Earth's Forces and Physical Features

Earth's Forces and Physical Features

Our planet is unique in many ways when compared to those in the known universe.

Most importantly, it supports complex and diverse life in ways that have yet to be matched on any other planet.

Water is a vital part of that support system.

The Earth is shaped and defined by water, but other physical forces are also at work above and below the surface.

Earth's Landforms

The enormous variety of shapes on Earth's surface are called landforms.

The landforms on Earth are shaped by many different forces, including wind, water, and ice.

Landforms can include mountains, plateaus, plains, canyons, coasts, islands, and more.

It is important to study Earth's landforms, because the shape of the Earth directly affects how humans use and interact with their world.

Landforms determine where and how people live, work, and play.

Under the surface

Earth's landforms come in all shapes and sizes

Water on Earth

Water comes in many forms on Earth, the most important of which is freshwater. - water without salt; it is essential to almost all life on Earth.

Only 3 percent of Earth's total water supply is freshwater, and most of this is trapped in glaciers or inaccessible in other ways.

The water that is easily accessible to humans - in the forms of lakes and rivers - is referred to as surface water, while water below the surface - in aquifers and springs - is called groundwater.

Water on Earth is constantly cycling in and around the planet, in its atmosphere, oceans, above, and below.

Water makes life possible, and also shapes the landscape through erosion.

Earth's water is constantly changing

Earth's Forces

There are many forces at work on Earth's landforms.

Our planet is shaped by major forces below the surface: the Earth's crust is a series of plates that are constantly (though slowly) on the move.

This movement of plates is known as plate tectonics, and it creates our mountains, our islands, canyons, fissures, earthquakes, and more.

The collision and movement of plates is simultaneously a destructive and creative force on Earth.

Forces below the Earth are creative and destructive

Earth's Forces Above

In addition to the many forces shaping landforms from below Earth's surface, there are systems at work above the surface as well.

Wind, water, and ice all play a role in transforming our planet.

Weathering breaks rocks down into smaller pieces, while erosion moves sediment from one location to another.

Evidence of weathering and erosion through wind, water, and ice are on full display in many of America's National Parks, including the Grand Canyon and Arches.

These forces have shaped our planet over thousands of years, and will continue to do so long after we are gone.

Years of erosion and weathering formed the Grand Canyon