Geomorphology
Topic: Geography as a Discipline: Nature, Branches and Approaches · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 1 "Geography as a Discipline"
Meaning
Geomorphology is the branch of physical geography that studies landforms, such as mountains, valleys, plateaus and plains. It asks how each landform began, how it changes over time, and which processes shape it. These processes include weathering (rocks breaking down where they lie), erosion (wind, water or ice carrying broken rock away) and tectonic movements (slow movements of the earth's crust that lift, fold or crack the land). Landforms matter because human activity is built on them: plains support farming, and mountains give forests, pastures and rivers.
Example
The Himalayas, along India's northern border, are a classic case. Tectonic movements pushed up these young fold mountains when the Indian plate moved north into the Eurasian plate. Since then, rivers such as the Ganga and the Indus have cut deep valleys and gorges into them.
Don't confuse with
- Geology: studies the earth's rocks, what they are made of and the earth's long history. Geomorphology looks mainly at the shape of the land surface and the processes that shape it.
- Soil geography: a separate branch of physical geography. It studies how soils form, the types of soil, how fertile they are and where they are found, not landforms.