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Earth's Surface Formation Processes

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Earth's Surface Formation Processes

You are a junior geologist on a field team. Study the evidence and solve each challenge. Constructive processes build or add to land; destructive processes break down or wear away land. Some processes can do both.

Sort the clues

A field team records how each feature changes the land. Decide whether each process mainly builds land or wears it down.

1.A river carries tiny rock pieces downstream. Which process is happening as the pieces are carried away?
  • Deposition
  • Erosion
  • Mountain building
  • Volcanic eruption
2.At a river mouth, the water slows and drops the sediment it carried. What is this process called, and does it build up or wear down land there?
3.Which pair contains two processes that can build land?
  • Weathering and erosion
  • Deposition and volcanic eruption
  • Erosion and deposition
  • Weathering and river flow

Follow the sediment

A storm breaks small pieces from a rocky hillside. Rainwater carries some pieces into a stream, and the stream drops them on a flat area when it slows.

4.In the storm story, what is the name for rock breaking into smaller pieces without being carried away?
5.Put these events in the order they happen: the dropping of sediment, weathering, erosion. Write 1, 2, and 3 beside them.
6.The dropped sediment gradually creates a wider, flatter area. Is this change constructive or destructive? Explain using the story.

Landform investigators

Use the landform clues to work out which processes shaped each place.

7.A delta forms where a river slows and leaves sediment at its mouth. Which process forms the delta?
  • Weathering
  • Deposition
  • Earthquake shaking
  • Erosion
8.Wind moves loose sand and drops it in a pile. Explain how this can form a sand dune.
9.A volcano erupts and lava cools into solid rock. How does this event change Earth's surface?
10.True or false: A canyon can become deeper as flowing water erodes rock over a long time.
TrueFalse
11.Can a landform be shaped by both constructive and destructive processes? Give one example of each process acting on the same landform.

3 printable pages

  • Earth's Surface Formation Processes, page 1 of 3: Sort the clues

    Page 1

  • Earth's Surface Formation Processes, page 2 of 3: Follow the sediment, Landform investigators

    Page 2

  • Earth's Surface Formation Processes, page 3 of 3: 9. A volcano erupts and lava cools into solid rock. How does this event change Earth's…

    Page 3

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