Imagine you are standing near a volcano, watching molten lava flow out of the Earth. This fiery liquid is magma when it is beneath the surface and lava when it reaches the surface. But what happens when this molten material cools and solidifies? It turns into igneous rocks, also known as primary rocks, because they…
🛁 Geysers – Nature’s Water Cannon Imagine a giant underground pressure cooker. Deep below the Earth’s surface, magma heats underground water, but instead of escaping immediately, the water gets trapped within a narrow underground passage. As the pressure builds, suddenly—BOOM!—it erupts skyward in a spectacular fountain of hot water and steam. 📍If you visit Yellowstone…
When we think of volcanoes, we often imagine fiery eruptions along plate boundaries — where plates collide or drift apart. But what if a volcano appears right in the middle of a plate, far from any plate boundary? This anomaly puzzled geologists for decades… until they discovered something deeper — Hotspots and Mantle Plumes. 🔥…
🌋 Ocean–Ocean Convergence (O–O Convergence) aka Island Arc Convergence We have already studied in earlier sections that at an O–O convergent boundary, two oceanic plates collide. Since both are made of oceanic crust, the denser of the two (usually older, colder, and heavier) subducts beneath the other. 🧠 Just like continental convergence forms Himalayas, oceanic…
As already discussed earlier: At divergent boundaries, two lithospheric plates move away from each other.This movement leads to the formation of new crust — making it a constructive boundary. 🧠 Just as convergent boundaries build fold mountains, divergent boundaries build oceans. Evolution: From Rift → Sea → Ocean The journey from a solid continent to…
Imagine the Earth as a giant loaf of bread, fresh out of the oven. Now, if you gently pull it apart from both sides, a deep gap forms in the middle. This is exactly how rift valleys are created—massive trough-like depressions formed due to faulting activities when parts of the Earth’s crust move apart or…
Mass movements involve the downhill movement of rock, soil, and debris due to gravity. Unlike erosion (which involves transportation by wind, water, or ice), mass movement happens without the help of an external agent—gravity does all the work! Key Features of Mass Movements ✅ Driven by Gravity – No wind, water, or ice is required,…
Weathering is the process of gradual disintegration of rocks at or near the earth’s surface through physical, chemical and biological processes caused by wind, water, climate change etc. Unlike erosion (which moves materials), weathering happens in place (in-situ or on-situ process). 🌍 Example: The crumbling of old monuments and buildings due to rain and wind….
Unlike endogenic forces (which come from deep inside the Earth), exogenic forces work from the outside. Think of them as Earth’s sculptors—slowly but persistently shaping mountains, valleys, and plains through the forces of weather, water, wind, and gravity. They derive their energy from the sun and the atmosphere, while gravity acts as the guiding force,…
Imagine you are pulling apart a chocolate bar slowly with both hands. At first, tiny cracks appear, and then—snap!—it breaks along a jagged line. Now, replace the chocolate with the Earth’s crust, and what you have just witnessed is a process called crustal fracture. Deep within the Earth, tremendous forces are always at play, shaping…
