Geomorphic Processes
Geomorphic Processes:
● Geomorphic processes are natural forces and chemical actions that modify the
Earth’s surface by building or wearing it down.
● They include endogenic (internal) and exogenic (external) processes.
Types of Geomorphic Processes:
1. Endogenic Processes (Land-Building Forces):
● Originate within the Earth due to internal heat and energy.
● Diastrophism: Crustal deformation (folding and faulting).
○ Orogenic: Mountain building (compressional/tensional).
○ Epeirogenic: Uplift/subsidence of large crustal blocks.
● Sudden Movements: Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides.
2. Exogenic Processes (Land-Wearing Forces):
● Operates on the surface due to solar energy and gravity.
● Include weathering, mass wasting, erosion, and deposition.
Weathering:
● Breakdown of rocks in situ by mechanical, chemical, or biological means.
Chemical Weathering:
● Solution – Minerals dissolve in water.
● Carbonation – Carbonic acid reacts with limestone.
● Hydration – Minerals absorb water and expand.
● Oxidation/Reduction – Reactions with or without oxygen.
Physical Weathering:
● Unloading & Expansion – Exfoliation domes.
● Temperature Change – Expansion/contraction.
● Frost Wedging – Freezing water widens cracks.
● Salt Weathering – Salt crystal growth.
Biological Weathering:
● Root pressure, burrowing animals, and organic acids.
Mass Movements
● Downslope movement of weathered material under gravity.
● Slow: Creep, Solifluction (in periglacial regions).
● Rapid: Earthflow, Mudflow, Debris avalanche, Landslide (slump, debris slide,
rockslide, rockfall).
Landslide-prone areas: Himalayas, Nilgiris.
Landforms by Running Water (Fluvial Landforms):
● Erosional: Valleys, gorges, canyons, potholes, plunge pools, incised meanders.
● Depositional: Alluvial fans, deltas, floodplains, meanders, point bars, levees, oxbow
lakes, braided streams.
Stages of River:
● Youth: V-shaped valleys, waterfalls.
● Mature: Meanders, floodplains.
● Old: Oxbow lakes, deltas, peneplains.
Landforms by Groundwater (Karst Topography)
● Erosional: Sinkholes, swallow holes, uvalas, lapies, caves, natural bridges.
● Depositional: Stalactites, stalagmites, pillars, dripstones, flowstones, limestone
pavements.
Landforms by Glaciers
● Erosional: Cirques, aretes, horns, U-shaped valleys, hanging valleys, fjords, roche
moutonnée, drumlins, nunataks.
● Depositional: Moraines (terminal, lateral, medial, ground), eskers, outwash plains,
drumlins, kettle lakes.
Coastal Landforms
● Erosional: Cliffs, caves, arches, stacks, stumps, wave-cut platforms, headlands,
bays.
Depositional: Beaches, dunes, spits, bars, tombolos, lagoons, estuaries, mudflats,
salt marshes.
Types of Coasts:
● Rocky (West Coast of India) – Erosional.
● Low Sedimentary (East Coast of India) – Depositional.
Aeolian (Wind) Landforms:
● Wind shapes desert landscapes through deflation and abrasion.
● Erosional: Pediments, zeugens, yardangs, inselbergs, mesas, buttes, mushroom rocks,
deflation hollows, playas.
● Depositional: Sand dunes (barchan, parabolic, longitudinal, transverse, seif) and
bajadas (merged alluvial fans).
Key Terms:
● Isostasy: Balance of Earth’s crust under varying loads.
● Denudation: Combined action of weathering, erosion, and deposition.
● Peneplain: Almost leveled land formed after long erosion.
● Monadnock: Isolated residual hill on a peneplain.