an isostatic response in the region of denudation (which can cause local bedrock uplift).
Most rock forms at elevated temperature and pressure, and the minerals making up the rock are often chemically unstable in the relatively cool, wet, and oxidizing conditions typical of the Earth's surface. Chemical weathering takes place when water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and other chemical substances react with rock to change its composition.
Superimposed drainage develops differently: initially, a drainage system develops on a surface composed of 'younger' rocks, but due to denudation activities this surface of younger rocks is removed and the river continues to flow over a seemingly new surface, but one in fact made up of rocks of old geological formation.
A river anticline is a geologic structure that is formed by the focused uplift of rock caused by high erosion rates from large rivers relative to the surrounding areas. [1] An anticline is a fold that is concave down, whose limbs are dipping away from its axis, and whose oldest units are in the middle of the fold. [ 2 ]
Attrition is the process of erosion that occurs during rock collision and transportation. The transportation of sediment chips and smooths the surfaces of bedrock; this can be through water or wind. [1] Rocks undergoing attrition erosion are often found on or near the bed of a stream. [2]
Denudation is the process of wearing away the top layers of Earth's landscape. Because the denudation rate is normally too low to measure directly, it can be indirectly determined by measuring the sediment load of the streams that drain the area in question.