Wanderlust World Wanderlust World As water evaporates and rises again to the clouds, it is stored as water vapor. When the water falls again, it is in the form of precipitation -- rain, snow, sleet or hail. When the water falls, it collects in natural canyons and holes in the Earth. It fills riverbeds and oceans, and creates standing water in places throughout the surface of the Earth.
As precipitation fills the rivers of the world, they feed into the oceans nearby. As the rivers start to flow faster, or overflow with water, the water cuts through natural land beds or moves around rock formations. The water will slowly wear off of the sides or top of a rock formation. The Grand Canyon was formed by years of erosion from the ancient and fast-moving Colorado River.
Like rivers or large bodies of liquid water, glaciers have been a major factor in sculpting the Earth. During the Ice Age, the frozen masses of ice from the Northern Arctic descended southward to the less frozen areas of North America. They moved through the land, bringing dirt and rock formations with them. The glaciers can then create river beds, deep basins and large landform structures.
In addition to water running through canyons on the ground level or caverns underground, water can also facilitate precipitation on mountains. This happens as snow and rain drip down from elevations that are miles above sea level. Wind is another important erosion agent, and the wind itself can move debris. These moving or flying pieces of rock and water will wear landforms into shapes with specific erosion patterns.