GEOMORPHIC PROCESSES: processes of weathering, erosion,

EXOGENIC PROCESSES transportation, and deposition.

• Its primary source is the energy
GEOMORPHIC PROCESSES coming from the sun which drives
• Physical processes which create and the weather.
modify landforms on the surface of • Weathering- disintegration of rocks
the earth. or breaking down of rock
• Mass wasting- also known as slope
movement ormass movement
caused by gravity
• Erosion- process of wearing away
that caused by wind, water, or other
natural agents.

EXOGENOUS PROCESSES
• Also called gradational processes,
they comprise degradation and
aggradation.
• A continuum of processes
• Geomorphic Agents
o Gravity
o flowing water (rivers)
o moving ice (glaciers)
o waves and tides
o Wind
o Flora, fauna, and
microorganisms

DEGRADATION PROCESSES
A. Weathering
B. Mass wasting
C. Erosion and Transportation WEATHERING
AGGRADATION PROCESSES • Weathering is on site breakdown of
A. Deposition rock and its eventual transformation
• Fluvial into sediments.
• Eolian • TYPES OF WEATHERING
• Glacial • Physical/ Mechanical
• coastal • Biological
DEGRADATION PROCESSES: • Chemical
• Exogenic processes are •
interconnected with the PHYSICAL OR MECHANICAL
atmosphere, hydrosphere, and • Disintegration and decay of rocks via
biosphere and includes the weather elements:
 • high temperatures • DOME EXFOLIATION
• extreme cold • Exfoliation – due to thermal
• freeze-thaw cycles expansion/contraction
• No change in chemical composition and/or release of pressure
of rocks when buried rocks are
• These are actions or things that uplifted and exposed
break down Earth materials

PHYSICAL OR MECHANICAL
FROST WEDGING
• cracking of rock mass by the
expansion of water as it freezes
in crevices and cracks

ABRASION
• Moving sediments or rock
sections can break off pieces
SALT WEDGING from a rock surface they strike.
• When the salt crystallizes, it • The sediments can be moved by
pushes apart the surrounding wind or water and the large rock
grains and weakens the rock, sections by gravity.
causing it to disintegrate when o WIND ABRASION
exposed to wind or rain.

THERMAL EXPANSION AND

CONTRACTION
o WATER ABRASION
• repeated heating and cooling of
materials cause rigid substances to
crack and separate
• occurs when a rock is exposed to
high temperature such as a forest
fire; its outer layer expands due to
baking.
• When it cools, the outer layer
contracts, causing the surface to
break-off into sheets.
 generate sinkholes or cave features such
as stalactites and stalagmites.

CHEMICAL WEATHERING
Oxidation
-important in iron-rich rocks – reddish FACTORS IN CHEMICAL WEATHERING
coloration like rust . • Climate – wet and warm maximizes
- Minerals may combine with oxygen to chemical reactions
form new minerals that are not as hard. • Plants and animals – living
organisms secrete substances that
react with rock
• Time – longer contact means greater
change
• Mineral composition – some
minerals are more susceptible to
Hydrolysis change than others
-igneous rocks have much silica which
readily combines with water BIOLOGICAL WEATHERING
- igneous rocks have much silica which -plants and animals contribute to
readily combines with water weathering.
-Roots physically break or wedge
rock
-Lichens (algae and fungi living as
single unit), remove minerals
and weaken rock by releasing
acids
Carbonation and Solution -Burrowing animals can increase
-carbon dioxide dissolved in water weathering.
reacts with carbonate rocks to create a PLANT GROWTH
soluble product (calcium bicarbonate) -As plants such as trees send out root
- Water, often containing acid from systems, the fine roots find their way
dissolved carbon dioxide, will dissolve into cracks in the rocks. As the roots
minerals from a rock body leaving increase in size, they force the rock
cavities in the rock. These cavities may sections apart, increasing the separation
and weathering.
 channels, rapids, waterfalls, plunge
pools, potholes, meandering
streams, bank erosion,ox bow lakes,
etc.

STREAMS AND RIVERS

• Flowing water will lift and carry
small sediments such as silt and
sand.
• STREAM EROSION AND
MASS WASTING DEPOSITION
• Mass wasting or mass movement is • Where water moves more
the downslope movement of rock, swiftly there will be more
soil, and ice due to gravity. It is also erosion.
a natural hazard that can cause • Where the water slows down,
damage to life and property. sediments will be deposited.

EROSION
• process of removing Earth materials
from their original sites through VOLCANIC ERUPTION
weathering and transport • The Earth’s surface is constantly
• Various Geomorphic Agents, changing.
associated Processes, and resulting
Erosional Features
o Water
§ Rain
§ streams and rivers
§ ocean dynamics
§ ice in glaciers
o Wind
o Gravity
OCEAN DYNAMICS
FLUVIAL MORPHOLOGY
• Tidal action and waves carry
• Flowing Water
away weathered materials
Humid regions:
Perennial streams and entrenched
 • When sediments are weathered
they may be transported
downward by gravity as a slump.
• Loose sediments transported by
gravity are called scree.

GLACIERS
• Glaciers are large ice fields that
slowly flow downhill over time.
• Glacial ice drags rocky material DEPOSITION
that scours the surface it flows Various geomorphic agents, associated
over. The glacier deposits debris processes and resulting Depositional
as it melts. Features
• Fluvial
• Humid regions: Braided
streams, sand bars,
floodplains (alluvium
deposits), natural levees,
distributaries, deltas
• Arid regions: Alluvial fans,
bajadas, piedmont alluvial
plains, playas, playa lakes,
WIND TRANSPORT OF SEDIMENTS Salinas (salt flats)
• Eolian – Wind
• Wind will carry fine, dry
• Sand dunes (Barchans,
sediments over long distances.
Parabolic, Transverse,
Longitudinal, Star), and sand
sheets
• Coastal – Sea beaches and coral
reefs
• Glacial
• Alpine: Glacial drifts, tills,
TRANSPORT BY GRAVITY moraines (lateral, medial,
end, terminal, recessional,
• When sediments are weathered
and ground)
they may be transported
• Continental: Till plains,
downward by gravity. The
outwash plains, drumlins,
general term for this is mass
eskers, kames, erratic
wasting.
Deposition Formation
Transported sediments are deposited in
layers and generate strata like those
found in the Grand Canyon.

• Wind – Eolian Landscapes

o deflation hollows, ventifacts,
yardang, etc

• Tides and Waves – Coastal

Morphology
o Sea cliffs, sea caves, sea
arches, sea stacks, wave-
cut beaches, etc..
• Moving Ice – Glacial Morphology
• glacial troughs (U-shaped valleys),
hanging valleys, glacial lakes,.