Factors controlling Landform development

What are Landforms?

• Landforms refer to small to medium-sized parcels (3D structures) of the Earth's surface. Some examples of landforms are mountains, plains, plateaus, valleys, hills, etc.

Before going to the factors that control the development of landforms, we need to know the answers to some of the main questions like -

Why do landforms develop? Why is the Earth's surface uneven?

Due to the following reasons, the landforms are developed and uneven:

• Earth's crust is a dynamic entity, it moves vertically and horizontally.
• Due to the geothermal gradient, the internal energy generated within the earth is not uniform, because these internal forces create different types of high and low land surfaces called landforms.
• Earth's surface is affected by external forces, it basically comes from sunlight. From time to time, external forces such as weathering, erosion, and mass movement change the structure of landforms to other types of landforms. For example, due to external force over time, large mountains turn into small hills, and finally, it turns into a plain.
• The intensity of external and internal forces is not the same everywhere on the earth's surface.

Due to these above reasons, we can say that the intensity of the exogenous forces and endogenous forces mainly leads to landform development; Apart from these forces, many factors are responsible for the development of landforms.

The following are the controlling factors of landform development:

• Rock composition or parent rocks.
• Relief
• Geological structure
• Climate
• Exogenous agent
• Energy
• Biological activities
• Human

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Rock composition or Parent Rocks:

• The speed of development or formation of landforms also depends on its rock composition or parent rocks, e.g., due to variations in the size and composition of rocks (particle size and particle types), some rocks are hard, such as quartz, which has slow erosion and weathering process; Some rocks are soft, such as limestone, in which the processes of weathering and erosion happen very quickly; As a result, it causes rapid degradation of landforms.
• Each rock has its own characteristics that can be resistant to some weathering agents and non-resistant to other weathering agents, resulting in different landforms.

Relief:

• Relief refers to the difference between the highest and lowest elevations of an area.
• Erosion is also more common when there is more relief. Due to more relief in the Himalayan region than in the Aravalli region, the development of landforms is faster in the Himalayan region than in the Aravalli region.
• Greater relief also exerts more gravitational force, which leads to mass movements and landslides on a large scale.

Geological Formation:

The geological structure of each rock such as:

• layers
• Fault
• Orientation
• Inclination of layers
• The presence or absence of joints
• Hardness or softness
• Chemical sensitivity.

and it affects the development of landforms.

Exogenous Agents:

• Exogenous factors like water, wind, ice, current, wave, and tidal also affect the development process of landforms.

Climate:

• Temperature and humidity are two important factors of climate. High humidity enhances the process of chemical and biological weathering. High rainfall and high wind speed increase erosion activities.
• High-temperature variation causes the rock to expand and contract. As a result, the rocks break.
•  The process and intensity of landform development are different in different climatic zones and the process of landform development is different even within the same climate zone because the intensity of rainfall and temperature are not the same.

Energy:

• Energy can be internal or external.
• Internal Energy: There is a difference between the convergent and divergent convection cells within the Earth.
• External energy: temperature variation, wind, pressure variation, etc.

Biological Activities:

• The presence of vegetation enhances the process of chemical weathering as it releases acid and moisture on the rocks.
• The absence of vegetation increases the process of erosion, which leads to the rapid decline of high landforms.

Human:

• Human activities like agriculture, dam construction, infrastructure building, brick making, etc., influence the development of the landform.

For an explanation, please watch the below videos:

Some previous years' UPSC questions on the landform.

•  “Geological structure has a dominant control on landforms and is reflected on them.” Discuss. ( 2016)
•  “Present-day landforms bear more complexity than simplicity.” Elucidate. (2015)

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