Change is exciting! It can be as simple as trying a new ice cream flavor or reading a new book. But did you know that change is happening all around us, even in the ground beneath our feet? The Earth’s surface, called the geosphere, is always moving and changing, even though it might not seem like it.
Landforms are the natural features on the Earth’s surface, like mountains and deserts. These landforms are constantly changing, and there are a few ways this happens.
The top layers of the Earth are made up of huge plates of rock and soil. These plates are not like dinner plates; they are massive! For example, the North American plate covers all of North America, Greenland, and parts of Northern Asia. These plates move very slowly, about 2 to 5 centimeters a year, which is as fast as your fingernails grow. They can move apart, push together, or slide over each other, causing landforms to change.
Landforms can also change slowly through erosion and weathering. These processes involve wind, water, and ice wearing down rocks over time. A famous example is the Grand Canyon in Arizona, which was formed by the Colorado River cutting through rock over millions of years.
Sometimes, landforms change very quickly. For instance, in May 1980, Mount St. Helens, a volcano in the United States, erupted and caused the largest landslide in history. This eruption changed the landscape in just a few minutes!
Another interesting example is the “Old Man of the Mountain” in New Hampshire. This rock formation looked like an old man’s face and was created by glaciers over 200 million years ago. It stayed the same for a long time until it finally fell in 2003 due to weathering and erosion.
The Earth is always changing, and landforms won’t look the same forever. They can change quickly, like during a volcanic eruption, or slowly, through weathering and erosion. These changes are a natural part of our planet, and they make the Earth an exciting place to explore!
