Wind-Shaped Landforms
What is a Sand Dune.
Moving water in a river can carry great amounts of energy. Erosion of the riverbed and banks over a long period can lower the river's course so much that the original land surface rests hundreds or even thousands of feet above the river. What is the name of this gorge-like landform that is created when a river cuts through the land?
What is a canyon.
A valley glacier moves slowly down valleys between mountains. As the glacier moves, it breaks and carries rocks on the valley floor and sides. When the glacier eventually melts or retreats, it leaves behind curved walls in the valley, shaped like the letter U. What type of landform is left behind by the retreating or melted glacier?
What is a U-Shaped Valley?
Landforms shaped by wind are the results of wind and erosion and deposition. When wind blows over the land, it moves sediments on the land surfaces through the air, or by bouncing sliding, or rolling sediments over the surfaces. What is erosion by wind action called?
What is a deflation.
This fan-shaped landform lies tat the mouths of rivers. Sediment carried downstream by the moving river is deposited when the river enters a larger, nonflowing body of water. What is this landform?
What is a delta.
Moving ice and rocks in a glacier erode land in their path. When a glacier eventually melts, it leaves behind a mixture of sediments called till. Till deposited along the edges of a glacier creates a ridge. What is the name of this landform?
What is a moraine.
When wind picks up sediments finer than sand, such as particles of clay and silt, the sediments are sometimes deposited far from their source. These deposits help to form fertile soil. What is the name of the landform that is formed by fine particles deposited by wind?
What is loess deposits.
Groundwater can erode soft rock like limestone through chemical weathering. In areas of high rainfall where limestone lies near the ground surface, underground caves can form. If the roof of the cave collapses, it creates a landform like a big hole in the ground. What is the name of this landform?
What is a sinkhole.
Some glaciers cut valleys in a coastal region. A valley cut by a glacier will sometimes be filled by a rising sea, forming a long, narrow inlet. Many of these water-filled landform can be found in Scandinavian countries like Norway and Finland. What are these landforms called?
What is a fiords.
In some dry climate areas, such as in Arizona, constant wind erode sand and finer sediments and polish and shape the remaining pebbles and larger stones on the ground. The remaining stones look like a street surface covered with cobblestones. What is the name of this landform?
What is desert pavement.
Ocean waves erode land, depositing sediments along a coast. During storms such as hurricanes, waves erode sand on the bottom of shallow water, depositing in the sand in a strip of land above sea level. Many people build homes on this landform, despite the risk of having the strip of land eroded away during the next storm. Galveston Island and South Padre Island are two of these landforms along the Texas Gulf Coast. What are these landforms called?
What is a barrier Island.
Glaciers moving over existing moraines may smooth them through eroding action of ice and rocks. The resulting landform is a long, smooth mound of till shaped in the direction of the glacier's flow. What are these landforms called?
What is drumlins.