Physical Geology QAB1013

Lecture #10 GEOMORPHOLOGY

Jasmi Ab Talib
Geoscience & Petroleum Engineering Department

TODAYS LECTURE & OUTCOME

1. Will concentrate on two main processes that modify the earth surfaces
Endogenic Processes Exogenic Processes

2. Towards the end of lecture, you will be able to differentiate and recognise, in great detail between endogenic and exogenic.

GEOMORPHOLOGY
Geomorphology (from Greek: , ge, "earth"; , morf, "form"; and , logos, "knowledge") is the scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them. Geomorphologists seek to understand why landscapes look the way they do: to understand landform history and dynamics, and predict future changes through a combination of field observation, physical experiment, and numerical modeling. Geomorphology is practiced within geology, geodesy, geography, archaeology, and civil and environmental engineering. Early studies in geomorphology are the foundation for pedology, one of two main branches of soil science.

GEOMORPHOLOGY
The science which studies the nature and history of landforms and processes; weathering, erosion and deposition which created them. Geomorphology what is it? study of Earth surface processes and landforms a historical science, interested in the origin and evolution of landforms study of currently active processes & past processes What shapes the Earths surface?

Shaping the Earth

Among the processes that drive the shaping of landforms is plate tectonics, or the shifting of large, movable segments of lithosphere (the crust and upper layer of Earth's mantle). Plate tectonics is discussed in detail within its own essay and more briefly in other areas throughout this book, as befits its status as one of the key areas of study in the earth sciences. Other processes also shape landforms. Included among these processes are weathering, the breakdown of rocks and minerals at or near the surface of Earth due to physical or chemical processes; erosion, the movement of soil and rock due to forces produced by water, wind, glaciers, gravity, and other influences; and mass wasting or mass movement, the transfer of earth material, by processes that include flow, slide, fall, and creep, down slopes. Also of interest are fluvial and eolian processes (those that result from water flow and wind, respectively) as well as others related to glaciers and coastal formations.

GEOMORPHOLOGICAL PROCESSES

GEOMORPHOLOGY AGENTS
Any natural medium capable of securing and transporting earth material They remove materials from one part of the earths crust and transport and deposited them elsewhere - Running water - Groundwater - Waves, currents, tides, and tsunami - Wind - Glaciers

GEOMORPHOLOGY AGENTS

Running water

Groundwater

Wind Tsunami

Waves

Glaciers

Geomorphic Processes
Geomorphic processes are all those physical and chemical changes which effect a modification of the earths surficial form The processes are dynamic processes at work in the earth's landforms and surfaces. The mechanisms involved, weathering, erosion, and plate tectonics, combine processes that are in some respects destructive and in others constructive. Processes may conveniently be divided into those that originate within the Earth (endogenic processes and those that originate externally endogenic processes) (exogenic processes exogenic processes).

A) B)

Endogenic Processes Exogenic Processes

Geomorphic Processes
Endogenic Processes
Diastrophism Vulcanism

Exogenic Processes
Gradation Degradation Weathering Mass wasting Erosion Aggradation Work of organisms, including man

Extraterrestrial Processes
Infall of meteorites

Geomorphic Processes
A) Endogenic Processes
The rifting of the great lithospheric plates, the continual drifting of continental crust, and the expansion of oceanic crust from midoceanic spreading centres all set deepseated dynamic forces into action. Diastrophism is a general term for all crustal movements produced by endogenic Earth forces that produce ocean basins, continents, plateau, and mountains.

Geomorphic Processes
A) Endogenic Processes
The so-called geotectonic cycle relates these larger structural features to gross crustal movements and to the kinds of rocks that form various stages of their development.

A folded mountain belts evidence for crustal deformation by Earths internal forces.

Examples of endogenic processes mountains and oceanic basins building.

Geomorphic Processes
A) Endogenic Processes
Orogenesis, or mountain building, tends to be a localized process that distorts pre-existing strata. Epeirogeny affects large parts of the continents and oceans, primarily through upwards or downward movements, and produces plateau and basins.
Folded mountain belts

GEOLOGY OF SE ASIA (after Tjia, 2005)

Major Faults in Peninsula Malaysia

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Sutura Bentong-Raub

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BATUAN METASEDIMEN KARBON

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100

BATUAN SEDIMEN PERM

BATUAN METASEDIMEN PERM

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200 km

Geological Processes
A) Endogenic Processes
Geysers and hot springs, like volcanoes, are often found in tectonically unstable areas. Volcanoes are produced by outpouring of lavas from deep within the Earth. Examples: the Columbia plateau of the western United States is overlaid by volcanic basalts that are more than 3,000 m thick and cover 52,000 sq km. Such plateau basalts are derived from fissure volcanoes.

Geological Processes
A) Endogenic Processes
Other kinds of volcanoes include shield volcanoes, which are broad and convex in profile, such as those forming the Hawaiian Islands, and strato volcanoes, such as Mount Fuji or Mount St Helens, which are composed of interleaved layers of different materials.

Geological Processes
A) Endogenic Processes
Earthquakes are caused by the abrupt release of slowly accumulated strain by faulting or volcanic activity, or both. Sudden motion at the Earth's surface is a manifestation of endogenic processes that can wreak havoc through seismic sea waves (tsunamis), landslides, surface collapse or subsidence (sinkholes), and related phenomena.
Earthquake, vibrations produced in the Earth's crust when rocks in which elastic strain has been building up suddenly rupture, and then rebound. The vibrations can range from barely noticeable to catastrophically destructive. Earthquakes can release energy thousands of times greater than the world's first atomic bomb. Six kinds of shock waves are generated in the process. Two are classified as body wavesthat is, they travel through the Earth's interiorand the other four are surface waves. The waves are further differentiated by the kinds of motions they impart to rock particles. Primary or compressional waves (P waves) send particles oscillating back and forth in the same direction as the waves are travelling, whereas secondary or transverse shear waves (S waves) impart vibrations perpendicular to their direction of travel. P waves always travel at higher velocities than S waves, so whenever an earthquake occurs, P waves are the first to arrive and be recorded at geophysical research stations throughout the world.

FREQUENCY OF OCCURRENCE OF EARTHQUAKES

Descriptor Magnitude Average Annually

Great Major Strong Moderate Light Minor Very Minor

>8 7 - 7.9 6 - 6.9 5 - 5.9 4 - 4.9 3 - 3.9 2 - 2.9

1 17 134 1319
13,000 (estimated) 130,000 (estimated) 1,300,000 (estimated)

Based on observations since 1900. Based on observations since 1990.

(Jabatan Meterologi Malaysia, 2005)

EARTHQUAKE ACTIVITIES AROUND MALAYSIA

Geological Processes
A) Endogenic Processes
Impacts of earthquakes

Tsunami

SINGAPORE, April 2 A powerful undersea earthquake in the South Pacific early today sent huge tides rolling across low-lying areas of the Solomon Islands, inundating entire villages and causing an unknown number of deaths, local officials reported.

The earthquake, measured at about 8.0 by the United States Geological Survey in Hawaii, struck at 7:40 A.M. local time (10:40 P.M. Sunday GMT). The survey placed the epicenter 6.2 miles under the ocean and 25 miles from the coastline.

Recent earthquake around our region

Exogenic Processes

Weathering
Mechanical weathering is the breakdown of rock into particles without producing changes in the chemical composition of the minerals in the rock. Ice is the most important agent of mechanical weathering. Water percolates into cracks and fissures within the rock, freezes, and expands. The force exerted by the expansion is sufficient to widen cracks and break off pieces of rock.

Inside Lower Antelope Canyon, looking out with the sky near the top of the frame. Characteristic layering in the sandstone is visible.

Heating and cooling of the rock, and the resulting expansion and contraction, also aids the process. Mechanical weathering contributes further to the breakdown of rock by increasing the surface area exposed to chemical agents.

Geological Processes
B. Exogenic Processes

Geological Processes
B. Exogenic Processes

An inselberg resulting from weathering of the outer part of the rock mass.

Weathering, breakdown of rocks by physical and chemical processes at the surface, or in the top few metres, of the Earths crust. It is the initial stage in the denudation (lowering of the land surface) of landscape, which produces debris known as regolith. This can subsequently be transported away by such agents of erosion as running water, ice, the wind, or the sea. Two main types of weathering can be identified. Physical or mechanical weathering breaks rocks into smaller fragments without changing their chemical composition. Chemical weathering decomposes the rock mass to form new minerals and substances. However, both chemical and physical weathering can also be brought about by the activity of plants and animals, in which case it is referred to as biological weathering.

Weathering
Chemical weathering is the breakdown of rock by chemical reaction. In this process the minerals within the rock are changed into particles that can be easily carried away. Air and water are both involved in many complex chemical reactions. The minerals in igneous rocks may be unstable under normal atmospheric conditions, those formed at higher temperatures being more readily attacked than those which formed at lower temperatures. Igneous rocks are commonly attacked by water, particularly acid or alkaline solutions, and all of the common igneous rock forming minerals (with the exception of quartz which is very resistant) are changed in this way into clay minerals and chemicals in solution.

Igneous rocks weathered into sandy clayey soils and gravels, which are the main source of modern sediments

Spheroidal weathering
Spheroidal weathering is a type of chemical weathering that creates rounded boulders and helps to create domed monoliths

Spheroidal weathering occurs whenever a mass of rock (most typically granitic in composition), experiences a drastic reduction in ambient heat and pressure, such as when a batholith is exposed at the surface. Rock forms at great temperatures and pressures (760 C and 300 MPa, for granitic rock), and in granites there are three mutually perpendicular sets of joints that develop when this overburden is removed. Two things cause this in granites: the quartz crystals expand about 5%, and acidic water attacks the feldspar minerals, turning them into clay. Thus the corners become rounded, because angular edges provide more than one area of attack by exposing a greater amount of surface area. Edges and especially corners of an angular block weather faster than flatter surfaces.

Chemical weathering
1. Solution
Commonly first stage in Chemical weathering & removes the most readily soluble minerals. eg. CaCO3 + H2O + CO2 Ca(HCO3)2
Calcium carbonate Calcium bicarbonate

2. Hydration
Is the addition of water to a mineral and its absorption into the crystal lattice eg. Iron oxides may absorb water and turn into hydrated iron hydroxides 2Fe2O3 + 3H2O 2Fe2O3.3H2O
Hematite Limonite

3. Hydrolysis
Chemical reaction between a mineral and water, H+ or OH- ions of water and ions of mineral.

4. Carbonation
Abundance of bicarbonate solutions cause the decomposition of feldspars to clay minerals. 6KAlSi3O8 + 4H2O + 4CO2 K2Al4(Si6Al2O20)(OH4) + 12SiO2 + 4K++4HCO3Orthoclase illite solution

Chemical weathering
5. Oxidation
Process of combining with oxygen; will increase in +ve valence or decrease in ve valence. eg. Alteration of iron from the ferrous. 4FeO + O2 2Fe2O3
ferrous oxide ferric oxide

6. Reduction
Opposite process of oxidation; usually occurs in waterlogged (anaerobic) conditions in the absence of free oxygen. Reduction of iron to ferrous, it more soluble and mobile, water is stained brown of oxides.

Products of weathering
Primary Minerals Feldspar Fe-Mg minerals Quartz Primary Minerals Residual Minerals Dissolved Ions

Clay minerals K+, Ca+2, Na+ Aluminum hydroxide Hematite & Limonite Quartz Solids that remain in soil Mg+2 Silica Ions that are carried away in water Chemical & biochemical sediments

----------Detrital sediments------------------

WEATHERING PROCESSES

WEATHERING PROFILE

a) A schematic vertical section through a weathering profile

b) In reality, the weathering profile may be more complex, resulting from structures in the rock mass.

Geological Processes
B) Exogenic Processes
Hydraulic action is the sweeping away of loose material by running water; the companion process performed by wind is known as deflation. The action of ice moving over a land surface is sometimes called scouring; plucking and gouging are erosional processes restricted to glaciers.