What is a hollow? Types of hollows

The relief of the Earth is extremely diverse. On its surface, deep canyons alternate with the highest mountain peaks, the rocky massifs adjoin the vast and flat plains. This article will deal with one of the forms of terrestrial relief. What is a hollow? How does she look? What types of hollows exist?

What is a hollow?

In geography, this term is used quite often. In particular, in geomorphology - a science that studies the relief of our planet. So, what is a hollow?

It is common to call basins in geology and geography comparatively large negative forms of relief within the limits of land or the bottom of the World Ocean. Most often they have rounded outlines.

By the size of the hollow can be very different. For example, the Afar Basin in East Africa occupies a huge area, which is estimated at tens of thousands of square kilometers. Other basins are much more modest in their sizes (as, for example, the Nadbuzhanskaya Hollow in Western Ukraine).

By origin these forms of relief are tectonic, erosive, glacial, karstic, eolian and even volcanic. According to the water regime, they can be sewage and drainage.

The basins are found both on 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 valleys. The average depths of the submarine basins, as a rule, exceed the mark of 3500 meters.

The basin of Lake Baikal: origin and interesting facts

Geomorphologists separately consider the lake basins. This is the descent of the earth's surface, filled with water. Within Russia the largest and most interesting is the lake basin of Lake Baikal. How and when did it arise?

The study of the deepest lake of the planet was seriously tackled in the 18th century. German scientist Peter Pallas was the first to put forward a hypothesis about the origin of his hollow. In his opinion, Baikal was formed as a result of a global natural catastrophe. After Pallas, many other scientists built their assumptions. And the closest thing to the truth was the Soviet geographer VA. Obruchev.

Actually, the Baikal basin is part of a huge rift zone, under which the earth's crust is constantly and anomalously hot. As a result, masses of rocks here deformed, spread and formed a chain of mountain ranges that now surround the lake from all sides.

An interesting fact: modern scientists have established that the shores of Lake Baikal are moving away from each other by almost 2 centimeters per year. Periodically, earthquakes are recorded in this region. All this means that the formation of the basin of Lake Baikal continues to this day.

Now you know what a hollow is and how it looks. This is a negative form of terrestrial relief, which can occur both on land and at the bottom of the oceans and seas.