THE WORLD AND ITS PHYSICAL

ENVIRONMNET

MAJOR PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE WORLD: RELIEF AND

DRAINAGE
Formation
Location
Human activities
 EARTH’S STRUCTURE
 In order to understand the geography of the external landforms
of the earth it is essential that we have some idea of what lies
within the earth’s crust
o Earth is made up of 3 concentric layers:
- Outer layer called earth’s crust (lithosphere 5-6 km thick
beneath oceans and 48km beneath the continents) : comprises
of two distinct parts being the upper part made of granite rocks
and forms continents (Sial which is lighter) and the lower part
made of denser basaltic rocks forming the ocean floors (sima
which is denser).
- The continents can be said to be “floating” on a sea of denser
sima.
- Mantle (mesosphere) beneath the crust (about
2 900km thick). It is mainly made up of very
dense rocks.
- Interior layer is the core (barysphere 3476 km
in radius) made of iron and some nickel.
- Its temperature as high as 1927°C
- Subjected to extremely high pressure
- It is made up of two layers: Outer core is liquid
and inner core is solid.
(Bunnet pg. 15,Leong pg. 17)
 The earth’s crust consists of plates: continental plates which
carry continents and oceanic plates which form the ocean floor.
 Some plates are converging (moving towards each other due
to compression forces while others are diverging (moving
apart) due to tension forces.
 Margins/boundaries are main places of tectonic activities due
to high pressure and unstableness. This is where major
landforms such as fold mountains, plateaus, rift valleys etc are
formed.
 When an oceanic plate and a continental plate converge, the
margin of the oceanic plate is drawn beneath that of the
continental plate. The rocks of the oceanic plate margin are
absorbed into the mantle.
 The margins of converging plates are called destructive margins
 The margins of diverging plates are called constructive margins
 When plates converge landforms are formed
 FOLDING
• When plates converge rocks are subjected to
compressive forces that produce folds along
the lines of weaknesses.
FOUR TYPES OF FOLDING
 Simple folding: (Bunnet pg. 23)
During compression, rocks bend up to form up folds (anticlines)
and down folds (synclines)
 Asymmetrical folding: occurs when too much pressure is applied
on the simple fold. It is asymmetrical because its limbs are no
longer the same.
 Over fold: occurs when pressure continues and one limb of the
fold is pushed over the other.
 Over thrust fold: when very great pressure is exerted on the
over fold to cause a fracture in the fold so that one limb actually
pushes forward over the other limb.
Examples of features formed through folding:
Fold mountains
 FAULTING
 Sometimes the rocks are hard and do not fold.
They crack or fault causing great blocks of rock
to move vertically or horizontally and laterally.
 Faulting may be caused by forces of
compression or tension.
Kinds of faults: (Bunnet pg. 24-25)
 Normal fault: formed when the fault is caused
by tension and one side of a rock mass drops.
 A reverse or thrust fault: caused by
compression and the rocks on one side of the
fault are thrust upward.
 Tear fault: when the land on both sides of a
fault is displaced laterally.
Examples of features formed through faulting:
block mountains, rift valley, volcanic
mountains, plateau, crater lakes
- Plate movements give rise to vulcanicity and earth quakes
especially along the edges of the plates and especially where three
or more plates meet.
Earthquakes
- Sudden earth movements or vibrations in the earth’s crust.
- They are caused by: one tectonic plate sliding over or past another
plate along the line of a fault or volcanic eruptions.
- Its intensity is measured by a seismograph which records vibrations
made by the earthquake. Intensity refers to the effect produced by
the earthquake and differs from place to place.
- The magnitude of an earthquake refers to the total amount of
energy released and is given using the scale called Richter scale
ranging from 0 to 8.9. it does not differ.
- Effects: can displace parts of the earth’s crust, can raise or lower
parts of the sea floor, can raise or lower coastal rocks and can cause
mudslides and open up deep cracks in the surface rocks.
- Vulcanicity refers to all the various ways by which
molten rock and gases are forced into the earth’s crust
or onto its surface.
- Rocks below the crust have very high temperatures,
but kept in a semi-solid state by great pressure
- Friction along rock surfaces at the boundaries of plates
raises the temperature and this plus a reduction in
pressure caused by faulting and folding movements
causes these rocks to become molten and semi-fluid.
- Such rocks are called magma
- As the magma rises, it forces its way into the cracks of
the crust. When it reaches the surface it looses its
gases and its called lava.
- The resultant landforms depend on: The
strength and fluidity of the magma; the types of
cracks, faults and joints it penetrates and the
manner in which it escapes to the surface.
- Magma may cool and solidify within the earth’s
crust as plutonic rocks resulting in intrusive
landforms
- Magma that reaches the surface and solidifies
form extrusive landforms
 Features formed in the crust:
• Batholiths: large mass of magma which accumulates in the crust.
Made by granite and they form surface features only after they
have been exposed by denudation. Eg Chaillu massif in Gabon,
Wicklow mountains of Ireland, Main Range of Peninsular
Malaysia.
• Sill: sheet of magma that lies along a bedding plane. They form
ridges like escarpments when exposed by erosion. Others remain
as caps on the top of hills eg. The three sisters in Cape Province
of SA. Some outcrop across river beds to form water falls i.e.
Kinkon falls in Guinea, the Great Whin Sill of north east England.
• Dyke: when magma cuts across bedding planes it forms a wall
like feature called dyke. The ridge on the side of Kaap valley in
SA. They also give rise to water falls or rapids when they have
resisted denudation i.e. Howick falls in SA, Cleveland Dyke of
Yorkshire
 Features formed on the surface
When magma reaches the surface through a vent, it
builds up a volcano which is cone shaped mound.
If it emerges through a fissure (crack) it may build
up a lava plain or lava plateau.
• Volcano: the mound is called the cone. It may
consist of lava or a mixture of lava and rocks or
ash or cinders. The shape and size depend on the
nature of cone’s material and type of eruption.
Egs of volcanic mountains Mt Kilimanjaro in
Tanzania, Mt Fuji in Japan, Mt Mayon in
Philippines.
• Lava plain: Eruption of lava from cracks takes
place quietly. The lava spreads out over the
surrounding country side and successive
outpourings cause layer upon layer of lava to
form. eg:The great lava plains of the Snake
basin in America
• Lava plateau: At times the layers of lava are
hundreds of meters thick and they form high
fairly level features called lava plateaus.
Eg.Huruj el aswad plateau of central Libya, the
north western part of the Deccan Plateau,
Drakensberg mountains of SA
 RELIEF FEATURES
 MOUNTAINS
There are four main types of mountains:
Fold mountains, block mountains, mountains of
accumulation and residual mountains.
 Fold mountains
- The most widespread and also most important
- Caused by large scale earth movements when
stresses are set up in the earth’s crust.
- These are formed through folding (Refer to previous
notes on folding)

Egs. Cape ranges in South Africa, Atlas mountains

in north Africa, Himalayas (Asia), Rockies (USA),
Andes (South America), Alps (Europe).
 Block mountains
- Faults occur in series.
- The formation of faults is sometimes
accompanied by an upward or down ward
movement of blocks of the crust to give blocks
called block mountains or depressed elongated
fault bordered zones called rift valleys.
Egs Ruwenzori range (border of uganda and dr
congo), Ethiopian Scarp, Somalia fault scarp, Mt
St Helens in USA.
- Faulting may be caused by tension or
compression forces which lengthen or shorten
the earth’s crust causing a section of it to
subside or to rise above the surrounding level.
- Tensional forces: pull the earth’s crust apart
and faults are developed. If the block enclosed
remains as is or rises, and the land on either
side subsides the upstanding block becomes
the horst or block mountain.
- May also cause the central portion to be let
down between two adjacent blocks forming a
graben or rift valley.
- Compressional forces: shorten the crust
- A block may be raised or lowered in relation to
surrounding areas.
- In a general large scale block mountains and
rift valleys are due to tension rather than
compression.
 Mountain of accumulation (volcanic mountains)
Consist of materials that have been forced out of the
earth’s crust by volcanic eruptions
Eg. Mt Kilimanjaro, Cameroon mountain in west Africa,
Drakensburg mountains in SA, , Mt Fuji in Japan, Mt
Mayon in Philippines

 Residual mountains
Prolonged denudation (weathering, soil erosion,
transportation) lowers mountains and other landforms
by removing the weaker rocks but more resistant rocks
remain as residual mountains and inselbergs. (diagram Bunnet
pg 33)
Eg. Chailo massif in Gabon, Mt Monadnock in USA.
 The importance of mountains to humanity
• Leisure: they are used for skiing and hiking
• Tourism: hence source of income
• Defense purposes
• Act as wind breakers
• Mining i.e kimberlite in Botswana and
quarrying
• Agriculture: fertile soils are found at the foot of
mountains especially volcanic mountains.
• They have significant influence on climate
(altitude)
 The impact of humanity on mountains
• Pollution by tourists and sporting activities
• Soil erosion due to ploughing along slopes
 The impact of mountains on humanity
• Volcanoes pose danger to people as they may
erupt causing extensive damage and loss of life
• Dangerous animals find refuge in mountains
and may pose danger to human beings
• It is expensive to construct transport networks
on mountainous areas
 RIFT VALLEYS
(diagram Bunnet pg 32)

They occur in association with block mountain

due to forces of tension and compression.
(refer to block mountain notes)
• Features found in rift valleys: rivers, lakes and
falls
• Eg. The great rift valley of Africa
 Importance to humanity
Lakes: Tourism, fishing, agriculture, hydro electric
power, transport, source of minerals like salt,
water storage. Egs: lake Malawi, Lake Kariba,
Lake Tanganyika, Lake Victoria
Rivers: fishing, agriculture, transport, basket
weaving, tourism, water used for industrial and
domestic purposes, rivers used to form political
boundaruies. Egs: Zaire river, orange river, chobe
river etc.
Falls: hydroelectric power, tourism. Egs: Victoria
Falls in Zim
 Human impact
• Pollution, over fishing,

 How they impact negatively on humanity

• Flooding destroys property and cause loss of
life
• Source of pests which cause illnesses to people
and livestock
 DEPRESSIONS
• A depression is a land form sunken or depressed below the
surrounding area.
• May or may not contain water
• They are formed through various mechanisms
1. Structural or tectonic related:
• Structural basin- a circular, syncline like depression, a region of
tectonic down warping
• Rift valley- down dropped and typically linear depressions or
basin created by rifting in a region under tensional tectonic forces
Eg. London basin, Appalachian basin USA
2. Sedimentary related:
• Sedimentary basin- an area thickly filled with sediments in which
the weight of the sediment further depresses the floor of the
basin
Eg. Karoo Basin SA, Duero Basin in Spain,
3. Volcanism related:
• Caldera- a volcanic depression resulting from collapse
following a volcanic eruption eg. Crater Lake in Oregon,
• Pit crater- a volcanic depression smaller than a caldera
formed by sinking or caving in of the ground surface. E.g
Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania,
4. Erosion related:
• River valley- a depression formed by fluvial erosion by a river
e.g. Nile,
• Blow out- a depression created by wind erosion typically
either a partially vegetated sand dune ecosystem or dry soil
e.g. blow out on dune ridge in Hoffmaster State Park USA
5. impact related:
• Impact crater- a depression created by impact such as a
meteorite crater. The Impact craters of North America.
Human activities in depressions:
• Mining i.e. salt as in Mababe depression
• Water may be used for domestic purposes
• Hydro electric power can be done in calderas
• Fishing
• Agriculture
• Tourism
Human impact on depressions:
• Pollution
Threat to human life:
• Volcanoes may erupt in crater lakes
• flooding
 PLAINS
• An area of low land, either level or undulating.
• They are situated at low levels and are often
referred to as lowlands.
• There are some however which are situated
quiet high above sea level.
TYPES OF PLAINS:
• Depositional plains: plains formed due to deposition of materials
brought by different agents of transportation i.e. rivers, glaciers,
waves and wind. They are composed of sediments.
• Their fertility and economic value depends on the type of
sediments laid down.
• Rivers deposit vast quantities of sediments in their lower courses
which gradually build up gently sloping surfaces called flood
plains, alluvial plains and deltaic plains e.g. Nile river delta,
Okavango delta, Ganges Delta
• Winds deposit fine rock particles (loes) to form loes plain eg.
Parts of the Pampas in Argentina
• Ice sheets and glaciers form bolder clay plain (depositing
pebbles, sediments and boulders) e.g East Anglian plain in
England
• Erosional plains
- These are curved by the agents of erosion. Rain , rivers, ice
and wind help to smooth out the irregularities of the earth’s
crust.
- Even high mountains can be reduced to low undulating
plains. They are described as peneplains. E.g The Great Lake
plains in North America
- River plains are produced by rivers through the deepening
and widening of their valleys e.g. parts of the Amazon basin.
- In deserts, wind erosion gives rise to very fine rock particles
called desert dust being blown out of their regions-
deflation. It results in a plain like land form developing e.g.
desert plains called reg in Africa
- Eg. Northern Canada, parts of Sahara desert.
• Structural plains
- Structurally depressed areas of the world.
Formed by horizontally bedded undisturbed
rocks, eg. Russian Platform, The great Plains of
USA, Central Low lands of Australia
- Uplift may raise the coastal lowlands to form
emergent coastal plain e.g. The coastal plain of
Mozambique, The coastal margins from Florida
to Texas.
Human activities in plains/why plains are densely populated
- Farming: soils of plains (alluvial soils) are very fertile and hence good for crop
production, flatness facilitates mechanization of crop production eg. Nile
delta- rice and cotton, Ganges- rice
- Tourism: some plains are sites of interest
- Support grassland which provide good grazing for livestock.
- Level and even surface of plains: so easier and cheaper to develop transport
and communication
- They provide ample land surface for settlement and various activities
Human impact on plains:
- Habitat alteration, overgrazing
Threat to human life:
- Flooding especially in depositional plains
- Dangerous animals a danger to people.