There are two types of energy that shape the earth’s surface. Apart from endogenous energy, the forming energy is exogenous energy. Exogenous energy means energy that makes changes to the earth’s crust that comes from outside the earth.
In this regard, it is interesting to discuss the meaning and other aspects related to endogenous energy. See the complete description in the explanation below.
Definition and Types of Endogenous Energy
Endogenous energy is energy forming the earth’s surface that comes from within the earth. These endogenous forces are tectonism, seism and volcanism.
Meanwhile, exogenous forces such as erosion, weathering, sedimentation. These three processes also have different movements such as slides, fast movements, and crawls.
The above processes cause various different landforms. The time this process occurs also varies.
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These endogenous forces include tectonism, seism and volcanism. The following is an explanation of each type and the process involved.
1. Tectonism
Tectonism is the movement of layers of the earth’s crust that causes changes on the earth’s surface. This movement can be in the form of shifting, folding, or lifting. Tectonicism involves 2 processes.
· Epirogenesis
Epirogenesis is the vertical movement of rise or fall of the earth’s surface. This movement is very slow and even creates a visual illusion. The phenomenon that occurs is as if the sea level is rising or falling, even though there is a surface inside that makes the water rise or fall.
· Orogenesis
Orogenesis is a faster movement than epirogenesis. This movement forms mountains and only occurs in narrower areas. Orogenic movements are divided into folds and faults.
Folds then form mountains, while faults make the earth’s surface broken or uneven, such as land that rises and falls or vertically and horizontally moves right and left.
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2. Volcanism
Volcanism is the energy that arises due to magma activity in volcanoes. These activities are intrusion and extrusion. Magma intrusion is the movement of magma below the ground surface. This movement is invisible to humans and generally does not have a negative impact on the surrounding environment.
The second type is magma extrusion, which is the movement of magma toward and emerging from the earth’s surface. This movement is influenced by gas pressure, magma fluidity, reservoir depth, and so on.
The results of volcanism are volcanic gas which is dangerous for humans, lava or hot sand and rock, lava, namely lava mixed with other materials, and ash rain. Apart from that, there are also hot clouds, namely eruptions that roll like clouds and cause burns and shortness of breath.
The impact of extrusive magma movement causes changes on the earth’s surface. The volcanic material in it can cause various damages and even health problems for humans.
However, magma extrusion is also beneficial in human life. The reason is, this eruption made the land very fertile and there were many sand mines that could be used by residents.
3. Seism
Seism is an earthquake or movement of the earth’s surface on a certain scale. The causes are volcanic activity, collapses, landslides and tectonics. Seism causes several impacts based on the hypocenter and epicenter. The hypocenter is the epicenter of an earthquake below the land surface.
Meanwhile, the epicenter is the central point of the earthquake on the surface which is the projection of the hypocenter. If the hypocenter is shallow, the vibrations are stronger and more likely to spread. This strong earthquake will have the potential to change the structure of the land. As a result, the infrastructure built was damaged.
Influence of Endogenous Energy
After understanding the explanation of endogenous energy above, it is interesting to discuss its influence on human life. The following are the benefits and negative impacts of endogenous energy.
1. Benefits of Endogenous Energy
Endogenous energy in the form of tectonism is able to create pockets of oil and natural gas. These resources can be utilized by humans. In addition, many rock folds and faults are favorable. The reason is, the diversity of natural landscapes is formed.
Next, volcanism also provides benefits, namely fertile agricultural areas, tourist and sports attractions, sources of minerals and minerals. Agriculture also becomes easy to do.
2. Negative Impact
The negative impacts of endogenous energy are erosion, landslides, sedimentation and loss of human life. The negative impact of volcanic eruptions is the release of poisonous gas which is dangerous for humans.
Characteristics of Endogenous Energy
The characteristic of endogenous energy is that it shapes the earth’s surface so that it becomes varied and uneven. Areas that were initially flat become uneven. Even areas that were initially uneven can become flat. The changing factor comes from within the earth.
This is different from the characteristics of exogenous energy, namely that it changes with the processes of weathering, erosion, mass movement and deposition. The changing factor comes from outside the earth.
That is an explanation of endogenous energy which includes its meaning, types, influence and characteristics. Furthermore, it can be seen that the main difference between endogenous and exogenous energy is the origin of the modifying factors, namely from within the earth.