• Geomorphology - study of Earth's landforms
  • geologic processes that slowly shapes the landscape
  • opposing sets of processes occur to create relief (like mountains) in the landscapes:
    • internal and external
      • building and destroying
        

tectonic processes - Earth's moving plates converging plates - Cascades, Sierra Nevada diverging - Red Sea and African Rift Valley gradational process - widdling down mountains and canyons Eastern U.S. and Appalacian Mtns., Grand Canyon - both uplift and cutting down depositional process, filling in valleys and lowlands, seas Mississippi Valley California Central Valley

Structure of Earth

• series of layer or zones
  • Inner & Outer Core
  • different wave properties
    • inner - solid iron
      • enormous pressure
    • outer - molten convection
    • magnetic field produced
      
      
  • Mantle - 1800 miles thick
    • solid but plastic-like
      • deep formed rocks
      • olivine (Hawaiian lavas)
        
        
  • Asthenosphere - upper mantle
    • molten portion below lithosphere
    • plastic mantle zone
      
      
  • Lithosphere - upper portions of earth:
    • Rigid Zone
    • Mohorovicic ("Moho") layer of discontinuity
      • not at constant depth
        • Moho mirror mtns, like Rockies
    • Oceanic crust - heavier material
    • Continental crust - lighter material

Composition of the Earth's Crust

• Most common elements in Earth's crust
  • Oxygen = 47%; Silicon = 28% (75% combined)
    • abundant sand = SiO2
      
      
• Minerals - building blocks of rocks

  Mineral properties: color, luster, fracture patterns, hardness, etc. bonding properties reflected in landscapes