Weathering and Erosion Notes
This is a picture of a mountain in the Rocky Mountains.
This is a picture of a mountain in the Smokey Mountains.
1. weathering-when a rock is broken down
into smaller pieces by wind, water, chemicals, plants, and animals.
2. rocks
get broken down into smaller pieces called sediment.
3. two
types of weathering-mechanical and chemical
4. mechanical
weathering-process where rocks are physically broken into smaller pieces by
wind, water, and ice or heat
5. mechanical
weathering-caused by growing plants, burrowing animals, and expanding ice
6. Grand Canyon is an example
of mechanical weathering
7. glaciers
cause mechanical weathering
8. Great Lakes formed by
glaciers
9. chemical
weathering-minerals within rocks are broken down by removing or changing
elements found in those rocks.
10. Carbon dioxide combines
with water to form carbonic acid, a weak acid. Rotting vegetation dissolves in
water and also forms a weak acid.
11. Carlsbad Cavern and
Mammoth Cave are an example of chemical weathering.
Carlsbad Caverns
Mammoth Caves
12. plant
roots can secrete enzymes that slowly eat into rocks
13. erosion
is the movement of soil or rock
by water, ice, or wind
14. weathering
is the destruction and erosion is the movement
15. gravitational
erosion-chunks of rock and even mountainsides sink and/or fall downhill caused
by gravity
16. deposition-the
dropping of sediment by water, wind, or ice.
17. flowing
rivers transport (carry) weathered rock, water slows down and drops the
sediment.
18. floodplain
and river deltas are formed by deposition
19. sand
dunes are formed by wind moving sediment
20. ocean
currents move sand and can form barrier islands
21. soil
formation is a product of weathering
22. soil
consists of weathered rock(sediment) and decomposed organic material
23. sediment – three sizes,
sand, silt, and clay
24. Sand feels gritty, silt feels smooth, and clay
feels sticky
25. All soils are made up of varying amounts of these
three main
components silt, sand, and clay.
26. Sand and clay are easier to identify than silt.
Silt is finer than sand and coarser than clay.
27. Silt gives soil good texture for crop production.
Sand and clay can become hard and compacted without silt.
28. Soil is not only made up of pieces of weathered
rocks, but it also contains animals, plants, decayed animals and plants, water,
and air.
29. humus is the
organic material in soil.
30. continued
weathering releases minerals that plants need for growth
31. organic
material is decaying and rotting plants, releases the minerals that the plant
absorbed
32. organic
means carbon based, we are carbon based.
33. mature
soil is soil that has developed over thousands of years.
34. horizons-mature soil can
be divided into three layers called horizons
35. the
top or ÒAÓ horizon is called the topsoil, where shallow plant roots absorb
water and nutrients, also home to insects and worms
36. the second or
ÒBÓ horizon is the subsoil, where you find clay and minerals and the DEEP roots
of plansts
37. the
ÒCÓ horizon contains the weathered bedrock and is not part of the soil.