In the Land of Disney: "Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world."-Walt Disney

(Map of the landforms throughout the lands of Disney)

Disneyland is made up of eight different lands and each land is different from the other. These lands are all made up of different landforms, from the jungles of Africa and Asia to the mountains of Utah and the Alps. The three mountains that can be found inside Disneyland are Big Thunder Mountain, Matterhorn Mountain, and Splash Mountain. The mountains are all found on different plates and are each made up of different materials like gneiss or sandstone. These mountains spent thousands to millions of years growing, but have all started weathering and eroding at their own paces. The Rivers of America and river in Splash Mountain will change as time goes on and helped carved out the land we see today making Disneyland a fluvial landscape.

(Matterhorn is eroding away from water evaporation of a nearby body of water was carried to the mountain top where it was released as snow and when it melts it runs of into the mountain side where a river has formed into a waterfall. It runs over the bedrock causing erosion to happen slowly reaching downstream where it occurred rapidly.)

Matterhorn was created by the plates of Fantasyland and Tomorrowland and when these two lands converged against one another forming a Fold Mountain made of gneiss. When the plates hit they wrinkled lifting the mountain to the surface causing the folds. In 10 years the waterfall carve deeper into the mountain side carrying more of the sediment way. In 100 years the top will also start to recede away as more snow falls into the top and melts carrying the tops sediment down the river. In 1000 years the mountain will decrease in size by a few inches as the top erodes, and the waterfall will be a little bigger as is continues to carve into the side.

(At one point this area was a plateau until streams weathered over the rock creating fins. Water seeped into the fins and froze during the night causing the ice to expand and fracture the rocks. The structure erodes away creating the tower like formations call hoodoos.)

Located in Frontierland, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was originally formed from layers of iron-rich sandstone, shale, and conglomerates deposited in layers making this originally a plateau. 10 years from now the hoodoos will hardly have any noticeable changes as they weather away. However in 100 years the structure will start to thin and some may start to fall over if the thinner areas continue to erode faster than the bigger areas. The biggest changes will happen in 1000 years when the fins get bigger the hoodoos will start to break apart from the bottom and some of the bigger ones will start to fall.

(Left: The top of the mountain was broken off by the pressure roots from the breaking off rocks when it was alive. The waterfall was formed from the river that flows throughout the area. Right: The river is a perennial flow and carries bedload with large clasts inside helping shape the river.)

The final mountain is in Critter Country where Splash Mountain was formed by blocks of rock materials slide along faults causing a fault mountain formed by large areas of bedrock widely broken up by faults creating large vertical displacements in the continental crust. 10 years from now the waterfall and river will continue to carve deeper into the mountain. 100 years from now the shape of the river will change from point bars and cut banks defining it into an s-shape. 1000 the river will cut into the valley making its flood plain larger as the waterfall digs deeper and widens into the mountain.

(Rivers of America is a perennial flow carrying a suspended load)

The major river in Disney is the Rivers of America a mature river which is less steep than youthful rivers and flows more slowly and is fed by many tributaries. The channels erode wider rather than deeper. In ten years Rivers of America will not have any major changes except for a little bit more erosion on the sides. In 100 years this river will have expanded a few more inches causing some trees to fall in when the land erodes away. In 1000 this river will become an old river with a low gradient and low erosive energy.

Here You Leave Today and Enter the World of Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Fantasy