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WORLD

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GEOGRAPHY
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PRELIMS STATIC REVISION NOTES
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Part of BRAHMASTRA & Prelims Crash Course!

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Our Offline Centers: Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Indore, Jammu, Hyderabad

 WORLD PHYSICAL & HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

Index
CHAPTER – 1: INTRODUCTION 3
CHAPTER – 2: OUR SOLAR SYSTEM 7
CHAPTER – 3: THE GEOLOGICAL TIME SCALE AND EVOLUTIONS 24
CHAPTER – 4: LATITUDES & LONGITUDES 28
CHAPTER – 5: EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD 37

GEOMORPHOLOGY
CHAPTER – 6: INTERIOR OF THE EARTH 46
CHAPTER – 7: GEOLOGY AND ROCK SYSTEM 56
CHAPTER – 8: DYNAMIC SURFACE OF THE EARTH 62
CHAPTER – 9: EVOLUTION OF LANDFORMS DUE TO INTERNAL FORCES 75
CHAPTER – 10: VOLCANOES 81
CHAPTER – 11: EARTH QUAKE 87
CHAPTER – 12: MAJOR LANDFORMS AND THEIR ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE 90
CHAPTER – 13: GEOMORPHIC PROCESSES 102
CHAPTER – 14: DRAINAGE SYSTEMS AND PATTERNS 123

CLIMATOLOGY
CHAPTER – 15: ATMOSPHERE 131
CHAPTER – 16: CYCLIC PROCESS OF THE ATMOSPHERIC GASES 137
CHAPTER – 17: SOLAR RADIATION, HEAT BALANCE AND TEMPERATURE 139
CHAPTER – 18: TEMPERATURE 144
CHAPTER – 19: ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION AND WEATHER SYSTEMS 151
CHAPTER – 20: JET STREAM 162
CHAPTER – 21: AIR MASSES 165
CHAPTER – 22: CYCLONES 167
CHAPTER – 23: THUNDERSTORMS AND TORNADOES 181
CHAPTER – 24: HUMIDITY AND PRECIPITATION 190
CHAPTER – 25: WEATHER AND CLIMATE 209

OCEANOGRAPHY
CHAPTER – 26: OCEAN BASINS 219
CHAPTER – 27: PROPERTIES OF OCEAN WATERS 226
CHAPTER – 28: MOVEMENTS OF OCEAN WATERS 234
CHAPTER – 29: CORAL REEFS 246

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 WORLD PHYSICAL & HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

BIOGEOGRAPHY
CHAPTER – 30: SOIL 252
CHAPTER – 31: PROBLEMS OF INDIAN SOILS 265
CHAPTER – 32: FORESTS – NATURAL VEGETATION OF INDIA 268

WORLD HUMAN AND ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

CHAPTER – 1: INTRODUCTION 278

CHAPTER – 2: THE WORLD POPULATION 281
CHAPTER – 3: HUMAN SETTLEMENTS 289
CHAPTER – 4: ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES 295
CHAPTER – 5: SECONDARY ACTIVITIES 307
CHAPTER – 6: TERTIARY AND QUATERNARY ACTIVITIES 317
CHAPTER – 7: TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION 322

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 WORLD PHYSICAL & HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

CHAPTER-1

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INTRODUCTION

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GEOGRAPHY AS A DISCIPLINE

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Geography equips you to appreciate diversity and investigate into the causes responsible for creating such

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variations over time and space.
What is geography?

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 Definition: Geography is the study of physical features of the earth and its atmosphere, and of human
activity as it affects and is affected by these, including the distribution of populations and resources and

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political and economic activities.
 The term coined by: Eratosthenes, a Greek scholar (276-194 BC).
 Word Derived From: Two roots from Greek language geo (earth) and graphos (description).

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The major approaches to study geography:
Systematic Approach: Regional approach:
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Introduced by Alexander Von Humboldt, a Karl Ritter (1779-1859) developed this approach.
German geographer (1769-1859)  Approach: The world is divided into regions at
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 Approach: Phenomenon is studied world over as different hierarchical levels and then all the
a whole, and then the identification of typologies geographical phenomena in a particular region are
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or spatial patterns is done. studied.

 Ex-if one is interested in studying natural  Ex-Natural regions, Political regions or
designated region etc.
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vegetation, the study will be done at the world

level as a first step.
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Branches of Geography:
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Branches of Geography

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 WORLD PHYSICAL & HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

Branches of Geography (based on Systematic Approach)

Physical Geography Human Geography
 Astronomical Geography: It studies the  Social/Cultural Geography: Study of society and its
celestial phenomena which contain the spatial dynamics as well as the cultural elements
Earth, Sun, Moon and Planets of the Solar contributed by the society.
System.  Example-Tribal regions, ethnicity, Religion and
 Geomorphology: Devoted to the study of languages, cuisine etc.
landforms, their evolution and related  Population and Settlement Geography (Rural and
processes. Urban): Population geography studies population
 Example-Mountains, valleys, slope growth, distribution, density, sex ratio, migration and
development etc. occupational structure etc. whereas settlement
 Climatology: Encompasses the study of geography studies the characteristics of rural and urban
structure of atmosphere and elements of settlements.
weather and climates and climatic types and  Economic Geography: Studies economic activities of
regions. the people including agriculture, industry, tourism,
 Example-Monsson, IOD, Climate trade, and transport, infrastructure and services, etc.
change etc.  Historical Geography: Studies the historical
 Hydrology: Studies the realm of water over processes through which the space gets organised.
the surface of the earth including oceans,  Political Geography: Looks at the space from the
lakes, rivers and other water bodies and its angle of political events and studies boundaries, space
effect on different life forms including relations between neighbouring political units,
human life and their activities. delimitation of constituencies, election scenario and
 Soil Geography: Devoted to study the develops theoretical framework to understand the
processes of soil formation, soil types, their political behaviour of the population.
fertility status, distribution and use.  Example- Heartland and Rimland theories.
Biogeography
The interface between physical geography and human geography has led to the development of
Biogeography which includes:
 Plant Geography: Studies the spatial pattern of natural vegetation in their habitats.
 Example-Zonal and altitudinal distribution of vegetations.
 Zoo Geography: Studies the spatial patterns and geographic characteristics of animals and their
habitats.
 Ecology /Ecosystem: Deals with the scientific study of the habitats characteristic of species.
 Environmental Geography: Concerns world over leading to the realisation of environmental problems
such as land gradation, pollution.
Branches of Geography (based on Reginal Approach):
 Regional Studies/Area: Studies Comprising Macro, Meso and Micro Regional Studies.
 Regional Planning: Comprising Country/Rural and Town/ Urban Planning.

ORIGIN OF THE EARTH-EARLY THEORIES

 Nebular Hypothesis: Emmanuel Kant considered that the planets were formed out of a cloud of
material associated with a youthful sun, which was slowly rotating. This argument was later visited by
Laplace.

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 WORLD PHYSICAL & HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

 Wandering Star Hypothesis: Chamberlain and

Moulton in 1900 considered that a wandering star
approached the sun which resulted a cigar-shaped
extension of material separated from the solar surface.
As the passing star moved away, the separated material
from the solar surface continued to revolve around the
sun and it slowly condensed into planets.
 Sir James Jeans and later Sir Harold Jeffrey
supported this hypothesis.
 Revised Nebular Hypothesis: Otto Schmidt in
Russia and Carl Weizascar in Germany in 1950
considered that the sun was surrounded by solar nebula
containing mostly the hydrogen and helium along with
what may be termed as dust. The friction and collision
of particles led to formation of a disk-shaped cloud and
the planets were formed through the process of
accretion.

MODERN THEORIES-ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE

Big Bang Theory
 Expanding Universe Hypothesis: This
is another name for Big Bang Theory.
 Edwin Hubble, in 1920, provided
evidence that the universe is expanding
based on balloon experiment.
 Hubble’s balloon experiment: Take a
balloon and mark some points on it to
represent the galaxies. Now, if you start
inflating the balloon, the points marked on
the balloon will appear to be moving away
from each other as the balloon expands.
Similarly, the distance between the
galaxies is also found to be increasing and
thereby, the universe is considered to be expanding.
 According to scientists BBT is partially Correct: Scientists believe that though the space between
the galaxies is increasing, observations do not support the expansion of galaxies. So, the balloon
example is only partially correct

The Big Bang Theory considers the following stages in the development of the universe:
 Hoyle’s concept of steady state: It considered the universe to be roughly the same at any point of
time.
o Singular Atom: In the beginning, all matter forming the universe existed in one place in the form
of a “tiny ball” (singular atom) with an unimaginably small volume, infinite temperature and
infinite density.

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Explosion of Tiny Ball: 13.7 billion years before the present the singular atom exploded violently
which led to a huge expansion.
 This expansion continues even to the present day. As it grew, some energy was converted into

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matter.
 There was particularly rapid expansion within fractions of a second after the bang.
 Thereafter, the expansion has slowed down. Within first three minutes from the Big Bang event,

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the first began to form.

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o Rise of Atomic Matter: Within 300,000 years from the Big Bang, temperature dropped to 4,500K
(Kelvin) and gave rise to atomic matter and the universe became transparent.

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Formation of Stars:

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FORMATION OF PLANETS
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 Stages in the development of planets:

 Formation of a Core: The gravitational force within the lumps of gas leads to the formation of a
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core to the gas cloud and a huge rotating disc of gas and dust develops around the gas core.
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 Condensation of the Core: The gas cloud starts getting condensed and the matter around the core
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develops into small rounded objects.

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 Development of Planetesimal: The small-rounded objects around the core by the process of
cohesion develop into what is called planetesimals i.e. a large number of smaller bodies.

 Accretion of Planetesimals: large number of small planetesimals accrete to form a fewer large
bodies in the form of planets.

 Larger Bodies Start Forming by Collision: and gravitational attraction causes the material to
stick together.

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 WORLD PHYSICAL & HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

CHAPTER-2
OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

The Solar System is the gravitationally bound system of the Sun and the objects that orbit it formed
4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a giant interstellar molecular cloud. The vast
majority (99.86%) of the system's mass is in the Sun, with most of the remaining mass contained in the
planet Jupiter.

FORMATION AND EVOLUTION

 Gravitational Collapse of Pre-Solar Nebula: The Solar System formed 4.568 billion years
ago from the gravitational collapse of a region within a large molecular cloud.
 Conservation of Angular Momentum: Due to collapse of pre solar nebula cause it to rotate faster.
 Formation of Protoplanetary Disc: As the contracting nebula rotated faster, it began to flatten
into protoplanetary disc.
 Accretion of Disc: Formed the planet in which dust and gas gravitationally attracted each
other, coalescing to form ever larger bodies.
 Formation of Inner Planets: Due to their higher boiling points, only metals and silicates could
exist in solid form in the warm inner solar system close to the Sun, and these eventually formed
the rocky planets of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.
 Why Small in size?
o Because metallic elements only comprised a very small fraction of the solar nebula, the
terrestrial planets could not grow very large.
 Formation of Outer Planets: The giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) formed
beyond the frost line, the point between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter where material is cool
enough for volatile icy compounds to remain solid.
 Why Giant in Size?
o The ices that formed these planets were more plentiful than the metals and silicates that
formed the terrestrial inner planets, allowing them to grow massive enough to capture
large atmospheres of hydrogen and helium.
 Leftover Debris: That never became planets congregated in regions such as the asteroid belt,
Kuiper belt, and Oort cloud.
 Lifecycle: The Solar System will remain roughly as it is known today until the hydrogen in
the core of the Sun has been entirely converted to helium, which will occur roughly 5 billion
years from now.

The difference between Terrestrial and Jovian planets can be attributed to the following
conditions:
(i) Distance from the Parent Star: The terrestrial planets were formed in the close vicinity of
the parent star where it was too warm for gases to condense to solid particles whereas the
Jovian planets were formed at quite a distant location.

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 WORLD PHYSICAL & HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

(ii) Intensity of Solar Winds: Intense nearer the sun so, it blew off lots of gas and dust from the
terrestrial planets whereas solar winds were not all that intense to cause similar removal of
gases from the Jovian planets.
(iii) Size of the Planets: The terrestrial planets are smaller and their lower gravity could not hold
the scaping gases.

STRUCTURE AND COMPOSITION

The Sun is the dominant gravitational member of the Solar System, and its planetary system is
maintained in a relatively stable, slowly evolving state by following isolated, gravitationally
bound orbits around the Sun.

Orbits:
 Orbital Direction: Planets and most other objects
orbit the Sun in the same direction that the Sun is
rotating. That is, counter-clockwise, as viewed
from above Earth's north pole.
 Exceptions: Such as Halley's Comet and Neptune's
moon Triton is the largest to orbit in the
opposite, retrograde manner.
 Most larger objects rotate around their own
axes in the prograde direction relative to their
orbit. Exception-rotation of Venus is retrograde
 Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion: Stipulate that each object travels along an ellipse with
the Sun at one focus, which causes the body's distance from the Sun to vary over the course of
its year.
 Kepler's laws only account for the influence of the Sun's gravity upon an orbiting body, not
the gravitational pulls of different bodies upon each other.
 Perihelion: A body's closest approach to the Sun.
 Aphelion: A body’s most distant point from the Sun.
 The Orbits of the Planets: Nearly circular, but many comets, asteroids, and Kuiper belt
objects follow highly elliptical orbits.

Composition:
 The Principal Component: of the Solar System is the Sun, a low-mass star that contains
99.86% of the system's known mass and dominates it gravitationally.
 Sun’s Composition: roughly 98% hydrogen and helium, as are Jupiter and Saturn.
 Composition Gradient: exists in the Solar System, created by heat and light pressure from the
early Sun.
 Ex-objects closer to the Sun, which are more affected by heat and light pressure, are
composed of elements with high melting points and objects farther from the Sun are
composed largely of materials with lower melting points.

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Inner Solar Objects: are composed mostly of rocky materials such as silicates, iron or nickel.
 Outer Solar Objects: Jupiter and Saturn are composed mainly of gases with extremely low
melting points and high vapour pressure, such as hydrogen, helium, and neon.

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 Icy Substances comprise the majority of the satellites of the giant planets, as well as most
of Uranus and Neptune (the so-called "ice giants") and the numerous small objects that lie

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beyond Neptune's orbit.

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Distances and Scales:
Farther a planet or belt is from the Sun, the larger the distance between its orbit and the orbit of the

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next nearer object to the Sun.
 For example, Venus is approximately 0.33 AU farther out from the Sun than Mercury,
whereas Saturn is 4.3 AU out from Jupiter, and Neptune lies 10.5 AU out from Uranus.

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THE SUN

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The Sun is the Solar System's star and by far its most massive component. Its large mass (332,900
Earth masses) comprises 99.86% of all the mass in the Solar System which produces temperatures and
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densities in its core high enough to sustain nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium.
This releases an enormous amount of energy, mostly radiated into space as electromagnetic
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radiation peaking in visible light.

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Facts about the Sun

 Age: 4.6 billion years.
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 The Surface Gravity 274 m/s2 (28 times the gravity of the Earth).
 Period of Rotation: 25 days 9 hrs.
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 Composition: The Sun is composed of roughly 98% hydrogen and helium.

 Angular Momentum: Although the Sun dominates the system by mass, it accounts for only
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about 2% of the angular momentum due to the differential rotation within the gaseous Sun.
 Rotational Direction: Rotating in counter-clockwise direction (when viewed from a long way
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above Earth’s north pole).

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Internal Structure and Atmosphere of the Sun

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 The Solar Interior: From the inside out it is made up of the core, radiative zone and
the convective zone.
 The Solar Atmosphere: above convective zone consists of the photosphere, chromosphere,
and the corona.

Photosphere
 The photosphere is the bright outer layer of the Sun that emits most of the radiation.
 The effective temperature on the outer side of the photosphere is 6000°C.

Chromosphere
 Just above the Photosphere is the chromosphere which is relatively a thin layer of burning gases.

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The Sun’s Internal and External Structure

Sunspot
A dark patch on the surface of the Sun because, it is about 500-1500°C cooler than the surrounding
chromosphere.
 Number of Sunspot: Number varies according to the approximately 11-year solar cycle. The
individual sunspot has a lifetime ranging from a few days to a few months.
 Umbra: Sunspot having a black centre.
 Penumbra: A lighter region surrounding umbra.
 Effect of Sunspots: It has been suggested that the Sun is 1% cooler when it has no sunspot and
that this variation in solar radiation might affect the climates of the Earth.
 Probable Usage: Due to their correlation with other kinds of solar activity, sunspots can be
used to help predict space weather, the state of the ionosphere, and conditions relevant to short-
wave radio propagation or satellite communications.

Solar Wind
 Properties: A stream of energised, charged particles, primarily electrons and protons, flowing outward
from the Sun at speeds as high as 900 km/s and at a temperature of 1 million degrees (Celsius).
 Composition: It is made of plasma (ionised atoms).
 Effects of Solar Wind
 Aurora: A natural light display in the sky, predominantly seen in the high latitude (Arctic
and Antarctic) regions. (This is due to magnetic field lines of earth and solar wind)
o Reason: Caused by charged particles, mainly electrons and protons, entering the
atmosphere from above causing ionisation and excitation of atmospheric constituents,
and consequent optical emissions.
 Earth Magnetosphere: The solar wind is responsible for the overall shape of Earth’s
magnetosphere.
o Exception- Venus, the nearest and most similar planet to Earth in the Solar System,
has an atmosphere 100 times denser than our own, with little or no geomagnetic field.
 Trigger Geomagnetic Storms: That can wreak havoc with satellites and electricity
networks and threaten astronauts in space.

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Solar flares
 Solar Flares: Produced on the sun’s surface due to magnetic anomalies.
 Appearance: They are magnetic storms which appear to be very bright spots with a gaseous
surface eruption.
 Occurrence: Varies with the 11-year solar cycle.

Corona
Atmosphere of Plasma that surrounds the Sun and other celestial bodies.
 Visibility: Sun’s Corona visible during Total Solar Eclipse.
 The corona reaches extremely high temperatures. However, the corona is very dim. Why?
 The corona is about 10 million times less dense than the Sun’s surface. This low density
makes the corona much less bright than the surface of the Sun.
 The corona is in the outer layer of the Sun’s atmosphere far from its surface. Yet the
corona is hundreds of times hotter than the Sun’s surface. why?
 As per NASA’s IRIS mission packets of very hot material called "heat bombs" that travel
from the Sun into the corona explode and release their energy as heat. But astronomers
think that this is only one of many ways in which the corona is heated.
 How does the corona cause solar winds?
 The corona's temperature causes its particles to move at very high speeds. These speeds
are so high that the particles can escape the Sun's gravity.
Plasma
 One of the four fundamental states of matter: The others being solid, liquid, and gas.
 Properties: a superheated matter, so hot that the electrons are ripped away from the atoms
forming an ionized gas. It comprises over 99% of the visible universe.
 Phenomenon: In the night sky, plasma glows in the form of stars, nebulas, and even the
auroras that sometimes ripple above the north and south poles.
 Ex: Lightning and electric sparks are everyday examples of phenomena made from plasma.
 Ex: Neon lights could more accurately be called ‘plasma lights’, because the light comes
from the plasma inside of them.

Inner Solar System

 Comprises: The terrestrial planets and the asteroid belt.
 Composed: Mainly of silicates and metals.

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Inner Planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars)
 The Four Terrestrial or Inner Planets: Dense and are composed largely
of refractory minerals such as the silicates which form their crusts and mantles and metals such

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as iron and nickel which form their cores.
 Atmosphere: Three of the four inner planets (Venus, Earth and Mars)

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have atmospheres substantial enough to generate weather
 Landscapes: all have impact craters and tectonic surface features, such as rift valleys and

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volcanoes.
Note: The term inner planet should not be confused with inferior planet, which designates those

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planets that are closer to the Sun than Earth is (i.e. Mercury and Venus).

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Mercury:
 Size: Smallest planet in the Solar System and the closest to

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the Sun.
 Orbit Time: Orbits around the Sun in 87.97 Earth days,
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the shortest of all the Sun's planets.
 Tilt: Its axis has the smallest tilt of any of the Solar
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System's planets (about 1⁄30 ).

 Natural Satellites: Mercury has no natural satellites.
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 Atmosphere: Mercury's very tenuous atmosphere

consists of solar-wind particles trapped by Mercury's
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magnetic field, as well as atoms blasted off its surface by

the solar wind.
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Venus:
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 Size of the Planet: The third smallest planet in the Solar

System, sometimes called Earth's "sister planet"
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because of their similar size, mass, proximity to the Sun,

and bulk composition.
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 The Hottest Planet: With surface temperatures over

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400 °C , mainly due to the amount of greenhouse gases in

the atmosphere.
 The Brightest Natural Object in Earth's Night
Sky After the Moon: Venus can cast shadows and can
be visible to the naked eye in broad daylight.
 Rotational and Revolution Time Period: Synodic day length of 117 Earth days and
a sidereal rotation period of 243 Earth days. Consequently, it takes longer to rotate about its
axis than any other planet in the Solar System, and does so in the opposite direction to all
but Uranus.
 Natural Moon: Like Mercury, it does not have any moons.

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 Atmosphere: It has the densest atmosphere of the four terrestrial planets, consisting of more
than 96% carbon dioxide.
 Earth's "Evil Twin": Because of the lethal surface conditions.
 Has No Magnetic Field: That would prevent depletion of its substantial atmosphere, which
suggests that its atmosphere is being replenished by volcanic eruptions

The Earth:
 Size of the planet: Earth is the third planet from the Sun
and fifth largest planet in solar system and is the
only astronomical object known to harbour life which
formed over 4.5 billion years ago.
 Liquid Hydrosphere: About 71% of Earth's surface is
made up of the ocean making it unique among the
terrestrial planets.
 Dimension: Earth is an ellipsoid with a circumference of
about 40,000 km.
 Composition: Iron (32.1%), oxygen (30.1%), silicon
(15.1%), magnesium (13.9%), sulphur (2.9%), nickel
(1.8%), calcium (1.5%), and aluminium (1.4%), with the remaining 1.2% consisting of trace
amounts of other elements.
 Nature: Of the four rocky planets, it is the largest and most massive and is the densest planet in
the Solar System.
 Time Taken For One Revolution: About eight light minutes away from the Sun and orbits it,
taking a year (about 365.25 days) to complete one revolution.
 Rotational Time Period: Earth rotates around its own axis in just less than a day (in about 23
hours and 56 minutes).
 Earth's Axis of Rotation: Tilted with respect to the perpendicular to its orbital plane around
the Sun, producing seasons.
 Natural Satellite: Earth is orbited by one permanent natural satellite, the Moon, which orbits
Earth at 380,000 km (1.3 light seconds) and is roughly a quarter as wide as Earth.

The Moon:
 Size: By size and mass the fifth largest natural satellite of the Solar System.
 Nature: Only natural satellite of the earth which lacks any significant atmosphere,
hydrosphere, or magnetic field.
 Revolution: The Moon's orbit around Earth has a sidereal period of 27.3 days.
 Tidally Locked to Earth: Means that the length of a full rotation of the Moon on its own axis
causes its same side (the near side) to always face Earth, and the somewhat longer lunar day is
the same as the synodic period.
 Gravitational Field: The surface gravity of the Moon is about half of the surface gravity
of Mars and about a sixth of Earth's.

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 Origin of the moon: Theories

 Sir George Darwin’s Theory: In 1838, he
suggested that initially, the earth and the moon
formed a single rapidly rotating body. The whole
mass became a dumb-bell-shaped body and
eventually it broke. It was also suggested that the
material forming the moon was separated from
what we have at present the depression occupied by
the Pacific Ocean. However, the present scientists
do not accept either of the explanations.
 The Big Splat/Giant Impact Theory:
o A body of the size of one to three times that of
mars collided into the earth sometime shortly
after the earth was formed which blasted a large
part of the earth into space.
o This portion of blasted material then continued to orbit the earth and eventually formed
into the present moon about 4.44 billion years ago.

The Mars:
 Size: Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the
second-smallest planet in the Solar System, being
larger than only Mercury; approximately half the
diameter of Earth.
 Appearance/Red Planet: Mars can easily be seen
from Earth with the naked eye due to its
striking reddish colour . Red colour is due to the iron
oxide prevalent on its surface.
 Features: Has surface features such as impact craters,
valleys, dunes, and polar ice caps.
 Hydrology: Liquid water cannot exist on the surface
of Mars due to low atmospheric pressure, which is
less than 1% that of Earth's,
 Atmosphere: The atmosphere of Mars consists of
about 96% carbon dioxide, 1.93% argon and 1.89% nitrogen along with traces of oxygen and
water.
 Climate: The seasons of Mars are mostly like Earth, due to the similar tilts of the two planets'
rotational axes.
 Orbits and Rotation: The solar day on Mars is only slightly longer than an Earth day i.e. 24
hours, 39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds and Martian year is equal to 1 year, 320 days, and 18.2
hours.
 Natural Moons/Satellites: Mars has two relatively small (compared to Earth's) natural
moons, Phobos and Deimos.

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Asteroid Belt:
 Location: The asteroid belt occupies the orbit
between Mars and Jupiter.

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 Size: They range from a few metres to hundreds
of kilometres in size.

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 Formation: It is thought to be remnants from

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the Solar System's formation that failed to
coalesce because of the gravitational
interference of Jupiter.

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 Composition: Except for the largest, Ceres, are
classified as small Solar System bodies and are

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composed mainly of refractory rocky and
metallic minerals, with some ice.

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 Density: The asteroid belt is very sparsely
populated therefore spacecraft can routinely
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pass through without incident.
 Meteoroids:
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 Size: Smaller than asteroids, and range

in size from small grains to one-meter-
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wide objects.
 Meteor or "Shooting Star": A streak
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of light produced due to aerodynamic

heating of meteoroid, comet (an
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icy, small Solar System body) or asteroid

when they pass through Earth's
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atmosphere at a speed typically in excess

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 Meteor Shower: A series of many

meteors appearing seconds or minutes apart and are appearing to originate from the same
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fixed point in the sky.

 Meteorite: Remains of a meteoroid that has survived the ablation of its surface material
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during its passage through the atmosphere as a meteor and has impacted the ground.

OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM

Due to their greater distance from the Sun, the solid objects in the outer Solar System contain a higher
proportion of volatiles, such as water, ammonia, and methane than those of the inner Solar System
because the lower temperatures allow these compounds to remain solid.
 Giant Planets or Jovian Planets: The four outer planets that is Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and
Neptune are called as giant planets or Jovian planets.
 Ring System: All four giant planets have rings, although only Saturn's is easily observed from
Earth.

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Jupiter:
 Size: Fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System.
 Features: Primarily composed of hydrogen, but helium constitutes
one-quarter of its mass and one-tenth of its volume.
 Formation: Believed to be the oldest planet in the Solar System.
 Atmosphere: Jupiter's upper atmosphere is about 90% hydrogen and
10% helium by volume.
 Great Red Spot: Semi-permanent features in its atmosphere created
due to its strong internal heat.
 Satellites: Jupiter has 80 known satellites. The four largest, Ganymede, Callisto, Io,
and Europa, are called the Galilean moons.
 Ganymede: is the largest satellite in the Solar System which is larger than Mercury.
 Orbit: Completes an orbit every 11.86 years.

Saturn:
 Size: Sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar
System, after Jupiter.
 Composition: Saturn is a gas giant composed predominantly of
hydrogen and helium. It lacks a definite surface, though it is likely to
have a solid core
 Atmosphere: Saturn contains 96.3% molecular hydrogen and 3.25%
helium by volume.
 Orbit: It takes Saturn about 29+1⁄2 years to finish one revolution around the Sun.
 Natural Satellites: Saturn has 83 known moons. Titan, the largest moon, comprises more than
90% of the mass in orbit around Saturn, including the rings.
 Planetary rings: Extend from 6,630 to 120,700 kilometres outward from Saturn's equator and
average approximately 20 meters in thickness; composed predominantly of water ice.
 Main hypotheses regarding the origin of the rings.
o One hypothesis: the rings are remnants of a destroyed moon of Saturn.
o The second hypothesis: the rings are left over from the original nebular material from
which Saturn was formed.
 Density: Saturn is the only planet of the Solar System that is less dense than water.

Uranus:
 Size: Seventh planet from the Sun and has the third-largest
planetary radius
 Composition: Uranus is similar in composition to Neptune, and
both have bulk chemical compositions which differ from that of
the larger gas giants Jupiter and Saturn.

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 Atmosphere: Similar to Jupiter's and Saturn's in its primary composition of hydrogen and
helium, but it contains more "ices" such as water, ammonia, and methane, along with traces of
other hydrocarbons
 Orbit: Uranus orbits the Sun once every 84 years.
 Seasonal variations: Its axial tilt is over ninety degrees to the ecliptic which gives the planet
extreme seasonal variation as each pole points toward and then away from the Sun.
 It has a much colder core than the other giant planets and radiates very little heat into
space. As a consequence, it has the coldest planetary atmosphere in the Solar System.
 Satellites: Uranus has 27 known satellites, the largest ones being Titania, Oberon, Umbriel,
Ariel, and Miranda

Neptune:
 Size: Eighth planet from the Sun, fourth-largest planet by diameter
and the farthest known solar planet in the Solar System. Also it is
third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet.
 Ice giant planet: It is referred to as one of the solar system's two ice
giant planets (the other one being Uranus).
 Orbit: The planet orbits the Sun once every 164.8 years.
 Atmosphere: At high altitudes, Neptune's atmosphere is
80% hydrogen and 19% helium. A trace amount of methane is also
present.
 Satellites: Neptune has 14 known moons.
 Planetary Ring System: Less substantial than that of Saturn.

Comets:
 Properties: A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when
passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases
(outgassing) which produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and
sometimes also a tail.
 Size: Comet nuclei range from a few hundred meters to tens of
kilometres across and are composed of loose collections of ice, dust,
and small rocky particles.
 Orbit: Comets usually have highly eccentric elliptical orbits, and
they have a wide range of orbital periods, ranging from several years to potentially several
millions of years.
 Short-Period Comets: Originate in the Kuiper belt or its associated scattered disc, which lie
beyond the orbit of Neptune.
 Long-Period Comets: Originate in the Oort cloud, a spherical cloud of icy bodies extending from
outside the Kuiper belt to halfway to the nearest star.
 Nucleus: The solid, core nuclei are composed of an amalgamation of rock, dust, water ice, and
frozen carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and ammonia.

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Kuiper Belt:
 Location: Circumstellar disc in the outer
Solar System, extending from the orbit of

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Neptune to approximately 50 AU from the
Sun.

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 Size: It is similar to the asteroid belt, but is

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far larger( 20 times as wide and 20–200 times
as massive).
 Composition: While many asteroids are

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composed primarily of rock and metal, most
Kuiper belt objects are composed largely of

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frozen volatiles (termed "ices"), such as
methane, ammonia, and water.

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Pluto:
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 Location/properties: Pluto discovered in 1930 is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt.
 Size: Ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object directly orbiting the Sun.
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 Pluto has five known moons: Charon (the largest, whose diameter is just over half that of
Pluto), Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra.
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 Now, Pluto is not considered as a planet. Why?

According to IAU resolution of 2006, there are three conditions for an object in the Solar
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System to be considered a planet:

 The object must be in orbit around the Sun.
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 The object must be massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity. More specifically,
its own gravity should pull it into a shape defined by hydrostatic equilibrium.
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 It must have cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.

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Pluto fails to meet the third condition.

Differences Between an Asteroid, Comet, Meteoroid, Meteor and Meteorite:
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Asteroid Comet Meteoroid

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A relatively small, inactive, A relatively small, at times A small particle from a comet or
rocky body orbiting the Sun. active, object whose ices can asteroid orbiting the Sun.
vaporize in sunlight forming
an atmosphere (coma) of
dust and gas and, sometimes,
a tail of dust and/or gas.
Meteor Meteorite
The light phenomena which results when a A meteoroid that survives its passage through the
meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere and Earth’s atmosphere and lands upon the Earth’s
vaporizes; a shooting star. surface.

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Planets One Orbit around the Sun One Spin on Number of Moons
its own axis
Mercury 88 days 59 Earth days 0
Venus 255 days 243 Earth days 0
Earth 365 days 1 day i.e. 24 hours 1
Mars 687 days 24.6 hours 2
Jupiter 11 years, 11 months 9 hours 56 minutes 80
Saturn 29 years, 5 months 10 hours 40 minutes 83
Uranus 84 years 17 hours 14 minutes 27
Neptune 164 years 16 hours 7 minutes 14

ECLIPSE
An eclipse happens when a planet or a moon gets in the way of the sun’s light.
 Types: Solar eclipses that occur only on a new moon day and Lunar eclipses that occur only
on a full moon day.
 Reasons: Revolution of the moon around the earth close to the earth’s ecliptic plane, proximity
between the moon and the earth, and the relative apparent size of the sun and the moon, are all
together responsible for the occurrence of solar and lunar eclipses.
 Why do the sun and moon appear to be the same size from Earth?
 Because the Sun's distance from Earth is approximately 400 times the Moon's distance, and
the Sun's diameter is approximately 400 times the Moon's diameter, the Sun and the Moon
appear to be approximately the same size as seen from Earth.

Phases of the Moon/ The Lunar Phase:

The lunar phase or phase of the Moon is the shape of the sunlit portion of the Moon as viewed from
Earth. The lunar phases gradually and cyclically change over the period of a synodic month (about
29.53 days), as the orbital positions of the Moon around Earth and Earth around the Sun shift.

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Why most of the same lunar side phases earth?

The Moon's rotation is tidally locked by Earth's gravity; therefore, most of the same lunar side always
faces Earth. This near side is variously sunlit, depending on the position of the Moon in its orbit.
 Note: Tidal Locking is the situation when an object's orbital period matches its rotational
period. E.g. the Moon’s rotation time is 27.3 days, just the same as its orbital time, 27.3 days.

LUNAR ECLIPSE
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth’s shadow. This can occur only when the
Sun, Earth, and Moon are exactly or very closely aligned with Earth between the other two, which can
happen only on the night of a full moon when the moon is near either lunar node.

Types of Lunar Eclipses:

Total Lunar Eclipse Partial Lunar Eclipse Penumbral Lunar Eclipse
Occurs when Earth’s umbra - the Can be observed when only Happens when the Moon
central, dark part of its shadow - part of the Moon’s surface is travels through the faint
obscures all of the Moon’s obscured by Earth’s umbra. penumbral portion of
surface. Earth’s shadow.

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Blood moon

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During a total lunar eclipse, a small amount of light from Earth's sunrises and sunsets falls on the
moon's surface, and the moon can appear reddish due to the Earth's atmosphere, which absorbs other
colours while bending (refracting) some sunlight toward the moon, and how red the moon appears
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depends on the amount of pollution, cloud cover, or debris in the atmosphere.
How a total lunar eclipse works
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PERIGEE AND APOGEE

Like the Earth's orbit around the Sun, the Moon's path
around the Earth is elliptical.
 Perigee: The point in the Moon's orbit that is
closest to the Earth is called the perigee.
 Apogee: The point farthest from the Earth is
known as the apogee.
Note: The distance of perigee and apogee positions
change from time to time and on an average, the distance
is taken as 382,900 kilometres from the Moon's centre to
the centre of Earth.

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Sidereal period Synodic period

The orbit of a planet around the Sun measured with Synodic period is the time required for a
respect to the fixed stars is used to determine the sidereal body within the solar system, such as a
period. planet, the Moon, to return to the same
 Example- The sidereal period of the Earth is 365.25 position relative to the Sun as seen by an
days (Gregorian calendar month is about 30.44 days). observer on the Earth.
 Example-The Moon's sidereal orbital period (the  Example-The Moon’s synodic
sidereal month) is ~27.3 days - the time interval that period is the time between successive
the Moon takes to orbit 360° around the Earth relative recurrences of the same phase; e.g.,
to the fixed stars. between full moon and full moon.
The Moon completes one revolution
relative to the fixed stars in about 27.32
days (a sidereal month) and relative to
the Sun in about 29.53 days (a synodic
month). Thus, one Georgian year=12
Georgian months = ~ 13.37 sidereal
months ~ 12.37 synodic months. The
time difference in sidereal and synodic
months is due to the constantly shifting
orbital positions of the Moon around
Earth and of Earth around the Sun.

SOLAR ECLIPSE
A solar eclipse happens when the moon gets in the way of the sun’s light and casts its shadow on
Earth.

Types of Solar Eclipse:

The type of solar eclipse that happens during each season (whether total, annular or partial) depends
on apparent sizes of the Sun and Moon.
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Partial Solar Eclipse

 Occur when the Moon only partially obscures the Sun's disk and casts only its penumbra
on Earth.

Annular Solar Eclipse

 Take place when the Moon's disk is not big enough to cover the entire disk of the Sun, and
the Sun's outer edges remain visible to form a ring of fire in the sky.
 An annular eclipse of the Sun takes place when the Moon is near apogee, and the Moon's
ant umbra falls on Earth.

Total Solar Eclipse

 Happen when the Moon completely covers the Sun, and it can only take place when the
Moon is near perigee. One can only see a total solar eclipse if one is in the path where the
Moon casts its darkest shadow, the umbra.
Hybrid Solar Eclipse
The rarest type, occur when the same eclipse changes from an annular to a total solar eclipse, and/or
vice versa, along the eclipse's path.

Note: Because of the moon's tilted orbit around Earth with

regard to the Earth's orbital plane, not every new moon results
in a solar eclipse and not every full moon results in a lunar
eclipse (ecliptic).
Note: Solar and lunar eclipses only occur during eclipse
seasons, when the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun
intersects the plane of the Moon's orbit around the Earth.
Note: If the Earth's orbit around
the Sun and the Moon's orbit
around the Earth were both in the
same plane, a lunar eclipse would
occur at every full moon and a
solar eclipse would occur at every
new moon. And if both orbits
were completely circular, every
month's solar eclipse would be the
same type.

*******
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 WORLD PHYSICAL & HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

CHAPTER-3

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THE GEOLOGICAL TIME SCALE AND EVOLUTIONS

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THE GEOLOGICAL TIME SCALE AND EVOLUTIONS

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The Geological Time Scale (GTS) is a chronological measurement system that depicts the timing and

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linkages of events throughout Earth's history.
 Study: Scientists developed the time scale by studying rock layers and fossils worldwide
through radioactive dating.

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 Applications:
 GTS illustrate the vast diversity of life that has been present on Earth over time and also

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explains how Earth’s history has been influenced by catastrophes that have affected the
conditions on Earth and the diversity of its life-forms.

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Divisions of Geologic Time: Geological time begins with Precambrian time.

Era Events
Pre  Started 700 million years before present and Earth got changed from gaseous
Cambrian to the liquid state.
Era  Marine grasses evolved and Soft-bodied invertebrate animals evolved in
4600-570mya warm seas but land areas devoid of animals.
The Cambrian period: 1st Age of Amphibians: The end of the Palaeozoic era
period of the Palaeozoic era  Early land plants including mosses, ferns, and
and the explosion of life in the cone-bearing plants.
oceans began during this era.  The early coal forming forests were also formed
 Example-Invertebrates during this time. Example- Much of the
were dominate and fish limestone quarried for building and industrial
emerged during this time purposes, as well as the coal deposits of western
Palaeozoic which led to the arrival of Europe and the eastern United States were
Era amphibians formed during the Palaeozoic.
(Ancient  Breakup of the world-continent: The Cambrian (beginning) opened with the
Life) Breakup of the world-continent and Rodinia closed with the formation of
570-245mya Pangaea, as the Earth’s continents came together once again. This event is thought
to have caused the climate changes that led to the mass extinction events.
 Example-The Appalachian mountains were formed during this time.
Mass Extinction:
 At the end of the Palaeozoic, the largest mass extinction in history wiped out
approximately 90% of all marine animal species and 70% of land animals.
 Possible causes of this Mass Extinction Event
 Lowering of sea levels when the continents were re-joined as Pangaea
(convergent boundary)
 Increased volcanic activity (ash and dust)
 Pangea: At the beginning of this era, the continents were joined as Pangaea
and Pangaea broke up around the middle of this era.
 Reptiles: Reptiles became the most abundant animals because of their ability
to adapt to the drier climate of the Mesozoic Era.
 Example-Dinosaurs were also very active in this era and the first small
dinosaurs appeared in the Triassic Period. But Larger and more abundant
Mesozoic Era
dinosaurs appeared in the Jurassic Period.
(Middle Life)
 Mammals: Small mammals and birds also appeared during this era.
245-65.5mya
 Flora: The main plant life of this time were Gymnosperms or plants that
produce seeds, but no flowers.
 Example- Pine Tree. And flowering plants appeared during the END of
this era.
Mass extinction: This era ended with a mass extinction event about 65 million
years ago and many groups of animals, including the dinosaurs, disappeared
suddenly at this time.

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NOTE: Many scientists believe that this event was caused by a comet or asteroid
colliding with the Earth.
 Climate: warm and mild.  Ice Ages: Occurred late in the
 Marine animals: such as whales Cenozoic Era (Quaternary Period).
and dolphins evolved. Note: Humans are thought to have
 Mammals: began to increase and appeared around 3.5 million years ago (
evolve adaptations that allowed during the most recent period –
Cenozoic Era them to live in many different Quaternary).
– Recent Life environments – land, air, and the  Mountain Ranges: Formed during the
65.5mya-Till sea. Cenozoic Era.
date  Examples: Algae, Mollusks, Example-Alps in Europe and Himalayas
Fish and Mammals in India; Rocky Mountains in the USA
 Grasses: Increased and provided a Note: The growth of these mountains
food source for grazing animals may have helped to cool down the climate
and flowering plants were now the
most common plant lif

Evolution of Lithosphere:

Primordial Stage: The earth was mostly in a volatile state during its primordial stage but due to
gradual increase in density the temperature inside has increased as a result the material inside started
getting separated depending on their densities that allowed heavier materials (like iron) to sink towards
the centre of the earth and the lighter ones to move towards the surface.
Crust Formation: with passage of time heavier material cooled further, solidified, and condensed
into a smaller size, which later led to the development of the outer surface in the form of a crust.
Differentiation: During the formation of the moon, due to the giant impact, the earth was further
heated up and it is through the process of differentiation that the earth forming material got separated
into different layers.

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Evolution of Atmosphere and Hydrosphere:
There are three stages in the evolution of the present atmosphere.

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Origin and evolution of Life on Earth:

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CHAPTER - 4
LATITUDES & LONGITUDES
Latitudes and Longitudes (coordinate system) are imaginary lines used to determine the location of a
place on earth.

Example: The location of Mumbai on the Western Coasts of Maharashtra; 18.96oN, 72.82oE.

LATITUDE OR PARALLEL
Latitude is the angular distance of a place north or south of the
equator measured in degrees from the centre of the earth. Latitude
(ϕ) and longitude (λ) are defined on a perspective spherical modal.
 As the earth is slightly flattened at the poles, the linear
distance of a degree of latitude at the pole is a little longer
than that at the equator.
 For Ex: At the equator linear distance of a degree of
latitude is 110.57 km, at 45° it is 111.13 km and at the
poles, it is 111.7 km (69.4 miles). The average is taken
as 111 km.

Important Parallels of Latitudes:

Besides the equator (0°), the north pole (90° N)
and the south pole (90° S), there are four
important parallels of latitudes:
 The Tropic of Cancer (23½° N) in the
northern hemisphere.
 The Tropic of Capricorn (23½° S) in
the southern hemisphere.
 The Arctic circle (66½° N) in the
northern hemisphere.
 The Antarctic circle is (66½° S) in the southern hemisphere.

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Latitudinal Heat zones of the earth:

 Torrid Zone: The mid-day sun is exactly overhead at least once a year on all latitudes in
between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn and this area, therefore, receives the
maximum heat and is called the torrid zone.
 Temperate Zones: The mid-day sun never shines overhead on any latitude beyond the Tropic of
Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn and the angle of the sun’s rays goes on decreasing towards the
poles.
 Frigid Zones: Areas between the Arctic Circle and the North Pole in the Northern Hemisphere
and the Antarctic Circle and the South Pole in the Southern Hemisphere are extremely cold
because the sun does not rise much higher than the horizon. As a result, its rays are always
slanted and produce less heat.

LONGITUDE OR MERIDIAN
Longitude is an angular distance of a place
east or west of the Prime (First) Meridian
measured in degrees from the centre of the
earth.

General Information
 Meridians: On the globe, longitude is
shown as a series of semi-circles that
run from pole to pole passing through
the equator. Such lines are also called
meridians.
 Zero/Prime Meridian: In 1884, it
was decided to choose the meridian
which passes through the Royal
Astronomical Observatory at
Greenwich, near London, as the zero
meridian or prime meridian.

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Equal length of Meridian: All other meridians radiate eastwards and westwards of the prime
meridian up to 180° and unlike the parallels of latitude, the meridians of longitude are of equal
length.

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 Determine Local Time: The meridians of longitude determine local time in relation to
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which is sometimes referred to as World Time

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Longitude and Time:
 Since the earth makes one complete rotation of 360° in one day or 24 hours, it passes through
15° in one hour or 1° in 4 minutes.

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 The earth rotates from west to east, so every 15° we go eastwards, local time is advanced by 1
hour. Conversely, if we go westwards by 15°, local time is retarded by 1 hour. Thus, the places

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east of Greenwich gain time, whereas places west of Greenwich lose time.
 A traveller going eastwards gains time from Greenwich until he reaches the meridian 180° E

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when he will be 12 hours ahead of GMT (GMT+12). Similarly, in going westwards, he loses
12 hours when he reaches 180° W. There is thus a total difference of 24 hours or a whole day
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between the two sides of the 180° meridian. 180° E and 180° W correspond to the same
longitude. The difference is the direction of travel.
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Standard Time and Time Zones

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 Standard Time is the time corresponding to a certain longitude or longitudes as chosen by a

country.
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 Most countries adopt their standard time from the central meridian of their countries. E.g. IST
corresponds to the time at 82.5° E longitude.
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 In countries that have a very large longitudinal extent (large east-west span), such as Canada,
USA, Russia, it would be inconvenient to have a single time zone. So, such countries have
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multiple time zones. For example, Russia has nine time zones, and Canada and USA have six
time zones each.
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Indian Standard Time

Indian Standard Time (IST) is taken as the time at 82.5° E
longitude (passing close to the east of Prayagraj or Allahabad)
which means, IST is 5 hours 30 mins ahead of GMT (IST =
GMT+5:30).

Chaibagaan Time
One hundred fifty years ago, British colonialists introduced
“Chaibagaan time” or “Bagaan time”, a schedule observed by
tea planters, which was one hour ahead of IST. This was done
to improve productivity by optimising the usage of daytime.
After Independence, Assam, along with the rest of India, has
been following IST.

The International Date Line

The International Date Line (IDL) an imaginary line that passes through the Pacific Ocean. Along this
line, the date changes by exactly one day when it is crossed. A traveller crossing the date line from
east to west loses a day, and while crossing the dateline from west to east, he gains a day.
Explanation: 180° E is GMT+12 and 180° W is GMT-12, hence the difference between 180° E and
180° W is 24 hours. That is, time difference on either side of IDL is 24 hours. So, the date changes as
soon as one crosses IDL

What is the significance of the zigzag international dateline?

The International Date Line curves from the normal 180° meridian at the Bering Strait, and at the
island groups of Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia. If the dateline was straight, then two regions
of the same Island Country or Island group would fall under different date zones. Thus, to avoid any
confusion of date, this line is drawn in a zig-zag manner. Some of regions along the dateline keep
Asiatic, or New Zealand standard time, others follow the American date and time.

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Comparison of Latitude and Longitude

Basis Latitude Longitude
Definition Angular distance of a place north or An angular distance of a place east or
south of the equator measured in west of the Prime (First) Meridian
degrees from the centre of the earth. measured in degrees from the centre of
the earth.

Naming Named south and north of equator Named east and west of Zero meridian
Other Name Parallels Meridians
Reference Line Equator=0 degree latitude Prime meridian=0 degree longitude
Length Equator has the maximum length All longitudes are of equal length

MOTIONS OF THE EARTH

Rotation and revolution are the most important motions of the earth.
ROTATION OF EARTH: The spinning movement of the earth is called rotation.
General Information related to Rotation:
 Rotational Direction: The Earth rotates around its axis in west to east direction.
 Earth’s Axis: Earth’s axis is the imaginary line that passes through the North Pole, earth’s
centre and the South Pole.
 Note: Earth’s axis is Antipodal, meaning it passes through the centre of the earth
connecting two exactly opposite ends.
 Rotational Time: Earth takes approximately 24 hrs (23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds) to
complete one rotation.
 Effect of Rotation: Days and nights occur due to rotation of the earth.

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Circle of Illumination: The circle that divides the day from night on the globe.
 Earth rotates on a tilted axis: Earth’s rotational axis makes an angle of 23.5° with the normal,
i.e. it makes an angle of 66.5° with the orbital plane of the earth (ecliptic plane).

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Shape of the Earth

 The shape of the earth is Geoid, that is, the earth is slightly flattened at the poles and bulged at
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the equatorial region.

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 The radius at the equator is larger than at the poles due to the long-term effects of the earth's
rotation (the speed of rotation, and hence the centrifugal force, is greater at the equator than at
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Gravitational Force at different Latitudes:

The gravitation force is greater near the poles and less at the equator because
 Proximity to the centre: The poles are closer to the centre due to the equatorial bulge and
thus have a stronger gravitational field.

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 Speed of Rotation: The speed of rotation of the earth is greater at the equator than at the poles.
Thus, the centrifugal force is greater at the equator. As the centrifugal force and the
gravitational force are counteracting forces (acting in the opposite direction), the latter is
slightly less at the equator compared to the poles.

REVOLUTION OF THE EARTH

At the same time that the Earth spins on its axis, it also orbits or revolves around the Sun.
 Orbital Plane: The plane in which the earth revolves around the sun is called as orbital plane
or the ecliptic. Most large objects in orbit around the Sun lie near the plane of Earth’s orbit,
known as the ecliptic.
 Revolution Time: It takes 365¼ days (one year) for the earth to complete one revolution
around the sun. Six surplus hours saved every year are added to make one day over a span of
four years. This surplus day is added to the month of February. Thus, every fourth year,
February is of 29 days instead of 28 days. Such a year with 366 days is called a leap year.

SOLSTICE
Summer Solstice Winter Solstice
 On 21st June, the northern hemisphere is tilted  On 22nd December, the Tropic of Capricorn
towards the sun, and the rays of the sun fall directly on receives direct rays of the sun.
the Tropic of Cancer. As a result, these areas receive  The longest night and the shortest day all across the
more heat and since a large portion of the northern northern hemisphere occur on 22nd December.
hemisphere is getting light from the sun, it is summer  It is summer in the southern hemisphere with longer
in the regions north of the equator. days and shorter nights. The reverse happens in the
 The longest day and the shortest night all across the northern hemisphere.
northern hemisphere occur on 21st June.  The Sun remains continuously visible for one day
 At this time in the southern hemisphere, all these during the summer solstice (21st June in the Northern
conditions are reversed. It is winter season there. The Hemisphere and 22nd December in the Southern
nights are longer than the days. Hemisphere) at the polar circle, for several weeks
 During summer solstice the whole of Arctic region only 100 km closer to the pole, and for six months at
falls within the ‘zone of illumination’ all day long. the pole.

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 Polar Day/Polar Nights: At extreme latitudes, the midnight sun is usually referred to as polar
day and the opposite phenomenon, polar night, occurs in winter when the Sun stays below the
horizon throughout the day.
 Daylight Saving in Temperate Regions: Daylight saving time (DST) or summer time is the
practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour or more. In DST, evening
time is increased by sacrificing the morning hours.
 Normal days: Start office at 10 AM and close at 5 PM.
 DST: Start office at 9 AM and Close at 4 PM.

EQUINOX
 On 21st March(spring in the northern
hemisphere and autumn in the southern
hemisphere) and September 23rd(autumn
season in the northern hemisphere and spring
season in the southern hemisphere) direct rays of
the sun fall on the equator and at this position,
neither of the poles are tilted towards the sun, so,
the whole earth experiences equal days and equal
nights.
 At Equator: Days are always longer than
night at the equator.
 Reason: There would be no refraction if
there was no atmosphere, and day and night would be nearly equal at the equator, at least
during the equinoxes. However, the sun's rays are refracted by the atmosphere, which is
especially powerful in the morning and evening when the sun's rays are slanted, such that
even if the actual sun is below the horizon, its visual image appears above the horizon
owing to refraction. At the equator, this causes the days to be longer than the nights.

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PERIHELION AND APHELION:
Approximately every 100,000 years, Earth's orbital path changes from being nearly circular to
elliptical due to gravitational influences of other planetary objects, particularly the Moon.

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Perihelion Aphelion
 The Earth is closest to the Sun at its  Earth is farthest from the Sun at its aphelion which

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perihelion which occurs about two occurs about two weeks after the June Solstice

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weeks after the December Solstice.  At aphelion position, the earth is about 152.1 million
 At perihelion position, the earth is km away from the sun.
about 147.1 million km away from Note: The dates when Earth reaches the extreme points on

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the sun. its orbit are not fixed.

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CHAPTER - 5
EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD

Field: A 'field' is a region in which a body experiences a force owing to the presence of other bodies.
 Gravitational fields: Determine how bodies with mass are attracted to each other.
 In Electric fields: Objects that have an electric charge are attracted or repelled from each other.
 Magnetic fields: Determine how electric currents that contain moving electric charges exert a
force on other electric currents

COMPONENTS OF EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD

The Earth’s magnetic field has three components that are responsible for the magnitude as well as
the direction
1. Magnetic Declination
When a magnetic needle is free-floating in the air, it
always points north-south. Magnetic Meridian is the
direction in which a magnetic needle points freely in a
specific direction free of all other attracting forces.
Magnetic declination is the angle formed by the
magnetic meridian and the geographic meridian. The
plane passing through the earth’s north and south poles
is defined as a geographic meridian.
 Importance: Ships and other long-distance means of transport that rely on the compass
for navigation should do necessary corrections to account for magnetic declination at
different latitudes and longitudes to stay in the right course. Magnetic deviation is the error
of a compass needle due to the influence of nearby metallic objects.

2. Magnetic Inclination or Angle of Dip

Magnetic inclination is also referred to as the angle
of dip. It is the angle formed between the magnetic
field line and the Earth’s horizontal plane. The
magnetic equator has a dip angle of 0 degree,
while the magnetic poles have a dip angle of 90
degree.
As shown in the diagram, suspend a magnetic
needle freely so that it can rotate about a horizontal
axis-The Angle of Dip or Magnetic Inclination is
the angle formed by the north pole of the needle
with the horizontal axis.

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 The magnetic equator is the irregular imaginary line, passing round the earth near the
equator, on which a magnetic needle has no dip (because magnetic field lines are parallel
to the horizontal at the equator). Again, the magnetic equator, like the magnetic field and
poles, is not fixed.
 Importance: The phenomenon of magnetic dip is important in aviation, as it causes the
aeroplane's compass to give erroneous readings during banked turns and airspeed changes.
Necessary corrections need to be made to the compass reading to stay in the right course.

THEORY OF EARTH’S MAGNETISM

1. Dynamo Theory: Walter M. Elsasser, Dynamo theory describes the process through which
a rotating, convecting, and electrically conducting fluid acts to maintain a magnetic field.
 Dynamo theory proposes a mechanism by which a celestial body such as Earth or a star
generates a magnetic field and sustains it over astronomical time scales (millions of years).
 Dynamo theory suggests that convection in the outer core, combined with the Coriolis
effect (caused due to the rotation of the earth), gives rise to self-sustaining (geodynamics)
2. Ionization of the Outer Layer: The Earth rotates both on its own axis and around the Sun.
As the Earth’s outer layer is ionised, this rotation generates an electric current. Because
these ions move, magnetism is produced. But this magnetic field is very weak, so the
Dynamo effect is a more acceptable.

Earth's Magnetic Field

Mechanism
 Location of Field Generation: Earth’s magnetic field is generated in the earth’s outer core
having lower pressure than the inner core means that the metal in the outer core is fluid. The
temperature of the outer core ranges from 4400 °C in the outer regions to 6000 °C near the
inner core.
 Heat Sources: Include energy released by the compression of the core, energy released at the
inner core boundary as it grows (latent heat of crystallisation), and radioactivity of potassium,
uranium and thorium.
 Electric Current Generation: The differences in temperature, pressure and composition
within the outer core cause convection currents in the molten iron of the outer core, as cool
dense matter sinks while warm, less dense matter rises. This flow of liquid iron generates
electric currents, which in turn produce magnetic fields.
 Geodynamo: Charged metals passing through these fields go on to create electric currents of
their own, and so the cycle continues. This self-sustaining loop is known as the Geodynamo.
 Spiral Movement: The spiral movement of the charged particles caused by the Coriolis force
means that separate magnetic fields created are roughly aligned in the same direction, their
combined effect adding up to produce one vast magnetic field of the planet.

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Magnetic poles:
A magnet's North pole is thought as the pole that is
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attracted by the Earth's North Magnetic Pole when the

magnet is suspended so it can turn freely. Since opposite
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south pole of its magnetic field.
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 Magnetic dipole field (simple north-south field

like that of a simple bar magnet) is usually aligned
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fairly closely with the Earth's rotation axis; in

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close to the geographic poles, which is why a
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 However, the dipole part of the field reverses

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after a few thousand years causing the

locations of the north and south magnetic poles
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to switch. The terms magnetic north and magnetic south are not to be confused with
geographic north and geographic south, and geomagnetic north and geomagnetic south.

Geomagnetic Reversal:
A geomagnetic reversal or a reversal in earth’s magnetic field is a change in a planet's magnetic field
such that the positions of magnetic north and magnetic south are interchanged.
 Evidence: Based on palaeomagnetism (magnetism in rocks that was induced by the earth's
magnetic field at the time of their formation), it is observed that over the last 20 million years,
magnetic north and south have flipped roughly every 200,000 to 300,000 years.
Irregularity: The Reversal is not Literally 'Periodic' as it is on the Sun, Whose Magnetic Field
Reverses Every 11 Years.

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 Time between reversal: The time between magnetic reversals on the Earth is sometimes as
short as 10,000 years and sometimes as long as 25 million years and the time it takes to reverse
could be about a few hundred or a few thousand years.
 The magnetic poles emerge at odd latitudes throughout the process of the reversal.

Normal and Reversed Field

The bar magnet at the centre represents earth’s magnetic field
The Earth's field has alternated between periods of normal polarity, in which the predominant direction
of the field was the same as the present direction, and reverse polarity, in which it was the opposite.
 In Normal Polarity: Earth’s North Magnetic Pole is the South Pole of its Magnetic Field.
 In Reverse Polarity: Earth’s North Magnetic Pole is the North Pole of its Magnetic Field.

Polar Wandering and the Current Location of the Magnetic Poles

 The North and South Magnetic Poles wander (Polar Shift Theory) due to changes in Earth’s
magnetic field.
 The North Magnetic Pole (86֯ N, 172֯ W) lie to the north of Ellesmere Island in northern
Canada and is rapidly drifting towards Siberia.
 The location of the South Magnetic Pole is currently off the coast of Antarctica and even
outside the Antarctic Circle.
 Scientists suggest that the north magnetic pole migrates about 10 kilometres per year. Lately,
the speed has accelerated to about 40 kilometres per year and could reach Siberia in a few
decades.
 Since the Earth's magnetic field is not exactly symmetrical, the North and South Magnetic
Poles are not antipodal (a straight line drawn from one to the other does not pass through the
centre of the Earth).
 The Earth's North and South Magnetic Poles are also known as Magnetic Dip Poles because
of the vertical "dip" of the magnetic field lines at those points. That is, if a magnetic compass
needle is suspended freely at the magnetic poles then it will point straight down at the north
magnetic pole (south pole of earth’s magnetic field) and straight up at the south magnetic pole
(north pole of earth’s magnetic field).

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COMPASS:
 Compass Points: A compass point north because all
magnets have two poles, a north pole and a south pole,
and the north pole of one magnet is attracted to the
south pole of another magnet.
 Earth as a Magnet: The Earth is a magnet that can
interact with other magnets in above mentioned way,
so the north end of a compass magnet is drawn to align
with the Earth's magnetic field. Because the Earth's
Magnetic North Pole attracts the "north" ends of other
magnets, it is technically the "South Pole" of our
planet's magnetic field.
 Magnetic Declination: While a compass is a great tool
for navigation, it doesn't always point exactly north.
This is because the Earth's magnetic North Pole is not the same as "true north (Earth's
Geographic North Pole)."
 Usage: Although the magnetic declination (deviation from true north) does shift with time,
this wandering is slow enough that a simple compass remains useful for navigation. Using
magnetoreception various organisms, ranging from some types of bacteria, sea turtles, some
migratory birds, pigeons, etc. use the Earth's magnetic field for orientation and navigation.

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GEOMAGNETIC POLES:
The Geomagnetic poles (dipole poles) are the intersections of the Earth's surface and the axis of a bar
magnet hypothetically placed at the centre the Earth.

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 There is such a pole in each hemisphere, and the poles are called as "the geomagnetic north
pole" and "the geomagnetic south pole", respectively

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 Tilt: Approximately, geomagnetic dipole is currently tilted at an angle of about 11 degrees to

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Earth's rotational axis. On the other hand, the magnetic poles (the magnetic north pole and the
magnetic south pole) are the points at which magnetic needles become vertical.
 Reason of difference in position: The difference in the position of magnetic poles and

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geomagnetic poles is due to the uneven and complex distribution of the earth’s magnetic field.

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Important Information Related to Earth’s Magnetic Fields:

Magnetosphere
 It is the region above the ionosphere that is defined by the extent of the Earth's magnetic field
in space.
 It extends several tens of thousands of kilometres into space, protecting the Earth from the
charged particles of the solar wind and cosmic rays that would otherwise strip away the upper
atmosphere, including the ozone layer that protects the Earth from harmful ultraviolet
radiation.

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Magnetopause
 Earth's magnetic field, predominantly dipolar at its surface, is distorted further out by the solar
wind. The solar wind exerts a pressure. However, it is kept away by the pressure of the Earth's
magnetic field.
 The magnetopause, the area where the pressures balance, is the boundary of the agnetosphere.
Magneto Sheath
 The turbulent magnetic region just outside the magnetopause is known as the magneto sheath.
Plasma Sphere
 Inside the magnetosphere is the plasmasphere, a region containing low-energy charged
particles.
 This region(rotates with the Earth )begins at the height of 60 km, extends up to 3 or 4 Earth
radii, and includes the ionosphere.
Bow Shock
 Sunward of the magnetopause is the bow shock, the area where the solar wind slows abruptly.
Auroras
 Aurora is the name given to the luminous glow in the upper atmosphere of the Earth which
is produced by charged particles (solar wind) descending from the planet's magnetosphere.
 The charged particles follow magnetic field lines which are oriented in and out of our planet
and its atmosphere near the magnetic poles. Therefore, aurorae mostly are seen to occur at high
latitudes.
Geomagnetic Storms
 Periods of intense activity, called geomagnetic storms, can occur when a Coronal Mass
Ejection(CME) erupts above the Sun and sends a shock wave through the Solar System. It takes
just two days to reach the Earth.
 At the Earth's surface, a magnetic storm is seen as a rapid drop in the Earth's magnetic field
strength.
 Effects
 The ionosphere gets heated and distorted, which means that long-range radio
communication that is dependent upon sub-ionospheric reflection can be difficult.
 Ionospheric expansion can increase satellite drag, and it may become difficult to control
their orbits.
 Geomagnetic storms disrupt satellite communication systems like GPS.
 Astronauts and high-altitude pilots would face high radiation levels.

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 Electric power grids would see a high increase in voltage that would cause blackouts.
 Geomagnetic storms disrupt satellite communication systems like GPS.
Note: Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are large clouds of plasma and magnetic field that erupt
from the sun.
Ring Current
 Ring current is the name given to the large electric current that circles the Earth above its
equator during magnetic storms.
Van Allen radiation belt
 A Van Allen radiation belt is a zone of energetic  Spacecraft travelling beyond low Earth
charged particles, most of which originate from orbit enter the zone of radiation of the
the solar wind, that are captured by and held Van Allen belts. Beyond the belts, they
around a planet by that planet's magnetic field. face additional hazards from cosmic
 There are two such concentric tire-shaped rays and solar particle events.
regions. The inner belt is 1–2 Earth radii out
while the outer belt is at 4–7 Earth radii.
 By trapping the solar wind, the belts deflect the
energetic particles and protect the atmosphere.
 The belts endanger satellites, which must have
their sensitive components protected with
adequate shielding if they spend significant time
near that zone.

Magnetic field of other solar system objects:

Moon Mercury
The magnetic field of the Moon is very weak in Mercury's magnetic field is approximately a
comparison to that of the Earth and doesn’t have magnetic dipole (meaning the field has two
a magnetic dipole and is not strong enough to poles) and is just 1.1% that of Earth's magnetic
prevent atmospheric stripping by the solar wind. field. Its proximity to the sun makes it next to
impossible to sustain an atmosphere.
Mars Venus
Mars does not have an intrinsic global magnetic Venus lacks a magnetic field. Its ionosphere
field, but the solar wind directly interacts with separates the atmosphere from outer space and
the atmosphere of Mars, leading to the formation the solar wind and in spite of the absence of a
of a magnetosphere. The lack of a significant magnetic field, Venus’s atmosphere is one of the
magnetosphere is thought to be one reason for densest among the terrestrial planets.
Mars's thin atmosphere.
Jupiter Saturn
Jupiter has the largest magnetic field and a thick Saturn's magnetosphere is the second largest of
atmosphere. any planet in the Solar System after Jupiter.
Note: Uranus and Neptune: too have a
significant and similar magnetic field.

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GEOMORPHOLOGY
The term geomorphology stems from three Greek words i.e. ‘ge’ (Meaning earth), ‘morphe’ (form)
and logos (a discourse). Geomorphology, therefore, is defined as the science of description (discourse)
of various forms (morphe) of the earth’s surface.
CHAPTER-6
INTERIOR OF THE EARTH

INTERIOR OF THE EARTH

The configuration of the earth's surface is mostly a product of activities occurring within the earth, and
both exogenic and endogenic processes are continually modifying the landscape.

Sources of Information about the Interior:

The earth’s radius is 6,370 km therefore, no one can reach the centre of the earth and make
observations or collect samples of the material. So, most of our knowledge about the interior of the
earth is largely based on estimates and inferences. Yet, a part of the information is obtained through
direct observations and analysis of materials.
Direct Sources
 Surface Rocks: The most easily available solid earth material is surface rock or the rocks we get from
mining areas.
 Volcanic Eruptions: Volcanic eruption forms another source of obtaining direct information. As and
when the molten material (magma) is thrown onto the surface of the earth, during volcanic eruption it
becomes available for laboratory analysis. However, it is difficult to ascertain the depth of the source of
such magma.
Indirect Sources
Analysis of properties of matter indirectly provides  Gravity Anomalies: Give us information about
information about the interior the distribution of mass of the material in the crust
 Mining Activities: We know from mining of the earth.
that temperature and pressure rise with  Magnetic Surveys: Provide information about
increasing distance from the surface to the the distribution of magnetic materials in the crustal
interior in deeper depths.. portion, and thus, provide information about the
 Meteors: The material and the structure distribution of materials in this part.
observed in the meteors are similar to that of  Seismic Activity: One of the most important
the earth. They are solid bodies developed out sources of information about the interior of the
of materials same as, or similar to, our planet. earth.
Hence, this becomes yet another source of
information about the interior of the earth.
The study of seismic waves provides a complete picture of the layered interior.

Earthquake:
An earthquake is a natural phenomenon that causes the earth to shake. It is created by the release of
energy, which causes waves to propagate in all directions.

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Why does the earth shake?

 Release of Energy along Fault: The release
of energy occurs along a fault (a sharp break in
the crustal rocks) and the rocks along a fault tend
to move in opposite directions. As the overlying
rock strata press them, the friction locks them
together. However, their tendency to move apart
at some point of time overcomes the friction as
a result, the blocks get deformed and eventually,
they slide past one another abruptly. This causes
a release of energy, and the energy waves travel
in all directions.
 Focus: The point where the energy is released is called the focus of an earthquake,
alternatively, it is called the hypocentre.
 Epicentre: The energy waves travelling in different directions reach the surface and the point
on the surface, nearest to the focus, is called epicentre.
 It is the first one to experience the waves.
 It is a point directly above the focus.

Foreshocks, Aftershocks and Swarms:

Aftershocks Foreshocks Swarms
A strong or even moderate A mild earthquake Large numbers of small earthquakes
earthquake with a shallow focus is preceding the violent may occur in a region for months without
usually followed by a slew of shaking movement of an a major earthquake. Such series of
smaller earthquakes known as earthquake is known as a earthquakes are called earthquake
aftershocks. foreshock. swarms.

EARTHQUAKE WAVES
All natural earthquakes take place in the lithosphere (portion of depth up to 200 km from the surface
of the earth).
 Seismograph: An instrument called ‘seismograph’ records the waves reaching the surface. A
curve of earthquake waves recorded on the seismograph.
 Note: Curve shows three distinct sections each representing different types of wave patterns.

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Types of Earthquake Waves:
Body Waves
Generated due to the release of energy at the focus and move in all directions travelling through the

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body of the earth. Hence, the name body waves. There are two types of body waves:
P-Waves/Primary Waves: S-Waves/Secondary Waves:

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 First to Arrive at Surface: Move faster  Arrive at Surface with Lag: Arrive at the

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and are the first to arrive at the surface. surface with some time lag and can travel only
 Similar to Sound Waves/ Longitudinal through solid materials.
Wave:

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 Longitudinal Waves: because the  Reflection/Refraction: Reflection causes
displacement of the medium is in the waves to rebound whereas refraction makes

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same direction as, or the oppo site waves move in different directions.
direction to, (parallel to) the direction of  Destructive: These waves are more

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propagation of the wave; or destructive and they cause displacement of
 Compressional Waves: because they rocks, and hence, the collapse of structures
produce compression and rarefaction occurs.
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when travelling through a medium; or,  Other Name: Transverse or Distortional or
 Pressure Waves: because they produce simply S waves and is analogous to water
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increases and decreases in pressure in the ripples or light waves wherein the particles
medium move at right angles to the rays.
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Surface Waves/L-Waves
The body waves interact with the surface rocks and generate new set of waves called surface waves.
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 These waves move along the surface.

 The velocity of waves changes as they travel through materials with different densities.
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 The denser the material, the higher is the velocity.

 Their direction also changes as they reflect or refract when coming across materials with different
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densities.
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Propagation of Earthquake Waves:

As earthquake waves move or propagate, they cause vibration in the body of the rocks through which
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they pass.
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Propagation of P-Waves Propagation of S-Wave

 Parallel Vibration: P-waves  Perpendicular Vibration: The direction of vibrations
vibrate parallel to the direction of S-waves is perpendicular to the wave direction in the
of the wave that exerts pressure vertical plane. Hence, they create troughs and crests in the
on the material in the direction of material through which they pass.
the propagation. As a result, it  Most damaging Waves: Surface waves are considered
creates density differences in the to be the most damaging waves.
material leading to stretching  Example: Wiggling or shaking a rope which is tied down
and squeezing of the material. at one or both ends.

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Emergence of Shadow Zone:

An area where the waves are not reported on Seismograph is called the ‘ shadow zone’.
 Epicentre to 105: Seismographs located at any distance within 105° from the epicentre,
recorded the arrival of both P and S-waves.
 Between 105-145: Identified as the shadow zone for both the types of waves.
 Beyond-145: Seismographs located beyond 145° from epicentre, record the arrival of
P-waves, but not that of S-waves.
 S-wave Shadow Zone Beyond 105: The entire zone beyond 105° does not receive S-waves.
 Expanse of Shadow Zone: The shadow zone of S-wave is much larger than that of the P-
waves. The shadow zone of S-waves is not only larger in extent but it is also a little over 40
per cent of the earth surface.
 The span of the shadow zone of the P-Waves = 78° [2 x (142° - 103°)]
 The span of the shadow zone of the S-Waves = 154° [360° – (103° + 103°)]
 The span of the shadow zone common for both the waves = 78°

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Why do P-waves travel faster than S-waves?

P-waves are about 1.7 times faster than the S-waves because P-waves are compression waves that
apply a force in the direction of propagation and hence transmit their energy quite easily through the
medium and thus travel quickly. On the other hand, S-waves are transverse waves or shear waves and
are hence less easily transmitted through the medium.

Measuring Earthquakes:
The earthquake events are scaled either according to the magnitude or intensity of the shock.
Magnitude scale Intensity Scale
 The magnitude scale is known as the Richter  The intensity scale is named after Mercalli, an
scale. Italian seismologist.
 The magnitude relates to the energy released  The intensity scale takes into account the visible
during the quake. damage caused by the event.
 Range: The magnitude is expressed in numbers,  Range: The range of intensity scale is from 1-12.
0-10.

How do seismic waves help in understanding the earth’s interior?

If the earth would have been composed of homogenous solid materials the seismic waves should have
reached the core of the earth in a straight path but this is not the case in reality.
In fact, the recorded seismic waves denote the fact that these waves seldom follow straight paths rather
they adopt curved and refracted paths. Thus, it becomes obvious that the earth is not composed of
homogenous materials rather there are variations of density inside the earth.
 Change in Density: The seismic waves are refracted at the places of density changes and a
regular change of density inside the earth causes a curved path to be followed by the seismic
waves. Thus, the seismic waves become concave towards the earth's surface.
 After in-depth study of seismic waves Oldham demonstrated in the year 1909 that S-waves
disappear at the angular distance of 120° from the epicentre and P waves are weakened.
 It is evident from figures that S waves are totally absent in the core of the earth. It appears from
this observation that there is a core in liquid state which is located at the depth of more than 2900
km from the earth's surface and surrounds the nucleus of the earth. Based on this finding the
scientists have estimated that the iron and nickel of the core of the earth may be in liquid state
 Change in Velocity: Detailed studies of seismic waves of different epicentres all over the
world have revealed the fact that there are extra sets of seismic waves which are similar to P
and S waves but with slower rate of velocity. It is a known fact that the velocity of seismic
waves changes only when there are changes in the density of rocks. On the basis of velocity
seismic waves are divided in three sets of waves e.g.
 First set of P-S waves of maximum velocity;
 Second set of Pg-Sg waves of minimum velocity and
 Third set of P*-S* waves of medium velocity falling between the first and the second sets
of waves.

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Thus, on the basis of changes of velocity of seismic waves it is proved that there are major changes in
the velocity of waves at three places inside the earth and hence it can be safely inferred that there are
three distinct zones or layers of varying densities inside the earth below the outer thin layer of

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sedimentary rocks.
Upper Layer Intermediate Layer Lower Layer

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 On an average Pg and Sg  P and S waves travel at  The velocity of P and S waves is

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waves travel at the rate of the rate of 6-7 km and 3-4 7.8 km and 4.5 km per second
5.4 km and 3.3 km per km per second respectively.
second respectively in the respectively in the middle  The highest velocity of seismic

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upper part of the earth. zone of the earth. waves in the innermost part of the
 The density of the rocks  It has been inferred on the earth indicates an inner or lower
through which these basis of intermediate layer of heavier materials, most

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waves travel is about 2.7. velocity of these waves probably peridotite or dunite.
It is proved on this basis that there is an  The depth of this layer is

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that the upper layer is intermediate layer with estimated to be about 2900 km
composed of granitic average density of 3 from the earth's surface.
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rocks. inside the earth.
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Why do sound waves travel faster in a denser medium whereas light travels slower?
 The sound is a mechanical wave that moves through the medium due to compression and
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rarefaction. A higher density causes more flexibility in the medium, increasing the ease with which
compression and rarefaction can occur. When a result, as density increases, so does the velocity
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of sound.
 In contrast, light is a transverse electromagnetic wave. Increased density increases effective path
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length, resulting in a higher refractive index and lower velocity.

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STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH

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Chemical Composition and Layering System of the Earth:

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According to E. Suess the crust is covered by a thin layer of sedimentary rocks of very low density,
composed of crystalline rocks, mostly silicate matter. The upper part of this layer is composed of light
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silicate matter while heavy silicate matter dominates in the lower part.
Suess has identified three zones of different matter below the outer thin sedimentary cover.

SIAL
Layer located just below the outer sedimentary cover is composed of granites. This layer is
dominated by silica and aluminium (SIAL=SI+AL).
 The average density of this layer is 2.9 whereas its thickness ranges between 50 to 300 km.
 This layer is dominated by acid materials and silicates of potassium, sodium and aluminium
are abundantly found.
 Continents have been formed by sialic layer.

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SIMA
 Located just below the sialic layer. This layer is
composed of basalt and is the source of magma and lava
during volcanic eruptions.
 Silica (Si-Silica+Ma-Magnesium) and magnesium are
the dominant constituents.
 Average density ranges between 2.9 to 4.7 whereas the
thickness varies from 1,000 km to 2,000 km.
 There is abundance of basic matter. The silicates of
magnesium, calcium and iron are most abundantly
found.

NIFE
 Located just below ‘sima’ layer. This layer is composed of nickel (NI) and ferrium (Fe). It is,
thus, apparent that this layer is made of heavy metals which are responsible for very high
density (11) of this layer.
 The diameter of this zone is 6880 km.
 The presence of iron (ferrium) indicates the magnetic property of the earth's interior and this
property also indicates the rigidity of the earth.

Internal Structure of the Earth:

The Crust:
 Outermost layer of the Earth: Making up 0.5-1.0
per cent of the earth’s volume and less than 1 per cent
of Earth’s mass.
 Density: Increases with depth, and the average
density is about 2.7 g/cm3 (average density of the
earth is 5.51 g/cm³).
 Thickness: Varies in the range of 5-30 km in case of
the oceanic crust and as 50- 70 km in case of the
continental crust.
 The continental crust can be thicker than 70 km
in the areas of major mountain systems. It is as
much as 70-100 km thick in the Himalayan
region.
 Temperature: Increases with depth, reaching values
typically in the range from about 200 °C to 400 °C at the boundary with the underlying mantle.
 The temperature increases by as much as 30 °C for every kilometre in the upper part of the
crust.

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 Outer Layer: The outer covering of the crust is of sedimentary material and below that lie
crystalline, igneous and metamorphic rocks which are acidic in nature.
 The lower layer of the crust consists of basaltic and ultra-basic rocks.
 Composition: The continents are composed of lighter
silicates — silica + aluminium (also called sial) while the
oceans have the heavier silicates — silica + magnesium
(also called sima)
 The Continental Crust: Composed of lighter (felsic)
sodium potassium aluminium silicate rocks, like granite.
 The Oceanic Crust: Composed of dense (mafic) iron
magnesium silicate igneous rocks, like basalt.
 In geology, felsic refers to igneous rocks that are
relatively rich in elements that form feldspar and
quartz. It is contrasted with mafic rocks, which are
relatively richer in magnesium and iron.
 Most Abundant Elements of the Earth's Crust: Element Approximate % by weight
1. Oxygen (O) 46.6 5. Calcium (Ca) 3.6
2. Silicon (Si) 27.7 6. Sodium (Na) 2.8
3. Aluminium (Al) 8.1 7. Potassium (K) 2.6
4. Iron (Fe) 5.0 8. Magnesium (Mg) 1.5
Lithosphere:
 The lithosphere is the rigid outer part of the earth with thickness varying between 10-200 km.
 It is including the crust and the upper part of the mantle.
 The lithosphere is broken into tectonic plates (lithospheric plates), and the movement of these
tectonic plates cause large-scale changes in the earth’s geological structure (folding, faulting).

The Mantle  Discontinuity: There is sudden increase in the

The portion of the interior beyond the crust is velocity of seismic waves at the base of lower crust
called the mantle. as the velocity of seismic waves is about 6.9 km per
 The mantle extends from Moho’s second at the base of lower crust but it suddenly
discontinuity to a depth of 2,900 km. becomes 7.9 to 8.1 km per second. This trend of
 The upper portion of the mantle is called seismic waves denotes discontinuity between the
asthenosphere. boundaries of lower crust and upper mantle.
 This discontinuity was discovered by A.
Mohorovcic in the year 1909 and thus it is called as

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 ‘Mohorovicic discontinuity’ or simply ‘Moho

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It is considered to be extending up to 400
km. discontinuity’.
 It is the main source of magma that finds
its way to the surface during volcanic

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eruptions.
 The crust and the uppermost part of the mantle

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are called lithosphere.
 Its thickness ranges from 10-200 km.

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 The lower mantle extends beyond the
asthenosphere that is in solid state.

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Note: Thickness of the mantle is less than half of the radius of the earth (6371 km) but it contains 83 per
cent of the total volume and 68 per cent of the total mass of the earth.

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Asthenosphere  It is the main source of magma that finds its
The upper portion of the mantle is called as way to the surface during volcanic eruptions.

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asthenosphere (astheno means weak).
 Location: It lies just below the lithosphere
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extending up to 80-200 km.
 Properties: It is highly viscous, mechanically
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weak and ductile and its density is higher than that

of the crust.
 These properties of the asthenosphere aid in
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plate tectonic movement and isostatic

adjustments (the elevated part at one part of the
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crust area is counterbalanced by a depressed

part at another).
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The Core
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 Core Mantle Boundary: Located at the depth of

2,900 km.
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 State: The outer core is in liquid state while the inner

core is in solid state.
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 Composition: The core is made up of very heavy

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material mostly constituted by nickel and iron. It is

sometimes referred to as the nife layer.
 Boundary/Discontinuity: The mantle-core
boundary is determined by the ‘Weichert-
Gutenberg Discontinuity’ at the depth of 2900 km.
Division:
The core is further divided into two sub-zones e.g. outer core and inner core, the dividing line being at the
depth of 5150 km.
 Outer Core: S waves disappear in this outer core, means that the outer core should be in molten state.
 Inner Core: The inner core extends from the depth of 5150 km to the centre of the earth (6371 km).
This lowermost zone of the interior of the earth is in solid state.

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SOURCES OF EARTH’S HEAT

Radioactive Decay Primordial Heat
The high temperature below the crust is Primordial heat is the kinetic energy transferred to
attributed to the disintegration of the Earth by external impacts of comets and meteorites
radioactive substances. and the subsequent effects (friction caused by
 The nuclear decay happens primarily in sinking of heavy elements like Fe, rising light
the crust and the mantle. elements like Si) and latent heat of crystallisation
 Fission: Uranium could become released as the core solidified.
sufficiently concentrated at the base Tidal Friction
of Earth’s mantle to ignite self- The daily flexing of the Earth (both solid body and
sustained nuclear fission, as in a the oceans) cause loss of energy of the Earth's
human-made reactor. rotation, due to friction. This energy goes into heat,
 Fusion: Nuclear fusion doesn’t occur leading to miniscule increase in the Earth's internal
inside the earth because for nuclear temperature.
fusion to occur there must be far more Note: The loss of rotational energy means that the
pressure and temperature inside the Earth is slowing down in its rotation rate, currently
earth. by about 0.002 seconds per century.

SEISMIC DISCONTINUITIES
Seismic discontinuities are the regions in the earth where
seismic waves behave a lot different compared to the
surrounding regions due to a marked change in physical or
chemical properties.
 Conrad Discontinuity: Lies between upper and lower rust
 Moho Discontinuity: Separates the crust from upper
mantle.
 Repetti Discontinuity: Lies between upper and lower
mantle.
 Gutenberg Discontinuity: Lies between the mantle and
the outer core.

*******

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CHAPTER-7
GEOLOGY AND ROCK SYSTEM

MINERALS AND ROCKS

The earth is composed of various kinds of elements.
 Crust’s Composition: About 98 per cent of the total
crust of the earth is composed of eight elements like Mineral
oxygen, silicon, aluminium, iron, calcium, sodium, A mineral is a naturally occurring organic
and inorganic substance, having an orderly
potassium and magnesium, and the rest is constituted by
atomic structure and a definite chemical
titanium, hydrogen, phosphorous, manganese, sulphur, composition and physical properties.
carbon, nickel and other elements.
 Source of Minerals: The basic source of all minerals is the hot magma in the interior of the
earth. When magma cools, crystals of minerals appear and a systematic series of minerals are
formed in sequence to solidify so as to form rocks.

Metallic Minerals
These minerals contain metal content and can be sub-
divided into three types: Physical Properties
 External crystal form: Determined by
(i) Precious metals: Gold, silver, platinum etc.
internal arrangement of the molecules -cubes,
(ii) Ferrous metals: Iron and other metals often octahedrons, hexagonal prisms, etc.
mixed with iron to form various kinds of steel.  Cleavage: Tendency to break in given
(iii) Non-ferrous metals: Include metals like directions producing relatively plane surfaces-
copper, lead, zinc, tin, aluminium etc. result of internal arrangement of the
molecules-may cleave in one or more
directions and at any angle to each other.
Non-Metallic Minerals:  Fracture: Internal molecular arrangement so
These minerals do not contain metal content. complex there are no planes of molecules; the
 Ex: Sulphur, phosphates and nitrates are crystal will break in an irregular manner, not
examples of non-metallic minerals and Cement along planes of cleavage.
is a mixture of non-metallic minerals.  Lustre: Appearance of a material without
regard to colour; each mineral has a distinctive
lustre like metallic, silky, glossy etc.

ROCKS:
The earth’s crust is composed of rocks (an aggregate of one or more minerals).
 Rock may be hard or soft and in varied colours. For example: Granite is hard, soapstone is soft.
Gabbro is black and quartzite can be milky white.
 Rocks do not have definite composition of mineral constituents.
 Feldspar and quartz are the most common minerals found in rocks.

There are many different kinds of rocks which are grouped under three families on the basis of
their mode of formation. They are:
(i) Igneous Rocks: Solidified from magma and lava.
(ii) Sedimentary Rocks: The result of deposition of fragments of rocks by exogenous processes.
(iii) Metamorphic Rocks: Formed out of existing rocks undergoing recrystallisation.

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Rock Cycle:
Rocks do not remain in their Physical Properties
original form for long but may  Colour: Some minerals have characteristic colour determined by their

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undergo transformation. Rock molecular structure-malachite, azurite, chalcopyrite etc., and some
cycle is a continuous process minerals are colour impurities. For example, because of impurities
quartz may be white, green, red, yellow etc.

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through which old rocks are
 Streak: Colour of the ground powder of any mineral. It may be of the
transformed into new ones.

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same colour as the mineral or may differ - malachite is green and gives
 Igneous rocks are primary green streak, fluorite is purple or green but gives a white streak.
rocks and other rocks  Transparency: Transparent-Light rays pass through so that objects
(sedimentary and can be seen plainly; Translucent-light rays pass through but will get

54
metamorphic) form from these diffused so that objects cannot be seen; Opaque-light will not pass at
all.
primary rocks.
 Structure: Particular arrangement of the individual crystals; fine,

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 Igneous rocks can be changed medium or coarse grained; fibrous- separable, divergent, radiating.
into metamorphic rocks.  Hardness: Relative resistance being scratched.

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 The fragments derived out of  Specific Gravity: The ratio between the weight of a given object and
igneous and metamorphic the weight of an equal volume of water.
rocks form into sedimentary
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rocks.
 Sedimentary rocks themselves can turn into fragments and
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the fragments can be a source for formation of sedimentary

rocks.
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 The crustal rocks (igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary)

once formed may be carried down into the mantle (interior
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of the earth) through subduction process (parts or whole of

crustal plates going down under another plate in zones of
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plate convergence) and the same melt down due to increase

in temperature in the interior and turn into molten magma,
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the original source for igneous rocks.

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IGNEOUS ROCKS OR PRIMARY ROCKS:

Igneous rocks, formed due to cooling, solidification and crystallization of molten earth materials
known as magma (below the earth's surface) and lava (on the earth's surface), e.g. basalt, granites etc
 Non fossiliferous: Having their origin under conditions of high temperatures the igneous rocks
are Non-fossiliferous.
 Example: Granite, gabbro, basalt etc.

Types of Igneous Rocks:

There are three types of igneous rocks based on place and time taken in cooling of the molten matter,
plutonic rocks, volcanic rocks and intermediate rocks.
Intrusive Igneous Rocks Extrusive Igneous Rocks Hypabyssal or Dyke Rocks or
(Plutonic Rocks) (Lava or Volcanic Rocks) Intermediate Rocks
 If magma cools slowly at  Sudden cooling of  These rocks occupy an
great depths, mineral magma just below the intermediate position
grains formed in the rocks surface or lava above the between the deep-seated
may be very large. Such surface results in small plutonic bodies and the
rocks are called intrusive and smooth grains in surface lava flows.
rocks or plutonic rocks rocks as rapid cooling  Dyke rocks are semi-
(e.g. Granite). prevents crystallisation, crystalline in structure.
 These rocks appear on the as a result, such rocks are
surface only after being fine-grained. Such rocks
uplifted and denuded. are called extrusive rocks
or volcanic rocks (e.g.
Basalt).
 The Deccan traps in the
Indian peninsular region
is of basaltic origin.
There are two types of rocks based on the presence of acid-forming radical, silicon, acidic rocks
and basic rocks.
Acid Rocks Basic Rocks
 Acidic rocks are characterised by high content of  These rocks are poor in silica (about 40 per
silica (quartz and feldspar) -up to 80 per cent. cent); magnesia content is up to 40 per cent,
 Due to the excess of silicon, acidic magma cools and the remaining is spread over iron oxide,
fast, and it does not flow and spread far away. lime, aluminium, alkalis, potassium etc.
 High mountains are formed of this type of rock.  Due to low silica content, the parent material
 Acid rocks are hard, compact, massive and resistant of such rocks cools slowly and thus, flows and
to weathering. spreads far away. This flow and cooling give
Example-Granite, quartz and feldspar are typical rise to plateaus.
examples.  Not being very hard, these rocks are
weathered relatively easily.
Example-Basalt, gabbro and dolerite.

Economic Significance of Igneous Rocks:

The minerals of great economic value found in igneous rocks are magnetic iron, nickel, copper, lead,
zinc, chromite, manganese, gold, diamond and platinum.

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SEDIMENTARY ROCKS OR DETRITAL ROCKS:

Sedimentary rocks are formed by lithification, consolidation and compaction of sediments. Hence,
they are layered or stratified of varying thickness. Example: sandstone, shale etc.
 These types of rocks cover 75 per cent of the earth’s crust but volumetrically occupy only 5
per cent (because they are available only in the upper part of the crust).
Mechanically Formed Chemically Formed Sedimentary Organically Formed
Sedimentary Rocks Rocks Sedimentary Rocks
 They are formed by  Water containing minerals evaporate at  The remains of plants and
mechanical agents like the mouth of springs or salt lakes and animals are buried under
running water, wind, give rise to Stalactites and stalagmites sediments, and due to heat
ocean currents, ice, etc. (deposits of lime left over by the lime- and pressure from overlying
Ex: Sandstone, mixed water as it evaporates in the layers, their composition
Conglomerate, Limestone, underground caves). changes.
Shale, Loess. Ex: Limestone, Halite, Potash. Ex: Geyserite, Chalk,
Limestone, Coal.

Chief Characteristics The spread of S. Rocks in India

 They are stratified-consist of many layers or  Alluvial deposits in the Indo-Gangetic plain and
strata. coastal plains is of sedimentary accumulation. These
 They hold the most informative geological deposits contain loam and clay.
records due to the marks left behind by  Different varieties of sandstone are spread over
various geophysical (weather patterns, wind Madhya Pradesh, eastern Rajasthan, parts of
and water flow) and biological activities Himalayas, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa.
(fossils).  The great Vindhyan highland in central India
 They are fossiliferous (have fossils of plants consists of sandstones, shales, limestones.
and animals).  Coal deposits occur in river basins of the Damodar,
 These rocks are generally porous and allow Mahanadi, the Godavari in the Gondwana
water to percolate through them. sedimentary deposits.

Economic Significance of Sedimentary Rocks

 Sedimentary rocks are not as rich in minerals of economic value as the igneous rocks. But important
minerals such as hematite iron ore, phosphates, building stones, coals, petroleum and material used in
the cement industry are found.
 The decay of tiny marine organisms yields petroleum.
 Important minerals like bauxite, manganese, tin, are derived from other rocks but are found in gravels
and sands carried by water.
 Sedimentary rocks also yield some of the richest soils.

METAMORPHIC ROCKS:
Metamorphism is a process by which recrystallisation
and reorganisation of minerals occur within a rock. The word metamorphic means
This occurs due to pressure, volume and temperature ‘change of form’.
changes
 When rocks are forced down to lower levels by tectonic processes or when molten magma
rising through the crust comes in contact with the crustal rocks, metamorphosis occurs.
o Ex: Gneiss, slate, schist, marble, quartzite etc. are some examples of metamorphic rocks.

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Causes of Metamorphism
 Orogenic (Mountain Building) Movements: Such movements often take place with an interplay of
folding, warping and high temperatures. These processes give existing rocks a new appearance.
 Lava Inflow: The molten magmatic material inside the earth’s crust brings the surrounding rocks under

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the influence of intense temperature pressure and causes changes in them.
 Geodynamic Forces: The omnipresent geodynamic forces such as plate tectonics also play an

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important role in metamorphism.

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Types of Metamorphic Rocks:
On the basis of the agency of metamorphism, metamorphic rocks can be of two types:

54
Thermal Metamorphism Dynamic Metamorphism
 The change of form or re-crystallisation of  This refers to the formation of metamorphic rocks

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minerals of sedimentary and igneous rocks under high pressure.
under the influence of high temperatures is  The combination of directed pressure and heat is very

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known as thermal metamorphism. powerful in producing metamorphism because it
 A magmatic intrusion causing thermal leads to more or less complete recrystallisation of
metamorphism is responsible for the peak of rocks and the production of new structures. This is
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Mount Everest consisting of known as dynamo thermal metamorphism.
metamorphosed limestone.  Under high pressure, granite is converted into

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As a result of thermal metamorphism, gneiss; clay and shale are transformed into schist.
sandstone changes into quartzite and
limestone into marble. Granite → Gneiss
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Sandstone → Quartzite
Metamorphic Rocks in India:
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 The Gneisses And Schists: Commonly found in the Himalayas, Assam, West Bengal, Bihar,
Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
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 Quartzite: A hard rock found over Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and areas
surrounding Delhi.
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 Marble: Occurs near Alwar, Ajmer, Jaipur, Jodhpur in Rajasthan and parts of Narmada
Valley in Madhya Pradesh.
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 Slate: Used as a roofing material and for writing in schools, is found over Rewari (Haryana),
Kangra (Himachal Pradesh) and parts of Bihar.
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 Graphite: Found in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.

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Economic Significance Of Rocks:

 Soils: Soils are derived from rocks.  Precious Stones: Precious stones and
 Building Material: Rocks are the source of metals are obtained from different
types of building material directly or metamorphic or igneous rocks.
indirectly. Example-Granite, gneiss,  Example-Diamond is a precious stone
sandstone, marble and slates are extensively used in jewellery and is a metamorphic
used in the construction of buildings. rock. Similarly other precious stones
 Taj Mahal is made of white marble, Red like gems, rubies and sapphires are
Forts of Delhi and Agra, are made of red obtained from different type of rocks.
sandstone.

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 Mineral Source: Metallic minerals provide  Fuel: Fuel in the form of coal, petroleum,
all metals ranging from very precious gold, natural gas and nuclear minerals are derived
platinum, silver, copper to aluminium and from different rocks.
iron.  Fertilizer: Fertilizers are also derived from
 Raw Material: In cement industry and some rocks. Phosphatic fertilizers are
limestone kilns different type of rocks and obtained from phosphorite mineral found in
minerals are used for production of finished abundance in some parts of the world.
goods.

Some Rock-Forming Minerals:

Cinnabar Dolomite
Mercury is derived from it. A double carbonate of calcium and magnesium, used
in cement and iron and steel industries.
Gypsum Amphibole
Hydrous calcium sulphate, used in Consists mainly of aluminium, calcium, silica, iron,
cement, fertiliser and chemical industries. magnesium, etc., used in the asbestos industry.

Mica Olivine
Found in igneous and metamorphic rocks The main elements of olivine are magnesium, iron and
and is mainly used in electrical silica.
instruments.
Pyroxene Feldspar
It consists of calcium, aluminium, Half the crust is composed of feldspar and its main
magnesium, iron and silica. constituents are silicon, oxygen, sodium, potassium,
calcium, aluminium.
Quartz Bauxite
It has two elements, silicon and oxygen. It A hydrous oxide of aluminium and is the ore of
cracks like glass and is present in sand and aluminium..
granite. It is used in the manufacture of
radio and radar.

******

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CHAPTER-8
DYNAMIC SURFACE OF THE EARTH

CONCEPT OF ISOSTASY
The term “Isostasy” is derived from “Isostasios”, a word of Greek language meaning the state of
being in balance. Isostasy simply means a mechanical stability between the upstanding parts and low
lying basins on a rotating earth’

ISOSTATIC BALANCE:
Views of Airy
 Uniform Density With Varying Thickness: Airy, a geologist, considered the density of
different columns (plains, plateaus, mountains, etc.) to be the same. Hence, he proposed the
idea of ‘uniform density with varying thickness’.
 Illustration: Airy took an example of wooden blocks of various sizes and immersed them into
water. All blocks are of same density. They get immersed differently in proportion to their
sizes. In the same way higher features with great height seen on the surface of the earth have
deeper roots whereas short in length has shorter roots beneath. It is the concept of root which
is sustaining the higher elevation. He is of the opinion that the landmasses are floating like a
boat in the substratum (magmatic asthenosphere).

o Example: According to this concept, the root beneath the Mt. Everest would be 8848X8 =
70784 metre below the sea level.
 Criticism: Airy has been criticized that the root is not possible to be at such a great depth.
Because the root material will melt due to higher temperature found at that depth.

Isostatic Balance:
Views of Pratt
 Height and Density Relation: Pratt considered that there is an inverse relationship between
height and density. If there is a higher column, density will be lesser and if there is a shorter
column, density will be higher.
 level of compensation: Assuming this to be true, he accepted that all blocks of different height
get compensated at a certain depth into the substratum. In this way a line is being demarcated

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above which there is equal pressure with varying heights. Thus, he denounced the root concept
of Airy and accepted the ‘concept of a level of compensation’.
 Illustration: For proving his concept he took a number of metal bars of varying density with

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same weight and put them into mercury. In this way they form a line by all those bars, which
he regarded to be the level of compensation.

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54
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Differences between the views of Airy and Pratt
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Views of Airy Views of Pratt
 Uniform density of crustal material.  Varying density of crustal material.
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 Varying depth up to which root  Uniform depth up to which crustal

penetrates. material reaches
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 Deeper root below the mountain and the  No root formation, but a level of
smaller beneath plain compensation
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GLOBAL ISOSTATIC ADJUSTMENT

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It is quite apparent that there is no complete isostatic balance over the globe.
 The Earth Is Unstable
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 Endogenetic Forces often disturb the crustal

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balance.
o The regular earthquakes and volcanic
eruptions along a particular belt do not signify
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any balance but a sort of adjustment is needed

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continuously.
o Endogenetic forces and their tectonic effects are
the causes of imbalance on the surface but nature
always tries to make an isostatic adjustment with
itself.
 Exogenetic Forces are trying to eliminate the
differences on the surface of the earth and in this
process they are peeling off, transporting down to
far flung places, and depositing them.
o In this process, isostatic balance is maintained by the underneath flowage of material
by subsidence at the place of deposition and upliftment at the peeling of place in their
proportion to the denudation.
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TECTONICS:
During WW II, it was discovered that the ocean floor had some unique relief features like ridges,
trenches, seamounts, shoals etc. These important discoveries led to the field of tectonics in geology.
 Tectonics: The scientific study of forces (convection currents in the mantle) and processes
(collisions of the lithospheric plates, folding, faulting, volcanism) that control the structure of
the Earth's crust and its evolution through time.

Important Concepts that Tried to Explain the Tectonic Processes

CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY

Pangea: According to Alfred Wegener(1912), the entire landmass of the globe was together about
280 million years ago. It was termed as Pangea, a super continent.

Panthalassa: The huge water body surrounding the Pangea was known as Panthalasa.

Break of Pangea: From 280 to 150 million years ago, Pangea was broken latitudinally into
northern and southern parts known as Laurasia (Angaraland) and Gondwanaland, respectively.

Drift And Formation Of Tethys: Both of them drifted away and in between a shallow sea emerged by
filling up the water from Panthalasa. It was known as Tethys sea.

Rift And Drift And Present Form: Later on Laurasia and Gondwanaland rifted and finally drifted
to form the present day distribution of land and water on the earth.

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Evidences of Drift:
Wegener gave a number of evidences in support of the
unification of landmass in geologic past. They are such
which cannot be negated even today.
 Jig-Saw-Fit: Eastern coast of South America is
identical to Western coast of Africa which fits to a
certain depth in the ocean.
 Geological Similarities: The mountain systems of
Southern Atlantic coast in South America and
Africa show the similarity of the extension in both
continents.

 Rocks of Same Age Across the Oceans: The

belt of ancient rocks of 2,000 million years from
Brazil coast matches with those from western
Africa. The earliest marine deposits along the
coastline of South America and Africa are of the
Jurassic age. This suggests that the ocean did
not exist prior to that time.
 Tillite: It is the sedimentary rock formed out of
deposits of glaciers.
o The Gondwana system of sediments from
India is known to have its counterparts in six
different landmasses of the Southern
Hemisphere. At the base, the system has thick
tillite indicating extensive and prolonged
glaciation.
o Counterparts of this succession are found in
Africa, Falkland Island, Madagascar, Antarctica
and Australia.
o Overall resemblance of the Gondwana-type
sediments clearly demonstrates that these
landmasses had remarkably similar histories.
o The glacial tillite provides unambiguous
evidence of paleoclimates and also of drifting of
continents.
 Placer Deposits The occurrence of rich placer
deposits of gold in the Ghana coast and the absolute
absence of source rock in the region is an amazing
fact.
o The gold bearing veins are in Brazil and it is obvious that the gold deposits of the Ghana
are derived from the Brazil plateau when the two continents lay side by side.

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Coal And Vegetation Evidences: The distribution of coal and
vegetation over South America, Africa, India and Australia
proves that they were together in geological past.

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 The classical glacial deposits during carboniferous period over
these landmasses resemble each other which tells the story of

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togetherness. Today they lie in different climatic zones.


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Distribution of Fossils: When identical species of plants and
animals adapted to living on land or in fresh water are found on
either side of the marine barriers, a problem arises regarding

54
accounting for such distribution.
 Lemurs: The observations that Lemurs occur in India,

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Madagascar and Africa led some to consider a contiguous
landmass ‘Lemuria’ linking these three landmasses.

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 Mesosaurus: A small reptile adapted to shallow brackish
water. The skeletons of these are found only in two localities:
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the Southern Cape province of South Africa and Iraver
formations of Brazil. The two localities are presently 4,800
km apart with an ocean in between them
ds
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Apart from above evidences put forward by Wegener, other evidences

(known later) are also there which support the idea of continental drift.
 Convectional Current Theory: Arthur Holmes in 1930s
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discussed the possibility of convection currents operating in the

mantle portion, generated due to radioactive elements causing
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thermal differences in the mantle portion.

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 Holmes argued that there exists a system of such currents

in the entire mantle portion. This was an attempt to provide
an explanation to the issue of force, on the basis of which
contemporary scientists discarded the continental drift
theory.
 Evidences From Palaeomagnetism: Magnetically susceptible minerals like haematite,
pyrrhotite, magnetite etc. get aligned with the magnetic pole of the earth and recorded in
the solidification of magma during that time.

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 It is found that periodic changes have occurred and poles have wandered which is not
possible for the entire earth. Hence, it is the twist and turn of the land-block and not for the
entire earth which has again explained that the continents have shifted their positions.
 Sea Floor Spreading: Along the mid-Atlantic ridge, magma comes out at the sea bed and gets
solidified. A new zone is formed and this process is continuing since millions of years. It is
leading for diversion of continental block, and hence the size of the Atlantic ocean is increasing
which is termed as sea floor spreading.
 It is the classical example of the shifting of continents.

Force for Drifting:

Wegener suggested that the movement
responsible for the drifting of the continents was
caused by pole-fleeing force and tidal force.
 The Polar-Fleeing Force: Due to the
rotation, Earth has a bulge at the equator.
 The Tidal Force: is due to the attraction of
the moon and the sun that develops tides in
oceanic waters.
However, most of scholars considered these
forces to be totally inadequate.

THE CONCEPT OF SEA FLOOR

SPREADING
The post-drift studies and the mapping of the
ocean floor and palaeomagnetic studies of rocks
from oceanic regions revealed the following
facts:
Volcanic Eruptions along MOR: All along the
mid-oceanic ridges, volcanic eruptions are
common and they bring huge amounts of lava to
the surface in this area.
 Polarity: The rocks equidistant on either
sides of the crest of mid-oceanic ridges
show remarkable similarities in terms of
period of formation, chemical
compositions and magnetic properties.
Rocks closer to the mid-oceanic ridges
have normal polarity and are the
youngest. The age of the rocks increases
as one moves away from the crest.

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 Age of Rocks: The ocean crust rocks are much younger than the continental rocks. The age of
rocks in the oceanic crust is nowhere more than 200 million years old. Some of the continental
rock formations are as old as 3,200 million years.
 Floor Sediments: The sediments on the ocean floor are unexpectedly very thin. Scientists were
expecting, if the ocean floors were as old as the continent, to have a complete sequence of
sediments for a period of much longer duration. However, nowhere was the sediment column
found to be older than 200 million years.
 Trenches: The deep trenches have deep-seated earthquake occurrences while in the mid-
oceanic ridge areas, the quake foci have shallow depths.
These facts and a detailed analysis of magnetic properties of the rocks on either sides of the mid-
oceanic ridge led Hess (1961) to propose his hypothesis, known as the “sea floor spreading”.

Mechanism:
 Constant Eruption/Rupture: Hess argued that constant eruptions at the crest of oceanic
ridges cause the rupture of the oceanic crust and the new lava wedges into it, pushing the
oceanic crust on either side. The ocean floor, thus spreads.
 Consumption of Crust: The younger age of the oceanic crust as well as the fact that the
spreading of one ocean does not cause the shrinking of the other, made Hess think about the
consumption of the oceanic crust.
 Subduction of Oceanic Crust: The ocean floor that gets pushed due to volcanic eruptions at
the crest, sinks down at the oceanic trenches and gets consumed.

Evidence for Seafloor Spreading

 Nature of oceanic rocks around mid-ocean ridges
 Rocks on either side of the crest of oceanic ridges having equidistant locations from the
crest were found to have similarities both in terms of their constituents, their age and
magnetic orientation.

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Rocks closer to the mid-oceanic ridges have normal polarity and are the youngest and the
age of the rocks increases as one moves away from the crest (ridge).
 The rocks of the oceanic crust near the oceanic ridges are much younger than the rocks of

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the continental crust.
 Distribution of Earthquakes and Volcanoes along the mid-ocean ridges

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 The normal temperature gradient on the sea floor is 9.4° C/300 m, but near the ridges it

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becomes higher, indicating an upwelling of magmatic material from the mantle.
 Dots in the central parts of the Atlantic Ocean and other oceans are almost parallel to the
coastlines. This indicates that the seafloor has widened with time.

54
 In general, the foci of the earthquake in the areas of mid-oceanic ridges are at shallow
depths whereas, along the Alpine-Himalayan belt as well as the rim of the Pacific, the

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earthquakes are deep-seated ones.

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ha
ds
ha
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pr
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sh
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PLATE TECTONICS
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It was in 1967, McKenzie and Parker and also Morgan, independently collected the available ideas
and came out with another concept termed Plate Tectonics.
 Tectonic plate (also called lithospheric plate): A massive, irregularly-shaped slab of solid rock,
generally composed of both continental and oceanic lithosphere. Plates move horizontally over the
asthenosphere as rigid units.
 Types: A plate may be referred to as the continental plate or oceanic plate depending on which of
the two occupy a larger portion of the plate.
 Pacific plate is largely an oceanic plate whereas the Eurasian plate may be called a
continental plate.
The theory of plate tectonics proposes that the earth’s lithosphere is divided into seven major and some
minor plates.

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Major Plates Minor Plates

 North American (with western Atlantic  Cocos Plate: Between Central America and Pacific
floor separated from the South American plate
plate along the Caribbean islands) plate  Nazca Plate: Between South America and Pacific
 South American (with western Atlantic plate
floor separated from the North American  Arabian Plate: Mostly the Saudi Arabian landmass
plate along the Caribbean islands) plate  Philippine Plate: Between the Asiatic and Pacific
 Pacific plate plate
 India-Australia-New Zealand plate  Caroline Plate: Between the Philippine and Indian
 Africa with the eastern Atlantic floor plate plate (North of New Guinea)
 Eurasia and the adjacent oceanic plate.  Fuji Plate: North-east of Australia.

Mechanism of plate Movement:

 Arthur Holmes, a British geologist, in 1928 – 1929, proposed that convectional currents exist
underneath the lithosphere. Due to integration and disintegration of atomic minerals heat is
produced and hence the melting of surrounding rocks. In this way currents start operating.
These currents are classified into rising and falling with divergence and convergence
activities, respectively.
 With rising convectional current, transport of hot and viscous matter takes place upwardly.
After reaching about 100 kms below the surface that current gets diverged leading to split into
the upper part. The molten material penetrates into the split and thus creation of new surface
and the draft of the mammoth plate in opposition direction. It happens below the mid-oceanic
ridge.
 On the other hand two sets of diverging thermal convectional currents brings two plates
together and it is called convergent boundary where subduction takes place. Plates of
lithosphere are constantly in motion because of convectional currents. Their relative
motion depends upon the force operating over them.

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 Plate Boundaries: Very important and significant structural features. Boundaries are very distinct
and easy to identify. They are associated with newly formed mountain systems, oceanic ridges and
trenches. Plates are moving continuously and have relative direction of movement. Based on the
direction of movement three types of plate boundaries can, easily, be identified.

Based on the direction of movement three types of plate boundaries can, easily, be identified.
 Divergent boundary
 Convergent boundary
 Fracture or transform boundary fault
Divergent Boundary Transform Boundary
Diverging currents produce tension at the Transform fault is the one when two adjacent
contact-zone of crust leading to fracture. plates slide past each other. Direction of movement
Magmatic material penetrates into the fractures may be along or against but they move parallel to
and gets solidified. This continuous process each other. Therefore, neither there is any
pushes the blocks in opposite direction and construction of fresh area nor it has any
creates a new zone, known as “zone of destruction. Hence, it is known as “zone of
construction”. preservation”.
Convergent Boundary
At convergent boundary, two adjacent plates come further and further closer to each other and collide.
Continent-Continent (C-C) Continent-Oceanic (O-C) Oceanic-Oceanic (O-O)
When both sides are of When one of the two is When both plates are of maritime,
continental nature, a mountain continental and the other both of them break, subduct and
formation is evident. maritime again mountain penetrate below and, hence,
comes into being along the trenches are formed. Along this
boundary. In this case, boundary earthquakes and
continental plate overrides the volcanic activities are prominent.
maritime. In all these three situations, surface
 The concept of Ocean- area is reduced, therefore, this is
Ocean Convergence helps us also known as “zone of
understand the formation of destruction”.
Japanese Island Arc,
Indonesian Archipelago,
Philippine Island Arc and
Caribbean Islands.

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Prior to the advent of plate tectonic theory, the continental drift theory which was proposed by
Wegener was criticized, particularly about the forces. In fact, it was outrightly rejected in spite of
apparent evidences. But further researches about the material of sea floor and palaeomagnetism

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supported the theory but the proposition of plate tectonic theory in 1960’s has solved the problem
of the mechanism of movement.

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Plate Tectonics Vs Earthquakes and Volcanoes

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 The distribution of earthquakes and volcanoes over the globe clearly reveals that they are
strongly associated with the boundaries of plates.

54
 Plate boundaries are the zones where every sort of tectonic activity does take place. The release
of energy created because of the movement of plates is manifested in this zone in the form of

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earthquakes and volcanic eruption.

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ds
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The major Earthquake and volcanic belts of the world

MOVEMENT OF THE INDIAN PLATE

Extent/Region:
The Indian plate includes Peninsular India and the Australian continental portions.
 Subduction at Northern Plate Boundary: The subduction zone along the Himalayas forms
the northern plate boundary in the form of continent— continent convergence.
 In the East: It extends through Arakanyoma Mountains of Myanmar towards the island arc
along the Java Trench.

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 Eastern Margin: The eastern margin is a spreading site lying to the

east of Australia in the form of an oceanic ridge in SW Pacific.
 The Western Margin: Follows Kirthar Mountain of Pakistan.
It further extends along the Makrana coast and joins the
spreading site from the Red Sea rift south eastward along the
Chagos Archipelago.
 The Boundary Between India And The Antarctic Plate:
Marked by oceanic ridge (divergent boundary) running in
roughly W-E direction and merging into the spreading site, a
little south of New Zealand.

Evolution/Movement:
India was a large island situated off the Australian coast, in a vast ocean.
The Tethys Sea separated it from the Asian continent till about 225
million years ago.
 Northward Journey: India is supposed to have started her
northward journey about 200 million years ago at the time when
Pangaea broke.
 India collided with Asia about 40-50 million years ago causing rapid uplift of the Himalayas.
The positions of India since about 71 million years till the present are shown in the figure above.
It also shows the position of the Indian subcontinent and the Eurasian plate.
o About 140 million years before the present, the subcontinent was located as south as
50S. latitude. The two major plates were separated by the Tethys Sea and the Tibetan
block was closer to the Asiatic landmass.
o Formation of Deccan Trap: During the movement of the Indian plate towards the
Eurasian plate, a major event that occurred was the outpouring of lava and formation
of the Deccan Traps.
 This started somewhere around 60 million years ago and continued for a long period
of time. Note that the subcontinent was still close to the equator.
o Formation of Himalaya: From 40 million years ago and thereafter, the event of
formation of the Himalayas took place. Scientists believe that the process is still
continuing and the height of the Himalayas is rising even to this date.

Evidence in Support of Plate Tectonics

Evidence for both See Floor Spreading and Plate tectonics are complimentary (almost same evidences).
Palaeomagnetism Older/Younger Rocks
The orientation of iron grains on older Older Rocks Form The Continents While Younger
rocks shows an orientation which points Rocks Are Present On The Ocean Floor: On
to the existence of the South Pole, once continents, rocks of up to 3.5 billion years old can be
upon a time, somewhere between found while the oldest rock found on the ocean floor is
present-day Africa and Antarctica (polar not more than 75 million years old (western part of
wandering). Pacific floor).

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Gravitational Anomalies Earthquakes and Volcanoes

In trenches, where subduction has taken The fact that all plate boundary regions are areas of
place (convergent edge), the value of earthquake and volcanic disturbances goes to prove the
gravitational constant ‘g’ is less. This theory of plate tectonics.
indicates a loss of material.

The significance of Plate Tectonics

 Almost all major landforms formed are due to plate tectonics.
 New minerals are thrown up from the core with the magmatic eruptions.
 Economically valuable minerals like copper and uranium are found near the plate boundaries.
 From present knowledge of crustal plate movement, the shape of landmasses in future can be
predicted.
 For instance, if the present trends continue, North and South America will separate. A piece of
land will separate from the east coast of Africa. Australia will move closer to Asia.
Basis Continental Drift Sea Floor Spreading Plate Tectonics
Propounder Alfred Wegener in 1920s Arthur In 1967, McKenzie and
Holmes(Convectional Parker suggested it and
Current Theory) and Harry Morgan later outlined
Hess Explained it in the the theory in 1968
1940s
Theory Explains the Movement of Explains the Movement of Explains the Movement
Continents only Oceanic Plates only of Lithospheric plates
that include both
continents and oceans.
Forces of Buoyancy, gravity, pole Convection currents in the Convection currents in
movement fleeing force, tidal mantle drag crustal plates the mantle drag crustal
currents, tides plates
Evidence Apparent affinity of Ocean bottom relief, Ocean bottom relief,
physical features, botanical Paleomagnetic rocks, Paleomagnetic rocks,
evidence, fossil evidence, distribution of earthquakes distribution of
Tillite depos its, placer and volcanoes etc. earthquakes and
deposits, rocks of same age volcanoes, gravitational
across different continents anomalies at trenches,
etc. etc
Limitations Too general with silly and Doesn’t explain the
sometimes illogical movement of continental
evidence. plates
Acceptance Discarded Not Complete Most widely accepted
Usefulness Helped in the evolution of Helped in the evolution of Helped us understand
convection current theory plate tectonics theory various geographical
and seafloor spreading features.
theory

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CHAPTER-9

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EVOLUTION OF LANDFORMS DUE TO INTERNAL FORCES

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INTRODUCTION

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The study of forces affecting the crust of the earth or of geological processes is of paramount

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significance because these forces and resultant movements are involved in the creation, destruction,
recreation and maintenance of geomaterials and numerous types of relief features of varying
magnitudes. The geological changes are generally of two types e.g.

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 Long Period Changes: Occur so slowly that man is unable to notice such changes during his
life-period.

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 Short-Period Changes: Take place so suddenly that these are noticed within few seconds to
few hours, e.g. seismic events, volcanic eruptions etc.

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The forces, which affect the crust of the earth, are divided into two broad categories on the basis of
their sources of origin e.g. Endogenetic forces and Exo-genetic forces.
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ENDOGENETIC FORCES
The forces coming from within the earth are called as endogenetic forces which cause two types of
movements in the earth viz. horizontal movements and vertical movements that give birth to numerous
varieties of relief features on the earth's surface (e.g. mountains, plateaus, plains, lakes, faults, folds
etc.).

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The endogenetic forces and movements are divided, on the basis of intensity, into two major
categories viz. diastrophic forces and sudden forces.
Sudden Forces And Movements
Geologically, these sudden forces(volcanic eruptions and earthquakes) are termed as
‘constructive forces because these create certain relief features on the earth's surface. For example,
volcanic eruptions result in the formation of volcanic cones and mountains while fissure flows of
lavas form extensive lava plateaus (e.g. Deccan plateau of India, Columbian plateau of the USA
etc.) and lava plains. Earthquakes create faults, fractures, lakes etc.
Diastrophic Forces And Movements
The diastrophic forces operate very slowly and their effects become discernible after thousands and
millions of years. These forces, also termed as constructive forces, affect larger areas of the globe
and produce meso-level reliefs (e.g.) mountains, plateaus, plains, lakes, big faults etc.).
Epeirogenetic Movements Orogenetic Movement
Epeirogenetic movement causes upliftment Orogenetic movement is caused due to endogenetic
and subsidence of continental masses through forces working in horizontal manner. Horizontal
upward and downward movements forces and movements are also called as
respectively. Both the movements are, in fact, ‘tangential forces .
vertical movements. Orogenetic or horizontal forces work in two ways
These diastrophic forces and movements are viz.
further sub divided into two groups viz.  In Opposite Directions (Tensional Force):
Such types of force and movement are also
Upward Movement: called as divergent forces and movements.
Causes upliftment of continental masses in two Thus, tensional forces create rupture, cracks,
ways e.g. fracture and faults in the crustal parts of the
 The upliftment of whole continent or part earth.
thereof and  Towards Each Other (Compressional
 The upliftment of coastal land of the Force): Causes crustal bending leading to the
continents. Such type of upliftment is formation of folds or crustal warping leading
called emergence. to local rise or subsidence of crustal parts.

Downward Movement:
Causes subsidence of continental masses in
two ways viz.
 Subsidence: Subsidence of land area i.e.
downward movement of land area.
 Submergence: Alternatively, the land area
near the sea coast is moved downward or is
subsided below sea-level and is thus
submerged under sea water. Such type of
downward movement is called as
submergence.

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FOLDS
Wave-like bends are formed in the crustal rocks due to tangential compressive force resulting from
horizontal movement caused by the endogenetic force originating deep within the earth. Such bends
are called ‘folds’ wherein some parts are bent up and some parts are bent down.
 The upfolded rock strata in
arch-like form are called
‘anticlines’ while the down
folded structure forming
trough-like feature is called
‘syncline’.
 In fact, folds are minor
forms of broad warping. The
two sides of a fold are called
limbs of the fold.
 The limb which is shared
between an anticline and its
companion syncline is
called middle limb.
 The plane which bisects the
angle between the two limbs
of the anticline or middle
limb of the syncline is called
the axis of fold or axial
plane.
On the basis of anticline and syncline these axial planes are called as axis of anticline and axis of
syncline respectively.
The inclination of rock beds with respect to horizontal plane is termed as ‘dip’.
 Anticlines: The upfolded rock beds are called anticlines. In simple fold the rock strata of both
the limbs dip in opposite directions. Sometimes, folding becomes so acute that the dip angle
of the anticline is accentuated and the fold becomes almost vertical. When the slopes of both
the limbs or sides of an anticline are uniform , the anticline is called as ‘symmetrical anticline’
but when the slopes are unequal, the anticline is called as ‘asymmetrical anticline’.
 Synclines: Down folded rock beds due to compressive forces caused by horizontal tangential
forces are called synclines. These are, in fact, trough like form in which beds on either side
‘incline together’ towards the middle part.
 Anticlinorium: Anticlinorium refers to those folded structures in the regions of folded
mountains where there are a series of minor anticlines and synclines within one extensive
anticline.
 Synclinorium: Synclinorium represents such a folded structure which includes an extensive
syncline having numerous minor anticlines and synclines. Such structure is formed due to
irregular folding consequent upon irregular compressive forces.

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Types of Folds
The nature of folds depends on several factors e.g. the nature of rocks, the nature and intensity of
compressive forces, duration of the operation of compressive forces etc. The softer and more elastic

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rocks are subjected to intense folding while rigid and less elastic rocks are only moderately folded.

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Based on the inclination of the limbs, folds are divided into 5 types:

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Symmetrical Folds Asymmetrical Folds
Simple folds, the limbs (both) of which incline Both the limbs incline at different angles where
uniformly and are formed when compressive one limb is relatively larger and the inclination is

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forces work regularly but with moderate moderate and regular while the other limb is
intensity. relatively shorter with, steep inclination.

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Monoclinal Folds Isoclinal Fold
One limb inclines moderately with regular Formed when the compressive forces are so strong

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slope while the other limb inclines steeply at that both the limbs of the fold become parallel but
right angle and the slope is almost vertical. not horizontal.
Recumbent Folds
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Formed when the compressive forces are so
strong that both the limbs of the fold become
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parallel as well as horizontal.

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Nappes: large body or sheet of rock that has been moved a distance of about 2 km (1.2 miles) or more
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from its original position by faulting or folding.

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CRUSTAL FRACTURE
Crustal fracture refers to displacement of rocks along a plane due to tensional and compressional forces
acting either horizontally or vertically or sometimes even in both ways. Generally, fractures are
divided into
 Joints: A joint is defined as a fracture in the crustal rocks wherein no appreciable movement
of rock takes place, whereas a fracture becomes fault when there is appreciable displacement
of the rocks on both sides of a fracture and parallel to it.
 Faults: A fault is a fracture in the crustal rocks wherein the rocks are displaced along a plane called
as fault plane. In other words, when the crustal rocks are displaced, due to tensional movement caused
by the endogenetic forces, along a plane, the resultant structure is called a fault.

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A few terms regarding an ideal fault should be understood before going into the details of the mode
of formation of various types of faults.
 Fault Plane: that plane along which the rock
blocks are displaced by tensional and
compressional forces acting vertically and
horizontally to form a fault. A fault plane may be
vertical, inclined, horizontal, curved or of any
other form.
 Fault Dip: the angle between the fault plane and
horizontal plane.
 Upthrown Side: Represents the uppermost block
of a fault.
 Down Thrown: Side represents the lower most
block of a fault.
 Hanging wall the upper w all of a fault.
 Foot wall represents the lower wall, of a fault.
 Fault scarp is the steep wall-like slope caused by faulting of the crustal rocks. Sometimes, the
fault scarp is so steep that it resembles a cliff. It may be pointed out that scarps are not always
formed due to faulting alone, rather these are also formed due to erosion, but whenever these
are formed by faulting (tectonic forces), these are called ‘fault scarpts.

Types of Faults:
 Normal Faults: Formed due to the displacement of
both the rock blocks in opposite directions due to
fracture consequent upon greatest stress.
 Reverse Faults: Formed due to the movement of
both the fractured rock blocks towards each other.
 Lateral Or Strike-Slip Faults: Formed when the
rock blocks are displaced horizontally along the fault
plane due to horizontal movement.

 Step Faults: When a series of faults occur in any area in such a way that the slopes of all the
fault planes of all the faults are in the same direction the resultant faults are called as step faults.

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Rift Valley and Graben Rift valley

 Rift valley represents a trough, depression or basin between two crustal parts.
 Rift valleys are actually formed due to displacement of crustal parts and subsidence of middle
portion between two normal faults.
 Graben: Rift valleys are generally
also called as ‘graben ’ which is a
German word which means a trough-
like depression. These two terms are
synonymously used in various parts of
the world.

EXOGENETIC FORCES
The exogenetic forces or processes, also
called as denudational processes, or ‘destructional forces or processes’ are originated from the
atmosphere. These forces are continuously engaged in the destruction of the relief features created by
the endogenetic forces through their weathering, erosional and depositional activities. (Details in later
Chapters)

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CHAPTER-10

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VOLCANOES

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A volcano is a vent or an opening in the earth’s crust through which molten rock material, rock

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fragments, ash, steam and other hot gases are emitted slowly or forcefully in the course of an eruption.

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 Volcanoes are evidence of the presence of the intense heat and pressure existing within the
earth.
 Lava: Hot molten rock materials beneath the

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solid outer crust is known as magma. When this
magma is thrown out from the magma chamber

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to the earth’s surface it is known as lava.
 Vulcanism: The tremendous force created by

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magma and its gases creates a hole in the crust
and the lava spreads out on the surface along with
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ash and fragmented rock material. The process
by which solid liquid and gaseous materials
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escape from the earth’s interior to the surface of

the earth is called vulcanism.
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 Crater: The volcanic materials accumulate around the opening or hole taking the form of a
cone. The top of the cone has a funnel shaped depression which is called its crater.
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CAUSES OF VOLCANISM
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Types Of Volcanoes
On the basis of the frequency of eruption, volcanoes are of three types:
Active Dormant Extinct
The volcanoes which erupt frequently or have The volcanoes which Volcanoes which have not
erupted recently or are in action currently. have not erupted in erupted in historical times.
 Example: Stromboli in Mediterranean, recent times.  Example: Mount Popa
Krakatoa in Indonesia, Mayon in Philippines,  Example: Vesuvious of Myanmar (Burma) and
Mauna loa in Hawaii Islands and Barren Island of Italy, Cotopaxi in Kilimanjaro of Tanzania
in India. South America.

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On the basis of mode of eruption, volcanoes are divided into two types:
Central Type of Volcanoes Fissure Type Volcanoes
When the eruption in a volcanoes takes place Sometimes, deep elongated cracks develop due to
from a vent or a hole, it is called a central type earthquakes or faulting. The magma starts flowing through
of volcano. them quietly. This mode of eruption is called fissure type of
 Majority of volcanic eruptions in the eruption.
world are of this type, marked by violent  This eruption helps in the formation of thick horizontal
explosion due to sudden escape of gases sheets of lava or a low dome shaped volcano with
and molten rocks through the hole. broad base.
 Example: Visuvious and Fuji-yama.  Example: Deccan Traps of India is one example of
fissure type of eruption

On the basis of the fluidity of lava there are two types of volcanoes:
Basic or Basaltic or Shield lava Andesitic or Acidic or Composite or Stratovolcano lava
Since the basic lava is rich in metallic Contrary to basic lava, acid lava is rich in silica and has a
minerals and has a low melting point, it has relatively high melting point. Therefore: it is highly viscous
greater fluidity. and solidifies quickly. Hence, the, acid lava volcanoes cause
 In this type of eruption, lava flows far the formation of usually higher land features with steeper
and wide quietly with greater speed and slopes.
spreads out in thin sheets over a large
area. Thus, it leads to the formation of
shields and lava domes.
 Example: The shield volcano of
Hawaiian Island in Pacific ocean is one
of these volcanoes.

VOLCANIC LANDFORMS
The topographic features produced by the entire process of vulcanicity are grouped into two broad
categories viz.

Extrusive Volcanic Topography

 From explosive type of eruptions
 Elevated forms, e.g. volcanic cones
 Depressed forms, e.g. craters and calderas
 From fissure eruptions
 Lava plateaus and domes
 Lava plains

Intrusive Volcanic Topography

 Intrusive lava domes, batholiths, laccoliths, phacoliths, lopoliths, sills, dikes, volcanic plugs and
stocks.

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EXTRUSIVE VOLCANIC TOPOGRAPHY:

Elevated Forms
Volcanic Cones
1. Cinder Or Ash Cones: are usually of low height and are formed of volcanic dusts and
ashes and pyroclastic matter (fragmental materials).
 The volcanic cones of Mt. Jorullo of Mexico , Mt. Izalco of San Salvador, Mt.
Camiguin of Luzon Island of Phillippines etc. are typical examples of cinder cones
2. Composite Cones: are the highest of all volcanic cones. These are formed due to
accumulation of different layers of various volcanic materials and hence these are also
called as strato -cones. In fact, these cones are formed due to deposition of alternate layers
of lava and fragmental (phyroclastic) materials.
 Mt. Shasta, Mt. Ranier, Mt. Hood (USA ), Mt. Mayon of Phillippines, Mt. Fuziyama
of Japan , Mt. Cotopaxi of Ecuador etc.
3. Parasite Cones: Several branches of pipes come out from the main central pipe of the
volcano when the volcanic cones are enormously enlarged. Lavas and other volcanic
materials come out from these minor pipes and these materials are deposited around newly
formed vents located on the outer surface of the main cone and thus several smaller cones
are formed on major cone. These cones are called parasite cones because the supply of
lava for these cones comes from the main pipe.
 Example- Shastina cone is a parasite cone of Mt. Shasta of the USA.
4. Basic Lava Cone: is formed of light and less viscous lava with less quantity of silica.
These are also known as Hawana type of cones.
5. Acid Lava Cones: are formed where the lavas coming out of volcanic eruptions are highly
viscous and rich in silica content. Such cones are very often known as Strombolian type
of cones.
6. Lava domes: are in fact similar to shield cones in one way or the other. Lava domes differ
from shield cones as regards their size. Actually, lava domes are larger and more extensive
in size than the shield cones.
7. Lava plugs: are form ed due to plugging of volcanic pipes and vents when volcanoes
become extinct. These vertical columns of solidified lavas appear on the earth's surface
when the volcanic cones are eroded away. The lava-filled volcanic pipe is called as
volcanic neck.

Depressed Forms
 Craters: The depression formed at the mouth o f a volcanic vent is called a crater or a volcanic
mouth, which is usually funnel shaped. When a crater is filled with water, it becomes a crater
lake
 Calderas: Generally, enlarged form of a crater is called caldera.
 For example, volcanic materials have been found at the distance of 128 km from the
caldera of Crater Lake (U SA ).

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Intrusive Forms:
Depending on the location of the cooling of the lava, igneous rocks are classified as volcanic rocks
(cooling at the surface) and plutonic rocks (cooling in the crust).

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 The lava that cools within the crustal portions assumes different forms. These forms are called
intrusive forms. Some of the forms are shown in Figure.

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Batholiths Laccoliths
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 These are large granitic rock bodies formed  These are large dome-shaped intrusive
due to solidification of hot magma inside the bodies connected by a pipe-like conduit
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earth. from below.

 They appear on the surface only after the  These are intrusive counterparts of an
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denudation processes remove the overlying exposed domelike batholith.

materials.  The Karnataka plateau is spotted with
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 Batholiths form the core of huge mountains dome hills of granite rocks.
and may be exposed on the surface after
erosion.
Lapolith Phacolith
 As and when the lava moves upwards, a  A wavy mass of intrusive rocks, at times, is
portion of the same may tend to move in a found at the base of synclines or the top of
horizontal direction wherever it finds a weak the anticline in folded igneous strata.
plane.  Such wavy materials have a definite
 In case it develops into a saucer shape, conduit to source beneath in the form of
concave to the sky body. magma chambers (subsequently developed
as batholiths).

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Sills Dykes
 The near • When the lava makes its way through cracks and the fissures developed
horizontal bodies in the land, it solidifies almost perpendicular to the ground.
of the intrusive • It gets cooled in the same position to develop a wall-like structure.
igneous rocks are Such structures are called dykes.
called sill. The • These are the most commonly found intrusive forms in the western
thinner ones are Maharashtra area.
called sheets. • These are considered the feeders for the eruptions that led to the
development of the Deccan traps.

DISTRIBUTION OF VOLCANOES
There are about 500 volcanoes in the world. Most of these volcanoes are found in three well defined
belts, The Circum-Pacific belt, the Mid-World Mountain belt and the African Rift Valley belt.
Thus, volcanoes are closely related to the regions of intense folding and faulting.
 They occur along coastal’ mountain ranges, on islands and in the mid-oceans.
 Interior parts of continents are generally free from their activity.
 Most of the active volcanoes are found in the pacific region.
 About 83 active volcanoes are located in Mediterranean region.
 Circum-Pacific region has the greatest concentration of volcanoes, that is why, it is called
‘Pacific Ring of Fire’.
 This ring extends along Andes mountains of south America to Alaska and from the
Aleutian Islands to Japan, Philippines, Indonesia to New Zealand.
 The Mid-world mountain belt: Occupies the second position with regard to the numbers of
volcanoes. It runs from Alps in Europe to Asia Minor and crossing through Himalayan
region joins the Circum-Pacific belt.

 The African rift valley region ranks third. Most of the volcanoes are extinct here.

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Volcanos in India:
 Himalayan/Peninsular Region: There are no volcanoes in the Himalayan region or the Indian
peninsula.
 Barren Island: (only active volcano in India). In the Andaman and Nicobar Islands became
active in the 1990s.
 It is now considered an active volcano after it spewed lava and ash in 2017.
 Narcondam: The other volcanic island in Indian territory is Narcondam, about 150 km north-
east of Barren Island; it is probably extinct. Its crater wall has been destroyed.

******

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CHAPTER-11

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EARTH QUAKE

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An earthquake is a motion of the ground surface, ranging from a faint tremor to a wild motion capable

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of shaking building apart. The earthquake is a form of energy of wave motion transmitted through

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the surface layer of the earth.

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 Focus: The point within the earth’s crust where an earthquake originates is called the focus. It is also
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referred as seismic focus. It generally lies within the depth of 60 kilometres in the earth crust.
 Epicentre: The point vertically above the focus on the earth’s surface is known as ‘epicentre’.
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Causes and Effects of Earthquakes

 Fault/Fold: Folding, faulting and displacement of rock strata are the main causes of
earthquakes.
 Ex: San Francisco earthquakes of California in 1906, the Assam earthquakes of 1951, the Bihar
earthquakes of 1935. San Andreas Fault is a transform fault where Pacific plate and North American
plate move horizontally relative to each other causing earthquakes along the fault.
 Ex: The 1934 Bihar earthquake and 2001 Bhuj (Gujarat) earthquake of India were caused
mainly by faulting.
 Hydrostatic pressure and Anthropogenic causes The earthquakes caused by hydrostatic
pressure of reservoirs are called ‘Reservoir induced earthquakes’.

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 Example: Many major seismic events have been correlated with dams and reservoirs all over
the world such as earthquake of 1931 in Greece due to Marathon Dam, Koyna earthquake of
1967 in Satara district Maharashtra due to Koyna reservoir. The 2008 Sichuan earthquake, which
caused approximately 68,000 deaths, is another possible example of earthquake due to Dam. It
is believed that the construction and filling of the Zipingpu Dam may have triggered the
earthquake
 Volcanic Eruption: The violent volcanic eruptions put even the solid rocks under great stress.
It causes vibrations in the earth’s crust. But, these earthquakes, are limited to the areas of
volcanic activity.
 Example: Mauna Loa volcano of Hawaii Island in 1868.
 Landslides: Minor earthquakes often accompany or are the result of landslides, seepage of
water causing the collapse of the rocks of cavern or underground mines and tunnel.
 Damming of Rivers/Floods: Earthquakes themselves cause land-slides, damming of river
course and occurrence of floods, and sometimes, the depressions leading to the formation of
lakes. An earthquake often forms cracks and fissures in the earth’s crust. It changes the
drainage system of an area as was witnessed in Assam after its 1951 earthquake.
 Plate Tectonics: The earthquakes occurring along the mid - Atlantic Ridge, mid- Indian ocean
Ridge and East Pacific rise are caused because of movement of plates in opposite directions
(divergence) and consequent formation of faults and fractures and upwelling of Magma or
basaltic lavas.

Classification of Earthquakes
On the Basis of Focus
Shallow/Moderate Earthquakes Intermediate Earthquakes
 Focus: The focus of these Focus: The focus of these earthquakes are at depths
earthquakes are located at the depths between 70 km to 300 km. Intermediate
from the ground surface - 0 km to 70 earthquakes are also called as intermediate focus
km earthquakes.
 The majority of earthquakes have Deep-focus Earthquakes
shallow or moderate-focus.  Focus: The focus of these earthquakes are at depths
Therefore, they are also known as between 300 km to 700km.
crustal earthquakes.  The Deep-focus earthquakes commonly occur in
 Example: On 24 August 2016, a 6.2 patterns called Benioff zones that dip into the
Richter scale-earthquake devastated Earth, indicating the presence of a zone of
Central Italy killing about 300 subduction. Therefore, they are also are known as
people. An even bigger 6.8 Richter intraplate earthquakes (due to the collision between
scale-earthquake hit Myanmar the plates). They happen as huge earthquakes with
same day killing just a few people. larger magnitudes (range from 6 to 8 Richter scale).
Italy’s earthquake was very shallow,  Example: Okhotsk Sea earthquake that occurred at
originating within 10 kilometres a depth of 609 km in 2013and Vanuatu at a depth
underground. However, the earthquake in of 735.8 km in 2004
Myanmar was deeper (84 kilometres).

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DISTRIBUTION OF EARTHQUAKES
The occurrence of earthquake is a phenomenon of almost every part of the world. But, there are two
well-defined belts where they occur more frequently. These belts are the Circum-Pacific belt and
the Mid-world mountain belt.

Distribution of Earthquakes and Volcanoes

 Circum-Pacific Belt: Comprises the western coast of North and South America; Aleutian Islands
and island groups along the eastern coasts of Asia such as Japan and Philippines. As it encircles
the Pacific Ocean from end to end, it is named as such.
 The earthquakes in this belt are associated with the ring of mountains and volcanoes. It is
estimated that about 68 percent of earthquakes of the world occur in this belt alone.
 Mid-World Mountain Belt: The second belt-extend from Alps with their extension into
Mediterranean the Caucasus and the Himalayan region and continues into Indonesia. About 21,
percent of total earthquakes of the world originate in this belt. Remaining 11 percent occur in the
other parts of the world.

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 WORLD PHYSICAL & HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

CHAPTER-12

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MAJOR LANDFORMS AND THEIR ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE

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MOUNTAINS

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About 27% of the earth’s surface is covered by the mountains. The uplifted portion of the Earth’s

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surface with steep slopes and small summit area rising above 1000 metres and formed over a period
of millions of years are called Mountains.

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Classification of Mountains

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On the Basis of Location

Continental Mountains
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 The continental crust forms nearly all of Earth’s land surface and the continental mountains are
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formed on this land surface.

 These are further categorised in two different categories – Coastal and Inland.
Coastal Mountains Inland Mountains
 These mountains are formed at the different  These mountains are formed at the internal
coasts. continents far away from the coastal areas.
 Examples: Rockies, Appalachians, Alpine  Examples: Ural Mountains (Russia), Vosges and
mountain chains , Western Ghats and Eastern Black Forest (Europe), Kunlun, Tien-Shan, Altai
Ghats (India) (Asia) ,Aravallis, Himalayas, Satpura and Maikal
(India)
Oceanic Mountains
Oceanic mountains are found on continental shelves and ocean floors.
 For example: Mount Kea volcanic mountain of Hawaii Island is 4200 m high from the sea bottom.

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Mountains Classification on the basis Period of Origin

Precambrian Mountains Caledonian Mountains
 Pre-Cambrian period, extended for more  They originated due to the great mountain-building movements and
than 4 billion years. The rocks have been associated tectonic movements of the late Silurian and early Devonian
subjected to upheaval, denudation and periods (approximately 430 million years and 380 million years ago).
metamorphosis; the remnants appear as  Examples: Appalachian System, Mountains of Scotland, Ireland and
residual mountains. Scandinavia (Europe), Aravallis, Mahadeo and Satpura (India)
 Examples: Laurentian mountains and
Algoman mountains, Kilamen mountains
(North America), North West Highlands
and Anglesey (Europe
Hercynian Mountains Alpine Mountain System
 These mountains formed during Permian  These are the mountains formed during tertiary Period (65 million years
and Permocarboniferous periods to 7 million years ago). Being the most recently formed, these ranges,
(approximately 340 million yrs. and 225 such as the Alps, Himalayas, Andes and Rockies are the loftiest with
million yrs. ago). rugged terrain.
 Examples: Mountains of Vosges and the  Examples: Rockies (North America), Alpine mountains (Europe), Atlas
Black Forest, Altai, Tien Shan mountains, Mountains (North-western Africa), Himalayas (Indian subcontinent),
Ural Mountains Mountains radiating from Pamir knot like Pontic, Taurus, Elburz, Zagros
and Kunlun

Mountains Classification on the basis of Mode of Origin

Original or Tectonic Mountains: Original or Tectonic mountains are caused due to tectonic forces
e.g. compressive and tensile forces motored by the endogenic forces coming from deep within the
earth.
These are further categorised in three different categories:
 Fold Mountains/Young Mountains: The mountains which have been formed by the uplift of
mainly the folded sedimentary rock strata under compressional forces.

 Example: The Himalayas in Asia, the Alps in Europe, the Rockies in North America and
the Andes in South America.
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 WORLD PHYSICAL & HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

 Block Mountains/Horst Mountain:

Mountains formed by the uplift of land
between fault or by the subsidence of land
outside the faults is known as Block
Mountain. Block mountain is also called
horst.
 Example: The Vosges in France, Black
Forest Mountains in Germany and Sierra
Nevada in North America.
 Volcanic Mountains: The mountains formed
by the accumulation of volcanic material are
called Volcanic Mountains.
 Example: Mount Mauna Loa in Hawaii
Islands, Mount Popa in Myanmar,
Vesuvius in Italy, Cotopaxi in Ecuador
and Fuji Yama in Japan.
 Residual Mountains: The elevated regions
that have escaped weathering and erosion and
appear in the form of Mountains are called
Residual Mountains.
 Example: Hills like the Nilgiris, the
Parasnath, the Raajmahal and the
Aravallis in India are examples of residual
mountains.

The Economic Significance of Mountains

Mountains are useful to us in the following ways:
 Storehouse of Resources
Mountains are the storehouse of natural resources.
 Example: The Appalachian range in the United States is well-known for coal and
limestone deposits.
 Generation of Hydro-Electricity Hydro-electricity is generated from the waters of perennial
rivers in the mountain regions.
 Example: The mountainous countries like Japan, Italy and Switzerland, which suffer from
the shortage of coal have developed hydro-electricity.
 Abundant Sources of Water: Perennial rivers rising in the snow fed or heavily rain fed
mountains are the important source of water. They help in promoting the irrigation and provide
water for many other uses.
 Formation of Fertile Plains: The rivers that originate in the high mountain region bring silt
along with water to the lower valleys. This helps in the formation of fertile plains.
 Example: The great alluvial plain of northern India has been formed by the rivers Ganga,
Sutlej and the Brahmaputra.

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Natural Political Frontiers: The mountain ranges do act as natural political frontiers between
countries and protect them from invasions to some extent.
 Example: The Himalaya have formed a political frontier between India and China.

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 Effect on Climate: Mountainous areas have lower temperatures. They serve as climatic divide
between two adjoining regions.

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 Example: The Himalaya for example form a barrier to the movement of cold winds from

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Central Asia towards the Indian subcontinent. They also force the South West Monsoons
to ascend and cause rainfall on their southern slopes.
 Tourist Centres: The pleasant climate and the beautiful scenery of the mountains have led to

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their development as centres of tourist attraction.
 Example: Shimla, Nainital, Mussoorie and

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Srinagar are some of the important hill
stations of India which attract tourists all

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over the world. ha
PLATEAUS
The plateaus cover about 18% of the earth’s surface.
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This landform has a large elevated area on its top unlike

a mountain and has nearly even surface out there.
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Classification Of Plateaus
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On the basis of their geographical location and structure

of rocks, the plateaus can be classified as:
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1. Intermontane Plateau: The plateau which are

bordering the fold mountain range or are partly
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or fully enclosed within them are the

intermontane plateaus.
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 Example: The extensive and over 4500

metres high plateau of Tibet is one such
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example. It is surrounded by folded

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mountains like Himalaya, Karakoram,

Kunlun, Tien Shah on its two sides.
 Example: The plateau of Colorado is
another well-known example, over one km
high into which rivers have cut the Grand
Canyon and a series of gorges. The plateau
of Mexico, Bolivia and Iran are all other
examples of this type.
2. Piedmont Plateau: The plateaus that are
situated at the foot of the mountains and are bounded on other sides by a plain or an ocean are
called piedmont plateau.

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 Example: The plateau of Malwa in India, those of Patagonia facing the Atlantic ocean
and the Appalachian situated between the Appalachian Mountain and the Atlantic Coastal
Plain in U.S.A are their examples.
3. Continental plateau: These are formed either by an extensive continental uplift or by the spread of
horizontal basic lava sheets completely covering the original topography to a great depth.
 Ex: The volcanic lava covered plateau of Maharashtra in India; Snake River Plateau in
North West USA.

Significance:
1. Storehouse of Minerals: Most of the minerals in the world are found in the plateaus.
 Example: We get gold from the Plateau of Western Australia; copper, diamonds and gold
from the Plateaus of Africa and coal, iron, manganese and mica from the Chhota Nagpur
Plateau in India.
2. Generation Of Hydel-Power: Rivers falling down the edges of plateaus form water-falls.
These waterfalls provide ideal sites for generating hydel-power.
3. Cool Climate: The higher parts of the plateaus even in tropical and sub-tropical regions have
cool climate. Hence they have attracted Europeans to settle there and develop their economy
e.g. South and East Africa.
4. Useful For Animal-Rearing And Agriculture Plateaus have large grassland areas suitable
for animal-rearing specially sheep, goat and cattle.
 They provide a variety of products such as wool, milk, meat and hides and skin.
 The lava plateaus as compared to all other plateau are richer in agriculture since their soil
is very fertile.
Major plateaus of the World
Tibetan Plateau Columbia – Snake Plateau
 It is the Highest and largest plateau in the  River Columbia and its tributary Snake
world and hence called the ‘roof of the meet in this plateau.
world’.  It is bordered by the Cascade Range and
 It is formed due to the collision of the Indo- the Rocky Mountains and divided by the
Australian and Eurasian tectonic plates. Columbia River.
 The plateau is sufficiently high enough to  This plateau has been formed as the result
reverse the Hadley cell convection cycles and of volcanic eruptions with a consequent
to drive the monsoons of India towards the coating of basalt lava (flood basalt plateau)
south.
 It covers most of the Autonomous Tibetan
Region, Qinghai Province of Western
China, and a part of Ladakh in Jammu and
Kashmir.
 It is surrounded by mountains to the south by
the Himalayan Range, to the northeast by
the Kunlun Range, and to the west by the
Karakoram Range.

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 WORLD PHYSICAL & HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

Colorado Plateau Deccan Plateau

 It lies in the western part of U.S.A.  Deccan Plateau is a large plateau which forms most
It is the largest plateau in America. of the southern part of India.
 It is divided by the Colorado River  It is bordered by two mountain ranges, the Western
and the Grand Canyon. Ghats and the Eastern Ghats.
 This plateau is an example of the  The plateau includes the Deccan Traps which is one
intermontane plateau. Mesas and of the largest volcanic features on Earth.
buttes are found here at many places  Made of multiple basalt layers or lava flows, the
(arid Landforms). Deccan Traps covers 500,000 square kilometres in
 The plateau is known for the area.
groundwater which is under positive  The Deccan Traps are known for containing some
pressure and causes the emergence unique fossils.
of springs called Artesian wells.  The Deccan is rich in minerals. Primary mineral
ores found in this region are mica and iron ore in the
Chotanagpur region, and diamonds, gold and other
metals in the Golconda region
Kimberley Plateau Katanga Plateau
 It lies in the northern part of Australia.  It lies in the Congo and is famous for
 This plateau is made of volcanic eruption. copper production.
 Many minerals like iron, gold, lead, zinc,  Other minerals like Cobalt, Uranium,
silver and diamonds are found here. Zinc, Silver, Gold and Tin are also mined
here.
Mascarene Plateau Laurentian Plateau
 Plateaus also form in the ocean, such as the  Lying in the eastern part of Canada, it is a
Mascarene Plateau in the Indian Ocean. part of Canadian Shield.
 It extends between the Seychelles and  Fine quality of iron-ore is found here
Mauritius Islands
Mexican Plateau Patagonian Plateau
 It is called as ‘Mineral Store’. Different types  It is a Piedmont plateau (arid landforms)
of metallic minerals like silver, copper etc. are lying in southern part of Argentina.
obtained from here.  It is a rain shadow desert plateau.
 World’s biggest silver mine Chihuahua is  It is an important region for sheep rearing.
situated in the plateau
Altiplano Plateau or Bolivian Plateau Massif Central
 It is an intermontane plateau which is located  This plateau lies in central France.
between two ranges of Andes Mountain.  It is famous for Grape cultivation
 It is a major area of Tin reserves
Anatolian Plateau
 Also known as Asia Minor, most of Turkey lies on this plateau.
 It is an intermontane plateau lying between Pontiac and Taurus Mountain ranges
 Tigris – Euphrates Rivers flow through this plateau
 Precious wool producing Angora goats are found here

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PLAINS
A low-lying relatively flat or slightly rolling land surface with very gentle slope and minimum local
relief is called a plain.

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 Plains occupy about 55% of the earth’s surface.
 Most of the plains have been formed by the deposition of sediments brought down by rivers.

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Besides rivers, some plains have also been formed by the action of wind, moving ice and

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tectonic activity.
 Plains have an average height of less than 200 metres.

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On the basis of their mode of formation, plains can be classified into the following types:

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(a) Structural Plains:
 These plains are mainly formed by the uplift of a part of the sea-floor or continental

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shelf. These are located on the borders of almost all the major continents.
 Example: The south eastern plain of the United States formed by the uplift of a part of
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the Gulf of Mexico.
 The structural plains may also be formed by the subsidence of areas.
 Example: One such plain is the central low-lands of Australia.
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(b) Erosional Plains: These plains are formed by the continuous and a long time erosion of all
sorts of upland. The surface of such plains is hardly smooth. These are therefore also called
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peneplains which means almost a plain.

 Ex: The Canadian shield and the West Siberian plain are examples of erosional plains.
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(c) Depositional Plains: Fragments of soil, regolith, and bedrock that are removed from the parent
rock mass are transported and deposited elsewhere to make on entirely different set of surface
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features–the depositional landforms.

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 Alluvial Plains: When plains are formed by river deposits, they are called riverine or
alluvial plains.
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 The Indo Gangetic plain of the Indian sub-continent, the Hwang-Ho Plain of North
China, the Lombardy Plain of the Po river in Italy and the Ganga-Brahmaputra Delta
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Plain in Bangladesh are examples of alluvial plains.

 Lacustrine Plain: The deposition of sediments in a lake gives rise to a lacustrine plain or
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a lake plain.
 Example: The Valley of Kashmir and that of Manipur are examples of two most
prominent lacustrine plains in India.
 Glacial/Drift Plain: When plains are formed by glacial deposits they are called glacial or
drift plains.
 Example: Plains of Canada and North-Western Europe are examples of glacial plains.
 Loess Plain: When wind is the major agent of deposition, they are called loess plains.
 Example: Loess plains of North- Western China are formed by the deposits of loess
air-borne fine dust particles.

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The plains have influenced the human life in the following ways:
 Fertile Soil: The plains generally have deep and fertile soil. Since the plains have a flat
surface, the means of irrigation are easily developed. Both these factors have made the plains
agriculturally so important that they are often called ‘food baskets of the world’.
 Growth of Industries: The rich agricultural resources especially of alluvial plains have helped
in the growth of agro based industries..
 Expansion of Means of Transport: Since the plains have an even surface it favours the
building of roads, airports and laying down of railway lines.
 Centres Of Civilization: The major river valley civilizations of the world have flourished in
the plains only. Hence, they are aptly referred to as the cradles of civilization.
 For example, there are the civilization of the Indus and the Nile Valley.
 Setting-up of Cities and Towns: Easy means of transport on land, the growth of agriculture
and industries in plains have resulted in the setting-up and expansion of cities and towns.
 Example: The most developed trade-centres and ports of the world are found in the plains
only. Rome, Tokyo, Calcutta, Yangoon (Rangoon), Varanasi, Paris and other famous cities
are situated in the plains.
LAKES
A lake is a body of water of considerable size, localised in a basin, that is surrounded by land apart
from a river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake.

General Characteristics:
Exorheic Lakes Endorheic Lakes
 Most lakes have at least one natural outflow  Some lakes do not have a natural outflow and
(exorheic lake) in the form of a river or stream, lose water solely by evaporation or
which maintain a lake's average level by underground seepage or both. They are termed
allowing the drainage of excess water. endorheic lakes.

Classification of Lakes
Temporary Lakes Permanent Lakes
 Lakes may exist temporarily filling up the small  In this kind of lakes, Evaporation is lesser than
depressions of undulating ground after a heavy Precipitation. These lakes are deep and carry
shower. In this kind of lakes, evaporation is more water than could ever be evaporated.
greater than precipitation.  Example: Great Lakes of North America, East
 Example: Small lakes of deserts. African Rift Lakes.
Freshwater Lakes Salt Lakes/ Playa (Saline Lakes)
 Most of the lakes in the world are fresh-water  Form where there is no natural outlet or where the
lakes fed by rivers and without-flowing streams. water evaporates rapidly, and the drainage
 Example: Great Lakes of North America. surface of the water table has a higher-than-
Saline lakes normal salt content.
 For example: Great Salt Lake, the Aral Sea and
the Dead Sea.

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Lakes Formed by Earth Movement:

Tectonic Lakes Rift Valley Lakes
 Due to the warping (simple  A rift valley is formed when two blocks of earth
deformation), subsidence (sliding move apart letting the ‘in-between’ block slide
downwards), bending and fracturing downwards
(splitting) of the earth’s crust, tectonic  Example: The best-known example is the East
depressions occur. Such depressions African Rift Valley which runs through Zambia,
give rise to lakes of immense sizes and Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia, and
depths. extends along the Red Sea to Israel and Jordan
 Ex: Lake Titicaca and the Caspian Sea. over a total distance of 3,000 miles.

Lakes Formed by Glaciation:

Cirque Lakes Or Tarns Rock-Hollow Lakes
 Cirque is a hollow basin cut into a mountain  The advance and retreat of glaciers can scrape
ridge. It has a steep-sided slope on three depressions in the surface where water
sides, an open end on one side and a flat accumulates; such lakes are common in
bottom. When the ice melts, the cirque may Scandinavia, Patagonia, Siberia and
develop into a tarn lake. Canada.

Lakes Formed by Volcanic Activity:

Crater And Caldera Lakes
 In dormant or extinct volcanoes, rain falls straight into the crater or caldera which has no
superficial outlet and forms a crater or caldera lake.
 Example: Lake Toba (Indonesia), Lonar in Maharashtra.

Lakes Formed by Erosion:

Karst lakes: The collapse of limestone roofs of underground caverns may result in the exposure of
long, narrow- lakes that were once underground.

Wind-Deflated Lakes:
The winds in deserts create hollows. These may reach groundwater which seeps out forming small,
shallow lakes. Excessive evaporation causes these to become salt lakes and playas.
Example: Great Basin of Utah, U.S.A.

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Lakes Formed by Deposition:
Lakes Due To River Deposits Dammed Lakes/Barrier lakes.
 Ox-bow lake, e.g. those that  Landslides, avalanches may block valleys so that rivers are

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occur on the flood-plains of dammed. Such lakes are short-lived.
Lower Mississippi, Lower  Example: Lakes that are formed in Shiwaliks (Outer

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Ganges etc. Himalayas). Dehradun (all Duns) were lakes few centuries
ago.

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Lakes Due To Marine Deposits
Lagoons: Example: Lake Chilika.
Man-made lakes

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Besides the natural lakes, man has now created artificial lakes by erecting a concrete dam across a
river valley so that the river water can be kept back to form reservoirs.

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 Example: Lake Mead above the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, U.S.A.

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Lakes and Man
In countries where they are found in abundance, such as Finland, Canada, U.S.A., Sweden and the
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East African states, lakes are used as inland waterways.
 Means of communication: Large lakes  Regulating river flows: E.g. Hoover Dam on
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like the Great Lakes of North America the River Colorado and the Bhakra and Nangal
provide a cheap and convenient form of Dams on the Sutlej in India.
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transport for heavy and bulky goods such  Source of food: Many large lakes have
as coal, iron, machinery, grains and important supplies of protein food in the form
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timber. of freshwater fish. Example: Sturgeon is

 Water storage: E.g. Kolleru lake in commercially caught in the Caspian Sea,
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Andhra Pradesh. salmon and sea trout in the Great Lakes.

 Hydro-electric power generation: E.g.  Source of minerals: Salt lakes provide
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Artificial lakes like Hirakud. valuable rock salts. In the Dead Sea, the highly
 Agricultural purposes: Many dams are saline water is being evaporated and produces
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built across artificial lakes. E.g. Bhakra common salt. Borax is mined in the salt lakes
Nangal Dam (Himachal Pradesh; its of the Mojave Desert.
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reservoir is known as the Gobind Sagar  Tourist attraction and health resorts • E.g.
Lake) and Hirakud Dam (Odisha) on the Lake Chilka, Leh, Dead Sea etc.
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Mahanadi in India.

Important Lakes on Earth

Note 1: Black Sea is not a lake since Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits connect it to the
Mediterranean Sea.
Note 2: The Caspian Sea and the Dead Sea are lakes. The surface and shores of the Dead Sea are
423 metres below sea level, making it Earth’s lowest elevation on land.
Note 3: While writing facts about lakes, people ignore the Caspian Sea because for them it is too
big to be considered a lake. But it is still a lake (closed body).

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 The world's highest lake, if size is not a criterion, maybe the crater lake of Ojos del Salado,
at 6,390 metres. It is in the Andes.
 The highest large lake in the world is the Pumoyong Tso (Pumuoyong Tso; 5018 metres
above sea level) in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.\
 The world's highest commercially navigable lake is Lake Titicaca in Peru and Bolivia
border at 3,812 m. It is also the largest lake in South America.
 The world's lowest lake is the Dead Sea, bordering Israel and Jordan at 418 metres below sea
level. It is also one of the lakes with the highest salt concentration.
 The largest lakes (surface area) by continent:
 Australia – Lake Eyre (salt lake)
 Africa – Lake Victoria, also the third-largest freshwater lake on Earth. It is one of the
Great Lakes of Africa.
 Antarctica – Lake Vostok (subglacial)
 Asia – Lake Baikal (if the Caspian Sea is considered a lake, it is the largest in Eurasia, but
is divided between the two geographic continents)
 Europe – Lake Ladoga, followed by Lake Onega, both located in north western Russia.
 North America – Lake Superior.
 South America – Lake Titicaca, which is also the highest navigable body of water on
Earth at 3,812 metres above sea level.
 Largest Lakes by Surface Area
 Caspian Sea (saline lake) – Asia
 Lake Superior (freshwater lake) – North America
 Lake Victoria (freshwater lake) – Africa
 Lake Huron (freshwater lake) – North America
 Lake Michigan (freshwater lake) – North America

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 Largest Lakes by Volume

 Caspian Sea (saline lake)
 Lake Baikal (fresh water lake)
 Lake Tanganyika (freshwater lake)
 Lake Superior (freshwater lake)
 Deepest Lakes in the World
 Lake Baikal
 Lake Tanganyika
 Caspian Sea Lake Baikal (Deepest)
 Great Lakes: Great Lakes of North America are a series of interconnected freshwater lakes
which connect to the Atlantic Ocean through the
Saint Lawrence Seaway.
 Lake Michigan is the largest lake that is
entirely within one country. Superior,
Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario (in the
order of west to east) Superior, Huron,
Michigan, Erie, and Ontario (In the order
of largest to smallest)
 Dead Sea: Also called the Salt Sea. Lake
bordering Jordan to the east, and Palestine and
Israel to the west. It Earth's lowest elevation on
land.

 Lake Baikal: is the deepest lake. Its depth is 1,642 m. Considering that the lake surface is at
455.5 m above sea level, the deepest point of Lake Baikal is at 1186.5 m below sea level.
 Aral Sea: It was a lake lying between Kazakhstan in the north and Uzbekistan, in the south.
The Aral Sea has been steadily shrinking since the 1960s after the rivers that fed the lake were
diverted to feed Soviet irrigation projects.

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CHAPTER-13

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GEOMORPHIC PROCESSES

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The endogenic and exogenic forces causing physical stresses and chemical actions on earth materials

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and bringing about changes in the configuration of the surface of the earth are known as geomorphic

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processes. Example- Weathering, mass wasting, erosion and deposition.
 Geomorphic Agents: An agent is a mobile medium (like running water, moving ice masses, wind,
waves and currents etc.) which removes, transports and deposits earth materials.

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Forces Behind Geomorphic Processes:
Endogenic Forces Exogenic Forces

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The energy emanating from within the The exogenic processes derive their energy from
earth is the main force behind atmosphere determined by the ultimate energy from the

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endogenic geomorphic processes. sun and also the gradients created by tectonic factors.
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DENUDATION
All the exogenic geomorphic processes are covered under a general term, denudation. The word
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‘denude’ means to strip off or to uncover. Weathering, mass wasting/movements, erosion and
transportation are included in denudation.
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It should become clear from this chart that for each process there exists a distinct driving force or
energy.

WEATHERING
Weathering describes the breaking down or dissolving of rocks and minerals on the surface of the
Earth. As very little or no motion of materials takes place in weathering, it is an in-situ or on-site
process.

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There Are Three Major Groups Of Weathering Processes:

Chemical Weathering Processes Physical Weathering Processes
A group of weathering processes viz; Physical or mechanical weathering processes depend on
solution, carbonation, hydration, some applied forces. The applied forces could be:
oxidation and reduction act on the  Gravitational forces such as overburden pressure,
rocks to decompose, dissolve or load and shearing stress;
reduce them to a fine elastic state  Expansion forces due to temperature changes, crystal
through chemical reactions by growth or animal activity;
oxygen, surface and/or soil water and  Water pressures controlled by wetting and drying
other acids. cycles.
Biological Activity And Weathering
Biological weathering is contribution to or removal of minerals and ions from the weathering
environment and physical changes due to growth or movement of organisms.

TYPES OF WEATHERING

Physical Weathering
When the rocks are broken up into smaller fragments without any chemical change in their
composition, it is called physical weathering.
(a) Block disintegration: The high diurnal range (in hot deserts) of temperature causes successive
expansion and contraction of the rocks which tend to enlarge the joints. Finally the rocks
disintegrate into smaller blocks. This process is known as block disintegration.
(b) Exfoliation: Intense heating the outer layers of the rock expand rapidly while the inner layers
remain almost unaffected by heat as rocks are generally poor conductors of heat. Due to this
successive expansion and contraction, the outer layer of the rock subsequently peels off from
the main mass of the rock in the form of concentric shells. This process is called exfoliation.
 Example: Almost all rounded forms of dolerite blocks of rocks in Singhbhum district of
Bihar are due to this process.
 Example: Granite domes of Mahabalipuram, particularly ‘Krishna Ka Laddu’ and those
near Jabalpur on Madan Mahal Hill are good examples, of exfoliation.

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(c) Frost Action: The alternate freezing and

melting of water inside the joints of the rocks(in
cold climates), splits them into fragments. This
is because conversion of water into ice increases
the volume of water by 10 percent. In cold
regions rocks are disintegrated into small
particles through this process.

Chemical Weathering
Chemical change in the rocks through formation of new compounds or formation of new substances
is called chemical weathering.

Chemical weathering involves four major processes:

(a) Oxidation: This is the process in which atmospheric oxygen reacts with the rock to produce oxides.
 Example: Oxygen present in humid air reacts with iron grains in the rocks to form a
yellow or red oxide of iron. This is called rusting of the iron.
(b) Carbonation: This is the process by which various types of carbonates are formed. Some of
these carbonates are soluble in water.
 Ex: When rain water containing carbon dioxide passes through pervious limestone rocks, the
rock joints enlarge due to the action of carbonic acid. The joints enlarge in size and lime is
removed in solution. This type of breakdown of rocks is called carbonation.
(c) Hydration: This is the process by which water is absorbed by the minerals of the rock. Due
to the absorption of water by the rock, its volume increases and the grains lose their shape.
 Feldspar, for example, is changed into kaolin through hydration. Kaolin on Vindhyan Hills
near Jabalpur has been formed in this manner.
(d) Solution: This is the process in which some of the minerals get dissolved in water. They are
therefore removed in solution.
 Example: Rock salt and gypsum are removed by this process.

Biotic Weathering
Biotic weathering is carried out by plants, animals and man.
 Plants: Plants contribute to both mechanical and chemical
weathering. The roots of the plants penetrate into the joints
of the rocks. They grow longer and thicker. In this manner
they exert pressure on the rocks and the rock joints are
thereby enlarged and break into smaller fragments
 Animals: Burrowing animals like earthworms, rats, rabbits,
termites and ants breakdown the rocks. These disintegrated
rocks can easily be eroded or removed by wind etc.
 Man: Man breaks a large amount of rocks in the course
of his activities, like agriculture, construction of houses,
roads, Mining etc.

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GRADATION
Gradation is nothing but the levelling of land forms due to exogenetic forces that are constantly
working on it.

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 Agents of Gradation: Rivers, glaciers winds, sea waves and underground water
The work of gradation has two components

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(a) Degradation and (b) Aggradation.

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(a) Degradation: When rocks are removed by scraping, scratching and cutting as a result of the
process of erosion, thereby lowering the elevation of the land, it is called degradation.
(b) Aggradation: Filling up of low-lying areas of depression by eroded material is called

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deposition/aggradation.

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TRANSPORTATION
Transportation refers to the movement of solid

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particles or dissolved ions away from its source or
site of erosion to a site of deposition.
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 The bits of rock and soil are suspended in
the fluid (air or water) and being transported
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from place to another. This transported

material is called sediment. Sediment
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transport occurs in natural system where the

particles are clastic rocks, i.e. sand, gravel,
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boulders, mud or clay.

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Types of Sediment Load: Streams transport materials in four different ways:

 Dissolved Load: Material carried into solution as dissolved load is part of the moving water.
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 Suspended Load: Terrigenous material that moves through the channel of river as suspension
in the water column is suspended sediment load, mainly silt and fine sand.
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 Saltation Load: Generally sand size particles that bounce along the stream bed or move
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directly or indirectly by the impact of bouncing particles come under saltation load. The
velocity of a particle during saltation is less than that of water in motion.
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 Bed Load or Traction

Load: It includes larger
clastic particles that are
rolled, bounced and slide
along bottom of stream bed.
Its movement through the
stream is fully supported by
the channel bed. Gravel and
coarse sand are kept in
rolling and sliding motion by
the shear stress.

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 WORLD PHYSICAL & HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

MASS MOVEMENTS
The movements that transfer the mass of rock debris down the slopes under the direct influence of
gravity. That means, air, water or ice do not carry debris with them from place to place but on the other
hand the debris may carry with it air, water or ice.
 Gravity exerts its force on all matter, both bedrock and the products of weathering. So,
weathering is not a pre-requisite for mass movement though it aids mass movements.
 Mass movements are very active over weathered slopes rather than over unweathered
materials.
 Mass movements are aided by gravity and no geomorphic agent like running water, glaciers,
wind, waves and currents participate in the process of mass movements. That means mass
movements do not come under erosion though there is a shift (aided by gravity) of materials
from one place to another.

Activating Causes That Precede Mass Movements:

(i) Removal of support from below to materials above through natural or artificial means.
(ii) Increase in gradient and height of slopes.
(iii) Overloading through addition of materials naturally or by artificial filling.
(iv) Overloading due to heavy rainfall, saturation and lubrication of slope materials.
(v) Removal of material or load from over the original slope surfaces.
(vi) Occurrence of earthquakes, explosions or machinery.
(vii) Excessive natural seepage.
(viii) Heavy drawdown of water from lakes, reservoirs and rivers leading to slow outflow of water
from under the slopes or river banks.
(ix) Indiscriminate removal of natural vegetation. Heave (heaving up of soils due to frost growth
and other causes), flow and slide are the three forms of movements.

LANDSLIDES:
These are relatively rapid and perceptible movements. The
materials involved are relatively dry. The size and shape of the
detached mass depends on the nature of discontinuities in the rock,
the degree of weathering and the steepness of the slope.
Depending upon the type of movement of materials several types
are identified in this category.
 Slump: Slipping of one or several units of rock debris with
a backward rotation with respect to the slope over which the movement takes place.
 Debris Slide: Rapid rolling or sliding of earth debris without backward rotation of mass is
known as debris slide.
 Debris fall: A free fall of earth debris from a vertical or overhanging face.
 Rockslide: Sliding of individual rock masses down bedding, joint or fault surfaces is rockslide.
Over steep slopes, rock sliding is very fast and destructive.

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 Slides: Occur as planar failures along discontinuities like bedding planes that dip steeply.
 Rock fall: Free falling of rock blocks over any steep slope keeping itself away from the slope.
Rock falls occur from the superficial layers of the rock face, an occurrence that distinguishes
it from rockslide which affects materials up to a substantial depth.

LANDFORMS AND THEIR EVOLUTION:

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.

1. RUNNING WATER (FLUVIAL GEOMORPHOLOGY)

There are two components of running water.
 Overland Flow: On general land
surface as a sheet and cause sheet
erosion.
 Linear Flow: As streams and
rivers in valleys and most of the
erosional landforms made by
running water are associated with
vigorous and youthful rivers
flowing over steep gradients.
 Sheet erosion: Overland
flow causes sheet erosion.
 Rills erosion: Depending
upon irregularities of the land surface, the overland flow may concentrate into narrow to
wide paths. Because of the sheer friction of the column of flowing water, minor or major
quantities of materials from the surface of the land are removed in the direction of flow
and gradually small and narrow rills will form.
 Gullies: The rills gradually develop into long and wide gullies.
 Valley: The gullies further deepen, widen, lengthen and unite to give rise to a network of
valleys.
The characteristics of each of the stages of landscapes developing in running water regimes may be
summarised as follows:

Youth Stage
 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 entrench themselves into the uplands.
 Waterfalls and rapids may exist where local hard rock bodies are exposed.
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Mature Stage Old Stage/Senile Stage

 
The valleys are still V- but deep; trunk streams Smaller tributaries during old age are few with
are broad enough to have wider floodplains gentle gradients.
within which streams may flow in meanders  Streams meander freely over vast floodplains
confined within the valley. showing natural levees, oxbow lakes, etc.
 The flat and broad inter stream areas and  Divides are broad and flat with lakes, swamps
swamps and marshes of youth disappear and and marshes.
the stream divides turn sharp  Most of the landscape is at or slightly above sea
 Waterfalls and rapids disappear level.

Erosional Landforms
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 recognised.
 Gorge/Canyon: A deep valley with very steep to
straight sides and a canyon is characterised by steep
steplike side slopes and may be as deep as a gorge.
o A gorge is almost equal in width at its top as well
as its bottom.
o In contrast, a canyon is wider at its top than at its
bottom. In fact, a canyon is a variant of gorge.

Incised or Entrenched Meanders

 Because of active lateral erosion, streams flowing
over gentle slopes, develop sinuous or meandering
courses.
 Very deep and wide meanders can also be found cut
in hard rocks. Such meanders are called incised or
entrenched meanders

Potholes and Plunge Pools

 Potholes: 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.
 Plunge Pools: At the foot of waterfalls, large
potholes, quite deep and wide, form because of

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the sheer impact of water and rotation of boulders. Such large and deep holes at the base
of waterfalls are called plunge pools.

River Terraces

 River terraces are surfaces marking old valley floor or floodplain levels.
 River terraces are basically products of erosion as they result due to vertical erosion by the
stream into its own depositional floodplain.
 Paired Terraces: The river terraces may occur at the same elevation on either side of the
rivers in which case they are called paired terraces.

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Depositional Landforms
Alluvial Fans
 Formed when streams flowing from

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higher levels break into foot slope plains
of low gradient.

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 Normally very coarse load is carried by
streams flowing over mountain slopes.

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This load becomes too heavy for the
streams to be carried over gentler
gradients and gets dumped and spread as

54
a broad low to high cone shaped deposit
called alluvial fan.

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 Distributaries: Usually, the streams
which flow over fans are not confined to

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their original channels for long and shift
their position across the fan forming
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many channels called distributaries

Deltas
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Delta is a triangular relief features with its apex pointing

up stream and is marked as a fan-shaped area of fine
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alluvium. The Greek letter () pronounced delta closely

resembles the triangular delta of the river Nile. Some
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deltas are extremely large. The Ganga-Brahmaputra

Delta is the largest delta in the world
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The following conditions favour the formation of

deltas:
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i. Active vertical and lateral erosion in the upper

course of the river to supply large amount of
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sediments;
ii. Tideless, sheltered coast;
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iii. Shallow sea, adjoining the delta and

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iv. No strong current at the river mouth which may

wash away the sediments.

Braided Channels
The main water channel splitting into multiple, narrower channel
is called braided channel. Braided streams occur in rivers with low
slope and/or large sediment load.
 Example: The enormous Brahmaputra River is a classic
example of a braided river. About 83 percent of the course of
the Brahmaputra in Assam is braided, where the flow of
the river gets divided into a number of channels of different
orders separated by mid-channel braid bars.

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Note: Estuaries: Some rivers emptying into sea have no deltas but instead they have the shape of a gradually
widening mouth cutting deep inland. Such a mouth is called estuary.
 Cause of Formation: The formation of estuaries is due to the scouring action of tides and currents. But in most
of the cases the original cause is the subsidence of the earth’s crust in the area of the outlet.
 The two west flowing rivers of India, the Narmada and the Tapi do not form deltas. They form estuaries when
they join the Arabian Sea.

Floodplain Natural levees Point Bars/Meander Bars

 Large sized materials are Natural levees are found along the
Found on the concave side of meanders of
deposited first when stream banks of large rivers. They are large rivers and are sediments deposited
channel breaks into a gentle low, linear and parallel ridges of in a linear fashion by flowing waters
slope. Thus, normally, fine coarse deposits along the banks along the bank. They are almost
sized materials like sand, silt of rivers, quite often cut into uniform in profile and in width and
and clay are carried by individual mounds. contain mixed sizes of sediments.
relatively slow moving
waters in gentler channels
usually found in the plains
and deposited over the bed
and when the waters spill over
the banks during flooding
above the bed.
 A river bed made of river
deposits is the active
floodplain. The floodplain
above the bank is inactive
floodplain.

Meanders
Loop-like channel patterns develop over flood and delta plains is called as Meanders.
Meander is not a landform but is only a type of channel pattern. This is because of
(i) Propensity of water flowing over very gentle gradients to work laterally on the banks;
(ii) Unconsolidated nature of alluvial deposits making up the banks with many irregularities which
can be used by water exerting pressure laterally;
(iii) Coriolis force acting on the fluid water deflecting it like it deflects the wind.

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Meander growth and cut-off loops and slip-off and undercut banks

2. GROUNDWATER (KARST GEOMORPHOLOGY)

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.
 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 limestones 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.
 Karst Topography: Any limestone or dolomitic region showing typical landforms produced
by the action of groundwater through the processes of solution and deposition is called Karst
topography. Example- Karst region in the Balkans adjacent to Adriatic sea.
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Erosional Landforms

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Sinkhole Water Pools
A sinkhole is an opening more or less circular Quite often, sinkholes are covered up with soil
at the top and funnel-shaped towards the mantle and appear as shallow water pools.
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bottom with sizes varying in area from a few Anybody stepping over such pools would go
sq. m to a hectare and with depth from a less down like it happens in quick sands in deserts.
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than half a metre to thirty metres or more.  The term doline is sometimes used to refer the
 Some of these form solely through collapse sinks. Solution sinks are more common
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solution action (solution sinks) and others than collapse sinks

might start as solution forms first and if
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the bottom of a sinkhole forms the roof of

a void or cave underground, it might
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collapse leaving a large hole opening into

a cave or a void below (collapse sinks).
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Uvala Lapies
When sinkholes and dolines join together Gradually, most of the surface of the limestone is
because of slumping of materials along their eaten away by pits and trenches, leaving it
margins or due to roof collapse of caves, extremely irregular with a maze of points, grooves
long, narrow to wide trenches called valley and ridges or lapies.
sinks or Uvalas form.  Especially, these ridges or lapies form due to
differential solution activity along parallel to
sub-parallel joints

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Limestone Pavement Caves

The lapie field may eventually turn into In areas where there are alternating beds of rocks
somewhat smooth limestone pavements. (shales, sandstones, quartzites) with limestones or
dolomites in between or in areas where limestones
are dense, massive and occurring as thick beds, cave
Tunnel formation is prominent.
There can be a maze of caves at different  Water percolates down either through the
elevations depending upon the limestone materials or through cracks and joints and
beds and intervening rocks. Caves normally moves horizontally along bedding planes. It is
have an opening through which cave streams along these bedding planes that the limestone
are discharged. Caves having openings at dissolves and long and narrow to wide gaps
both the ends are called tunnels. called caves result.

Depositional Landforms
Many depositional forms develop within the limestone caves. The chief chemical in limestone is
calcium carbonate which is easily soluble in carbonated water (carbon dioxide absorbed rainwater).
This calcium carbonate is deposited when the water carrying it in solution evaporates or loses its
carbon dioxide as it trickles over rough rock surfaces.
Stalactites Stalagmites
Hang as icicles of different Rise up from the floor of the caves. In fact, stalagmites form
diameters and are broad at their due to dripping water from the surface or through the thin pipe,
bases and taper towards the free of the stalactite, immediately below it.
ends showing up in a variety of
forms.
Pillars
The stalagmite and stalactites
eventually fuse to give rise to
columns and pillars of different
diameters.

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Springs & Geysers

Springs are surface outflow of ground water through an opening in a
rock under hydraulic pressure. In such cases the aquifer is either
exposed at the surface or it underlies an impermeable rocks.
(a) Hot Spring: Sometimes the water that flows out of the spring is
hot. Such springs are called hot springs.
 Example: Himalaya in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal
Pradesh. They also occur in Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Haryana
and Assam. Manikaran in Kulu Valley, Tatapani near Shimla,
Jwalamukhi in Kangra, Sohna in Haryana, Rajgir and Sitakund
in Jharkhand and Badrinath in Uttarakhand have hot
springs.
(b) Geyser:
Springs emitting hot water and steam in forms of fountains
or jets at regular intervals are called geysers.
 In case of a geyser, hot water is ejected violently
because of the pressure created by steam.
 Ex: Geysers are found in Iceland, Yellowstone
National Park of U.S.A and the northern part of New
Zealand.

3. GLACIAL GEOMORPHOLOGY
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.

Erosional Landforms
Cirque Glacial Valleys/Troughs
At the heads of glacial valleys the accumulated ice Glaciated valleys are trough-like and U -
cuts cirques while moving down the mountain shaped with broad floors and relatively
tops. They are deep, long and wide troughs or smooth, and steep sides. The valleys may
basins with very steep concave to vertically contain littered debris or debris shaped as
dropping high walls at its head as well as sides. moraines with swampy appearance.
 Tarn Lake: A lake of water can be seen quite  Fjords: Very deep glacial troughs filled
often within the cirques after the glacier with sea water and making up shorelines
disappears. Such lakes are called cirque or (in high latitudes) are called fjords/fiords.
tarn lakes.
Horns Serrated Ridges
Horns form through head ward erosion of the The divides between cirque side walls or head
cirque walls. If three or more radiating walls get narrow because of progressive erosion
glaciers cut headward until their cirques and turn into serrated or saw-toothed ridges
meet, high, sharp pointed and steep sided sometimes referred to as arêtes with very sharp
peaks called horns form. crest and a zig-zag outline.

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Depositional Landforms
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Moraines
They are long ridges of deposits of glacial till.
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 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 lateral moraines may join a
terminal moraine forming a horse-shoe shaped ridge. There can be many lateral moraines on either side in
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a glacial valley.
 These moraines partly or fully owe their origin to glacio-fluvial waters pushing up materials to the
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sides of glaciers.
 Ground Moraine: Many valley glaciers retreating rapidly leave an irregular sheet of till over their valley
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floors. Such deposits varying greatly in thickness and in surface topography are called ground moraines.
 Medial Moraine: The moraine in the centre of the glacial valley flanked by lateral moraines is called
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medial moraine.
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Eskers Drumlins
Very coarse materials like Drumlins are smooth oval shaped ridge-like features
boulders and blocks along with composed mainly of glacial till with some masses of
some minor fractions of rock gravel and sand. The long axes of drumlins are parallel
debris carried into stream(beneath to the direction of ice movement. One end of the
the ice) settle in the valley of ice drumlins facing the glacier called the stoss end is
beneath the glacier and after the ice blunter and steeper than the other end called tail.
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

4. WAVES AND CURRENTS (COASTAL GEOMORPHOLOGY)

Most of the changes along the coasts 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.
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
evolution of coastal landforms:
(i) High, rocky coasts (submerged coasts);
(ii) Low, smooth and gently sloping sedimentary coasts (emerged coasts).

Erosional Landforms
Wave-Cut Cliffs 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 wavecut terrace.
Sea Caves Stacks
The lashing of waves against the base of the cliff and Retreat of the cliff may leave some
the rock debris that gets smashed against the cliff remnants of rock standing isolated as small
along with lashing waves create hollows and these islands just off the shore. Such resistant
hollows get widened and deepened to form sea caves. masses of rock, originally parts of a cliff or
hill are called sea stacks.

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Note: 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 Dunes
Beaches are characteristic of shorelines that are dominated by deposition, but Just behind the beach, the
may occur as patches along even the rugged shores. Most of the sediment sands lifted and winnowed
making up the beaches comes from land carried by the streams and rivers or from over the beach surfaces
from wave erosion. will be deposited as sand
 Sandy Beach: The sandy beach which appears so permanent may be dunes. Sand dunes forming
reduced to a very narrow strip of coarse pebbles in some other season. long ridges parallel to the
Most of the beaches are made up of sand sized materials. coastline are very common
 Shingle beach: Beaches called shingle beaches contain excessively small along low sedimentary
coasts.
pebbles and even cobbles.

Bars
 Off Shore Bar: A ridge of sand
and shingle 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.
 Barrier Bar: An off-shore bar
which is exposed due to further
addition of sand is termed a barrier
bar.

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 WORLD PHYSICAL & HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

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Spit
The off-shore bars and barriers
commonly form across the mouth of a

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river or at the entrance of a bay
sometimes get keyed up to one end of

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the bay when they are called spits. Spits
may also develop attached to

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headlands/hills.
Lagoons Coastal Plain:
The barriers, bars and spits at the mouth of the bay The lagoons get filled up gradually by sediment coming

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gradually extend leaving only a small opening of from the land or from the beach itself (aided by wind)
the bay into the sea and the bay will eventually and a broad and wide coastal plain may develop
develop into a lagoon. replacing a lagoon.

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5. WINDS (ARID AND SEMI-ARID GEOMORPHOLOGY)

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Erosional Landforms
Pediments Pedi Plain
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Gently inclined rocky floors close Through parallel retreat of slopes, the pediments extend backwards at
to the mountains at their foot with the expense of mountain front, and gradually, the mountain gets
or without a thin cover of debris, reduced leaving an inselberg which is a remnant of the mountain.
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are called pediments. That’s how the high relief in desert areas is reduced to low featureless
plains called Pedi plains.
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Playas
In basins with mountains and hills around and along, the drainage is towards the centre of the basin and due
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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
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playas contain good deposition of salts. The playa plain covered up by salts is called alkali flats.
Deflation Hollows Caves
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Weathered mantle from over the rocks or bare The rock faces suffer impact and abrasion of wind-borne
soil, gets blown out by persistent movement of sand and first shallow depressions called blow outs are
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wind currents in one direction. This process may created, and some of the blow outs become deeper and
create shallow depressions called deflation wider fit to be called caves.
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hollows.
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Mushroom, Table and Pedestal Rocks

 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
Since wind is there everywhere and wherever there is good source of sand and with constant wind
directions, depositional features in arid regions can develop anywhere.
 Sand Dunes: Heaps or mounds of sands are generally called sand dunes or simply dunes. There
can be a great variety of dune forms.
 Barchans: Sand dunes of crescentic shape having two horn are called barchans. In fact, barchans
are special types of transverse dunes. The windward side having gentle slope is convex in plan
while the leeward side is concave in plan with steep slope.
 Parabolic Dunes: Form when sandy surfaces are partially covered with vegetation. That means
parabolic dunes are reversed barchans with wind direction being the same.

 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: 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.

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 Seif: Similar to barchan with a small difference that seif has only one wing or point. This happens
when there is shift in wind conditions. The lone wings of seifs can grow very long and high.

*******

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 WORLD PHYSICAL & HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

CHAPTER-14

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DRAINAGE SYSTEMS AND PATTERNS

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Drainage System Drainage Pattern

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Drainage System refers to the origin and Drainage Pattern means spatial arrangement and
development of streams through time. form of drainage system in terms of geometrical
 Examples of drainage systems are shapes in the areas of different rock types,

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consequent streams, subsequent streams, geological structure, climatic conditions and
obsequent streams, resequent streams, denudational history.

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antecedent and superimposed streams etc.  Example: Trellis pattern, dendritic pattern ,
parallel pattern etc.

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Streams or drainage systems are divided in two broad categories on the basis of the adjustment of the
streams to the initial surface and geological structures e.g.
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Sequent Streams Insequent Streams
Streams which follow the regional slope and are Streams which do not follow the regional slope
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well adjusted to geological structures. and are not adjusted to geological structures.
 Example: Consequent streams , sub sequent  Example: Antecedent streams and
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streams , obsequent streams and resequent superimposed streams.

streams, and
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MAJOR DRAINAGE SYSTEMS

(A) Sequent Drainage Systems
Consequent Streams Subsequent Streams
 Consequent streams are the first streams to be  The streams originated after the master
originated in a particular region and follow the consequent stream and following the axis of the
regional slope. These are also called dip streams. anticlines or ridges and the strikes of beds are
 Master Consequent: The longest stream of the called subsequent streams.
whole system of consequent streams is called  Example: The Asan river, a tributary of the
master consequent. Yamuna river and the Song river, a tributary of
 Consequent streams are divided in two types e.g. the Ganga river in the Dehra Dun valley (infilled
 Longitudinal consequent: Follows the axis alluvial plain) are the examples of subsequent
of the depression or syncline in a folded streams while the Yamuna and the Ganga are the
structure. master consequents.
 Lateral consequent: Follows the sides of
the depressions or the sides of the anticlines.
Obsequent Streams
 The streams flowing in opposite direction to the subsequent streams of the southward flowing master
master consequent are called obsequent streams. consequent of the Ganga and the Yamuna, north
 Example: The Mahabharat Range of the Lesser of the, Someshwar Range of Dundwa Range (of
Himalaya has issued several streams from its the Siwalik Range).These northward flowing
northern slopes. These northward flowing tributaries are the examples of obsequent
streams join the subsequent stream Sun Kosi streams.
which runs west to east, as obsequent stream
because these are opposed to the directions of the Resequent Streams
master consequent like the Ganga and the  The tributary streams flowing in the direction of
Yamuna. the master consequent are called resequents.
 Similarly, several streams originating from the These are originated at much later date in
northern slopes of the Siwalik Range drain due comparison to the master consequent. Since they
northward to join east-west are of recent origin, and hence they are called
resequent.

(B) Insequent Drainage System

The streams which do not follow the regional slopes and drain across the geological structures are
called insequent or in consequent streams.
Antecedent Drainage System
 Antecedent streams are those which are
originated prior to the upliftment of land
surface.
 Examples: The Indus, the Sutlej, the
Ganga, the Ghaghra, the Kali, the
Gandak, the Kosi, the Brahmaputra etc.

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 WORLD PHYSICAL & HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

Superimposed Drainage System

 Like antecedent streams superimposed
streams are also not adjusted to regional
geological structures and slope and thus are
insequent or anti-consequent streams.
 Super imposed stream means a river which ,
flowing on a definite geological formation
and structure , has inherited the characteristics
of its previous form developed on upper
geological formation of entirely different
structural characteristics.
 Example: The Son river flowing across the
Khainjua ridges in the southern part of Rewa
plateau (Madhya Pradesh) is a fine example
of superimposed river .

DRAINAGE PATTERNS
The drainage pattern means the ‘form ’ (geometrical forms) of the drainage systems and the spatial
arrangement of streams in a particular locality or region.
 Depend on/Influenced by: The location, number and flow directions of different streams of a
particular region depend on the nature of slope, structural control, lithological characteristics,
tectonic factors, climatic conditions, vegetal characteristics etc.
Though the drainage patterns of some regions may be similar but not the same, but there are some
common characteristics which enable us to distinguish different drainage patterns.
Trellised Pattern Dendritic Pattern
 Trellised drainage patterns are formed by the  The pattern is called dendritic on the ground
network of tributaries and master consequent that the network of tributaries of various orders
streams which follow the regional slope and are and magnitudes of the trunk or master stream
well adjusted to the geological structures. resembles the branches and roots and rootlets
 Such patterns are developed in the area of simple of a tree.
folds characterized by parallel anticlinal ridges  Example: This pattern develops in a variety of
alternated by parallel synclinal valleys. structural and lithological environments such
 Several master consequent longitudinal streams are as in the mountainous and hilly areas (e.g.
developed in the elongated longitudinal synclinal dendritic pattern is one of the dominant
valleys. These longitudinal rivers and their valleys patterns in the Himalayas), on extensive
occupying the furrows between parallel ridges are plateau surface (e.g. Deccan plateau), on
parallel to each other peneplain surfaces (e.g. the Peninsular
 Several streams develop on both the flanks of the peneplains of India, mostly in the basins of the
ridges and join the longitudinal synclinal streams at Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna, the
right angle. Cauvery, the Damodar etc.), in the alluviated
 These tributary streams are called as lateral plains (e.g. Great Plains of North India), in the
consequent streams. Thus, the resultant network of desert plains (e.g. Rajasthan desert), in the
numerous longitudinal streams and transverse or glaciated low land regions (e.g. North
lateral consequent is called trellised pattern. European plains and northern low lands of
North America) etc.

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 WORLD PHYSICAL & HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

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Rectangular Pattern Radial Drainage Pattern
 Rectangular pattern shows some degree of 

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Radial drainage pattern, also known as
resemblance to trellised drainage pattern as centrifugal pattern is formed by the streams
tributary streams in both the patterns join their which diverge from a central higher point in all

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master streams almost at right angle but the directions.
confluence angle in the trellised pattern is guided by  Example: Entire drainage network of Sri
the strikes and dip angle of the rock beds while it is
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Lanka.
determined by the lines of weaknesses (e.g. faults  The local upland situated to the south-west
and fractures and joints) of the rocks in the of Ranchi city has given birth to radial
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rectangular pattern. drainage pattern where in the South Koel the

Subarnarekha, the Kanchi and the Karo rivers
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take their sources and radiate in different

directions.
 Hazaribagh plateau , Parasnath hill,
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Panchet hill and Dalmala upland (all in

Bihar/Jharkhand) have issued radial drainage
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pattern.
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Centripetal Drainage Pattern Annular Drainage Pattern

 Centripetal or inland drainage pattern is opposite to  Annular pattern, also known as ‘circular
the radial drainage pattern because it is pattern , is formed when the tributaries of the
characterized by the streams which converge at a master consequent streams are developed in the
point which is generally a depression or a basin. form of a circle.
 Example: The Kathmandu valley of Nepal presents
an ideal example of centripetal drainage pattern
wherein the tributary streams of the Baghmati
converge in the tectonically formed circular basin.\

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Barbed Drainage Pattern Pinnate Drainage Pattern

 Barbed drainage pattern, a rare kind of drainage  Pinnate pattern is developed in a narrow valley
pattern, is formed when the tributaries flow in flanked by steep ranges. The tributaries
opposite direction to their master streams. originating from the steep sides of parallel
 The tributaries join their master streams in a hook- ridges join the longitudinal master consequent
shaped bend. Such pattern is generally developed occupying the valley at acute angles.
due to river capture.  This pattern resembles the veins of a leaf.
 Example: The drainage network of the upper
Son and Narmada rivers denotes the example
of pinnate drainage pattern.

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Herringbone Pattern Parallel Drainage Pattern

 Herringbone drainage pattern, also known as rib  Parallel drainage pattern comprises numerous
pattern (like the rib bones of human beings), is rivers which are parallel to each other and
developed in mountainous areas where broad follow the regional slope.
valleys are flanked by parallel ridges having steep  Example: The western coastal plains of India
hill slide slopes. represent several examples of parallel drainage
 Examples: The rivers occupying east-west trenches patterns where the streams after taking their
in the Himalayas form herringbone pattern. The sources from the western flanks of the Western
Tamar Kosi, a left bank tributary of the Kosi river, Ghats drain in straight courses towards west to
the upper Rapti (a tributary of the Ghaghra river), empty into the Arabian Sea.
the Rapti (another one), the left bank tributary of the
Gandak river etc. have formed such drainage
pattern.

RIVER CAPTURE
River Capture is a natural process which is more active in the youthful stage of the valley
development because the streams are actively engaged in headward erosion and valley lengthening
but river capture also occurs during mature and senile stages of the valley development through
the process of lateral erosion and meander intersection.
 Stream Diversion Or Stream Capture Or Stream Piracy: The diversion of the part of the course
of a river by another river is called stream diversion or stream capture or stream piracy.
 Captured Stream: The river which captures the course of another river is called the capturing or
captor stream while the part of the stream which has been divested of its course and water is called
captured stream.

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There are four major evidences of river capture:
The Elbow Of Capture (E)
 Denotes the point where the course of the

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captured stream has been diverted to the
course of the captor stream.

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 Generally , the elbow of capture denotes
sharp turn in the course of a river almost

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at right angle
Wind Gap (wg)

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 Dry portion of the beheaded stream just
below he elbow of capture (wg).
 The wind gap is also called as col.

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The Water Gap (WG)

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 Denotes the deep and narrow valley in
the form of a gorge formed by the captor
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stream through headward erosion across
the ridge
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The Misfit Or Underfit Stream

 The lower course of the captured stream.
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 It is called misfit because of the fact that

the former valley of the captured stream
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becomes too large and wide for the

beheaded stream because of substantial
decrease in the volume of water due to
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diversion of its water to the captor stream

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*******
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