Page 381 - Geosystems An Introduction to Physical Geography 4th Canadian Edition

Biosphere
The materials involved constitute the solid realm of Earth. Earth’s surface responds by moving, warping, and breaking, sometimes in dramatic episodes of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, constructing the crust.
The exogenic system (Chapters 14 through 17) consists of external processes at Earth’s surface that set into motion air, water, and ice, all powered by solar energy. These media carve, shape, and wear down the landscape. One such process, weather- ing, breaks up and dissolves the crust. Erosion picks up these materials; transports them in rivers, coastal waves, winds, and flowing glaciers; and deposits them in new loca- tions. Thus, Earth’s surface is the interface between two vast open systems: one that builds the landscape and creates topographic relief, and one that tears the landscape down into relatively low-elevation plains of sedimentary deposits.
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