Environmental Controls, Geological Processes and Landforms

Human activities and consumption patterns have altered the natural state of the environment and brought about instability. These changes deserve a deeper study with regard to agriculture, mining and industrialisation. The intensities of the changes are closely associated with human numbers and settlements. These topics form a grey area between the sections of geography. Landforms ascribe the relief and drainage patterns and comprise the physical undulations of the terrain. Landforms can be classified according to their geological structure including the underlying rock types and age. Geomorphology the study of landforms is a composite science that requires knowledge of atmospheric processes and climate, the hydrological cycle, minerals in a solid state as well as the impact of people on the environment. The evolution and development of landforms are not an upheaval in nature but a continuous geological process as detailed in this self-study for advanced learning. External processes reduce the initial landforms to what is visible in a processes that include weathering and denudation. The agents of denudation include running water, wind, waves, ice etc.