Mountain building creates a disequilibrium within the Earth's landscape because of the creation of relief. Gravity acts to vertically move materials of higher relief to lower elevations to produce an equilibrium . Gravity also acts on the mediums of erosion to cause them to flow to base level. Solar radiation and its influence on atmospheric processes is another source of energy for erosion. Rainwater has a kinetic energy imparted to it when it falls from the atmosphere .
Snow has potential energy when it is deposited in higher elevations.
This potential energy can be converted into the energy of motion when the snow is converted into flowing glacial ice. Likewise, the motion of air because of differences in atmospheric pressure can erode surface material when velocities are high enough to cause particle entrainment . These three processes are often closely related and sometimes not easy distinguished between each other. A single particle may undergo detachment, entrainment, and transport many times. Detachment Erosion begins with the detachment of a particle from surrounding material.