There are two main factors that influence the formation of different surface forms, say, from different sides of the earth's crust. Thus, we shared many of the effects that explain why the Earth's relief is very diverse. But first, let's figure out what the concept of “relief” carries.
The term "relief" and its meaning
This word is of French origin, or some sources explain it, translating in classics from Latin, and it is used for several industries - construction, art. But in all senses its meaning is one - it is a combination of irregularities. For the sculpture, these irregularities were created artificially by man; in construction, the human hand also makes efforts to create one form or another. But on a planetary scale, man takes the third place of honor among the forces that affect why the earth's relief is very diverse.
Relief groups, or Which categories belong to certain formations
To begin with, recall what forms there are on the earth's surface. All types of land relief are divided into positive and negative. Any elevations above the imaginary horizontal plane are positive, negative - on the contrary, under it. That is, the first group includes mountains, hills, mounds, plateaus. The second group includes hollows, crevices, valleys, beams. And now in more detail about the diversity of the Earth's relief, namely, about what creates it.
First place - the internal forces of the earth
These forces have a scientific name - endogenous. What is their impact?
Initially, the relief of the entire surface of the Earth was subjected to intense internal forces. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions - these are their most obvious manifestations, which, if you carefully study the studies of anthropologists, previously very intensively changed the terrain of the Earth, and now quite often subject the earth's crust to collapse, and therefore, the formation of the surface.
In addition, lithospheric plates are in constant slow motion, which also affects the creation of relief. Why is the earth's relief diverse in terms of internal forces? Because in connection with all the processes under the earth's crust, its changes occur outside. So there are mountains, ocean troughs, plains and elevations.
Lithospheric plates (seven large and dozens of small ones) move, collide, move apart, forming the highest mountains (Alps, Himalayas, etc.) or deep depressions on land and under water (the Mariana Trench is the most striking example).
What we are observing now is the result of the movement of plates over many millions or even billions of years, corrected by the following form of influence on the relief.
Second place - external forces of the earth
The scientific name of these forces is exogenous. Why is the earth's relief so diverse due to these influences?
The sun, wind, precipitation - all these everyday phenomena are directly related to the formation of one form or another of the surface. All formations that have arisen under the influence of internal forces begin to transform also because of them. So, the sun heats the mountain peaks. Substances, minerals that are present in the mountains have different thermal conductivity and other physical properties. As a result of this, expanding unevenly, they lose strong bonds among themselves, stratified, dismembered, and, ultimately, turning into sand. And if you add to this the effect of water, which penetrates into all the smallest cracks in warm time, and when the temperature drops, it turns into ice, which, accordingly, expands and spreads cracks, exacerbating them, this ultimately leads to the same destruction. That is why the relief of the Earth is very diverse, because these processes occur every minute across the Earth.
Do not forget about the effect of rivers, lakes, oceans on the adjacent areas. So, the coasts each year can both increase and decrease - depending on the direction of the waters. This may occur barely, but still occur.
Third place - man
He is considered an external force, but I would like to single out this influence in a separate category. The development of technology gives a person an equal opportunity to go out into space and climb deep into the earth's crust (the main thing is that the funding is good, the cosmos is still playing here). The extraction of resources (oil, gas, ores, rock salt, other minerals) is increasingly changing the once familiar landscape. The drying of swamps, deforestation, the creation of reservoirs, and other effects on the diversity of the terrain of the Earth can change the microclimate of individual areas, forcing animals to look for completely different habitats. And this happens everywhere, and it is far from always possible to call this influence useful. If in the case of the wind it cannot be called to account - this is an element, then a person, as a rational creature, it would seem, must understand the destructiveness of his actions, and make reasonable decisions. Seemingly.
And what in the end
As a result, it turns out that the modern relief of the Earth is the result of the interaction of all these forces, and they continue to act daily, continuously, and even right now, while your eyes are reading this long phrase, slowly, but confidently changing the outlines of our planet. And perhaps the descendants after several hundred years will be very surprised to find an old relief map, for example, for 1995, which was the world at that time.