How Does Erosion Affect the Land?
Erosion affects the land in many ways. You may not know it, but you've noticed its effects. From the winding rivers on your walks, the tingle of rocks on your feet on the ocean shore... you may even live on a Delta, created by the eroded sediment. Erosion occurs all around us, and this section will help you recognize and appreciate its affects on the land.
Lets look at these pictures for a start. Erosion from the sea, rain, and wind can do something as little as figure 1, or as much as figure 2 and 3. We will look at even further affects later.
Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3
Look at the shore on figure 3. This is caused by the erosion of
waves, wind, etc. I'm guessing that Figure 2 was caused by a combination of high
tide, a storm, wind, and time. Figure 1
could have been caused by runoff.
Have you ever seen a meandering river? (a winding river). Did you ever wonder why it winded?
Rivers wind because of a process of disposition and current. Lets look at this diagram...
Figure 5
The current is traveling down and left. Its force
hits the river's wall. This erodes the wall, and those eroded
particles are then deposited on the other side of the river, where the current
is weak. The wall then forces a curve in the current, and the process starts all
over again. This creates the look of a winding river. This is one of many ways
erosion shapes the land we live on.
For one last example, consider the land around us. Delta BC is exactly what it implies. Its a Delta, in British Columbia, and many people live on it. Deltas are basically triangular shaped land masses made by the heavy disposition of rivers. When rives flow out into level water, its current slows. (sometimes two rivers flow into each other) Disposition occurs, and as the current slows, it separates into channels and forms a triangular shape as it deposits all of its eroded material. This can eventually create a land mass, called a Delta.
As you have seen erosion changes the lands shape, and makes the world more interesting. Mountains have been worn down, rivers have been shaped, land, the ocean floor... Erosion can even make land that we live on.