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Introductory Engineering Geology

5. LANDFORMS
5.1 Introduction
Landforms are the individual topographic features exposed on the Earths surface. Landforms
vary in size and shape and include features such as small creeks or sand dunes, or large
features such as the River or Mountains.
Landforms develop over a range of different time-scales. Some landforms develop rather
quickly (over a few seconds, minutes, or hours), such as a landslide, while others may
involve many millions of years to form, such as a mountain range. Landform development
can be relatively simple and involve only a few processes or very complex and involve a
combination of multiple processes and agents.
The variety in the types of land forms on the earth is the end result of two types of forces
working simultaneously and continuously both inside and outside on its surface. The forces,
which originate from within the earths crust or inside the earth are called internal or
endogenetic forces. They include volcanoes, earthquakes, etc. Internal forces shape the
earths surface by building and changing landforms. The sources providing them energy are
the internal heat, chemical reactions taking place within the earth, etc. The external forces
shaping the earth include weathering and erosion.
The knowledge/understanding of landforms provides the decision makers with information to
make natural resource, cultural management, and infrastructure decisions that affect humans
and the environment.

5.2 Landforms and Scale: Crustal Orders of Relief


The crustal orders of relief can be grouped into three: the first order of relief; the second
order of relief and the third order of relief.
5.2.1 First Order of Relief:
The broadest landform scale is divided into continental landmasses, which include all of the
crust above sea-level (30% Earths surface), and ocean basins, which include the crustal areas
below sea-level (70% of Earths surface)
5.2.3 Second Order of Relief:
The second order of relief includes regional-scale continental features such as mountain
ranges, plateaus, plains, and lowlands. Major ocean basin features including continental

Introductory Engineering Geology


shelves, slopes, abyssal plains, mid ocean ridges, and trenches are all second-order relief
landforms.
5.2.3 Third Order of Relief:
The third order of relief includes individual landform features that collectively make up the
larger second-order relief landforms. Examples include individual volcanoes, glaciers,
valleys, rivers, flood plains, lakes, marine terraces, beaches, and dunes.
Each major landform categorized within the third order of relief may also contain many
smaller features or different types of a single feature.

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