Gradation

Gradation is the process of levelling of the land by means of natural

agents like rivers, ground water, winds, glaciers, and sea waves. These
agents produce various gradational relief features in due course of time.
Gradation takes place in two
ways: degradation and aggradation Degradation or denudation is the
wearing down of the land surface by various natural agents.

Courses of River:
Rivers generally originate from the mountains or hills. Rivers are the most
powerful agent of gradation. It has three basic functions, namely
erosional, depositional and transportation. The river has three stages from
its origin till it reaches the ocean. The river has different amount of water in
different seasons it depending upon its sources. Some rivers have water in
them throughout the year and some rivers do not water in them during
the dry season. These rivers are called perennial and non-perennial
respectably.
Rivers generally originate from mountains and end in a sea or lake. The
whole path that a river flows through is called its course. The course of a
river is divided into:
i. The upper course
ii. The middle course and
iii. The lower course
The Upper Course
Erosion is the most dominant action of river in the upper course. In this
course, a river usually tumbles down the steep mountain slopes. The steep
gradient increases the velocity and the river channel performs erosion
with great force to widen and deepen its valley. The land features carved
by a river in its upper course are V- shaped valleys, gorges, canyons,
rapids, pot holes, spurs, and waterfalls.

The Middle Course

The river enters the plain in its middle course. The volume of water
increases with the confluence of many tributaries and thus increases the
load of the river. Thus, the predominant action of a river is transportation.
Deposition also occurs due to the sudden decrease in velocity. The river in
the middle course develops some typical landforms like alluvial fans, flood
plains, meanders, ox-bow lakes etc.,

The Lower course

The river, moving downstream across a broad, level plain is loaded with
debris, brought down from its upper and middle courses. Large deposits of
sediments are found at the level bed and the river, splits into a number of
channels called distributaries. The main work of the river here
is deposition and it develops typical landforms like delta and estuary.

Wind
Wind is an active agent of gradation mainly in the desert. It blows
unchecked due to lack of vegetation. The sand and dust particles are
carried over greater distance. These get deposited when the wind
velocity reduces or when there is an obstruction in the path of the wind.
Wind does erosion, transportation and deposition, similar to other agents
of gradation and forms the following features (a) Mushroom rock, (b)
Sand dunes.

(a) Mushroom rock when the wind blows, particles of sand strike the rock
a little above the surface. Since the sand particles are heavier, the sand
blasting effect is restricted to a particular height. The centre of the rock is
eroded faster than the upper part of the rock forming a feature
resembling a mushroom or an umbrella. Mushroom rock has a narrow
trunk and is broad at the top and base.

(b) Sand dunes when there is an obstruction in the path of the wind, the
wind velocity reduces and the sand particles and dust are deposited
forming a mound or a heap of sand. Ripples in the sand show the
direction in which the wind is blowing. The dunes are of different shapes
and sizes like (tail dune, pin dune. Crescent-shaped dune is known as
barchans. It is formed when an obstruction like a bush or a rock may
come in the path of the wind.

Dust particles may be deposited hundreds of kilometer away. This

windblown soil is known as loess. The plains of China have a thick deposit
of desert soil.

Waves
Waves are a regular undulation of the sea's surface. Wind blowing across
the sea whips the water's surface into ripples. If the water is strong enough
and blows far enough over the water, the ripples build up into waves. The
size of the wave depends on the strength of the wind as well as the
distance the wind carries it. The action of waves as agent of gradation is
limited to the showers. The waves work only in the narrow zone of contact
of the land and the sea. Alternate up and down movement of ocean
water is called waves. The frictional drag in the waves is caused by the
wind. The stronger the wind, the stronger are the waves. Similar to other
agents of gradation, waves also do erosion, transportation and
deposition. When the waves strike the coast they cause erosion and wear
away the rocks. The softer rocks get eroded much faster than the harder
rocks and different features such as the cliffs, wave cut platform, bays
gulfs, and etc. is formed. When the waves recede they transport the
eroded particles such as sand, silt, pebbles, stones, etc. and deposit them
in these areas. The main features made by the waves are cliffs, beaches
and sandbars.

Cliffs
Cliff is a very steep rock face formed by the action of wave. Waves crash
on the shore with tremendous force, especially in storms. They wear away
coastal rocks by pounding on them with water, hurling stones on them
and forcing air into cracks so hard that the rocks burst apart. On high
coasts, the waves slowly undercut the foot of the slope to create a cliff.
Often waves penetrate deep into the cliff to open up a sea cave or cut
right through a headland to create an arch of rock. When the arch
collapses, it may leave behind spectacular tall pillars of rock called stacks,
which may later be eroded into shorter stumps. Cliffs and wave cut
platforms when there is a highland overlooking the sea, the base of the
highland/cliff gets eroded forming a notch. The notch gets deepened by
the waves and when they retreat, deposits the eroded materials forming
a platform. The wave cut platform is formed when the sea cliff shifts
backward due to continuous wave erosion.

Beach:
Beach is a sloping of sand, shingle or pebbles at the sea's edge. This is
formed by the deposition of the material carried by the waves. On a
steep beach the backwash of a wave is stronger than the swash so the
material is washed down the beach, making the slope gentle. Whereas
on a gently sloped beach, swash is stronger than the backwash, so the
material gets washed up the beach making it steeper.
Beach is a depositional feature formed by the waves. Advancing waves
like other agents of gradation also cause erosion, transportation and
deposition. The advancing waves strike the coast and erode the rocks.
The materials consisting of pebbles, stones, sand and other materials are
deposited along the shore in the shallow water. The deposition leads to
the formation of beaches which stretch along the coast, e.g., Kovalam
beach, Juhu beach, Triplicane beach, etc.

Sandbar
Sand bars and lagoons when the waves recede the eroded materials
may be deposited perpendicular to the coast forming a tongue like
feature known as sand split.
Due to the change in the direction of the wind, waves change their
direction. The deposits may be deposited at right angle to the sand spit
and parallel to the coast forming a sand bar. The sand bar sometimes
gets closer to the shore enclosing a part of the saline water of the ocean.
These are known as lagoons. Lagoons are backwater or brackish water
lakes. They have a narrow link with the ocean water. Lagoons are
commonly found off the coast of Kerala on the west coast of India and on
the east coast of India, e.g., Chilka Lake, Pulicat lakes.

Sandbars are also formed by the deposition done by the waves. Sandbars
vary in shape and may extend parallel to the shore or at an angle to the
shore. The shallow sea between the shore and the sandbar former the
lagoon or marsh and gets gradually filled up by sediments.

Gulf/Bays where there are horizontal bands of hard and soft rocks lying
perpendicular to the coast. The waves erode away the softer rocks faster
forming inlets known as gulfs and bays.