L1. WEATHERING Flashcards
This type of weathering disintegrates rocks, breaking them into smaller pieces.
Physical Weathering
This type of weathering breaks down rocks through synthetic responses that change the original rock-forming minerals.
Chemical Weathering
MAJOR PROCESSES OF MECHANICAL WEATHERING
This is when water gets inside the joints, interchange freezing, and defrosting scenes pry the stone apart.
Frost Wedging
MAJOR PROCESSES OF MECHANICAL WEATHERING
It’s a force exerted by salt crystal that formed as water evaporates from pore spaces or cracks in rocks can cause the rock to fall apart.
Salt Crystal Growth
MAJOR PROCESSES OF MECHANICAL WEATHERING
This is the eroding of rocks by consistent impact of free particles.
Abrasion
MAJOR PROCESSES OF MECHANICAL WEATHERING
When plants and animals (including humans) as agents of mechanical weathering.
Biological Activity
MAJOR PROCESSES OF CHEMICAL WEATHERING
Dissociation of molecules into ions; common example includes dissolution of calcite and salt.
Dissolution
MAJOR PROCESSES OF CHEMICAL WEATHERING
The reaction between minerals and oxygen dissolved in water.
Oxidation
MAJOR PROCESSES OF CHEMICAL WEATHERING
The change in the structure of minerals when they respond with water.
Hydrolysis
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE WEATHERING’S PACE
Areas that are cold and dry will in general have moderate slow rates of chemical weathering and weathering is mostly physical; chemical weathering is generally dynamic in districts with high temperature and precipitation.
Climate
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE WEATHERING’S PACE
The minerals that constitute rocks have various susceptibilities to weathering. The susceptibility of minerals (from high to low) roughly follows the inverse of the order of crystallization of minerals in the Bowen’s reaction series. Thus, olivine which crystallizes first is the least resistant whereas; quartz which crystallizes last is the most resistant
Rock Type
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE WEATHERING’S PACE
Rate of weathering is influenced by the presence of joints, folds, faults, bedding planes through which agents of weathering enter a rock mass. Highly jointed/fractured rocks break down quicker than a strong mass of rock of the same dimension
Rock Structure
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE WEATHERING’S PACE
Physical weathering occurs more quickly on a steep slope than on a gentle one. On a gentle slope, water may remain longer in contact with the stones, consequently chemical weathering is enhanced
Topography
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE WEATHERING’S PACE
Length of exposure to agents of weather determines the level of weathering of a rock.
Time
