Formation of Landscapes

• Ways UK landscapes were formed


  • Tectonic activity
  • Glaciation
  • Geology
• During glacial periods, parts of the UK were covered in massive ice sheets. The ice was able to erode landscapes and carve out U-shaped Valleys
• As glaciers move, they pick up and carry various sizes of sediment, including rocks, sand, and clay, which are eroded from the land beneath them. When melted they then deposit this
• In the South of the UK there was no ice, but sedimentary rock was still deposited there, creating lowlands
• Plucking is a type of erosion when water freezes over an upland area and as it thaws, it pulls pieces of rock with it

  
• Freeze-thaw weathering is when there is a crack in a rock and water goes in which becomes ice, and the ice expands so the rock cracks. The pieces of rock left over are called scree
• Convection currents in the mantle push rocks up, causing upland landscapes.
• Areas are more mountainous in the north, as there was more tectonic plate movement in the north in the past
• Weathering: Physical, chemical or biological breakdown of rocks due to the weather
• Physical weathering is the breakdown of rock without changing its chemical properties e.g. freeze-thaw weathering
• Biological weathering is the breakdown of rocks by living things e.g. plant roots
• Chemical weathering is the breakdown of rocks by changing its chemical properties e.g. acid rain