A look at how earth materials are altered and transported by ice and wind will conclude this section. The module concludes with the effects of land use activities on soil which results in erosion, pollution, and desertification. The geologic cycle is a collective term used to describe the complex interactions between the component sub-cycles of tectonic, hydrologic, rock, and the biological cycling of elements known as the biogeochemical cycle. These various subcycles influence each other and may produce natural hazards and processes important to environmental geology such as landslides, earthquakes, volcanic activity, flooding, groundwater flow, and weather. Diagram courtesy of the United States Geological Survey Plate tectonics is the name we give to the process that directly or indirectly creates most of the landforms we see around us.
Tectonic plates are large pieces of the earth's lithosphere.
They move slowly along the surface, powered by convective currents deep within the Earth. Visit this USGS website to learn more about plate tectonics. The rock cycle is influenced by all the other geologic subcycles. For example, tectonic processes provide the pressure and heat necessary to recrystalize some or all of the minerals in a rock and transform it from one rock type to another. Volcanoes - This is Volcano World , a great site to begin studying volcanoes, located at the University of North Dakota.