What is Denudation?
Denudation refers to the procedure of leaching, erosion, reducting, and stripping of the mainland. This is because of the removal of material starting from areas that are higher to the areas that are lower, such as lakes, rivers, valleys, seas, and more that have an everlasting filling of the lowlands.
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Denudation in geography includes all the process which leads to the wearing away of the surface of Earth when ice, water, waves, and wind moves. This entire procedure results in reducing the elevation. It is often mixed with erosion, as erosion refers to the transportation of the soil and rock particles from one place to another. At the same time, denudation is the word that involves all the activities that take place and result in lowering the surface of the Earth, which also includes erosion as one part.
Denudation Process
The process involves chemical, biological, and mechanical processes. It includes weathering, erosion, and mass wasting.
Difference Between Weathering and denudation
Weathering is a slow cycle, but denudation is a cycle that takes a very long time to occur, as it involves different processes. The weathering is responsible for the breakdown of the rocks, while denudation is the sum of the wearing processes of the pieces on the surface of the Earth. Weathering is only one part of the entire denudation process.
Agents of Denudation
The main agents of denudation include:
Weathering: It is the process in which the rocks break down into small particles. This decomposition of rocks can happen due to different types of weathering, which are physical, biological, and chemical weathering.
Mass Movement or wasting: It is the rock wastes in the form of fragments of disintegrated rocks that occur due to weathering. This involves the movement of these rocks from a slope to the land because of gravity or other accelerated forces like that of wind or water.
Erosion: It refers to the rock displacing that happens due to different natural agents. It also refers to the disintegration, deterioration, and wearing aways of the soil and rock on the surface of the land.
Transportation: Due to erosion, the particles that are loosened due to the process are transported from one place to another due to agents like wind, running water, sea waves, etc.
Deposition: It is the collection or deposition of those materials that are eroded, weathered, or transported.
Types of Denudation
There are no specific types of denudation, but still, there are three regional types that have various directedness towards relief-formation, which is controlled by the fluctuations that happen in climate.
What is Denudation Chronology?
Denudation Chronology includes the study of topographic evolution that has taken place for a long time. It basically involves all the episodes and activities that take place in an erosion of the entire landscape, along with all the processes involved in denudation. In other terms, it is the study in which all the geological succession of all the rocks are studied, which involves different phases of denudation, degradation, creation, and recreation that have happened for a specific geological time scale.
The activities of the model of erosion are the general and the most common approach that is used for establishing chronologies of denudation.
The Outcome of the Things Studied in this are as follows:
The entire geological rock history begins from the Cambrian time period to the Holocene time period. The Cambrian time was the initial geological period from where the major landforms started to develop, and the Holocene time is today’s epoch time.
The geological rock history of India that starts from Archaean and ends in the Pleistocene period is also studied.
The first-ever geological period of India is the Archaean period that formed the Aravali mountains, and the Pleistocene period is the one in which the Tapi and the Narmada Valley are formed.
To study more about it, you can easily find a good denudation chronology pdf for your assistance.
What is Forest Denudation?
Forest denudation refers to the stripping off of the forest from some of its parts. This can happen due to erosion or some other reasons as well. When forest denudation occurs, it makes the layer of rocks and soil so thin that they eventually erode even when there is slightly heavy wind. Forest denudation can be prevented by reducing the chances of forest fires. It can also be prevented by reducing deforestation, which will reduce the cutting of trees.
FAQs on Denudation
1. What are the factors that affect denudation?
There are some factors that affect the denudation procedure, which are:
Human activity or anthropogenic activity includes activities like deforestation, agriculture, mining, and damming.
The biosphere that occurs through all the plants, animals, and even microorganisms contributes to the weathering of both physical and chemical types.
Climate directly affects the process via chemical weathering that happens from rain. It also determines the type of weathering that will occur.
In this process, the different rock types or lithology also has an essential part.
Topography of surface and changes to it like erosion and mass wasting also impacts denudation.
Some tectonic activities like deformation, which is the changes that happen in rocks because of stress caused by tectonic forces, and orogeny as well that refers to the formation of mountains.
2. What are the differences between degradation, deforestation, and denudation?
Degradation refers to the changes or disturbances in the environment that happen due to various reasons. These changes are not suitable for the environment. There are a few natural things that cause degradation, but there are many man-made occurrences as well that lead to degradation. Degradation results in a reduction of the resources along with the destruction of some parts of the ecosystem. It can lead to the extinction of some organisms as well. On the other hand, deforestation refers to the clearing and felling of the trees that make space for humans to use the land for other purposes. It is the primary reason why we are losing trees and starting to lack some essential natural resources. Speaking of denudation, it involves different processes like erosion, weathering, and more that reduce the mainland.