Tectonic Landforms

Tectonic Landforms

Fold Belts
Compression from
tectonic activity
produces folds in rock
strata
Anticlines: upbends
Synclines: troughs

Folds: corrugations of
strata caused by crustal
compression
Tectonic Landforms
Fold Belts
Folds erode to form ridge-and-valley landscape
• Ridges and valleys parallel
• Folds may be plunging folds
Tectonic Landforms
Faults and Fault Landforms
Fault: sharp break in rock with a
slippage of the crustal block on one
side with respect to the block on the
other
• Fault lines may extend for many
kilometers
• Most major faults extend down
several kilometers
• Fault slippage varies from 1 cm to 15 m
• Four main types of faults:
• Normal
• Transcurrent
• Reverse
• Overthrust
Tectonic Landforms
Faults and Fault Landforms
Normal faults are produced by crustal extension
Tectonic Landforms

Faults and Fault Landforms

The East African Rift Valley is a graben
Tectonic Landforms
Faults and Fault Landforms
Transcurrent or Strike-slip Faults are produced
when tectonic plates move past each other
horizontally
Tectonic Landforms
Faults and Fault Landforms
Reverse and overthrust faults are
produced by compression in the
crust
Tectonic Landforms

Faults and Fault Landforms

• Repeated faulting can produce high fault
scarps
• Landforms are modified by erosion
Landforms and Rock Structure
Rock structure controls locations of uplands and lowlands,
placement of streams, shape and heights of divides
Landforms and Rock Structure
Landforms of Horizontal Strata and Coastal Plains
Arid climate landforms: horizontal strata in an arid climate often produce
plateaus, mesas, and buttes
Landforms and Rock Structure
Landforms of Horizontal Strata and Coastal Plains
On coastal plains along passive continental margins, consequent streams,
subsequent streams, and cuestas may develop
Landforms and Rock Structure
Landforms of Warped Rock Layers
Sedimentary domes are created when sedimentary strata are forced upward
into a dome
Landforms and Rock Structure
Metamorphic Belts
Folded metamorphic rocks also produce ridges (resistant rocks) and valleys
(weak rocks)
• Marble forms valleys
• Gneiss, schist, slate, quartzite form ridges and hills
Landforms and Rock Structure
Exposed Batholiths and Monadnocks
Batholiths: huge bodies of intrusive igneous
rock
• Form hilly or mountainous uplands
• Monadnock: a mountain that rises out of a
surrounding plain and that develops because it
consists of more resistant rock than the bedrock of
the surrounding region
Landform Types
• Widely spaced mountains (basin and range)
• High plateaus
• Plains
• Mountains
• Hills and low plateaus
• Depressions