Landforms of water erosion To be able to

Landforms of water erosion To be able to describe and explain the formation of water erosion landforms

Learning outcomes: • All students will be able to recognise and name erosional landforms in the desert. • Most students will be able to describe erosional landforms in the desert, giving basic explanations for their formation. • Some students will be able to explain in detail the formation of erosional landforms in the desert.

Mesa Wadi Butte Canyon

Task: Write out a description of the following landforms: Wadi, mesa, butte, canyon. Peer assessment: Has you partner described: • Colour • Texture • Material • Shape • Height • width

Landformation: Canyon • It starts off as a raised plateau (cliff) • Rainwater erodes small cracks / less resistant rock in the plateau. • Over time these get wider and wider to form a canyon.

Landformation: Mesa and Butte • A plateau has a layer of hard rock on top of soft rock. This is called cap rock • Rainwater erodes cracks in the plateau to form a canyon which is open at both ends. • The mesa is the resulting rock that is separated from the plateau. • Rainwater then seeps down the side of the mesa and erodes the softer rock. • The sides retreats inwards and eventually the hard cap rock falls away leaving thin spire of rock (butte).

Landformation: Wadi • After heavy rain, water follows an old river bed. • The water erodes the bed and widens and deepens it. • The floods disappear leaving a wide, flat floored valley contained deposited rocks

On the following diagram, name the landforms a, b, c, d. d

• Choose your favourite desert landform. • Draw a labelled sketch of your chosen landform (4 marks) • Explain how it was formed (4 marks) • Suggest how it may change in the future (2 marks)