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Wind erosion of soil at the foot of Chimborazo, Ecuador Rock carved by drifting sand below Fortification Rock in Arizona (Photo by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, USGS, 1871). Aeolian processes, also spelled eolian, [1] pertain to wind activity in the study of geology and weather and specifically to the wind's ability to shape the surface of the Earth (or other planets).
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.
Abrasion platforms are shore platforms where wave action abrasion is a prominent process. If it is currently being fashioned, it will be exposed only at low tide, but there is a possibility that the wave-cut platform will be hidden sporadically by a mantle of beach shingle (the abrading agent).
Aeolian processes pertain to the activity of the winds and more specifically, to the winds' ability to shape the surface of the Earth. Winds may erode, transport, and deposit materials, and are effective agents in regions with sparse vegetation and a large supply of fine, unconsolidated sediments .
Understanding the principle of isostasy is a key element to understanding the interactions and feedbacks shared between erosion and tectonics. The principle of isostasy states that when free to move vertically, lithosphere floats at an appropriate level in the asthenosphere so that the pressure at a depth of compensation in the asthenosphere well below the base of the lithosphere is the same. [3]
Orogenic uplift is the result of tectonic-plate collisions and results in mountain ranges or a more modest uplift over a large region. Perhaps the most extreme form of orogenic uplift is a continental-continental crustal collision. In this process, two continents are sutured together, and large mountain ranges are produced.
The terms river morphology and its synonym stream morphology are used to describe the shapes of river channels and how they change in shape and direction over time. The morphology of a river channel is a function of a number of processes and environmental conditions, including the composition and erodibility of the bed and banks (e.g., sand, clay, bedrock); erosion comes from the power and ...
Mass wasting is a general term for any process of erosion that is driven by gravity and in which the transported soil and rock is not entrained in a moving medium, such as water, wind, or ice. [2] The presence of water usually aids mass wasting, but the water is not abundant enough to be regarded as a transporting medium.