•Biological

weathering
•1.Biophysical
•2.Biochemical
•Factors controlling the rate
of weathering
(I) Properties of parent rocks
• (i) Mineral solubility-

• (ii) Rock structure

•(II) Climate-
•(i) Rainfall

•(ii) Temperature -
•(III) Presence or absence of
soil
•(i) Thickness of soil layer-

•(ii) Organic activity-

•(IV) Length of exposure -
• Factors controlling the rate of
weathering
• (I) Properties of parent rocks
• (i) Mineral solubility- Low solubility- slow weathering; high solubility-
Rapid weathering

• (ii) Rock structure – Massive- x ; fractured- x

• (II) Climate-
• (i) Rainfall Low rainfall x ; high rainfall- x
• (ii) Temperature - Cold- x ; hot - x

• (III) Presence or absence of soil

• (i) Thickness of soil layer- Thin x ; thick - x
• (ii) Organic activity- Sparse - x ; abundant x

• (IV) Length of exposure - short x ; long- x

Mass Wasting:
• Down hill movement of
broken rock debris on steep
slopes under the pool of
gravity are known as mass
wasting. It occurs through
flowage and sliding.
• Four major types of
mass wasting:
• Slow flowage:
• (a) soil creep
• (b) Telus creep: movement of piece of bed
rock
• ( c) Rock creep: movement of jointed blocks
• (d)Rock glacier creep: stream of boulder
• ( e) Solifluction: down hill flowage of water
saturated with rigolith
Rapid –flowage increasing
water content and steep
slope
• Earth flow: water saturated
shale
• Mud flow: confined to
channel.
• Debris avalanche
Landslide:
Down slope movement of regolith or bed
rock under the influence of gravity.
• Slump: movement of bed rock through
curved surface
• Debris slide:
• Debris fall
• Rock slide
• Rock fall
•Causes of mass wasting:
•Structural characteristics
of a region

•Composition of rock
•Cycle of erosion:
• The concept was formulated by
W.M. Davis. According to him, in a
cycle of erosion the surface feature
undergo changes as a result of
the processes acting upon them.
The changes are systematic and
follow each other in regular
sequence.
•Fluvial cycle of erosion
•Aeolian cycle of erosion
•Glacial cycle of erosion
•Karst cycle (Ground water)
•Marine Cycle (coral reef)
•Lake
Geological work done
by
Running water (River)
OR
Fluvial cycle of erosion
• Erosion:
• Transportation:
• Deposition:
• Erosion : Mechanical
• Chemical
• Transportation: Mechanical
• Chemical
• Deposition: Delta
•Erosion : Mechanical
•Hydraulic action
•Abrasion (corrasion)
•Attrition
•Cavitation
•Chemical (corrosion)
• Transportation: Mechanical
• Suspension
• Traction
• Saltation

• Chemical (Solution)
•Deposition
•Decrease in velocity
•Decrease in slope
• Four stages of running water
• Initial , youth, mature and old
• Features of Initial stage:
• Channel deepening,
• Pot hole drilling,
• Maximum headword erosion,
• Water falls,
• Gorges,
• Canyons
Features of Youth stage:
•River piracy,
•Elbo of capture,
•V shaped valley
• Features of mature stage: maximum
erosion through lateral cutting,
• Cuestas,
• Meander,
• Oxbow lake,
• Terraces,
• Alluvial fans
•Features of old stage:
• Delta and flood plain,
• Peneplains,
distributaries
• Features in humid regions:
• Strath,
• Knick point,
• Bad land,
• Eescarpment,
• Cuesta,
• Mesa: Isolated land mass with steep sides
• Butte: flat topped hill
• Monadnock,
• Natural levee
• Features in arid regions:
• Alluvial fans
• Piedmont plain,
• Pediment/pediplain: eroded bed b/n
mountain and basin
• Playas,
• Inselberg: Isolated mound on
pediplain
• Wadies. Channel formed during rain
in desert
•Depositional
features:
•Deltas,
• Sloughs
• Important terminology associated with
action of river
• Effluent
• Influent
River pattern
• Antecedent
• Consequent
• Subsequent
• Obsequent
• Resquent
•Drainage pattern
•Dendritic
•Parallel
•Trellis
•Radial
•Aeolian cycle of erosion
OR
•Geological work of wind:-
• Geological work of wind:-
• Wind action is conspicuous in semiarid
and arid regions, but particularly strong
in desert. Aeolian topography can be
divided in to three stages:
• (i) Erosion

• (ii)Transportation

• (iii) Deposition
•Erosion by
•Deflation- Removal of
loose soil/rock particle in
dry region.
•Abrasion- Sand blast
action against the rock
•Attrition- Grinding action
• Erosional features
• Hamada- Loose particles are swept away
due to deflation.
• Yardang- Furrowed topography due to abrasion
( fig.)

• Pedestal rock- A wide rock cap standing on a slender

rock column produced due to abrasion
(fig.)

• Ventifacts- Pebble faceted by the abrasive effect of

wind blown sand (fig.)
•Mushroom table- Table
like structure due to
abrasion
•Honey comb structure-
Formed due to differential
abrasion of hard and soft
rocks
• Desert pavement- Residual
pebble and cobble due to
deflation

• Millet seed sand- Rounded

desert sand grains by attrition
•Transportation-
•Traction
•saltation
•Suspension
• Deposition features
• Lag deposits- Pebble and Cobble
• Loess – Clay and silt
• Forms of deposits:
• Two types
• Sheet deposits- Dust deposit on
large area
• Piles deposits- various types of dune-
sand and silt carried in saltation
Dune- Gentle slope towards
windward, steep slope towards lee
side
• Fig.
Types of dune

• Barchan- Crescentric shaped dune

with the point directed downward.
• Fig.
• Seif- It is similar to barchan but one
wing is missing due to occasional
shift in wind direction.
• Fig.
• Transverse dune- Elongated
dunes formed at right angle
to wind direction.
• Fig.
• Longitudinal dune-Elongated ridge of
sand parallel to wind direction
• Fig.
• Parabolic dune- Horn point towards
opposite to direction of wind
• Fig.
• Fore dune- ridge like deposits
formed along the coast of the sea.
•Glacial cycle of
erosion
OR
•Geological work
of Glaciers
• Geological work of Glaciers

Type:
•Valley glacier
•Continental glacier
Topography of valley glacier
•Erosion
•Plucking (Frost action)
•Rasping (Abrasion)
•Avalanche (Mass wasting)
• Erosional features of valley
glacier
• Cirques: circular depression formed by plucking
on upper part of mountain slopes.
• Arete: Knife like sharp ridges
• Horn: sharp pointed peak formed by
intersection of arete
• Col: Opposed cirque have intersected deeply
• Trough: U shaped valley
• Hanging valley: tribatary glacier
• Fiords: narrow estuary
• Tarns : small lakes occurs on trough
•Depositional features
of valley glacier
Morain:
Unsorted, unstratified debris
dropped in random fashion.
• Type of Morains:
• Three types of morains
• Lateral- Ridge like pattern along margin
of valley glaciers
• Medial- Coalescence of the lateral
morains
• Terminalmorains-
Accumulations of rock debris at
terminus of glaciers
• Fig.
Erosional features of
continental glaciers
• Striations: Scratches
• Roches moutonees (sheep rock): stoss
side smooth and lee side irregular
• Crag and tail: hard rock stand as pillar in
the glacieted valley
Depositional features of c. Glacier
Glacial drift: varieties of rock debris
Two types
• 1. Unstratified: Till, Tillite
Drumline
Basket of egg topography

• 2. Stratified: Glacio- fluvial

deposits
• 2. Unstratified:
• Till: heterogeneous mixture of rock
fragments(clay to boulder),unsorted,
unstratified
• Tillite :A consolidated till
• Drumline: consist of glacial till, uphill sides
are blunt and down hill sides are smooth and
gentle sloping.
• Basket of egg topography : drumlin occurs in
groups
Glacio-fluvial deposits
• Outwash plains: Fan like plain
formed by rock debris carried in
glacial stream.
• Eskers: steep sided ridge like
features built of stream born drift. (
osser)
• Eratics: stray boulder of rock which
have undergone prolonged glacial
transport.
• Varve: layered clays alter net with
coarser and finer sediment
• Iceberg: floating ice hill on the
sea water
• Calving: Break off from mass of ice
• Crevasses: cracked
• Serace: like water fall in river
• Nunatak: rock mass projected
through an ice sheet
•Indicator of Glacial climate
• (i) Scratched, grooved, and faceted
rock fragments
• (ii) Smooth and scratched bed rock
• (iii) Unsorted deposits and tillite
• (iv) Un decomposed feldspars in drift
• (v)Absence of red ferruginous and
black carbonaceous matter.
Geological work of
Underground
water
•Karst topography
Erosional features;
•Sink
•Uvala
•Caverns
•Gallaries
•Shaft
•Stalactites
•Stalagmites
•Polje
•Hums
Depositional
features:
•Geode
•Sinter
•Travertine/cal.sinter
TERRESTRIAL DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT
MENADERING RIVER SYSTEMS AND THEIR PRODUCTS
• Geological work of Oceans and Seas

•Erosion
•Transportation
•Deposition
•Work depends on
• Relief of the floor
•Chemical composition of
water
•Temperature, pressure and
density of water
•Relief
•Continental shelf
• Slope
• Rise
• Abyssal plain
• Waves
• Currents
Organism–
• Benthos,
• Plankton- Microorganism
• Nekton- Sea vertebrates and
invertebrates Molluscs
•Marine erosion
•Hydraulic action
•Abrasion
•Attrition
•Corrosion
•Features formed by
erosion
•Cliffs
•Wave cut bench

•Transportation
• Deposition
• Sources of materials
• From land
• Product of submarine volcanism
• Inorganic precipitates from sea
water
• Skeletal remains
• Extra terrestrial material
• Marine depositional
features:
• Littoral deposits
• Beaches
• Bars
• Tombolo/Connecting bars
• Spits
Shallow water deposits
Coral reef:
•Fringing reef
•Barrier reef
•Attol
• Deep water deposits
• Slope deposits
• Blue Mud
• Red Mud
• Green Mud
• Abyssal deposits
• Pelagic deposits with polygenic (red
clay) and volcanic sediments
Geological work of Lake
Origin of lake
• 1. River action--- Ox-bow lake
• Due to impact of water fall
• Due to bar deposits
• Due to land slide
2.By tectonic movement
•Tectonic depression----
Caspian sea,
• Baikal,
•Dead sea,
•Tanganyika
• Due to earthquake-----
• Due to faulting and folding
• 3. Due to volcanic activity---- craters and
calderas
• 4. Due to glacial action
• 5.Marine action
• 6. Due to wind
• 7. Due to meteorites
• 8. Due to organic activity—Corals
Only depositional features
• Fresh water lake
• Saline lake- NaCl
• Alkaline--carbonate
• Bitter lake—Sulphate