erosion

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wind erosion in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl era

Figure 2: Dissected pediment surfaces on the northeastern flank of Mount Graham, southeastern Arizona. The pediments are mantled with early Pleistocene–late Pliocene alluvium.

Figure 1: Planation surface cut across dipping Paleozoic sandstone in the James Range, central Australia.

Figure 1: A schematic representation of the biogeochemical cycle of carbon.

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Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. Engraving by Cosomo Colombini (d. 1812) after a Leonardo self portrait. Ca. 1500.

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erosion

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Related Topics:: weathering; structural landform; deflation; glacial scour; glacial quarrying

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erosion, removal of surface material from Earth’s crust, primarily soil and rock debris, and the transportation of the eroded materials by natural agencies (such as water or wind) from the point of removal. The broadest application of the term erosion embraces the general wearing down and molding of all landforms on Earth’s surface, including the weathering of rock in its original position, the transport of weathered material, and erosion caused by wind action and fluvial, marine, and glacial processes. This broad definition is more correctly called denudation, or degradation, and includes mass-movement processes. A narrow and somewhat limiting definition of ...(100 of 926 words)

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