Landforms on the earth’s surface

The Earths mount put up be described as organism rough or smooth. Various geologic processes constantly remodel the humanss surface. several(prenominal) geological processes, much(prenominal) as those that make mountains or wear them down, typically take place at imperceptible rates. explosive events, however, can change the recordscape in a minute. Rates of these geological processes vary.Each continent has its individual arrangement of landforms, though similarities do exist. For example, lofty mountain ranges are located along the western sides of both northward and South America, since the two continents make up basically one land mass. A landform comprises a geomorphologic unit. Landforms are categorised by characteristics such as elevation, slope, orientation, stratification, rock exposure, and soil type. Landforms by name include mounds, hills, cliffs, valleys, and so forth. A number of factors, ranging from plate tectonics to erosion and deposition can generate and af fect landforms.In this article, I have chosen disruption vale.A suspension valley is a valley created by the administration of a rift. severing valleys are produced by tensional tectonic forces, which conk at divergent plate boundaries. Uninhabitable desert and fertile farmland, savourless arid plains and steep escarpments characterize todays jailbreak Valley.Some 20 million years ago, the earths crust weakened and separate itself aside creating a jagged rift, thousands of kilometres long, across the African continent. The land on every side erupted creating great volcanic mountains, piece the valley floor in stages sank into a low flat plain. This geologic phenomenon, dubbed the Great Rift Valley by the Scottish explorer John Walter Gregory, divides Kenya neatly down the distance of the country essentially separating east from west. Africas Great Rift Valley is a 6,000-mile crack (fissure) in the earths crust, stretching from Lebanon to Mozambique.Geologists know that vi olent subterranean forces that tore apart the earths crust formed the Rift Valley. These forces caused huge chunks of the crust to sink between parallel fault lines and force up molten rock in volcanic eruptions. Evidence that this process, called rifting, is still in progress comes from the many wide awake and semi-active volcanoes, located along the Rift.The Cenozoic rift brass of Eastern Africa extends from the Afar Depression in the north to beyond Lake Malawi in the south, a distance of about 5600 km. Close to the Equator it is made up of eastern and western rifts to either side of the Lake Victoria Basin.The most lengthy rift valley is located along the crest of the mid-ocean ridge system and is the matter of seafloor spreading. Existing continental rift valleys are usually the result of a failed arm (aulacogen) of a triple junction. Examples besides the Great Rift Valley include the Mississippi embayment and the Rio Grande Rift in North America. In some places this natur al divide is up to 100 km (60 miles) wide, while it reaches its narrowest point just north of Nairobi at 45 km wide.The valley floor is at its lowest near Lake Turkana where there is some no distinction between the Great Rift and the surrounding desert. As it heads south, however, the valley walls form sheer cliffs rising to 1,900 km (6,232 ft) at Lake Naivasha. afterward Naivasha, the valley descends again to 580 meters (1,902 feet) at the Tanzanian border. Subterranean movement is popular today as the Rift Valley is home to thirty active and semi-active volcanoes and countless hot springs along its length. This string of alkaline lakes and boiling springs northwestern United States of Nairobi includes Lake Baringo, Lake Bogoria, Lake Nakuru, Lake Elementaita, Lake Naivasha, and Lake Magadi in the south.These lakes are unique because their water is highly concentrate sodium carbonate. This situation is caused by the high alkalinity from the surrounding volcanic rocks linked w ith poor drainage outlets due to the steep sides of the valley. The high evaporation of the surface lake water results in sodium carbonate, which, in turn, creates an ideal breeding commonwealth for algae.Several species of fish, tilapia in particular, thrives in this environment. As a result, millions of birds sess to these soda lakes to feast on the abundant food supply of algae and fish. Each of the lakes in the Rift Valley string has a meagerly different water composition ranging.The formation of the Rift Valley continues, belike driven by mantle plumes and ultimately a result of the African supers well. The associated geothermal activity and spreading at the rift has caused the lithosphere to swerve from a typical 100 km thickness for continents to a specified 20 km. Within a few million years, the lithosphere may rupture and eastern Africa will split off to form a untested landmass. If spreading continues, this will lead to the formation of a new mid-ocean ridge.The O l Doinyo Lengai volcano remains active, and is currently the only natrocarbonatite volcano in the world.The Rift Valley has been a rich source of anthropological discovery, especially in an area known as Piedmont. Because the rapidly eroding highlands have fill up the valley with sediments, a favourable environment for the preservation of remains has been created. The castanets of several hominid ancestors of modern humans have been found there, including those of Lucy, a nearly complete australopithecine skeleton, which was discovered by anthropologist Donald Johanson. Richard and Meave Leakey have also done significant work in this region.References1)Geography. (2006). In Britannica Student Encyclopaedia. Retrieved July 4, 2006, from Encyclopdia Britannica bounty Service http//www.britannica.com/ebi/article-201425.2)The Physical Geography of Africa.W. M. Adams editor, A. S. Goudie editor, A. R. Orme editor. Publisher Oxford University Press. Place of event Oxford. offspri ng Year 1999. Page Number 18.3)Population and Energy A Systems Analysis of imagination Utilization in the Dominican Republic. Contributors Gustavo A. Antonini author, Katherine Carter Ewel author, Howard M. Tupper author. Publisher Florida Presses. Place of Publication Gainesville. Publication Year 1975.