Erosion
The process by which natural forces move weathered rock and soil from one place to another.
Deposition
Occurs where the agents of erosion, deposit, or lay down, sediment.
Sediment
The material moved by erosion.
Mass Movement
Any one of several processes by which gravity moves sediment downhill.
Landslide
The most destructive kind of mass movement, which occurs when rock and soil slide quickly down a steep slope.
Mudflow
The rapid downhill movement of a mixture of water, rock, and soil.
Slump
When a mass of rock and soil suddenly slips down a slope.
Creep
The very slow downhill movement of rock and soil.
Runoff
Water that moves over Earth's surface.
Rills
A tiny groove in soil made by flowing water.
Gully
A large channel in soil formed by erosion.
Stream
A channel through which water is continually flowing downhill.
Tributary
A stream or smaller river that feeds into a main river.
Flood Plain
The flat, wide area of a land along a river.
Meander
A loop-like bend in the course of a river.
Oxbow Lake
A meander that has been cut off from the river.
Alluvial Fan
formed when a river flows onto a flat valley and the river's water slows down, depositing sediment in a wide fan shape.
Delta
Sediment deposited where a river enters an ocean or lake and its water stops flowing.
Groundwater
water that has soaked into the ground after rainfall or snow melts.
Glacier
Any large mass of ice that moves slowly over land.
Continental Glacier
A glacier that covers much of a continent or large island.
Valley Glacier
A long, narrow glacier that forms when snow and ice build up high in a mountain valley.
Plucking
A process when a glacier flows over the land it picks up rocks.
Abrasion
The grinding away of rock by other rock particles carried in water, ice, or wind.
Deflation
Wind removes surface materials.
Headland
A part of the shore that sticks out into the ocean.
Beach
An area of wave-washed sediment along a coast.
Longshore Drift
When waves repeatedly hit the beach, some of the beach sediment moves down the beach in a zig zag pattern with the current.
Loess
Fine, wind-deposited sediment.
Spit
A beach formed by longshore drift that projects like a finger out into the water
Sandbar
Formed when waves carrying sand build up long ridges of sand parallel to the shore.
Desert Pavement
Forms when wind blows away the smaller sediment or sand and leaves behind larger rock, too big to move, leaving hard, flat surface.
till
the mixture of sediments that a glacier deposits directly on the surface of the earth.
gravity
the force that moves rock and other materials downhill
watershed
the area from which a river and its tributaries collect their water.
surge
when a valley glacier suddenly slides downhill more quickly than normal.
moraine
a ridge formed when the till is deposited at the edges of a glacier
terminal moraine
the ridge of till at the farthest point reached by a glacier.
swash
Water from waves coming up onto a beach.
stalactite
eroded limestone that hangs like an icicle from the roof of a cave.
stalagmite
eroded limestone that builds up into a cone shape from the cave floor.
sinkhole
a cavity in the ground, especially in limestone bedrock, caused by water erosion and providing a route for surface water to disappear underground.
sand dune
A deposit of wind-blown sand
kettle
A small depression that forms when a chunk of ice is left in glacial till
U-shaped valley
The shape of a valley formed by the erosion of a glacier
Cirque
a bowl-shaped hollow eroded by a glacier
glacial lake
glaciers may leave behind large lakes in long basins
Arete
a sharp ridge separating two cirques
Fiord
Forms when the level of the sea rises, filling a valley once cut by a glacier
horn
glaciers carve away the sides of a mountain resulting in a peak
sea arch
an arch formed by wave erosion when caves on opposite sides of a headland unite
sea stack
column of rock remaining after the collapse of a sea arch
sea cave
created by waves undercutting at base of a sea cliff
wave-cut cliff
A coastal cliff cut by wave action at the base of a rocky coast.