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Tectonic Landforms

By , About.com Guide

There are different ways to classify landforms, but mine has just three categories: landforms that are built (depositional), landforms that are carved (erosional), and landforms that are made by movements of the Earth's crust (tectonic). Here are the most common tectonic landforms. I take a more literal approach than most textbooks and insist that tectonic motions create, or largely create, the actual landform.

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The biggest of cliffsEscarpment, OregonA perishable landformFault Scarp, CaliforniaA mole track from a large earthquakePressure Ridge, CaliforniaWhere plates splitRift Valley, Uganda-Congo
Downdropped blocksSag Basin, CaliforniaBlocker in motionShutter Ridge, CaliforniaCrooked creeksStream Offset, California
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