Different types of land forms
Earths 4 Spheres
Hydrosphere
The hydrosphere is just one of the multiple different spheres that make up planet earth, but it plays a very important role. The hydrosphere is basically made up of all water in the earths atmosphere, such as lakes, ponds, oceans, clouds, etc. It takes up 70% of earths surface and is home to many species of plants and animals. |
Atmosphere
The Atmosphere, or the "largest sphere" (based on surface area") is the envelope of gasses surrounding the earth by definition. Its the only thing keeping life on earth from burning to a crisp, helps bring rain that all need to plants survive, and holds in oxygen that we all need to breath. It is made up of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% water vapor and other substances. |
Biosphere
The Biosphere is another one of the puzzle pieces that make up our planet, and are specifically all the regions on the earth (surface, Hydrosphere) occupied by life. Often mixed up with the Geosphere, the Geosphere is made up only by living things, such as some tress, grass, a bird, deer, flowers, etc. |
Geosphere
Finally, the Geosphere! Often referred to as the skeleton of the planet, the Geosphere is made up of the solid part of the earth, and is always changing via the weather, wind and water. It consists of mountains, plateaus grass lands, basically any thing you can think of made from rock and earth. |
What the Spheres have to do with Changing Landforms
The spheres affect the shaping of the earth in so many ways, even though some may not actually be the Earth. For example, the atmosphere, which engulfs the earth and the air humans and animals have to breath has arguably the greatest affect on our planets terrain. Without it there would be no life, and the surface would be at the mercy of practically every meteor. And the Hydrosphere, covering a massive 70% of the earths surface, is home to lots of life, and without it the animals would die. Earths water also majorly contributes to erosion (often in the form of rain) of earth which can cause huge landforms like Plateaus in some cases. Also the Biosphere, being home to all of the planets vegetation and other living things, could grow trees alongside mountains, with their roots curling around the rock, and eventually breaking it off, shaping the land. And finally (in my opinion) the largest contributor to creating landforms, the Geosphere! Making up the majority of Earth (and often refereed to the bones of the Earth) creates huge landforms, with its tectonic plates (mountains), and its swelling molten rock (plateau), affects the earth in so many ways I can t even begin to explain. The 4 spheres of our planet affect the earth in countless ways, and understanding them helps us to understand how landforms are made, changed, and destroyed.