GEOG M107 Chapter 3: Soil and Water Conservation Textbook: Chapter 3
Document Summary
Geologic erosion processes: natural, slow, persistent processes of water and wind erosion punctuated by catastrophic events (glaciation, landslides, floods) Excludes accelerated erosion resulting from tillage, traffic, overgrazing by livestock, cutting of trees, or other human influence. Erosion, aka the great leveler (because it wears down high places and fills up low places) Valleys are created and hills between them are eroded. End result of long-continued erosion: featureless plain. Worn mighty mountain systems down to stubs (erosion) Entire sea basins filled with sediment, then lifted and eroded into new forms (sedimentation) The nature of sedimentary deposits depends on: Geologists learn a lot about climate, vegetation, and landscapes of the past by studying sediment and rock layers. Earth is gradually releasing heat from its interior. This heat- presumed to originate from decay of radioactive elements. This heat source gradually diminishes over time (stronger in past than it is now .
