Forms of relief of the earth’s surface and their formation


It is difficult to imagine that in comparison with the real dimensions of the Earth on this model – a globe with a diameter of 1 m – the dimensions of the highest mountain systems and the deepest depressions would not exceed 1 mm. And the ego with the fact that the real maximum elevation difference on Earth is about 20 km! Unequal absolute heights cause the presence of different forms of relief on our planet.

As you already know, the relief is called a set of diverse but irregularities in the earth’s surface, which differ in height and in the mode of formation. The forms of relief are natural bodies that form certain parts of the earth’s crust.

There are various forms of relief. The main reason for this diversity is the interaction of internal and external processes of the Earth. These processes are opposite: the first create huge irregularities, the second they smooth out. So, internal processes – movements of the lithosphere and volcanism

– can be called the main “architects” of the surface of our planet. It is as a result of these processes that continents, oceanic depressions, mountain systems and depressions between them arose. This is the cause of the activation of external forces. For millions of years, water, wind and sun can almost completely destroy the mountains, create in their place the plains and fill the destroyed material with large lowlands. Internal and external forces act simultaneously.

Under the influence of internal processes, the mantle material moves. It determines the horizontal and vertical movement of the lithosphere. Because of the slow movement of the lithospheric plates, the largest, planetary forms of relief-continents and oceans-have formed.

The main forms of relief both on continents and at the bottom of the oceans are the plains and mountains. Their formation is the result of the interaction of internal and external processes.

Most of the land is made up of plains, and mountain systems occupy 36% of its area

The relief of the bottom of the Ocean is much more complicated than the relief of land. At the bottom of the oceans there are three main parts: the shelf, the continental slope and the bed of the Ocean. As on the surface of the continents, on the bottom of the World Ocean there are plains and mountains, and also narrow and long deep-sea trenches inherent only in the ocean floor. The smaller forms of relief are formed mainly under the influence of external forces – solar energy, terrestrial gravitation, surface water, wind and living organisms.


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Forms of relief of the earth’s surface and their formation