Republic of the Philippines

CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE

J. Lukban Extension, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines

Abaño Laboratory High School

Different Landforms and Processes Involved in their Formation

AEROLIAN LANDFORMS
o Formed by chemical and mechanical action of the wind.
o Derived from the Greek God of the Wind, Aeolus.
o Formed from areas with dominant energy of the wind.
o Examples: Dunes, Loess, and Mushroom Rocks.

Dunes
 Dunes are mound or small hills made up of sand with 1-10m hig.
 It can be dome-shaped, crescent-shaped, star-shaped, linerar-shaped or parabolic.
 Barchans is the common type of Dune formed in the opposite direction of the wind.

Loess
 Silt-sized sediments formed by accumulation of windblown dust.
 They appears yellowish or brownish which exhibits ‘cats step’
 They are about few centimeters to 100 m thickness.
 Republic of the Philippines
CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE
J. Lukban Extension, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines

Abaño Laboratory High School

 They are a product of glacial activity.

 Can be found in Europe, Mississippi, and Asia.

Mushroom Rocks
 Also called rock pedestal.
 Naturally occurring rock resembling shape of a mushrooms.
 Formed by Earthquake or glacial action.
 Example: Mushroom Rock State Park, Kansan, USA

EROSIONAL Landforms
o Created from exclusively erosional and weathering activities .
o Examples: Mesas, Buttes, and Canyon.
 Republic of the Philippines
CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE
J. Lukban Extension, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines

Abaño Laboratory High School

Mesas
 Also called Table Mountains
 They are elevated areas of land with flat top and with steep cliffs side.
 They are surrounded by cap rocks.
 Mesas are formed by erosion, when water washes smaller and softer types of rocks away from the
top of a hill
 Example: Grand Mesa in Western Colorado

Butte
 They are flat-topped hill with steep-sides.
 They are formed in arid or semi-arid desert conditions.
 Looks like Mesas, only that Butte covers a smaller amount of area.
 From the French word ‘hillock’ and ‘small hill’.
 Example: Elephant Butte in New Mexico
 Republic of the Philippines
CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE
J. Lukban Extension, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines

Abaño Laboratory High School

Canyon
 Also called Gorge
 They are deep ravine between cliffs carved from landscape by a river, wind, or glaciers.
 They appear like a valley, except its deep-seated, narrow, and surrounded by steep sides.
 They are not produced by tectonic activities but were influenced by water and wind erosion over
a long period of geologic time.
 Example: Grand Canyon in Northern Arizona carved out in Colorado River.

Mountainous Landforms
o Higher than the rest of its surroundings.
o Exhibits slopes and summit area.
o Created in Tectonic activities.
o Examples: Volcanoes, Hills, and Valley/dale

Volcano
 They are controlled by geologic process and act on them after their formation.
 They are identified through their vent.
 Majority of volcanoes in the world form along the boundaries of Earth's tectonic plates. When
tectonic plates collide, one often plunges deep below the other in what's known as a subduction
zone.
 Republic of the Philippines
CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE
J. Lukban Extension, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines

Abaño Laboratory High School

Hills
 They are elevated portion of lands formed by geological processes like faulting.
 They are covered with grass.
 Used for grazing lands for goats, cattle, and carabaos.
 They are smaller than mountains; hills are 300 m high only.
 They have sloping sides, and not steep.
 Can form from mountains due to erosion.

Valley
 They are a low-lying area of land situated between hills and mountains.
 Formed from the actions of rivers and glaciers, which also determines they shape of the valley.
 V-shaped when craved out from flowing water; U-shaped when carved out from glaciers.
 They are also called as vale, dell, mountains cove, hollow, and hanging valley.
 Republic of the Philippines
CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE
J. Lukban Extension, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines

Abaño Laboratory High School

Fluvial and Coastal Landforms

o Fluvial landforms are those who underwent sedimentation, erosion, or deposition on the river bed.
o When bodies of water in these landforms interact with glaciers or ice caps, they are called
glaciofluvial or fluvioglacial.
o Coastal landforms happens when planet shoreline where carved out by the force of the sea called
wave refraction.
o Examples: Delta, Peninsula, Meander, and Sea Cliffs.

Delta
 They are low-lying triangular area located at the mouth of rivers meeting ocean, seas, and
estuaries.
 They contain rich soils.
 Alluviums are sediments form from interaction of delta and water bodies.
 Example: Ganges Delta- largest delta in the world.
 Republic of the Philippines
CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE
J. Lukban Extension, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines

Abaño Laboratory High School

Peninsula
 Also called biland or byland.
 They are piece of land that projects into a body of water and connected to mainland through
isthmus.
 Come from Latin word meaning ‘almost island’.
 Bordered by water on three sides.
 Formed by lithospheric movement, water elevation, and erosion.

Meander
 They bend in sinuous watercourse of river.
 They are formed when moving water in a steam erodes the outbank then widen its valley.
 It has concave bank (deposition of sediments) and convex bank (erosion).
 Meander soil migrate downstreams affecting instability of roads, and bridges.
 Example: Rio Negro, Argentina
 Republic of the Philippines
CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE
J. Lukban Extension, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines

Abaño Laboratory High School

Sea Cliffs
 They are high rocky coasts that plunge down to the edge of the sea.
 It is the result of erosional actions of water and wind.
 They are exposed to battering of wind, waves, and sea sprays.
 It is made of limestone and sandstone that are resistant to weathering.
 A habitat of sea birds.
 Example: Cliffs of Moher in Atlantic Ocean- a home of 20 species of 30,000 sea birds.