The relief of the Earth is unusually diverse. On its surface, deep canyons alternate with the highest mountain peaks, rocky massifs coexist with vast and flat plains. In this article we will talk about one of the forms of the earth's relief. What is a basin? How does she look? What types of basins exist?
What is a hollow?
In geography, this term is used quite often. In particular, in geomorphology - the science that studies the relief of our planet. So what is a basin?
In geology and geography, it is customary to call hollows relatively large negative landforms within the land or the bottom of the World Ocean. Most often they have rounded outlines.
The size of the basin can be very different. For example, the Afar Basin in East Africa occupies a vast area, which amounts to tens of thousands of square kilometers. Other basins are much more modest in size (such as the Nadbuzhanskaya basin in Western Ukraine).
By origin, these landforms are tectonic, erosional, glacial, karst, eolian and even volcanic. According to the water regime, they can be sewage and drainless.
Hollows are found both ondry land, and at the bottom of the seas. What is a basin in oceanography? These are huge depressions of the ocean floor, surrounded by a continental slope, underwater ridges or swells. The average depth of underwater basins, as a rule, exceeds 3500 meters.
The basin of Lake Baikal: origin and interesting facts
Geomorphologists also consider lake basins separately. These are depressions on the earth's surface filled with water. Within Russia, the largest and most interesting is the Baikal lake basin. How and when did it come about?
Studying the deepest lake on the planet began in earnest back in the 18th century. The German scientist Peter Pallas was the first to put forward a hypothesis about the origin of its basin. In his opinion, Baikal was formed as a result of a global natural disaster. After Pallas, many other scientists also made their assumptions. And the Soviet geographer V. A. came closest to the truth. Obruchev.
In fact, the Baikal Basin is part of a huge rift zone, under which the earth's crust is constantly and anomalously heated up. As a result, the masses of rocks here were deformed, spread and formed a chain of mountain ranges that now surround the lake from all sides.
Interesting fact: modern scientists have found that the shores of Lake Baikal move away from each other by almost 2 centimeters per year. Earthquakes are recorded periodically in this region. All this means that the formation of the Baikal basin continues to this day.
Now you knowWhat is a hollow and what does it look like? This is a negative landform that can be found both on land and at the bottom of oceans and seas.
