GGR201H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter Ch 1: Sediment Transport, Clay Minerals, Surface Runoff
Document Summary
Geomorphology: study of processes shaping earth"s surface and the landforms and deposits that they produce. Insights into how water and sediment move, how rocks break down to create soil, how tectonic forces raise mountains, how uplift is locked in a geologic duel with erosion. Controls spatial distribution of arable land, where/when floods/landslides occur, geography of erosional uplands, locus of coastal erosions, retreat of glaciers, offset of land surfaces by earthquake-generating faults. Endogenic processes raise mountains and elevate topography above sea level. Drives plate tectonics through deep convection of planet"s mantle. Erosional processes influencing earth"s surface driven by exogenic processes. Driven by solar enegy, temperature gradient between poles and equator. Geosphere: incudes rocks comprising earth"s crust and global tectonic system that elevates the rocks that get sculpted into topography. Mountain belts and volcanic arcs form where plates converge. Tectonic setting determines distribution of different rock types with different resistance to erosion.