Internal Forces
External Forces
Relief
Landforms
Vocabulary
100

What are internal forces?

Internal forces are the inner agents in the planet that create the Earth’s relief, like continental drift, tectonic plates, orogeny, volcanoes and earthquakes

100

How doe External Forces work?

Over time, external forces shape landforms: Water, wind, temperature, plants, animals and humans are external agents that create or modify the Earth’s relief.

100

What is Glacial Relief? 

Glacial relief forms when large masses of ice move across high mountain and polar regions. 

100

What is a Valley?

Valley: is a low area between hills usually with a river running through

100

Area of land surrounded by water on all sides except one

Peninsula

200

What is the Continental Drift?

Continental drift (deriva continental) is a theory that says that the continents have been moving (or drifting) all along the geological eras.

200

Wind is an external force. How does it create relief?

Wind creates relief when it picks up and transports grains of sand and blows them against rocky surfaces (erosion, transport and deposition) This erodes the rock, often creating strange shapes, and eventually dunes.

200

What is Fluvial Relief? 

Fluvial relief forms when the moving water of rivers erode rock. Later in a river's course, river terraces and meanders are more common as the flow slows down. 

200

What is a Cape?

Cape: is a piece of land that projects into the sea.

200

Glacier

accumulation of ice in cold regions. It can be accumulated in the poles or it can move very slowly through a valley

300

Explain Volcanoes and name the parts of a volcano.

  • A volcano is an opening in the Earth's crust through which gases, rocks, volcanic ash and lava escape.
  • Its parts are cone, crater, side vents (chimeneas) and magma chamber.
300

Give an example of how humans cause relief.

Quarries, Mines

300

What is Karst Relief?

Karst relief forms when water dissolves' through permeable rock. On the surface, this can create landforms such as canyons and sinkholes. Below the surface, the water can create caves with stalactites and stalagmites.

300

What is the difference between a Plain and a Plateau?

Plain: is a flat area with an altitude under 200 m.

Plateau: is a flat area with an altitude over 200 m.

300

Mouth of a river where the sea enters into the river

Estuary (estuario)

400

What are Earthquakes?

  • An earthquake is a temblor of the planet’s surface, caused by the movement of parts of the Earth's crust or volcanic action. 
  • They happen millions of times a year, but most are so small people don't even feel them. When they are big, they can be extremely destructive.
400

What is the material that a river transports and deposits along its course?

Sediment

400

What shape valley does Fluvial relief create?

V-shaped valleys

400

What is a Delta?

Delta: Accumulation of sediments at the mouth of a river.

400

Narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas.

Isthmus (Istmo)

500

What is Orogenesis?

  • Orogenesis is a geological process that forms mountains and mountain ranges on the Earth's surface. 
  • It happens when two tectonic plates meet and one of them fractures and wrinkles, causing what, from our perspective, are mountains.
500
During Glacial relief, what shape valley is created?

Slow-moving ice leaves U-shaped valleys as it erodes and transports rock across the land. 

500

How does Temperature cause relief?

Heat causes rock to expand and the cold causes it to contract. As a result, frequent and sudden changes in temperature can create cracks and fractures in rock.

500

What is a Fjord?

Fjord (fiordo): is a valley of a glacier that is inundated by the sea. It has steep sides or cliffs.

500

A Valley of a river that is inundated by the sea

Ria

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