Landform Picture Gallery
Special Galleries: Glacial Landforms and Features, Mountains
DEPOSITIONAL LANDFORMS
Landforms built up by the movement of sediment.
Alluvial Fan—They're all over the West; here's one in Montana.
Bajada—This debris apron has an unusual deposit on top.
Bar—A sediment pile that may also be a barrier.
Beach Terrace—Ancient terraces in desert basins tell of wetter times.
Braided Stream—Also called an anastomosing stream.
Landslides:
Earthflow—Perhaps the gentlest kind of landslide.
Lahar—A Colombian example of these destructive volcanic mudflows.
Rockslide—Several examples on a glacier.
Slump—This landslide ranges from sitzmark- to city-size.
Playa—Dry lake beds are flat, but exciting places.
Tombolo—A rare orthogonal sand bar on a northern California beach.
Special Galleries: Landslides, Tombolos
EROSIONAL LANDFORMS
Landforms carved by the action of erosion.
Arch—A short, sweet natural arch in Arches National Park, Utah.
Badlands—An example in Wyoming shows their ragged glory.
Butte—Call this Southwest icon "bewt" or be the butt of ridicule.
Canyon—Here's a big one, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
Chimney—A typical rock column stands off a beach.
Cuestas—Gentle erosional ridges on the Colorado Plateau.
Gully—This is just a few meters deep, but all gullies are small.
Hanging Valley—Found in glacial areas and coasts, not Western movies.
Hogback—Erosional landforms shown here in the Western range.
Hoodoo—Desert erosion carves grotesque shapes like this mushroom...
Hoodoo Rock—. . . and this one, which must be a camel.
Mesa in Sedimentary Rocks—An example in northern Utah.
Mesa in Volcanic Rocks—Lava flows built this mesa on the Snake River.
Sea Arch—This one studs the ocean near Goat Rock Beach, California.
Tor—Rocky knob common in Britain—but also in the Mojave Desert.
Volcanic Necks—Here's a pair of them on the central California coast.
Water Gap—These form in two different ways.
Wave-Cut Platforms—Two are shown here: one ancient, one active.
Special Gallery: Wave-Cut Platforms
TECTONIC LANDFORMS
Landforms made by movements of the Earth's crust.
Escarpment—A large cliff usually made by faulting.
Sag Pond—Motion on the San Andreas fault created these two examples.
Shutter Ridge—A classic indicator of fault motion, on the Hayward fault.
Stream Offset—Wallace Creek zigzags across the San Andreas fault.
Special Galleries: San Andreas fault, Subduction-Related Rocks
VOLCANIC LANDFORMS
Landforms related to eruptions of lava.
Caldera—A sign of an exceptionally fierce volcanic eruption.
Cinder Cone—A handsome volcanic structure on the side of Mauna Kea.
Geyser—Everyone's favorite geologic personality.
Hornito—Spurting lava builds little cones resembling old-fashioned ovens.
Lava Pillows—Lava pillows, or pillow lavas, at Avila Beach.
Maar—A low volcanic structure created by steam explosions.
Mud Volcano—They look like volcanoes but they're usually small and cold.
Tuff Cone—A baby maar volcano with a lava lake.
Tuff Ring—The stockade-like remnant of a maar.
Tuya—A peculiar volcanic mesa built by an eruption under a glacier.
Special Galleries: Basic Volcano Types, Lava Pillows, Mud Volcanoes
Other picture galleries:
Fossil Pictures
Glaciers and Ice Pictures
Mineral Pictures
Rock Pictures
Geologic Features and Processes Pictures
Geology and Society Pictures
Free Geologic Wallpaper Pictures
