Land Forms
Category : UPSC
Land Forms
Contents of the Chapter
After weathering processes have had their actions on the earth materials making up the surface of the earth, the geomorphic agents like running water, ground water, wind, glaciers, waves perform erosion. Erosion causes changes on the surface of the earth. Deposition follows erosion and because of deposition too, changes occur on the surface of the earth.
A landmass passes through stages of development somewhat comparable to the stages of life-youth, mature and old age.
Running Water
In humid regions, which receive heavy rainfall running water is considered the most important of the geomorphic agents in bringing about the degradation of the land surface. There are two components of running water. One is overland flow in general land surface as a sheet. Another is linear flow as streams and rivers in valleys. Most of the erosional landforms made by running water are associated with vigorous and youthful rivers flowing along gradients. With time, stream channels over steep gradients turn gentler due to continued erosion, and as a consequence, lose their velocity, facilitating active deposition. In the early stages down cutting dominates during which irregularities such as waterfalls and cascades will be removed. In the middle stages, stream cut their beds slower, and lateral erosion of valley sides becomes severe. Gradually, the valley sides are reduced to lower and lower slopes. The divides between drainage basins are likewise lowered until they are almost completely flattened leaving finally, a lowland of faint relief with some standing out here and there. This type of plain forming as a result of stream erosion is called a pen plain (an almost plain). The characteristics of each of the stages of landscapes developing in running water regimes may be summarized as follows:
Youth
Streams are few during this stage with poor integration and flow over original slopes showing shallow V-shaped valleys with no floodplains or with very narrow floodplains along trunk streams. Streams divides are broad and flat with marshes, swamp and lakes. Meanders if present develop over these broad upland surfaces. These meanders may eventually themselves into the uplands. Waterfalls and rapids may exist where local rock bodies are exposed.
Mature
During this stage streams are plenty with good integration. The valleys are still V-shaped but deep; trunk streams are broad enough to have wider floodplains within which streams may flow in meanders confined within the valley. The flat and broad inter stream areas and the stream divides turn sharp. Waterfalls and rapids disappear.
Old
Smaller tributaries during old age are few with gentle gradients. Streams meander freely over vast floodplains showing natural levees, oxbow lakes, etc. Divides are broad and flat with lakes, swamps and marshes. Most of the landscape is at or slightly above sea level.
EROSIONAL LANDFORMS
Valleys
Valleys start as small and narrow rills; the rills will gradually develop into long and wide gullies; the gullies will further deepen, widen and lengthen to give rise to valleys. Depending upon dimensions and shape, many types of valleys like V-shaped valley, gorge, canyon, etc. can be recognized. A gorge is a deep valley with very steep to straight sides and a canyon in 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 its bottom. In contrast, a canyon is wider at its top than at its bottom. In fact, a canyon is a variant of gorge. Valley types depend upon the types and structure of rocks in which they form. For example, canyons commonly form in horizontal bedded sedimentary rocks and gorges form in hard rocks.
Pothles and Plunge Pools
Over the rocky beds of hill-streams more or less circular depressions called potholes form because of stream erosion aided by the abrasion of rock fragments. Such large and deep holes at the base of waterfalls are called plunge pools. These pools also help in the deepening of valleys. Waterfalls are also transitory like any other landform and will recede gradually and bring the floor of the valley above waterfalls to the level below.
Incised or Entrenched Meanders
But very deep and wide meanders found cut in hard rocks. Such meanders are called incised or entrenched meanders.
River Terraces
River terraces are surfaces marking old valley floor or floodplain levels. River terraces are basically products erosion as they result due to vertical erosion by the stream into its own depositional floodplain.
DEPOSITIONAL LANDFORMS
Alluvial Fans
Alluvial fans are formed when streams flowing from higher levels break into foot slope plains of low gradient. Alluvial fans in humid areas show normally low cones with gentle slope from head to toe and they appear as high cones with steep slope in arid and semi-arid climates.
Deltas
Deltas are like alluvial fans but develop at a different location. The load carried by the rivers it dumped and spread into the sea. It this load is not carried away far into the sea or distributed along the coast. It spreads and accumulates as a low cone.
Floodplains, Natural Levees and Point Bars
Floodplain is a major landform of river deposition. The flood plains in a delta are called delta plains.
Natural levees are found along the banks of large rivers. They are low, linear and parallel ridges of coarse deposits along the banks of rivers, quite often cut into individual mounds. During flooding as the water spills over the bank, the velocity of the water comes down and large sized and high specific gravity materials get dumped in the immediate vicinity of the bank as ridges. They are nearer the banks and slope gently away from the river. The levee deposits are coarser than the deposits spread by flood waters away from the river. When rivers shift laterally, a series of natural levees can form.
Point bars are also known as meander bars. They are found on the convex side of meanders of large rivers and are sediments deposited in a linear fashion by flowing waters along the bank.
Meanders
In large flood and delta plains, rivers rarely flow in straight courses. Loop-like channel patterns called meanders develop over flood and delta plains.
As meanders grow into deep loops, the same may get cut-off due to erosion at the inflection points and are left as ox-bow lakes.
Braided Channels: When rivers carry coarse material, there can be selective deposition of coarser materials causing formation of a central bar which diverts the flow towards the banks; and this flow increases lateral erosion on the banks. As the valley widens, the water column is reduced and more and more materials get deposited as islands and lateral bars developing a number of separate channels of water flow. Deposition and lateral erosion of banks are essential for the formation of braided pattern. Or, alternatively, when discharge is less and load is more in the valley, channel bars and islands of sand, gravel and pebbles develop on the floor of the channel and the water flow is divided into multiple threads. These thread-like streams of water rejoin and subdivide repeatedly to give a typical braided pattern.
Groundwater
Here the interest is not on groundwater as a resource. Our focus is on the work of groundwater in the erosion of landmasses and evolution of landforms. The surface water percolates well when the rocks are permeable, thinly bedded and highly jointed and cracked. After vertically going down to some depth, the water under the ground flows horizontally through the bedding planes, joints or through the materials themselves. It is this downward and horizontal movement of water which causes the rocks to erode. Physical or mechanical removal of materials by moving groundwater is insignificant in developing landforms. That is why; the results of the work of groundwater cannot be seen in all types of rocks. But in rocks like limestone or dolomites rich in calcium carbonate, the surface water as well as groundwater through the chemical process of solution and precipitation deposition develop varieties of landforms. These two processes of solution and precipitation are active in limestone’s or dolomites occurring either exclusively or inter-bedded with other rocks. Any limestone or dolomite region showing typical landforms produced by the action of groundwater through the processes of solution and deposition is called Karst topography after the typical topography developed in limestone rocks of Karst region in the Balkans adjacent to Adriatic sea.
The karst topography is also characterized be erosional and depositional landforms. Indian subcontinent is full of example of glaciers. It can be seen in mountainous area of Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu Kashmir. The source of Bhagirathi river is Gangotri glacier called ‘Gaumukh’. The source of Alakananda river is Alkapuri glacier. Where Alakhanda joins Bhagirathi at Devprayag it ows nomenclature as “The Ganga”.
EROSIONAL LANDFORMS
Pools, Sinkholes, Lapies and Limestone Pavements
Small to medium sized round to sub-rounded shallow depressions called swallow holes form on the surface of limestone’s through solution. It might collapse leaving a large whole opening into a cave or a void below (collapse sinks). The term do line is sometimes used to refer the collapse sinks. Solution sinks are more common than collapse sinks. Quite often the surface run-off simply goes down swallow and sink holes and flow as underground streams and re-emerge at a distance downstream through u cave opening. When sink holes and do-lines join together because of slumping of materials along their margins or due to roof collapse of caves, long, narrow to wide tranches called valley sinks or Uvalas form, Gradually, most of the surface of the limestone is eaten away by-these pits and trenches, leaving it extremely irregular with a maze of points, grooves and ridges or lapis. Especially, these ridges or lapis form due to differential solution activity along parallel to sub- parallel joints. The lapie field may eventually turn into somewhat smooth limestone pavements.
Caves: In areas where there are alternating beds of rocks (shales, sandstones, quartzite’s) with limestones or dolomites in between or in areas where limestone’s are dense, massive and occurring as thick beds, cave formation is prominent.
Stalactites, Stalagmites and Pillars: Stalactites hang as icicles of different diameters, Normally they are broad at their bases and taper towards the free ends showing up in variety of forms. Stalagmites rise up from the floor of the caves. In fact, stalagmites form due to dripping water from the surface or through the thin pipe, of the stalactite, immediately below it. Stalagmites may take the shape of column, a disc, with either a smooth, rounded bulging end or a miniature crater like depression. The stalagmite and stalactites eventually fuse to give rise to columns and pillars of different diameters.
Glaciers
Masses of ice moving as sheets over the land (continental glacier or piedmont glacier if a vast sheet of ice is spread over the plains at the foot of mountains) or as linear flows down the slopes of mountains in broad trough-like valleys (mountain and valley glaciers) are called glaciers. The movement of glaciers is slow unlike water flow. The movement could be a few centimeters to a few meters a day or even less or more. Glaciers move basically because of the form of gravity.
We have many glaciers in our country moving down the slopes and valleys in Himalayas. Higher reaches of Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, are places to see some of them. River Bhagirathi is basically fed by melt waters from under the snout (Gaumukh) of the Gangotri glacier. In fact, Alkapuri glacier feeds waters to Alakananda river. Rivers Alaknanda and Bhagirathi join to make river Ganga near Devprayag.
Erosion by glaciers is tremendous because of friction caused by sheer weight of the ice. The material plucked from the land by glaciers (usually large-sized angular blocks and fragments) get dragged along the floors or sides of the valleys and cause great damage through abrasion and plucking. Glaciers can cause significant-damage to even un-weathered rocks and can reduce high mountains into low hills and plains.
As glaciers continue to move, debris gets removed, divides get lowered and eventually the slope is reduced to such an extent that glaciers will stop moving leaving only a mass of low hills and vast outwash plains along with other depositional features. The highest peak in the Alps, Matterhorn and the highest peak in the Himalayas, Everest are in fact horns formed through headword erosion of radiating cirques.
Erosional Landforms
Cirque: The cirques quite often are found at the heads of glacial valleys. The accumulated ice cuts these cirques while moving down the mountain tops. They are deep, long and wide troughs or basins with very steep concave to vertically dropping high walls at its head as well as sides. A lake of water can be seen quite often within the cirques after the glacier disappears. Such lakes are called cirque or tarn lakes. There can be two or more cirques one leading into another down below in a stepped sequence.
Horns and Serrated Ridges
Horns form through head ward erosion of the cirque walls. It three or more radiating glaciers cut head ward until their cirques-meet, high, sharp pointed and steep sided peaks called horns form. The divides between cirque side walls or head walls get narrow because of progressive erosion and turn into serrated or saw- toothed ridges sometimes referred to as arêtes with very sharp crest and a zigzag outline.
Glacial Valleys/Troughs
Glaciated valleys are trough-like and U-shaped with broad floors and relatively smooth, and steep sides. The valleys may contain littered debris or debris shaped as moraines with swampy appearance. There may be lakes gouged out of rocky floor or formed by debris within the valleys. There can be hanging valleys at an elevation on one or both sides of the main glacial valleys are quite often truncated to give them an appearance like triangular facets. Very deep glacial troughs filled with sea water and making up shorelines (in high latitudes) are called fjords/fiords.
Depositional Landforms
The unsorted coarse and fine debris dropped by the melting glaciers is called glacial till.
Moraines: They are long ridges of deposits of glacial till. Terminal moraines are long ridges of debris deposited at the end (toe) of the glaciers. Lateral moraines form along the sides parallel to the glacial valleys. The moraine in the centre of the glacial valley flanked by lateral moraines is Called medial moraine.
Eskers
When glaciers melt in summer, the water flows on the surface of the ice or seeps down along the margins or even moves through holes in the ice. These waters accumulate beneath the glacier and flow like streams in a channel beneath the ice. Such streams flow over the ground (not in a valley cut in the ground) with ice forming its banks. Very coarse materials like boulders and blocks along with some minor fractions of rock debris carried into this stream settle in the valley of ice beneath the glacier and after the ice melts can be found as a sinuous ridge called esker.
Outwash Plains
The plains at the foot of the glacial mountains or beyond the limits of continental ice sheets are covered with glacio-fluvial deposits in the form of broad flat alluvial fans which may join to form outwash plains of gravel, silt, sand and clay.
Drumlins
Drumlins are smooth oval shaped ridge-like features composed mainly of glacial till with some masses of gravel and sand. The long axes of drumlins are parallel to the direction of ice movement. They may measure up to 1 km in length and 30 m or so in height. One end of the drumlins facing the glacier called the stoss end is blunter and steeper than the other end called tail. The drumlins form due to dumping of rock debris beneath heavily loaded ice through fissures in the glacier. The stoss end gets blunted due to pushing by moving ice. Drumlins give an indication of glacier movement.
Waves and Currents
Coastal processes are the most dynamic and hence most destructive.
Some of the changes along the coast take place very fast. At one place, there can be erosion in one season and deposition in another. Most of the changes along the coast are accomplished by waves. When waves break, the water is thrown with great force onto the shore, and simultaneously, there is a great churning of sediments on the sea bottom. Constant impact of breaking waves drastically affects the coasts. Storm waves and tsunami waves can cause far-reaching changes in a short period of time than normal breaking waves. As wave environment changes, the intensity of the force of breaking waves changes.
Other than the action of waves, the coastal landforms depend upon (i) the configuration of land and sea floor; (ii) whether the coast is advancing (emerging) seaward or retreating (submerging) landward. Assuming sea level to be constant, two types of coasts are considered to explain the concept of coastal landforms: (i) high, rocky coasts (submerged coasts); (ii) low, smooth and gently sloping sedimentary coasts (emerged coasts).
High Rocky Coasts
Along the high rocky coasts, the rivers appear to have been drowned with highly irregular coastline. The coastline appears highly indented with extension of water into the land where glacial valleys (fjords) are present. The hill sides drop off sharply into the water. Shores do not show any depositional landforms initially. Erosion features dominate.
Along with rocky coasts, waves break with great force against the land shaping the hill sides into cliffs. With constant pounding by waves, the cliffs recede leaving a wave-cut platform in front of the sea cliff. Waves gradually minimize the irregularities along the shore. The materials which fall off, and removed from the sea cliffs, gradually break into smaller fragments and roll to roundness, will get deposited in the offshore. After a considerable period of cliff development and retreat when coastline turns somewhat smooth, with the addition of some more material to this deposit in the offshore, a wave-built terrace would develop in front of wave-cut terrace. As the erosion along the coast takes place a good supply material becomes available to long shore currents and waves to deposit them as beaches along the shore and as bars (long ridges of sand and/or shingle parallel to the coast) in the near shore zone. Bars are submerged features and when bars show up above water, they are called barrier bars. Barrier bar which get keyed up to the headland of a bay is called a spit. When barrier bars and spits form at the mouth of a bay and block it, a lagoon forms. The lagoons would gradually get filled up by sediments from the land giving rise to a coastal plain.
Low sedimentary coasts
Along low sedimentary coasts the rivers appear to extend their length by building coastal plains and deltas. The coastline appears smooth with occasional incursions of water in the form of lagoons and tidal creeks. The land slopes gently into the water. Marshes and swamps may abound along the coasts. Depositional features dominate.
When waves break over a gently sloping sedimentary coast, the bottom sediments get churned and move readily building bars, barrier bars, spits and lagoons. Lagoons would eventually turn into a swamp which would subsequently turn into a coastal plain. The maintenance of these depositional features depends upon the steady supply of materials.
Storm and tsunami waves cause drastic changes irrespective of supply of sediments. Large rivers which bring lots of sediments build deltas along low sedimentary coasts.
Erosional Landforms
Cliffs, Terraces, Caves and Stacks Wave-cut cliff's and terraces are two forms usually found where erosion is the dominant shore process. Almost all sea cliffs are steep and may range from a few m to 30 m or even more. At the foot of such cliffs there may be a flat or gently sloping platform covered by rock debris derived from the sea cliff behind. Such platforms occurring at elevations above the average height of waves is called a wave-cut terrace. The lashing of waves against the base of the cliff and the rock debris that gets smashed against the cliff along with lashing waves create hollows and these hollows get widened and deepened to form sea caves. The roofs of caves collapse and the sea cliffs recede further inland. Retreat of the cliff may leave some remnants of rock standing isolated as small islands just off the shore. Such resistant masses of rock, originally parts of a cliff or hill are called sea stacks. Like all other features, sea stacks are also temporary and eventually coastal hills and cliffs will disappear because of wave erosion giving rise to narrow coastal plains, and with onrush of deposits from over the land behind may get covered up by alluvium or may get covered up by shingle or sand to form a wide beach.
Depositional landforms
Beaches and Dunes
Beaches are characteristic of shorelines that are dominated by deposition, but may occur as patches along even the rugged shores. Most of the sediment making up the beaches comes from land carried by the streams and rivers or from wave erosion. Beaches are temporary features. The sandy beach which appears so permanent may be reduced to a very narrow strip of coarse pebbles in some other season. Most of the beaches are made up of sand sized materials. Beaches called shingle beaches contain excessively small pebbles and even cobbles.
Just behind the beach, the sands lifted and winnowed from over the beach surfaces will be deposited as sand dunes. Sand dunes forming long ridges parallel to the coastline are very common along low sedimentary coasts.
Bars, Barriers and Spits
A ridge of sand and single formed in the sea in the off-shore zone (from the position of low tide waterline to seaward) lying approximately parallel to the coast is called an off-shore bar. An off-shore bar which o exposed due to further addition of sand is termed a barrier bar. The off-shore bars and barriers commonly from across the mouth of a river or at the entrance of a bay. Sometimes such bars get keyed up to one end of the bay when they are called spits. Spits may also develop attached to headlands/hills. The barriers, bars and spits at the mouth of the bay gradually extend leaving only a small opening of the bay into the sea and the bay will eventually develop into a lagoon. The lagoons get filled up gradually by sediment coming from the land or from the beach itself (aided by wind) and a broad and wide coastal plain may develop replacing a lagoon.
Winds
Wind is one of the two dominant agents in hot deserts. Winds cause deflation, abrasion and impact. Deflation includes lifting and removal of dust and smaller particles from the surface of rocks. In the transportation process sand and silt act as effective tools to abrade the land surface. The impact is simply sheer force of momentum which occurs when sand is blown into or against a rock surface. It is similar to sandblasting operation. The wind action creates a number of interesting erosional and depositional features in the deserts.
Erosional Landforms
Pediments and Pedi plains
Landscape evolution in deserts is primarily concerned with the Formation and extension of pediments. Gently inclined rocky floors close to the mountains at their foot with or without a thin cover of debris, are called pediments. Such rocky floors from through the erosion of mountain front through a combination of lateral erosion by streams and sheet flooding.
Erosion starts along the steep margins of the landmass or the steep sides of the tectonically controlled steep incision features over the landmass. Once, pediments are formed with a steep wash slope followed by cliff or free face above it, the steep wash slope and free face retreat backwards. This method of erosion is termed as parallel retreat of slopes through back wasting.
So, through parallel retreat of slopes, the pediments extend backwards at the expense of mountain front, and gradually, the mountain gets reduced leaving an inselberg which is a remnant of the mountain. That’s how the high relief in desert areas is reduced to low featureless plains called Pedi plains.
Playas: Plains are by far the most prominent landforms in the deserts. In basins with mountains and hills around and along, the drainage’s towards the center of the basin and due to gradual deposition of sediment from basin margins, a nearly level plain forms at the centre of the basin. In times of sufficient water, this plain is covered up by a shallow water body.
Such types of shallow lakes are called as playas where water is retained only for short duration due to evaporation and quite often the playas contain good deposition of salts. The playa plain covered up by salts is called alkali flats.
Deflation Hollows and Caves
Weathered mantle from over the rocks or bare soil, gets blown out by persistent movement of wind currents in one direction. This process may create shallow depressions called deflation hollows. Deflation also creates numerous small pits or cavities over rock surfaces.
The rock faces suffer impact and abrasion of wind-borne sand and first shallow depressions called blow outs are created, and some of the blow outs become deeper and wider fit to be called caves.
Many rock-outcrops in the deserts easily susceptible to wind deflation and abrasion are worn out quickly leaving some remnants of resistant rocks polished beautifully in the shape of mushroom with a slender stalk and a broad and rounded pear shaped cap above. Sometimes, the top surface is broad like a table top and quite often, the remnants stand out like pedestals.
Depositional Landforms
Wind is a good sorting agent. Depending upon the velocity of wind, different sizes of grains are moved along the floors by rolling or saltation and carried in suspension and in this process of transportation itself, the materials get sorted. When the wind slows or begins to die down, depending upon sizes of grains and their critical velocities, the grains will begin to settle.
So, in depositional landforms made by wind, good sorting of grains can be found. Since wind is there everywhere and wherever there is good source of sane and with constant wind directions, depositional features in arid regions can develop anywhere.
Sand Dunes
Dry hot deserts are good places for sand dune formation. Obstacles to initiate dune formation are equally important. There can be a great variety of dune forms.
Barchans
Crescent, shaped dunes called barchans with the points or wings directed away from wind direction i.e., downwind, form where the wind direction is constant and moderate and where the original surface over which sand is moving is almost uniform. Parabolic dunes form when sandy surfaces are partially covered with vegetation. That means parabolic dunes are reversed barchans with wind direction being the same. Self is similar to barchans with a small differences. Self has only one wing or point. This happens when there is shift in wind conditions. The long wings of serfs can grow very long and high. Longitudinal dunes form when supply of sand is poor and wind direction is constant. They appear as long ridges of considerable length but low in height. Transverse dunes are aligned perpendicular to wind direction. These dunes form when the wind direction is constant and the source of sand is an elongated feature at right angles to the wind direction. They may be very long and low in height. When sand is plenty, quite often, the regular shaped dunes coalesce and lose their individual characteristics. Most of the dunes in the deserts shift and j few of them will get stabilized especially near human habitations.
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