Erosion and Deposition
Erosion and deposition, two actions that shape the world. Without them, earth'slandscaping would be similar to mars. Erosion is often confused with weathering, peoplebelieve that erosion is the act of breaking down sediments when in fact it is a mode oftransportation for these broken down sediments. Such modes of transportation are;running water, glacial movement, and wind. Erosion by definition is, the process by whichearth materials are moved by natural agents like moving water, wind and ice. Deposition isthe depositing of theses sediments in certain areas. for example wind deposits sand on anyobject where it continues to be deposited and forms a sand dune a large deposit if sand.erosion and deposition happens in many ways in forms and in many places. Running water is the most effective agent of erosion on the earth. running waterincludes all water that falls on earth and moves down hill under the pull of gravity, be itrain, snow or any other form of precipitation. like other agents of erosion, waters energycomes from the sun. The sun lifts water by evaporation and eventually it is redeposited allover the world. A key word to running water is carrying power. the carrying power of
Long island is one big terminal moriane and outwash from the glacier can be found southof it. A river will roar straightdown a mountain carrying anything in its path because the mountain is on a slope, thesteeper the slope the greater the speed. Eventually the glaciers will drop the boulders and they will remain there like solitary lostgiants. Over time the river deposits enough sediments tocompletely separate the meander which forms an oxbow lake ("b" in diagram). Continental glaciers are be born in polar regions of high altitude, almost any area that isalways constantly covered in snow. when regular sand is being deposited a nice rounded duneis formed, but when loess or angular silt particles is being deposited the slipface will havemore of a stright drop to it. a big part of shaping this planet came from when the glaciers melted. Until the 1800's geologist believed all the sediments deposited out of place allover the country were transported there by a large flood, they even used this theory toexplain large boulders (sometimes the size of a house not at all rounded as they would beif they were in a river) deposited right in the middle of a field or an area whose bedrockwas not at all similar to the composition of the boulder. Winds are a powerful agent of erosion and a good example of deposition. The greater the slope of the bed ofa stream, the greater the velocity (or speed) the water will have, then the greater thecarrying power and in turn the greater the erosion. the bottom layers of ice begin to flowdownward or outward, (depending on the area) because of the pressure of overlyingsnow and firn. as a glaciermoves it carries drift two types of it, out wash and till. some other key words are, slope, and velocity. All that running water is very impressive, but the mostimpressive are the "mountain movers".
Common topics in this essay:
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Louis Agassiz,
Feldspar Verry,
Greenland Himalayas,
running water,
agent erosion,
wind erosion,
valley glacier,
continental glacier,
carrying power,
water carrying power,
pressure overlying snow,
called abrasion,
sediments deposited,
powerful agent erosion,
glacial movement,
water wind,
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