The External Factors that Form the Surface of Al-Batnan Plateau (Weathering and Erosion): A Study in Applied Geomorphology

Abstract

Abstract
The External Factors that Form the Surface of Al-Batnan Plateau
(Weathering and Erosion): A Study in Applied Geomorphology

The terrestrial shapes in Al-Batanan plateau are a reflection of the natural
conditions inherited from the rainy period and the current climatic conditions.
The geomorphological processes are the force that has changed, and still
plays an effective role on, the surface of the plateau. The study showed that
water and sedimentary erosion processes have a great impact on the
morphology of the northern plateau. These processes, in fact, led to the
formation of multiple and disparate terrestrial shapes, some of which were
inherited from the rainy era. Among the results of the study of water erosion
on the surface of the plateau, the volume of water erosion in the northeast of
the study area reached 175 m / km² / year; in the northwest, it reached 80 m /
km² / year, and in the center and south of the plateau, it reached 376 m / km² /
year according to the levels of water erosion that Zachar had determined; the
volume of water erosion is within a weak erosion category. The gully erosion
reached 8127 m³ / km² according to the Bergsma classification. Very severe
furrow erosion prevails over the northern plateau and it is not a product of the
current climate, but a legacy of the Pleistocene era during the rainy periods.
As for the severity of water erosion according to the Forner equation, it
reached in the northeast of the plateau 32º, its northwest 59º, and in the center
and south of the plateau 13º, and these values ranged from weak to moderate
erosion, and they differed from one place to another on the surface of the
plateau according to the natural influences.
Among the results of the study of wind erosion on the study area, it
reached, in the northeast of the plateau, 1417º, in its northwest 438º, and in
the center and south of the plateau 10455º, which is the strongest and most
influential, according to Chepil's classification that falls under a very high
category.
These results are alarming indicators, if appropriate preventive measures are
not taken into operation. The wind erosion has a double effect on the
formation of the surface of the plateau through the variation of the ground
shapes, whether they are erosive or sedimentary. It was also found through
the study, despite the harsh climatic conditions and the ability of soils to
erode on the surface of the plateau, but it is the right of the soil to search for
the real factor behind unleashing the phenomenon of accelerated erosion,
which allowed natural factors to exercise their inevitable power clearly and
clearly.