Builds up Earth’s surface by filling depressions, or basins.

CREATES landforms: Deposition, landslides, volcanic eruptions, floods

Wears down Earth’s surface.

DESTROYS landforms: Weathering, erosion, landslides, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods

Landforms such as plateaus, valleys, canyons, and hills

Breaking down of large rocks into smaller rocks. Caused by water, wind, gravity, plants, or animals (mechanical weathering). Chemical weathering occurs when original material transforms into another substance.

Picking up and carrying away weathered materials.

Caused by wind, water, and ice. Happens slowly. Landforms are worn down by natural elements. Ex. canyons carved by flowing rivers

The dropping off of bits of eroded rock (constructive). Creates new landforms.

Formed at the mouths of rivers after sediment from higher ground is carried downriver creating new land along a coastline (constructive)

Caused by ocean waves crashing into a steep rock face on the edge of the ocean slowly eroding the rock (erosion)

Material left behind by a moving glacier. Piles and ridges of sediment deposited at the edges and front of glaciers (constructive)

A hill made of sand. Formed in some deserts and along some coastlines where windblown sediments pile up in a huge, sandy mound (constructive)

Any type of land meeting a steep slope that is higher than 600 meters

A large mass of slow-moving ice that flows down a slope. It pushes rocks and soil as it moves.

Deep gorges carved by flowing rivers. Canyons are created by moving water.

The shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy

Tectonic plates are always moving. Sometimes the plates move against or away from each other. The areas where the plates meet are called boundaries. A fault is created when there is a shift in the Earth (earthquake).

The study of the movement of earth’s crust and the magnitude of each earthquake.

Scientists that study earthquakes

Measure and record the seismic waves made by an earthquake.

Opening in the Earth’s crust that allows molten rock to flow out onto the surface as lava. Looks like a mountain. Constructive and Destructive force.

Used to determine how to use flood waters for constructive processes. Creating dams and levees to protect flooded areas.

Barriers constructed to hold back water. Protect buildings, roads, bridges, farms, businesses, and families downstream.

Embankment usually made of earth, built to prevent the overflow of a river. Protect land against flooding from the base of the flood.

Barrier built to protect a beach or shoreline from erosion.

Jetties protect the shoreline of a body of water by acting as a barrier against erosion from currents, tides, and waves.

Built to control floods. Found in cities and neighborhoods.

Farming practice of plowing and/or planting across a slope following its elevation contour lines.

Prevents rainfall runoff on sloping land from accumulating and causing serious erosion. Terraces consist of ridges and channels constructed across-the-slope.