Landforms, Tectonism, Sea Level, and Erosion

On a larger scale, landscape development reflects those mechanisms that expose bedrock, weather it. 

Many important erosion-related phenomena are episodic and infrequent, such as flash floods, landslides, and glaciations, whereas others such as orogenesis and soil formation involve time-scales that exceed those of major climate fluctuations. In 

On a larger scale, landscape development reflects those mechanisms that expose bedrock, weather it, and transport the weathering products away. Present and past tectonism, geology, climate, soils, and vegetation are all important to landscape evolution. These factors often operate in tandem to produce characteristic landforms that presumably integrate the effects of both episodic and continuous processes over considerable periods of time. 

Many important erosion-related phenomena are episodic and infrequent, such as flash floods, landslides, and glaciations, while others such as orogenesis and soil formation involve time scales that exceed those of major climate fluctuations. In either case, the time scale of human existence is too short to make adequate observations. Consequently, it is difficult to directly estimate the rates or characterize the effects of such phenomena on erosion products. The key to understanding weathering and erosion, on a continental scale, is to decipher the relationship between landforms, the processes that produce them, and the chemistry and discharge of river-borne materials. 

In transport-limited conditions, however, susceptibility is not so important due to the isolating effect of thick soils. In the extreme situation of a flat landscape lowering at a uniform rate, the erosional contribution by a particular rock type should be related only to the area exposed. Solids would be cation-deficient. 

Sediment storage and remobilization involves huge mass fluxes and can respond rapidly to 

To a first approximation, fast tectonic processes occur at plate boundaries (Fig. 9-6). The 

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