Lecture Notes in Earth Science|1

Department of Education
Division of Leyte
ALANGALANG NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Senior High School Department
Alangalang, Leyte

TOPIC: Geomorphic Processes: Exogenic and Endogenic Processes

GEOMORPHIC PROCESS

The formation and deformation of landforms on the surface of the earth are a continuous process
which is due to the continuous influence of external and internal forces. The internal and external forces
causing stresses and chemical action on earth materials and bringing about changes in the configuration of
the surface of the earth are known as geomorphic processes.

Mind Map to Study Geomorphic Processes/Earth Movements

The below mind map will help to study geomorphic processes and their sub-classification.

Endogenic Forces
 Endogenic forces are those internal forces which derive their strength from the earth’s interior and
play a crucial role in shaping the earth crust.
 Examples – mountain building forces, continent building forces, earthquakes, volcanism etc.
 The endogenic forces are mainly land building forces.

The energy emanating from within the earth is the main force behind endogenic geomorphic
processes. This energy is mostly generated by radioactivity, rotational and tidal friction and primordial heat
from the origin of the earth.

Exogenic Forces
 Exogenic forces are those forces which derive their strength from the earth’s exterior or are
originated within the earth’s atmosphere.
 Examples of forces – the wind, waves, water etc.
 Examples of exogenic processes – weathering, mass movement, erosion, and deposition.
 Exogenic forces are mainly land wearing forces.

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Exogenic forces can take the form of weathering, erosion, and deposition. Weathering is the
breaking of rocks on the earth’s surface by different agents like rivers, wind, sea waves and glaciers.
Erosion is the carrying of broken rocks from one place to another by natural agents like wind, water, and
glaciers.

The actions of exogenic forces result in wearing down (degradation) of relief/elevations and filling
up (aggradation) of basins/ depressions, on the earth’s surface. The phenomenon of wearing down of relief
variations of the surface of the earth through erosion is known as gradation.

Geomorphic Agents
Running water, groundwater, glaciers, the wind, waves, and currents, etc., can be called geomorphic
agents.

Geomorphic Processes vs Geomorphic Agents

A process is a force applied on earth materials affecting the same. An agent is a mobile medium (like
running water, moving ice masses, the wind, waves, and currents etc.) which removes, transports and
deposits earth materials.

Earth Movements
 They are the movements in the earth’s crust caused by the endogenic or exogenic forces. These
movements are also termed as Tectonic movements.
 The term ‘Tectonic’ derived from the Greek word ‘Tekton’ which means builders.
 As the word means, these movements are mainly builders and have been responsible for building up
of different types of landforms.

ENDOGENIC FORCES AND EVOLUTION OF LAND FORMS

Endogenic Forces – Internal forces in detail

Endogenic forces a can be classified as slow movements (diastrophic) and sudden movements. Slow
movements cause changes very gradually which might not be visible during a human lifetime.

Slow Movements (Diastrophic forces)

Diastrophic forces refer to forces generated by the movement of the solid material of the earth’s
crust. All the processes that move, elevate or build portions of the earth’s crust come under diastrophism.
Diastrophism includes:

1. Orogenic processes involving mountain building through severe folding and affecting long and
narrow belts of the earth’s crust.
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2. Epeirogenic processes involving uplift or warping of large parts of the earth’s crust.
3. Earthquakes involving local relatively minor movements.
4. Plate tectonics involving horizontal movements of crustal plates.

Slow movements can again be classified as vertical movements and horizontal movements.

Vertical Movements (Epeirogenic movements):

 Vertical movements are mainly associated with the formation of continents and plateaus. They are
also called as Epeirogenic movements
 The broad central parts of continents are called cratons and are subject to epeirogeny.
 They do not bring any changes in the horizontal rock strata.
 While they cause upliftment of continent, they can also cause subsidence of continent.
 These movements are originated from the center of the earth.

Horizontal Movements (Orogenic Movements):

 Horizontal forces acts on the earth’s crust from side to side to cause these movements.
 They are also known as orogenic movements (mountain building).
 They bring a lot of disruptions to the horizontal layer of strata leading to a large structural
deformation of earth’s crust.
 They can be classified as forces of compression and forces of tension.

Forces of Compression:

 Forces of compression are the forces which push rock strata against a hard plane from one side or
from both sides.
 The compressional forces lead to the bending of rock layers and thus lead to the formation of Fold
Mountains.
 Most of the great mountain chains of the world like the Himalayas, the Rockies (N. America), the
Andes (S. America), the Alps (Europe) etc. are formed in this manner.

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Forces of Tension:

 Forces of tension work horizontally, but in opposite directions.

 Under the operation of intense tensional forces, the rock stratum gets broken or fractured which
results in the formation of cracks and fractures in the crust.
 The displacement of rock upward or downward from their original position along such a fracture is
termed as faulting.
 The line along which displacement of the fractured rock strata take place is called as the fault line.
 Faulting results in the formation of well-known relief features such as Rift Valleys and Block
Mountains. (E.g. Vindhya and Satpura Mountains)
 A rift valley is formed by sinking of rock strata lying between two almost parallel faults. (E.g.
Valley of Nile, Rift valley of Narmada and Tapti )
 Rift valleys with steep parallel walls along the fault are called as Graben and the uplifted landmass
with steep slopes on both sides are called as Horst.
 The very steep slope in a continuous line along a fault is termed as Escarpment.

Sudden Movements
Examples: Volcanoes and earth quakes.

VOLCANOES
A volcano is an opening in the earth’s crust through which gases, molten rocks materials (lava), ash,
steam etc. are emitted outward in the course of an eruption. Such vents or openings occur in those parts of
the earth’s crust where the rock strata are relatively weak. Volcanic activity is an example of endogenic
process. Depending upon the explosive nature of the volcano, different land forms can be formed such as a
plateau (if the volcano is not explosive) or a mountain (if the volcano is explosive in nature).

Magma vs Lava: The Difference

 Magma is the term used to denote the molten rocks and related materials seen inside earth. A
weaker zone of the mantle called asthenosphere, usually is the source of magma.
 Once this magma came out to the earth surface through the vent of a volcano, it is called as
the Lava. Therefore, Lava is nothing but the magma on earth surface.
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 The process by which solid, liquid and gaseous material escape from the earth’s interior to the
surface of the earth is called as Volcanism.

Types of Volcanoes
Volcanoes are classified on the basis of nature of eruption and the form developed at the surface.

Shield Volcanoes
 How to identify: They are not very steep but are far and wider. They extend to great height as well
as distance.
 They are the largest of all volcanoes in the world as the lava flows to a far distance. The Hawaiian
volcanoes are the most famous examples.
 Shield volcanoes have low slopes and consist almost entirely of frozen lavas.
 If you were to fly over top of a shield volcano, it would resemble a warrior’s shield, hence the
name.
 These volcanoes are mostly made up of basalt (less viscous), a type of lava that is very fluid when
erupted. For this reason, these volcanoes are not steep.
 They are of low explosive in general, but if somehow water gets into the vent they may turn
explosive.
 The upcoming lava moves in the form of a fountain and throws out the cone at the top of the vent
and develops into cinder cone

Cinder Cone Volcanoes

 Cinders are extrusive igneous rocks. A more modern name for cinder is Scoria.
 Small volcanoes.
 These volcanoes consist almost entirely of loose, grainy cinders and almost no lava.
 They have very steep sides and usually have a small crater on top.

Composite Volcanoes
 Shape: Cone shaped with moderately steep sides and sometimes have small craters in their
summits.
 Volcanologists call these “strato-” or composite volcanoes because they consist of layers of solid
lava flows mixed with layers of sand- or gravel-like volcanic rock called cinders or volcanic ash.
 They are characterized by the eruption of a cooler and more viscous lavas than basalt.
 These volcanoes often result in explosive eruptions.
 Along with lava, large quantities of pyroclastic materials and ashes find their way to the ground.
 This material accumulates in the vicinity of the vent openings and leading to the formation of
layers, and this makes the mount appears as composite volcanoes.

Caldera
 These are the most explosive of the earth’s volcanoes.
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 They are usually so explosive that when they erupt they tend to collapse on themselves rather than
building any tall structure. The collapsed depressions are called calderas.
 Their explosiveness indicates that its magma chamber is large and in close vicinity.
 A caldera differs from a crater in such a way that a caldera is a huge depression caused by a
collapse after a large-scale eruption, whereas a crater is a small, steep side, volcanic depression
bored out by an eruptive plume.

Flood Basalt Provinces

 These volcanoes outpour highly fluid lava that flows for long distances.
 The Deccan Traps from India, presently covering most of the Maharashtra plateau, are a much
larger flood basalt province.

Mid-Ocean Ridge Volcanoes

 These volcanoes occur in the oceanic areas.
 There is a system of mid-ocean ridges more than 70,000 km long that stretches through all the ocean
basins.
 The central portion of this ridge experiences frequent eruptions.

Volcanoes can also be classified based on the frequency of eruption, mode of eruption and
characteristic of lava.

Volcanic Landforms:
 The lava that is released during volcanic eruptions on cooling develops into igneous rocks.
 The cooling may take place either on reaching the surface or from the inside itself.
 Depending on the location of the cooling of lava, igneous rocks are classified as:

Volcanic Igneous rocks (Extrusive igneous rocks):

Cooling of the rock occurs at the surface of the earth.  E.g. Basalt, Andesite etc.

Plutonic Igneous rocks (Intrusive igneous rocks):

Cooling takes place in the crust and not over the surface. E.g. Granite, Gabbro, Diorite etc. Intrusive
igneous rocks are classed into the following types according to their forms.Batholiths: A large body of
magmatic material that cools in the deeper depth in the form of a large dome. These are granitic bodies.
They sometimes appear on the earth surface when the denudation processes remove the overlying materials.

1. Laccoliths: Large dome shaped intrusive bodies with a level base and pipe-like conduit from
below. Resembles a composite volcano structure, but beneath the earth. (Eg: Karnataka Plateau)
2. Lapoliths: They are saucer shaped, concave to the sky.
3. Phacoliths: Wavy materials which have a definite conduit to source beneath.
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4. Sheets/ sills: They are the near horizontal bodies of intrusive igneous rocks. Thinner ones are called
as sheets and while thick horizontal deposits are called sills.
5. Dykes: When the lava comes out through cracks and fissures, they solidify almost perpendicular to
the ground to form wall like structures called dykes. (Eg: Deccan traps in Maharastra region).

Distribution of Volcanoes:
Most of the volcanoes in the world are found in three well defined belts:
1. The Circum-Pacific Belt (The Pacific Ring of Fire).
2. The Mid-World Mountain Belt.
3. The African Rift Valley Belt.

Volcanic Activity – Points To Note Down:

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 Volcanoes are closely related to the regions of intense folding and faulting.
 They occur along coastal mountain ranges, on islands and in the mid oceans.
 Interior parts of the continent are generally free from their activity.
 Most of the active volcanoes are found in the pacific region which is thus called as the Pacific Ring
of Fire.

EARTHQUAKES
Earthquakes and volcanoes are examples of sudden movements which originate from inside the
earth. We have already seen the types of volcanoes. But, what is an earthquake? To put it simple, earthquake
is the shaking of the earth. An earth quake can be defined as a sudden violent shaking of the ground as a
result of movements in the earth’s crust or volcanic action. These movements result in the release of energy
along a fault and cause the earth to shake. An earthquake, like volcanoes is a type of endogenic processes.

Earthquakes: Points you should not miss!

 The network of seismographic (seismograph is the instrument used to measure earthquakes) stations
all over the world record dozens of earthquakes every day. Most of them are not felt by human
beings as they are minor quakes only.
 The occurrence of a severe earthquake is limited to a few regions in the world.
 The point within the earth’s crust where an earthquake originates is called as the focus or
hypocenter or seismic focus.
 It generally lies within a depth of 6 kms in the earth crust.
 The point vertically above the focus on the earth’s surface is called as the epicenter.
 The intensity of earthquake will be highest in the epicenter and decreases as one moves away.
 All natural earthquakes take place in the lithosphere (i.e, the region which constitutes the earth’s
crust and rigid upper part of the mantle).

Earthquake Waves or Seismic Waves

 The earthquake which originates in the lithosphere propagates different seismic waves or
earthquake waves.
 Earthquake waves are basically of two types – body waves and surface waves.

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Body Waves
 They are generated due to the release of energy at the focus and moves in all directions traveling
through the body of the earth. Hence, the name – body waves.
 They travel only through the interior of the earth.
 Body waves are faster than surface waves and hence they are the first to be detected on a
seismograph.
 There are two types of body waves as primary waves and secondary waves.
Primary Waves (P-Waves):
 Primary waves are the fastest body waves (twice the speed of s-waves) and are the first to reach
during an earthquake.
 They are similar to sound waves, i.e, they are longitudinal waves, in which particle movement is in
the same direction of wave propagation.
 They travel through solid, liquid and gaseous materials.
 They create density differences in the earth material leading to stretching and squeezing.

Secondary Waves (S-Waves):

 They arrive at the surface with some time-lag after primary waves.
 They are slower than primary waves and can pass only through solid materials.
 This property of s-waves led seismologists to conclude that the earth’s outer core is in a liquid state.
(the entire zone beyond 105o from the epicenter does not receive S-waves)
 They are transverse waves in which directions of particle movement and wave propagation are
perpendicular to each other.

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Surface Waves
 When the body waves interact with surface rocks, a new set of waves is generated called as surface
waves.
 These waves move along the earth surface.
 Surface waves are also transverse waves in which particle movement is perpendicular to the wave
propagation.
 Hence, they create crests and troughs in the material through which they pass.
 Surface waves are considered to be the most damaging waves.
 Two common surface waves are Love waves and Rayleigh waves.
Love Waves:
 This kind of surface waves causes horizontal shifting of the earth during an earthquake.
 They have much slower than body waves but are faster than Rayleigh.
 They exist only in the presence of semi-infinite medium overlain by an upper finite thickness.
 Confined to the surface of the crust, Love waves produce entirely horizontal motion.

Rayleigh waves:
 These waves follow an elliptical motion.
 A Rayleigh wave rolls along the ground just like a wave rolls across a lake or an ocean.
 Because it rolls, it moves the ground up and down and side-to-side in the same direction that the
wave is moving.
 Most of the shaking felt from an earthquake is due to the Rayleigh wave, which can be much larger
than the other waves.

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Shadow Regions Of Waves

 We already discussed that p-waves pass through all medium while S-waves passes only through
solid medium.
 With the help of these properties of primary waves, seismologists have a fair idea about the interior
of the earth.
 Even though p-waves pass through all mediums, it causes reflection when it enters from one
medium to another.
 The variations in the direction of waves are inferred with the help of their record on seismographs.
 The area where the seismograph records no waves is called as ‘shadow zone’ of that wave.
 Accordingly, it is observed that the area beyond 1050 does not receive S-waves and the area in
between 1050 to 1400 does not receive P-waves.

Measuring Earthquakes

 Seismometers are the instruments which are used to measure the motion of the ground, which
including those of seismic waves generated by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other seismic
sources.

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 A Seismograph is also another term used to mean seismometer though it is more applicable to the
older instruments.
 The recorded graphical output from a seismometer/seismograph is called as a seismogram. (Note:
Do not confuse seismograph with seismogram. Seismograph is an instrument while seismogram is
the recorded output)
 There are two main scales used in the seismometers: (1) Mercalli Scale and Richter Scale.

Mercalli Scale:
The scale represents the intensity of earthquake by analyzing the after effects like how many people
felt it, how much destruction occurred etc. The range of intensity is from 1-12.
Richter Scale:
The scale represents the magnitude of the earthquake. The magnitude is expressed in absolute
numbers from 1-10. Each whole number increase in Richter scale represents a ten times increase in power of
an earthquake.

Distribution of Earthquakes

 There are two well-defined belts where earthquakes frequently occur – The Circum-Pacific Belt
and The Mid-World Mountain Belt.

 About 68% of earthquakes in the world occur in the Circum-Pacific Belt.

 Mid-World Mountain belt extends from the Alps with their extension into Mediterranean, the
Caucasus, and the Himalayan region and continues to Indonesia.
 21% of earthquakes are occurring in this belt.
 The remaining 11% occur in the other parts of the world.

EXOGENIC FORCES: CLASSIFICATION

What are Exogenic Forces?

 The forces which derive their strength from the earth’s exterior or originate within the earth’s
atmosphere are called as exogenic forces or external forces.
 The action of exogenic forces results in wearing down and hence they are considered as land
wearing forces.

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Exogenic Processes or Denudation

 The processes which occur on earth’s surface due to the influence of exogenic forces are called as
exogenic processes or exogenic geomorphic processes.
 Weathering, mass wasting, erosion, and deposition are the main exogenic processes.
 All the exogenic processes are covered under a general term- denudation, which means strip off or
uncover.
 The elements of nature capable of doing these exogenic processes are termed as geomorphic agents
(or exogenic geomorphic agents). E.g. the wind, water, waves etc.
 Note: A process is a force applied on earth materials affecting the same. An agent is a mobile
medium (like running water, moving ice, winds, waves etc) which removes, transport and deposits
earth materials.
 Geomorphic processes and geomorphic agents especially exogenic, unless stated separately, are one
and the same.
 Gravity and gradients are the two things which make these agents mobile.
 All the movements either within the earth or on the surface of the earth occur due to gradients–
from higher levels to lower levels, from high pressure to low pressure etc.
 The exogenic forces derive their energy from atmosphere determined by the ultimate energy from
the sun and also the gradient created by tectonic factors. We have already discussed in previous
articles that slopes on earth surface are mainly created by tectonic factors or earth movements due
to endogenic forces.
 We know that force applied per unit area is called as stress. Stress is produced in a solid by pushing
or pulling.
 The gravitational force acts upon all earth materials having sloping surface and tends to produce
movement of matter in the down-slope direction. This creates stress and induces deformation to the
particles.

Weathering
 Weathering is the action of elements of weather and climate over earth material.
 It can be defined mechanical disintegration and chemical decomposition of rocks through the
actions of various elements of weather and climate.
 When rocks undergo weathering, some minerals are removed through chemical/ physical leaching
by ground water and thereby the concentration of remaining (valuable) minerals increase.
 Weathering can be classified as – physical, chemical and biological:

(1) Physical / Mechanical Weathering

 Physical or mechanical weathering processes depend on some applied forces.

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 The applied forces could be: (i) gravitational forces such as overburden pressure, load, and shearing
stress; (ii) expansion force due to temperature changes, crystal growth or animal activity; (iii) water
pressure controlled by wetting and drying cycles.
 Causes: Most of the physical weathering are caused by thermal expansion and pressure.
a) Unloading and expansion:
 Removal of overlying rock load because of continued erosion causes vertical pressure
release.
 Thus, the upper layers of the remaining rock expand to produce disintegration of rock
masses.
 Fractures will develop roughly parallel to the ground surface.
 In areas of curved ground surfaces, arched fractures tend to produce massive sheets
or exfoliated slabs.
 Exfoliation is a result but not a process. Flaking off of more or less curved sheets of
shells from over rocks or bedrocks results in smooth and rounded surfaces.
 So, unloading and expansion create large, smooth rounded domes called exfoliation
domes.

b) Temperature Changes and Expansion:

 With rising in temperature, every mineral expands and pushes against its neighbor
and as the temperature falls, a corresponding contraction takes place.
 Due to differential heating and the resulting expansion and contraction of surface
layers and their subsequent exfoliation from the surface results in smooth rounded
surfaces in rocks.
 In rock like granites, smooth surfaced and rounded small to big boulders
called tors form due to such exfoliation.

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c) Freezing, Thawing and Frost Wedging:

 Cycles of freezing and thawing (the weather becomes warmer and causes snow and
ice to melt) causes frost weathering.
 It is most effective at high elevations in mid-latitude where freezing and melting is
often repeated.
 Rapid freezing of water causes its sudden expansion and high pressure. The resulting
expansion affects joints, cracks, and small intergranular fractures to become wider
and wider till the rock breaks apart.

d) Salt Weathering:
 Salts in rocks expand due to thermal action, hydration and crystallization.
 Many salts like calcium, sodium, magnesium, potassium and barium have a tendency
to expand.
 The expansion depends on temperature and their thermal properties. High
temperature ranges between 30-50 0 C of surface temperatures in desert favors such
salt expansions.
 Salt crystallization is the most effective of all salt weathering processes. It is favored
in areas of alternative wetting and drying conditions.

(2) Chemical weathering

Chemical weathering can be due to solution, carbonation, hydration or oxidation/reduction.

a) Solution:
 When something is dissolved in water or acids, the water or acid with dissolved content is
called as a solution.
 This process involves removal of solids in solution and depends upon the solubility of a
mineral in water or weak acids.
 When coming contact with water, many solids disintegrate and mix up as a suspension in
water.
 Soluble rock forming minerals like nitrates, sulphates, potassium etc are affected by this
process.
 This kind of weathering mainly occurs in a rainy
 Minerals like calcium carbonate and magnesium bicarbonate present in limestone are soluble
in water containing carbonic acid (formed with the addition of carbon dioxide in water) and
are carried away in water as a solution.
 Common salt is also a rock forming mineral and is susceptible to this process of solution.

b) Carbonation:
 Carbonation is the reaction of carbonate and bicarbonate with minerals and is common
process helping to break down of feldspar and carbonate minerals.
 Carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and soil air is absorbed by water to form carbonic acid
that acts as a weak acid.
 Calcium carbonates and magnesium carbonates are dissolved in carbonic acid and are
removed in a solution without leaving any residue resulting in cave formation.

c) Hydration:
 Hydration is the chemical addition of water.
 Minerals take up water and expand; this expansion causes an increase in the volume of the
material itself or rock.
 The process is reversible and long, continued repetition of this process causes fatigue in the
rocks and may lead to their disintegration.
 e.g. calcium sulphate takes in water and turns to gypsum, which is more unstable than
calcium sulphate.

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d) Oxidation and Reduction:

 In weathering, oxidation means a combination of a mineral with oxygen to form oxides or
hydroxides.
 Minerals most commonly involved in this are iron, manganese, sulphur etc.
 The red color of the iron upon oxidation turns to brown and yellow.
 In this process of oxidation, rock breakdown occurs due to the disturbance caused by the
addition of oxygen.
 When oxidized minerals are placed in an environment where oxygen is absent, reduction
takes place.

(3) Biological weathering

 This kind of weathering is caused by several biological activities like growth or movements of
organisms.
 They also bring conditions for physical or chemical weathering.
 Grazing of animals, ploughing by human beings etc. are examples of biological weathering.

Mass Movements
 These movements transfer the mass of rock debris down the slope under the direct influence of
gravity.
 Mass movements are very active over weathered slopes rather than over unweathered slopes.
 Usual geographic agents like running water, glaciers, wind, waves etc. do not have much role to
play in mass movements, and it is the gravity, which is the main driving force.
 Mass movements are classified into slow movements and rapid movements.

(1) Slow movements:

a) Creep:
 It occurs on moderate steep, soil-covered slopes (doesn’t need to be lubricated with water as
in solifluction). The movement is extremely slow and imperceptible except through extended
observation. We might notice that some of the electric posts in our region which are posted in
sloppy areas deviated from their horizontal linearity. This is an effect of creep.
b) Solifluction:
 It is the process of slow downslope flowing of soil mass or fine-grained rock debris saturated
or lubricated with water. It can be said as a type of creep with lubricated water influences
the movement. It mainly occurs in permafrost regions as the layers of ground water are
occupied in between permanently frozen soil and rocks.

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(2) Rapid movements

1. Earthflow:
 Movement of water-saturated clayey or silty earth materials down low angle terraces or hillsides
is called earthflow

2. Mudflow:
 In the absence of vegetation and cover and with heavy rainfall, thick layers of weathered
materials get saturated with water and either slow or rapidly flow down along definite channels
is called as mudflow.

3. Debris avalanche:
 It is more in humid regions with or without vegetation. It occurs in narrow tracks on sleep slopes
and is similar to snow avalanche.

4. Landslides:
 In landslides, the materials involved are relatively dry irrespective of the above said rapid mass
movements. Landslides can be classified into slump, debris slide, rock slide etc.
a. Slump: It is a type of landslide in which slipping of several units of rock debris occurs
with a backward rotation with respect to the slope over which the movement takes place.
b. Debris slide: In this type of landslide, there is no backward rotation. The fall is almost
vertical.
c. Rock slide: It is nothing but the slide of individual rock masses.

Erosion and Deposition

 Erosion is the acquisition and transportation of rock debris by geomorphic agents like running
water, the wind, waves etc.
 Though weathering aids erosion, it is not a pre-condition for erosion to takes place. (i.e., erosion
can take place in unweathered conditions also)
 Deposition is a consequence of erosion. The erosional agents loose their velocity and energy on
gentle slopes and materials carried by them start to settle themselves.
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 Note: Deposition is not the work of any agents. It is just the end result of erosion.
EROSION AND DEPOSITION: ACTION OF RUNNING WATER AND GROUNDWATER
In this post, we are dealing with the geomorphic agents – running water and groundwater, which
causes erosion and deposition. They form various erosional (destructional) and depositional (constructional)
landforms.

Even though we are considering the erosional and depositional activities and their landform creation,
it should be kept in mind that they are always aided by weathering and mass movements. There are some
other independent controls like (i) stability of sea level; (ii) tectonic stability of landmass; (iii) climate etc.
which influence the evolution of these landforms.

What does Running Water do?

 Running water, which doesn’t need any further explanation, has two components: one is
overland flow on the general land surface as a sheet and the other is linear flow as streams and
rivers in valleys.
 The overland flow causes sheet erosion and depending upon the irregularities of the land
surface, the overland flow may concentrate into narrow to wide paths.
 During the sheet erosion, minor or major quantities of materials from the surface of the land are
removed in the direction of flow and gradual small and narrow rills will form.
 These rills will gradually develop into long and wide gullies, the gullies will further deepen,
widen and lengthen and unite to give rise to a network of valleys. (Note: A valley can be formed
in various ways like faulting, but here we are dealing only with the formation by means of
exogenic geomorphic agent).
 Once a valley is formed, it later develops into a stream or river.

Courses of a River
A river, which is the best example of the linear flow of running water through a valley, can be divided
into three, on the basis of its course – upper course, middle course and lower course.

Upper Course / Stage of Youth (Erosion dominates):

 It starts from the source of the river in hilly or mountainous areas.
 The river flows down the steep slope and, as a result, its velocity and eroding power are at their
maximum.
 Streams are few, with poor integration.
 As the river flows down with high velocity, vertical erosion or downward cutting will be high
which results in the formation of V-Shaped Valleys.
 Waterfalls, rapids, and gorges exist where the local hard rock bodies are exposed.

Middle Course/ Stage of Maturity (Transportation dominates):

 In this stage, vertical erosion slowly starts to replace with lateral erosion or erosion from both sides
of the channel.
 Thus, the river channel causes the gradual disappearance of its V-shaped valley (not completely).

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 Streams are plenty at this stage with good integration.

 Wider flood plains start to visible in this course and the volume of water increases with the
confluence of many tributaries.
 The work of river predominantly becomes transportation of the eroded materials from the upper
course (little deposition too).
 Landforms like alluvial fans, piedmont alluvial plains, meanders etc. can be seen at this stage.

Lower Course/ Stage of Old (Deposition dominates):

 The river starts to flow through a broad, level plain with heavy debris brought down from upper and
middle courses.
 Vertical erosion has almost stopped and lateral erosion still goes on.
 The work of the river is mainly deposition, building up its bed and forming an extensive flood
plain.
 Landforms like braided channels, floodplains, levees, meanders, oxbow lakes, deltas etc. can be
seen at this stage.

Erosion Types
The work of river erosion is accomplished in different ways, all of which may operate together.
They are corrasion, corrosion, hydraulic action etc.
1. Corrasion or Abration: As the rock particles bounce, scrape and drag along the bottom and sides of
the river, they break off additional rock fragments. This form of erosion is called corrasion or
abration. They are two types: vertical corrosion which acts downward and lateral corrosion which
acts on both sides.
2. Corrosion or Solution: This is the chemical or solvent action of water on soluble or partly soluble
rocks with which the river water comes in contact.
3. Hydraulic Action: This is the mechanical loosening and sweeping away of material by the sheer
force or river water itself. No load or material is involved in this process.

Transportation Types
After erosion, the eroded materials get transported with the running water. This transportation of
eroded materials is carried in four ways:
1. Traction: The heavier and larger rock fragments like gravels, pebbles etc are forced by the flow of
the river to roll along its bed. These fragments can be seen rolling, slipping, bumping and being
dragged. This process is called as traction and the load transported in this way are called traction
load.
2. Saltation: Some of the
fragments of the rocks move
along the bed of a stream by
jumping or bouncing
continuously. This process is
called as saltation.

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3. Suspension: The holding up of small particles of sand, silt and mud by the water as the stream
flows is called suspension.
4. Solution: Some parts of the rock fragments dissolved in the river water and transported. This type
of transportation is called solution transportation.

Erosional Landforms Due To Running Water

1. Valleys, Gorges, Canyon
 As we discussed above, valleys are formed as a result of running water.
 The rills which are formed by the overland flow of water later develop into gullies.
 These gullies gradually deepen and widen to form valleys.
 A gorge is a deep valley with very steep to straight sides.
 A canyon is characterized by steep step-like side slopes and may be as deep as a gorge.
 A gorge is almost equal in width at its top as well as bottom and is formed in hard rocks
while a canyon is wider at its top than at its bottom and is formed in horizontal bedded
sedimentary rocks

2. Potholes, Plunge pools

 Potholes are more or less circular depressions over the rocky beds of hills streams.
 Once a small and shallow depression forms, pebbles and boulders get collected in those
depressions and get rotated by flowing water. Consequently, the depressions grow in
dimensions to form potholes.
 Plunge pools are nothing but large, deep potholes commonly found at the foot of a waterfall.
 They are formed because of the sheer impact of water and rotation of boulders.

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3. Incised or Entrenched Meanders

 They are very deep wide meanders (loop-like channels) found cut in hard rocks.
 In the course of time, they deepen and widen to form gorges or canyons in hard rock.
 The difference between a normal meander and an incised/entrenched meander is that the
latter found on hard rocks.

4. River Terraces
 They are surfaces marking old
valley floor or flood plains.
 They are basically the result of
vertical erosion by the stream.
 When the terraces are of the same
elevation on either side of the
river, they are called as paired
terraces.
 When the terraces are seen only
on one side with none on the
other or one at quite a different
elevation on the other side, they
are called as unpaired terraces.

Depositional Landforms Due To Running Water

1. Alluvial Fans
 They are found in the middle course of a
river at the foot of slope/ mountains.
 When the stream moves from the higher
level break into foot slope plain of low
gradient, it loses its energy needed to
transport much of its load.
 Thus, they get dumped and spread as a
broad low to the high cone-shaped deposits
called an alluvial fan.
 The deposits are not roughly very well
sorted.

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2. Deltas
 Deltas are like an alluvial fan but develop at a different location.
 They are found in the mouth of the river, which is the final location of depositional activity
of a river.
 Unlike alluvial fans, the deposits making up deltas are very well sorted with clear
stratification.
 The coarser material settle out first and the finer materials like silt and clay are carried out
into the sea.

3. Flood Plains, Natural Levees

 Deposition develops a flood plain just as erosion makes valleys.
 A riverbed made of river deposits is the active flood plain and the flood plain above the bank
of the river is the inactive flood plain.
 Natural levees are found along the banks of large rivers. They are low, linear and parallel
ridges of coarse deposits along the banks of a river.
 The levee deposits are coarser than the deposits spread by flood water away from the river.

4. Meanders and oxbow lakes

 Meanders are loop-like channel patterns develop over the flood and delta plains.
 They are actually not a landform but only a type of channel pattern formed as a result of
deposition.
 They are formed basically because of three reasons: (i) propensity of water flowing over very
gentle gradient to work laterally on the banks; (ii) unconsolidated nature of alluvial deposits
making up the bank with many irregularities; (iii) Coriolis force acting on fluid water
deflecting it like deflecting the wind.
 The concave bank of a meander is
known as cut-off bank and the convex
bank is known as a slip-off
 As meanders grow into deep loops, the
same may get cut-off due to erosion at
the inflection point and are left as
oxbow lakes.
 For large rivers, the sediments
deposited in a linear fashion at the
depositional side of a meander are
called as Point Bars or Meander
Bars.

5. Braided Channels
 When selective deposition of coarser
materials causes the formation of a
central bar, it diverts the flow of river
towards the banks, which increases
lateral erosion.
 Similarly, when more and more such
central bars are formed, braided
channels are formed.
 Riverine Islands are the result of
braided channels.

What does Groundwater do?

 The part of rain or snow-melt water which accumulates in the rocks after seeping through the
surface is called underground water or simply groundwater.

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 The rocks through which water can pass easily are called as permeable rocks while the rocks which
do not allow water to pass are called as impermeable rocks.
 After vertically going down to some depth, the water under the ground flows horizontally through
the bedding planes, joints or through the materials themselves.
 Although the amount of groundwater varies from place to place, its role in shaping the surface
features of the earth is quite important.
 The works of groundwater are mainly seen in rocks like limestone, gypsum or dolomite which are
rich in calcium carbonate.
 Any limestone, dolomite or gypsum region showing typical landforms produced by the action of
groundwater through the process of solution and deposition is called as Karst Topography (Karst
region in the Balkans)
 The zones or horizons of permeable and porous rocks which are fully filled with water are called as
the Zones of Saturation.
 The marks which show the upper surface of these saturated zones of the groundwater are called as
the Water Tables.
 And these rocks, which are filled with underground water, are called as
 The water table is generally higher in the areas of high precipitation and also in areas bordering
rivers and lakes.
 They also vary according to seasons. On the basis of variability, water tables are of two types: (i)
Permanent water table, in which the water will never fall below a certain level and wells dug up to
this depth provide water in all seasons; (ii) Temporary water tables, which are seasonal water tables.
 Springs: They are the surface outflow of groundwater through an opening in a rock under hydraulic
pressure.
 When such springs emit hot water, they are called as Hot Springs. They generally occur in areas of
active or recent volcanism.
 When a spring emits hot water and steam in the form of fountains or jets at regular intervals, they
are called as geysers.
 In a geyser, the period between two emissions is sometimes regular (Yellowstone National Park of
USA is the best example).

Erosional Landforms due to Groundwater

Sinkholes and caves are erosional landforms formed due to the action of ground water.

1. Sinkholes
 Small to medium sized rounded to sub-
rounded shallow depressions called swallow
holes forms on the surface of rocks like
limestone by the action of the solution.
 A sinkhole is an opening more or less circular
at the top and funnel-shaped towards the
bottom.
 When as sinkhole is formed solely through
the process of solution, it is called as
a solution sink.
 Some sinkhole starts its formation through
the solution process but later collapse due to
the presence of some caves or
hollow beneath it and becomes
a bigger sinkhole. These types
are called as collapse sinks.
 The term Doline is sometimes
used to refer collapse sinks.
 Solution sinks are more
common than collapse sinks.
 When several sink holes join
together to form valley of sinks,
they are called as

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 Lapies are the irregular grooves and ridges formed when most of the surfaces of limestone are
eaten by solution process.
2. Caves
 In the areas where there are alternative beds of rocks (non-soluble) with limestone or dolomite in
between or in areas where limestone are dense, massive and occurring as thick beds, cave
formation is prominent.
 Caves normally have an opening through which cave streams are discharged
 Caves having an opening at both the ends are called tunnels.

Depositional Landforms of Groundwater

1. Stalactites and stalagmites
 They are formed when the calcium carbonates dissolved in groundwater get deposited once the
water evaporates.
 These structures are commonly found in limestone caves.
 Stalactites are calcium carbonate deposits hanging as icicles while Stalagmites are calcium
carbonate deposits which rise up from the floor.
 When a stalactite and stalagmite happened to join together, it gives rise to pillars or columns of
different diameters.

Folding and Faulting

 
Diastrophic processes - folding and faulting occur when pressure deep within the lithosphere cause the
earth=s surface to buckle, bend and even split apart.
 
Folding - when the earth=s crust is pushed up from its sides
 - occurs at a very slow rate
 - Fold mountains occur where the crust is pushed up as plates collide which causes the crust to rise
up in folds.
Examples: Andes, Himalayas, Juras in Switzerland, Appalachians
 
Types of Folds      1. Anticline- the peak or hill of folded rock layers
2. Syncline - the trough or valley of folded rock layers
3. Tight fold - a sharp-peaked anticline fold
4. Overfold - bending or warping of folding rock layers
5. Recumbent fold - a fold that is bent so much that it is no longer vertical.
6. Nappe - a fold that has overturned so much the rock layers have fractured.
Faulting - when tension and compression associated with plate movement is so great that      blocks of rock
fracture or break apart.
- process can occur very rapidly
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- this rapid movement causes the ground to shake and vibrate, resulting in      earthquakes.
 
Types of Faults    1. Normal - rocks move away from each other due to land moving apart.
2. Rift valley/graben -two normal faults occur parallel to each other and the land sinks
between the two faults
3. Reverse Fault - opposite of normal; rocks are compressed such that one plate
moves up while the other decends below it
4. Horst - land rises between parallel faults.
5. Tear fault/strike-slip - two plates slide laterally past each other.

Deformation of rock involves changes in the shape and/or volume of these substances. Changes in shape
and volume occur when stress and strain causes rock to buckle and fracture or crumple into folds.

A fold can be defined as a bend in rock that is the response to compressional forces. Folds are most
visible in rocks that contain layering. For plastic deformation of rock to occur a number of conditions must
be met, including:

 The rock material must have the ability to deform under pressure and heat.
 The higher the temperature of the rock the more plastic it becomes.
 Pressure must not exceed the internal strength of the rock. If it does, fracturing occurs.
 Deformation must be applied slowly.

Faults form in rocks when the stresses overcome the internal strength of the rock resulting in a
fracture. A fault can be defined as the displacement of once connected blocks of rock along a fault plane.
This can occur in any direction with the blocks moving away from each other. Faults occur from both
tensional and compressional forces.

PLATE TECTONICS

The theory of plate tectonics has

done for geology what Charles Darwin's
theory of evolution did for biology. It
provides geology with a comprehensive
theory that explains "how the Earth works."
The theory was formulated in the 1960s
and 1970s as new information was obtained
about the nature of the ocean floor, Earth's
ancient magnetism, the distribution of
volcanoes and earthquakes, the flow of heat
from Earth's interior, and the worldwide
distribution of plant and animal fossils.

The theory states that Earth's

outermost layer, the lithosphere, is broken
into 7 large, rigid pieces called plates: the
African, North American, South American,
Eurasian, Australian, Antarctic, and Pacific
plates. Several minor plates also exist,
including the Arabian, Nazca, and Philippines plates.

The plates are all moving in different directions and at different speeds (from 2 cm to 10 cm per
year--about the speed at which your fingernails grow) in relationship to each other. The plates are moving
around like cars in a demolition derby, which means they sometimes crash together, pull apart, or sideswipe
each other. The place where the two plates meet is called a plate boundary. Boundaries have different names
depending on how the two plates are moving in relationship to each other

 crashing: Convergent Boundaries,
 pulling apart: Divergent Boundaries,
 or sideswiping: Transform Boundaries

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With respect to plate boundaries is your home located in the middle of, or near the boundary of a
plate? What does this mean for you tectonically?

Convergent Boundaries
Places where plates crash or crunch together are called
convergent boundaries. Plates only move a few centimeters
each year, so collisions are very slow and last millions of
years. Even though plate collisions take a long time, lots of
interesting things happen. For example, in the drawing
above, an oceanic plate has crashed into a continental plate.
Looking at this drawing of two plates colliding is like
looking at a single frame in a slow-motion movie of two
cars crashing into each other. Just as the front ends of cars
fold and bend in a collision, so do the "front ends" of
colliding plates. The edge of the continental plate in the
drawing has folded into a huge mountain range, while the
edge of the oceanic plate has bent downward and dug deep into the Earth. A trench has formed at the bend.

All that folding and bending makes rock in both plates break and slip, causing earthquakes. As the
edge of the oceanic plate digs into Earth's hot interior, some of the rock in it melts. The melted rock rises up
through the continental plate, causing more earthquakes on its way up, and forming volcanic eruptions
where it finally reaches the surface. An example of this type of collision is found on the west coast of South
America where the oceanic Nazca Plate is crashing into the continent of South America. The crash formed
the Andes Mountains, the long string of volcanoes along the mountain crest, and the deep trench off the
coast in the Pacific Ocean.

Are They Dangerous Places to Live? 

Mountains, earthquakes, and volcanoes form where plates collide. Millions of people live in and
visit the beautiful mountain ranges being built by plate collisions. For example, the Rockies in North
America, the Alps in Europe, the Pontic Mountains in Turkey, the Zagros Mountains in Iran, and the
Himalayas in central Asia were formed by plate collisions. Each year, thousands of people are killed by
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in those mountains. Occasionally, big eruptions or earthquakes kill large
numbers of people. In 1883 an eruption of Krakatau volcano in Indonesia killed 37,000 people. In 1983 an
eruption-caused mudslide on Nevada del Ruiz in Columbia killed 25,000 people. In 1976, an earthquake in
Tangshan, China killed an astounding 750,000 people.

On the other hand, earthquakes and volcanoes occurring in areas where few people live harm no one.
If we choose to live near convergent plate boundaries, we can build buildings that can resist earthquakes,
and we can evacuate areas around volcanoes when they threaten to erupt. Yes, convergent boundaries are
dangerous places to live, but with preparation and watchfulness, the danger can be lessened somewhat.

Divergent Boundaries
Places where plates are coming apart are called
divergent boundaries. As shown in the drawing above, when
Earth's brittle surface layer (the lithosphere) is pulled apart,
it typically breaks along parallel faults that tilt slightly
outward from each other. As the plates separate along the
boundary, the block between the faults cracks and drops
down into the soft, plastic interior (the asthenosphere). The
sinking of the block forms a central valley called a rift.
Magma (liquid rock) seeps upward to fill the cracks. In this
way, new crust is formed along the boundary. Earthquakes occur along the faults, and volcanoes form where
the magma reaches the surface.

Where a divergent boundary crosses the land, the rift valleys which form are typically 30 to 50
kilometers wide. Examples include the East Africa rift in Kenya and Ethiopia, and the Rio Grande rift in
New Mexico. Where a divergent boundary crosses the ocean floor, the rift valley is much narrower, only a
kilometer or less across, and it runs along the top of a midoceanic ridge. Oceanic ridges rise a kilometer or
so above the ocean floor and form a global network tens of thousands of miles long. Examples include the
Mid-Atlantic ridge and the East Pacific Rise.
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Plate separation is a slow process. For example, divergence along the Mid Atlantic ridge causes the
Atlantic Ocean to widen at only about 2 centimeters per year.

Transform Boundaries
Places where plates slide past each other are called
transform boundaries. Since the plates on either side of a
transform boundary are merely sliding past each other and
not tearing or crunching each other, transform boundaries
lack the spectacular features found at convergent and
divergent boundaries. Instead, transform boundaries are
marked in some places by linear valleys along the
boundary where rock has been ground up by the sliding. In
other places, transform boundaries are marked by features
like stream beds that have been split in half and the two
halves have moved in opposite directions.

Perhaps the most famous transform boundary in the

world is the San Andreas Fault, shown in the drawing above. The slice of California to the west of the fault
is slowly moving north relative to the rest of California. Since motion along the fault is sideways and not
vertical, Los Angeles will not crack off and fall into the ocean as popularly thought, but it will simply creep
towards San Francisco at about 6 centimeters per year. In about ten million years, the two cities will be side
by side!

Although transform boundaries are not marked by spectacular surface features, their sliding motion
causes lots of earthquakes. The strongest and most famous earthquake along the San Andreas Fault hit San
Francisco in 1906. Many buildings were shaken to pieces by the quake, and much of the rest of the city was
destroyed by the fires that followed. More than 600 people died as a result of the quake and fires. Recent
large quakes along the San Andreas include the Imperial Valley quake in 1940 and the Loma Prieta quake in
1989.

Reconstructing The Past

While the Earth

zones, the oldest seafloor is only about 200 million
years old. The oldest ocean rocks are found in the
northwestern Pacific Ocean and the eastern
Mediterranean Sea. Fragments of continental crust are
much older, with large chunks at least 3.8 billion years
found in Greenland.

With clues left

continents. Most researchers think modern plate
tectonics began about 3 billion years ago, based on
ancient magmas and minerals preserved in rocks from
that period.

"We don't really

have continental crust that was likely scraped off a
down-going slab [a tectonic plate in a subduction zone]
that is 3.8 billion years old," Van der Elst said. "We
could guess that means plate tectonics was operating,
but it might have looked very different from today."

As the continents jostle around

billion years ago. Its breakup is linked to a global
glaciation called Snowball Earth.

A more recent
America, North America and Europe nestled closely

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together, leaving a characteristic pattern of fossils and rocks for geologists to decipher once Pangaea broke
apart. The puzzle pieces left behind by Pangaea, from fossils to the matching shorelines along the Atlantic
Ocean, provided the first hints that the Earth's continents move.

CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY

Continental Drift was a revolutionary scientific theory developed in the years 1908-1912 by Alfred
Wegener (1880-1930), a German meteorologist, climatologist, and geophysicist, that put forth the
hypothesis that the continents had all originally been a part of one enormous landmass or supercontinent
about 240 million years ago before breaking apart and drifting to their current locations.  Based on the work
of previous scientists who had theorized about horizontal movement of the continents over the earth’s
surface during different periods of geologic time, and based on his own observations drawing from different
fields of science, Wegener postulated that about 200 million years ago this supercontinent that he called
“Pangaea,” (which means “all lands” in Greek) began to break up.

Over millions of years the pieces separated, first into two smaller supercontinents during the Jurassic
period, called Laurasia and Gondwanaland, and then by the end of the Cretaceous period, into the continents
we know today.

Wegener first presented his ideas in 1912, and then published them in 1915 in his controversial
book, The Origins of Continents and Oceans, which was received with great skepticism, and even hostility.
He revised and published his book in subsequent editions in 1920,1922, and 1929.  The book (Dover
translation of the 1929 fourth German edition) is still available today on Amazon and elsewhere.

Wegener’s theory, although not completely correct, and by his own admission, incomplete, sought to
explain why similar species of animals and plants, fossil remains, and rock formations, exist on disparate
lands separated by great distances of sea. It was also an important and influential step in leading to the
modern theory of plate tectonics, which is how scientists understand the earth’s structure, history, and
dynamics of the earth’s crust and the movement of continents today.

Opposition To Continental Drift Theory

There was much opposition to Wegener’s theory for several reasons. For one, he was not an expert
in the field of science in which he was making a hypothesis, and for another, his radical theory threatened
conventional and accepted ideas of the time. Furthermore, because he was making observations that were
multidisciplinary, there were more scientists to find fault with them.

There were also alternative theories to counter Wegener’s Continental Drift Theory. A commonly
held theory to explain the presence of fossils on disparate lands was that there was once a network of land
bridges connecting the continents that had sunk into the sea as part of a general cooling and contraction of
the Earth. Wegener, however, refuted this theory since he maintained that continents were made of a less
dense rock than that of the deep-sea floor and so would have risen to the surface again once the force
weighing them down had been lifted. Since this had not occurred, according to Wegener, “the only logical
alternative was that the continents themselves had been joined and had since drifted apart.” 1

Another theory was that warm water currents carried the fossils of temperate species found in arctic
regions. Modern scientists debunked these theories, but at the time they helped stall Wegener’s theory.

In addition, many of the geologists who were Wegener’s contemporaries were contractionists. They
believed that the Earth was in the process of cooling and shrinking, which they used to explain the
formation of mountains, much like wrinkles on a prune. Wegener, though, pointed out that if this were true,
mountains would be scattered evenly all over the Earth’s surface rather than lined up in narrow bands,
usually at the edge of a continent.

“Wegener also offered a more plausible explanation for mountain ranges….Wegener said they formed when
the edge of a drifting continent crumpled and folded - as when India hit Asia and formed the Himalayas.” 

One of the biggest flaws of Wegener’s Continental Drift Theory was that he did not have a viable
explanation for how continental drift could have occurred. He proposed two different mechanisms but each
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was weak and could be disproven. One was based on the centrifugal force caused by the rotation of the
earth, and the other was based on the tidal attraction of the sun and the moon. 3

Though much of what Wegener theorized was correct, the few things that were wrong were held
against him and prevented him from seeing his theory accepted by the scientific community during his
lifetime. However, what he got right paved the way for Plate Tectonics theory.

Despite the resistance to his theory, during his lifetime Wegener continued to advocate for it, and
there was much about it that was right.

Data Supporting Continental Drift Theory

Fossil remains of similar organisms on widely disparate continents support the theories of
continental drift and plate tectonics. Similar fossil remains, such as those of the Triassic land reptile
Lystrosaurus and the fossil plant Glossopteris, exist in South America, Africa, India, Antarctica, and
Australia, which were the continents comprising Gondwanaland, one of the supercontinents that broke off
from Pangaea about 200 million years ago. Another fossil type, that of the ancient reptile mesosaurus, is
only found in southern Africa and South America. Mesosaurus was a freshwater reptile only one meter long
that could not have swum the Atlantic Ocean, indicating that there was once a contiguous landmass that
provided a habitat for it of freshwater lakes and rivers.

Wegener also
found evidence of tropical
plant fossils and coal
deposits in the frigid Arctic
near the North Pole, and
also evidence of glaciation
in the plains of Africa,
suggesting a different
configuration and
placement of the continents
than their present one.

Wegener observed
that the continents and
their rock strata fit together
like pieces of a jigsaw
puzzle, particularly the east
coast of South America
and the west coast of
Africa, specifically the
Karoo strata in South
Africa and Santa Catarina
rocks in Brazil.  South America and Africa were not the only continents with similar geology, though.
Wegener discovered that the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States, for instance, were
geologically related to the Caledonian Mountains of Scotland. 

The incredible shrinking plant

When Wegener proposed continental drift, many geologists were contractionists. They thought
Earth's incredible mountains were created because our planet was cooling and shrinking since its formation,
Frankel said. And to account for the identical fossils discovered on continents such as South America and
Africa, scientists invoked ancient land bridges, now vanished beneath the sea. 

Researchers argued over the land bridges right up until the plate tectonics theory was developed,
Frankel said. For instance, as geophysicists began to realize that continental rocks were too light to sink
down to the ocean floor, prominent paleontologists instead suggested that the similarities between fossils
had been overestimated, Frankel said.

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Plate tectonics is the widely accepted theory that Earth's crust is fractured into rigid, moving plates.
In the 1950s and 1960s, scientists discovered the plate edges through magnetic surveys of the ocean floor
and through the seismic listening networks built to monitor nuclear testing. Alternating patterns of magnetic
anomalies on the ocean floor indicated seafloor spreading, where new plate material is born. Magnetic
minerals aligned in ancient rocks on continents also showed that the continents have shifted relative to one
another. 

THE THEORY OF SEAFLOOR SPREADING

Seafloor spreading is a geologic process where there is a gradual addition of new oceanic crust in
the ocean floor through a volcanic activity while moving the older rocks away from the mid-oceanic ridge.
The mid-ocean ridge is where the seafloor spreading occurs, in which tectonic plates—large slabs of Earth’s
lithosphere—split apart from each other.

Seafloor spreading was proposed by an American geophysicist, Harry H. Hess in 1960. By the use
of the sonar, Hess was able to map the ocean floor and discovered the mid-Atlantic ridge (mid-ocean ridge).
He also found out that the temperature near to the mid-Atlantic ridge was warmer than the surface away
from it. He believed that the high temperature was due to the magma that leaked out from the ridge. The
Continental Drift Theory of Alfred Wegener in 1912 is supported by this hypothesis on the shift position of
the earth’s surface.

The Process of Sea Floor Spreading

The mid-ocean ridge is the region where new oceanic crust is created. The oceanic crust is composed
of rocks that move away from the ridge as new crust is being formed. The formation of the new crust is due
to the rising of the molten material (magma) from the mantle by convection current. When the molten
magma reaches the oceanic crust, it cools and pushes away the existing rocks from the ridge equally in both
directions.

A younger oceanic crust is then formed, causing the spread of the ocean floor. The new rock is dense
but not as dense as the old rock that moves away from the ridge. As the rock moves, further, it becomes
colder and denser until it reaches an ocean trench or continues spreading.
It is believed that the successive movement of the rocks from the ridge progressively increases the ocean
depth and have greater depths in the ocean trenches. Seafloor spreading leads to the renewal of the ocean
floor in every 200 million years, a period of time for building a mid-ocean ridge, moving away across the
ocean and subduction into a trench.’
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The Subduction Process

The highly dense oceanic crust that is formed after a progressive spreading is destined to two
possible occurrences. It can either be subducted into the ocean deep trench or continue to spread across the
ocean until it reaches a coast.

Subduction is the

beneath another plate. It occurs when an incredibly dense ocean crust meets a deep ocean trench. On the
other hand, if the ocean crusts continuous to move along the ocean and not found a trench, no subduction
will occur. It will continue to spread until a coast is found and literally pushing it away towards its direction.

Two possible things could happen in the subduction of ocean crust. Once the subduction occurs, a
melting happens due to a tremendous friction. The ocean crust is then melted into magma. The magma
could either go back into the mantle for another convection currents leading again to another sea floor
spreading or it could burst through a crack in a continental crust and creates a volcano.

Subduction and sea-floor spreading are processes that could alter the size and form of the ocean. For
instance, the Atlantic Ocean is believed to be expanding because of its few trenches. Due to this, continuous
Seafloor spreading occurs and makes Atlantic Ocean floor to be connected to other continental crust making
the ocean gets wider over the time.

On the other hand, the Pacific Ocean has more trenches that lead to more subduction of ocean crusts
rather than the formation of the mid-ocean ridge. The Pacific Ocean is believed to be continuing to shrink.

Evidence of Sea Floor Spreading

Harry Hess’s hypothesis about seafloor spreading had collected several pieces of evidence to support
the theory. This evidence was from the investigations of the molten material, seafloor drilling, radiometric
age dating and fossil ages, and the magnetic stripes. This evidence however was also used to support the
Theory of Continental drift.

1. Molten material
Hess’s discovery on the warmer temperature near the mid-Atlantic ridge when he began the ocean
mapping, led to his evidence about the molten material underneath the ocean. The condition on the mid-
oceanic ridge was substantially different from other surfaces away from the region because of the
warmer temperature. He described that the molten magma from the mantle arose due to the convection
currents in the interior of the earth.
The convection current was due to the radioactive energy from the earth’s core that makes the
materials in the lower mantle to become warm, less dense and rise. The flow of the materials goes
through the upper mantle and leaks through the plates of the crust. This makes the temperature near the
mid-oceanic ridge becomes warm and the other surface to become cold because as the molten magma
continues to push upward, it moves the rocks away from the ridge.

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2. Seafloor drill
The seafloor drilling system led to the evidence that supports the seafloor-spreading hypothesis. The
samples obtained from the seafloor drill reveals that the rocks away from the mid-oceanic ridge were
relatively older than the rocks near to it. The old rocks were also denser and thicker compared to the
thinner and less dense rocks in the mid-oceanic ridge.
This means that the magma that leaks from the ridge pushes the old rocks away and as they increasingly
become distant, they more likely become older, denser, and thicker. On the other hand, the newest,
thinnest crust is located near the center of the mid-ocean ridge, the actual site of seafloor spreading.

3. Radiometric age dating and fossil ages

By the use of radiometric age dating and studying fossil ages, it was also found out the rocks of the
sea floor age is younger than the continental rocks. It is believed that continental rocks formed 3 billion
years ago, however the sediments samples from the ocean floor are found to be not exceeding 200
million years old. It is a clear evidence that the formation of rocks in the sea floor is due to reabsorption
of materials.

4. Magnetic stripes
In the 20th century, the magnetic survey was conducted in the Mid-ocean ridge in order to
investigate evidence of sea-floor spreading. By using the magnetometer, the magnetic polarity will be
shown through a timescale that contains the normal and a reverse polarity. The minerals contained in the
rocks are oriented opposite to the magnetic field. The patterns of the magnetic field will then be
compared to the rocks to determine its approximate ages.
The investigation of the mid-ocean-ridge, using the magnetic stripes resulted in the three discoveries.
First, stripes of normal and reversed polarity were alternate across the bottom of the ocean. Second, the
alternate stripes of normal and reversed polarity formed a mirror image to the other side of the ridge.
The third is the abrupt ending of stripes when it reached the edge of the continent or an ocean trench. It
was concluded that the sea floor is composed of different rocks according to ages and that they are
positioned equally in opposite directions. This records that there is a constant movement and spreading
of rocks on the ocean floor.

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