Erosion

Erosion
 The transport or
movement of
weathered rock
(broken down so it is
easier to move) form
original source (place)
to some other area.
 New York State is covered with material that
formed in Canada. How did it get there?

Glaciers
 Transported materials are far more common
than residual…..Why?
 At some point in time, most sediments will
be moved.
Major Erosive Agents:

 Running Water
 GLACIERS
 WIND
 OCEAN CURRENTS AND WAVES
 MASS WASTING (GRAVITY!)
 Man (Animals)
 Running Water
 #1 agent of erosion (streams and rivers)
 Carrying power depends on Velocity
(speed)  depends on  Discharge and/or
Gradient or slope.
 Running Water
 Larger gradient or discharge = Faster
Velocity = More Erosion and larger
sediments can be carried
 Leaves sediments
round and smooth
THE GREATER THE VELOCITY OF
A STREAM…

 THE LARGER THE SEDIMENT

PARTICLES IT CAN CARRY

 THE MORE TOTAL SEDIMENTS IT CAN

CARRY
 Streams and Rivers
Steep Slope
 Cross section of a
stream
 Where is the water
flowing fastest? Why?
 Fastest Flow occurs in
the center, just below
the surface  least
amount of friction
 3 factors affecting
Stream Velocity

Gradient – slope of the stream

Discharge – volume of water

Stream channel shape

Stream Velocity in a Straight Channel
Fastest – middle just below surface
RAPIDS AND WATERFALLS

 Rapids - Different resistance among

rocks cause FAST-FLOWING WATER
 Waterfalls – Rapids develop into
waterfalls as softer rock erodes
 Gentle Slope
 Water tends to have a tendency to meander
back and forth when it flows.

 The Flatter the land the greater the

meandering
 As the stream grows larger – it
begins to shift its course in a
series of bends or curves called
meanders seeking out the lowest
elevation
The velocity changes in the S-shaped curves
called MEANDERS.
Fastest on the outside of the curve – erosion
Slowest on the inside of the curve - deposition
Point Bars show deposition
Cut Banks show erosion
 Cut bank on
outside of curve
due to higher
velocity of water –
more erosion

Cut bank
on outside
of curve
Point Bar
on inside
of curve
Eventually, it takes too much energy to
keep meandering, so rivers will cut off
a bend, resulting in an OXBOW lake…
 Stream Load
 The stuff a stream carries is called stream
load
 Carried in three ways
– Solution: dissolved particles like slats
– Suspension: fine particles or sediments of clay
or silt carried in the flow of water
– Saltation: (rolling) Sand, pebbles, and boulders
are bounced and rolled along the stream bed
 Flowing water will always move faster then the
sediments
Running water will always carve out
a V-SHAPED VALLEY
 SEDIMENTS ERODED BY
RUNNING WATER WILL HAVE
THESE CHARACTERISTICS

 ROUNDED and SMOOTH

 SORTED AND LAYERED
 SEDIMENTS ERODED BY
RUNNING WATER WILL BE …
 SORTED – all materials are about
the same size
 Barrier Islands
 Wave Action creates sand bars
 Waves and Longshore current - can form
barrier islands Ex. Fire Island
Winds at the ocean’s surface cause waves
 Longshore Current

 Waves are refracted or bent in the

shallow water of the shore
 Water near the shore is pushed in
one direction along the shore –
called longshore current

Sediments are carried in a zig-zag

pattern in the SAME direction as the
longshore current
The sand trapping effect of the jetties to the
north at Charleston, South Carolina has
deprived Morris Island of needed sand. As a
result, the island has eroded to the point that
this previously land based lighthouse is now
400 meters out to sea.
 Wind
 Moves fine particles (sand, silt, clay)
 Greater velocity moves larger particles
 Makes sand dunes on the beach
 Leaves rocks smooth, frosty, and with pits in
on the surface.
 Wind Erosion
 Sediment – sand or smaller
 Arid regions or ocean coastlines

 2 types:
1. Deflation – lowers the land
2. Sandblasting and Abrasion
 Sandblasting and Abrasion
 Wind can only lift sand to about 1 meter
high - results in “Mushroom Rock”
 Frosted or Pitted sediments – rocks with
flat sides
Windward side

Leeward side
 Glaciers
 Slow moving “rivers” of ice
 Greater volume of ice or greater slope
means a greater velocity which means it
erodes more.
An 1870 postcard view of the Rhone glacier in
Gletsch, Switzerland, contrasted dramatically
with the shrinking 21st-century version of it.
 Glaciers: 2 Types
 VALLEY GLACIERS: long, slow-moving,
streams of ice found in mountain areas
(high elevation) occupying former river
valleys

 CONTINENTAL GLACIER (ICE SHEETS): very

old (1000’s of years), thick (1000’s of
meters) mass of ice covering almost an
entire land mass
 GREENLAND: 1.7 Million SQ MI , 3 KM thick
 ANTARCTIC: 12.5 Million SQ MI, 5 KM thick
VALLEY CONTINENTAL
 HOW DO GLACIERS MOVE?
 UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF GRAVITY

 THEIR OWN WEIGHT THE DRIVING FORCE

 UNDER PRESSURE THE DEEPER ICE

BEHAVES LIKE A THICK FLUID (CALLED
PLASTIC FLOW) AND FLOWS DOWNHILL OR
SPREADS OUT IN ALL DIRECTIONS
(when glacier is about 300 ft. thick)
 GLACIER MOVEMENT
 GLACIER ADVANCES SNOWFALL >
MELTING

 GLACIER RETREATS SNOWFALL <

MELTING

 STATIONARY GLACIER SNOWFALL =

MELTING DYNAMIC EQUILIBRIUM
FASTEST
 HOW DO GLACIERS ERODE?
Most powerful erosional agent because of their
great size and weight

Glaciers erode by:

• Abrasion – wearing, grinding, scraping rock
surface because rock fragments are frozen into
the ice at the bottom (ROCK FLOUR)
• Plucking – rock fragments loosened, picked up
and carried by glaciers
 EROSIONAL FEATURES
 Leaves parrallel scratches on bedrock
 Striations - Grooves carved into the bedrock by
pebbles and cobbles carried at the bottom of a
glacier – can show direction of glacial movement

 Polished Bedrock

 Sediment - TILL - is angular to sub-round and

NOT SORTED AND NOT LAYERED
 -Unsorted
Materials-
all sizes mixed
together.

-Sediments are
a bit more rough
and angular than
from other forms
of erosion
 Glacial Polish
Smooth rock surfaces created
as glaciers flow over bedrock.
Glacial Pavement….
 ERRATIC – EVIDENCE OF
GLACIER EROSION
 Ice carries the largest sediments
 A boulder-sized rock dumped by a
glacier is called an Erratic. The rock
is usually of a different type that the
surrounding rock…
 VALLEY GLACIER EROSIONAL
FEATURES
Mountain ranges that were scenic to begin
with are now jagged, angular peaks

GLACIERS MODIFY RIVER VALLEYS BY…

V-SHAPE RIVER VALLEY INTO

U-SHAPED GLACIATED VALLEYS
Craword Notch, NY
 VALLEY GLACIER
DEPOSITIONAL FEATURES
MORAINES – unsorted, un-layered pile of till

There are many types of moraines

 Lateral – till along side of glacier

 Medial – 2 glaciers come together and the lateral

moraines join in a single ridge

 Terminal or End – farthest advance of glacier

 Recessional – glacier retreats, pauses, deposits – will

be parallel to terminal moraine
 f05_07a_pg84
MEDIAL
AND
LATERAL
MORAINES

TERMINAL
MORAINE
TERMINAL
MORAINE
MARKS THE
FARTHEST
ADVANCE OF
THE ICE
 Kettle Lake
Drumlins

i n
Esker pla
sh
w a
u t
Till O
Moraine-dammed
lake Glacial
Terminal Moraine Stream
 Long Island
Ronkonkoma Terminal Moraine???
Harbor Hill Recessional
Moraine