Geomorphology involves the study of landforms and their evolution. It studies landforms, processes, and forces that shape the earth’s surface. The earth’s surface is unevenly dispersed with mountains, ravines, plateaus, hills, plains, cliffs, and other landforms. Exogenic forces are land-wearing forces that gain strength from the earth’s surface or originate within its atmosphere. Wind, water, and waves are exogenic forces. Exogenic forces include weathering, erosion, depression, degradation, wear, basin filling, and deposition. Endogenic forces are the land-forming forces. Endogenic geomorphic processes are driven by the earth’s energy in the form of heat, radioactivity, rotational, and tidal friction (Scheidegger, 2021). Endogenic forces shape the earth’s crust. Endogenic forces continuously advance sections of the earth’s surface; therefore exogenic processes fail to even out the relief alterations. Endogenic processes include landslides and diastrophism. Endogenic processes include diastrophic and abrupt motions. Exogenic geomorphic processes include weathering, mass wasting, erosion, transportation, and deposition.
My exploring destination is Namibia, 22.9576o S, 18.4904o E. Many mountains and plateaus exist in Namibia. Valleys such as the Orange River, Kuiseb River, and the Chobe River are examples. Namibia also has an Atlantic Ocean coast. The heuweltjies (circles on the ground) found south of the Orange River, the harshness of mountains, gravel plains, and shifting dunes are all examples of Namibian landforms.
Namibia is located in Southern Africa, surrounded on the north by the Atlantic, east by Zambia and Botswana, and southeast by South Africa. Namibia is on Africa’s southwest coast and hence a divergent boundary. The African Plate is bordered by the North American and South American Plates. The tectonic history is intertwined in a history of massive denudation towards the emerging South Atlantic. Isostatic reactions to sediment loading on continental shelf increased tectonic activity along the passive continental edge. The super swell in Namibia has influenced late tertiary and even quaternary stages. The Namibian component of the Great Escarpment is a result of subcontinental uplift and eastward tilting due to the South African mega well. They have exposed Damaran Orogenic Belt rocks in Namibia (Toé et al., 63). Tectonic forces led landmasses to fuse, bending and heating deposits on the ocean floor, producing mountains. In the Namibian Zerrissene turbidite system, folding occurred. Deformations cause folding.
Rainfall, dews, and groundwater seepage all contribute to weathering in the Namib Desert, even though the area is arid. Salt, heat, and lichen weathering mechanisms are known to have a role in the weathering properties of marble and granite outcrops in the central Namib region. For example, calcrete and gypcrete (as well as tufa and gypsum) are considered significant sources of fine sediment production in the middle Namib region. Despite the scarcity of weathering hotspots, weathering has had a considerable impact on long-term landscape modification here (Viles & Goudie, 20). Several plateaus have undergone degradation. Valleys and canyons also form as a result of water and wind erosion.