Ch. 4 (Michelle)

Question 1

What are the different types of chemical and mechanical weathering (e.g. frost wedging)?

Answer 1

Mechanical: physical change caused by processes such as the movement of water or wind. One example is when water sometimes gets into the tiny cracks in boulders. If that water freezes, it expands, opening the crack even more and eventually splitting the rock into pieces

Chemical: occurs when chemicals in the air and water interact with rocks and minerals to break them down. One example is carbonation, this is the mixing of water with carbon dioxide to make carbonic acid. This type of weathering is important in the formation of caves

Weathering: the breaking down of rock into smaller pieces by the action of wind, rain, and temperature change

Question 2

How does climate and a rock’s physical/chemical characteristics impact a rock’s rate of weathering?

Answer 2

Humidity, physical erosion and temperature all impact the rate at which rocks and earthen materials wear and fade.

Question 3

Understand the controls of soil formation: Parent material, time, climate, biologic activity, and slope/orientation

Answer 3

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Question 4

Understand the basic causes of soil erosion

Answer 4

Rainfall intensity and runoff…The impact of raindrops will break up the soil and water build-up will create runoff, taking sediment with it.

Question 5

Understand the different types of mass wasting.

Answer 5

Rockfalls and rockslides:
Debris flows:defined as mass‐wasting events in which turbulence occurs throughout the mass. Varieties of these are called earthflows, mudflows, and debris avalanches
Creep: a slow, gradual movement of soil or regolith downhill over time
Slump: earth material that has moved as a unit along a curved surface