The Geographical Cycle

Abstract

All the varied forms of the lands are dependent on—or, as the mathematician would say, are functions of—three variable quantities, which may be called structure, process, and time. In the beginning, when the forces of deformation and uplift determine the structure and attitude of a region, the form of its surface is in sympathy with its internal arrangement, and its height depends on the amount of uplift that it has suffered. If its rocks were unchangeable under the attack of external processes, its surface would remain unaltered until the forces of deformation and uplift acted again; and in this case structure would be alone in control of form. But no rocks are unchangeable; even the most resistant yield under the attack of the atmosphere, and their waste creeps and washes downhill as long as any hills remain; hence all forms, however high and however resistant, must be laid low, and thus destructive process gains rank equal to that of structure in determining the shape of a land mass. Process cannot, however, complete its work instantly, and the amount of change from initial form is therefore a function of time. Time thus completes the trio of geographical controls, and is, of the three, the one of the most frequent application and of a most practical value in geographical description.