[GGR201H1] - Midterm Exam Guide - Comprehensive Notes for the exam (18 pages long!)
6 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
Equilibrium: stability of system resulting from a net balance between driving and resisting forces (conceptual, statistical definition, highly scale dependent). Main driver of geomorphic change = gravity. Mountain building = tectonic activity and erosion (balance) Magnitude - frequency relationships: most geomorphic work is done by events that are of high enough magnitude but occur frequently enough to have dominant impact in shaping earth"s surface. Sources of energy: exogenic: solar radiation (thermal weathering, biological, weather), gravity, endogenic: internal geothermal (mantle convection, plate tectonics, epeirogeny, volcanism), internal gravity of earth (isostasy - similar to buoyancy) Other geomorphic processes (denudation) require relief to work - relief is created by tectonic activity: crustal uplift (or volcanism, fluctuations in base level/ sea level. Quaternary = last 2. 6 million years - significant events: evolution of humans and the ice ages. Holocene = last 10000 years - human history, neolithic revolution. Convection in mantle due to differential heating - drives movement of tectonic plates.
