Lesson 5 - Weathering,soil, & Mass Wasting Flashcards
What are earths three external process?
Weathering
Mass wasting
Erosion
What is the disintegration and decomposition of material at or near the surface?
Weathering
What is the transfer of rock material downslope under the influence of gravity?
Mass wasting
What is the incorporation and transportation of material by a mobile agent , usually water, wind, or ice?
Erosion
What are the two kinds of weathering?
Mechanical
Chemical
What is mechanical weathering?
Breaking rocks into smaller pieces?
What is chemical weathering?
Altering the internal structures of minerals by removing or adding elements
What are the four processes of mechanical weathering?
Frost wedging
Unloading
Biological activity
What is the most important agent in chemical weathering?
Water
(Chemical weathering) what does the oxygen dissolved in water do?
Oxidizes material
(Chemical weathering) What does carbon dioxide dissolved in water do?
Forms carbonic acid and alters the material
What does the weathering of potassium feldspars produce?
Clay materials
Soluble salt (potassium bicarbonate)
Silica in solutions
What remains substantially unaltered during the chemical weathering of granite?
Quartz
What is produced when silicate materials are weathered?
Soluble sodium, calcium, potassium, and magnesium products
Insoluble iron
Clay materials
How can chemical weathering also produce physical changes?
Spheroidal weathering
How does mechanical weathering aid chemical weathering ?
By increasing the surface area
What are important factors of weathering rates?
Rock characteristics
Climate
What two rock characteristics are factors in the rate of weathering?
Mineral composition and solubility
Physical features
What mineral composition dissolved in weakly acidic solutions?
Marble (calcite)
In what order do silicate minerals weather in?
The order of their crystallization
What physical features example os a factor of weathering rate?
Joints
What are the two most crucial factors of climate that influence the rate of weathering?
Temperature
Moisture
What climate is chemical weathering most effective?
Warm temperatures
Abundant moisture
What is differential weathering caused by?
Variations in compositions
What is created by differential weathering?
Unusual and spectacular rock formations and landforms
Freeze wedging is caused by the repeated freeze-thaw.
Frost wedging
The removal of great weights of rock or ice that lie on the surface. This may happen through rising temperatures that melt ice sheets; erosion by wind, water or ice; or tectonic uplift.
Unloading weathering
The weakening and subsequent disintegration of rock by plants, animals and microbes. Growing plant roots can exert stress or pressure on rock
Biological activity weathering
What occurs in the most well-consolidated, lithified, and highly competent rocks, such as sandstone, limestone, quartzite, and granite
Joint
A fracture dividing rock into two sections that moved away from each other.
Joint
A characteristic weathering form in massive rocks, granite, dolerite, basalt, and even some sedimentary types such as silicified sandstones, results in the production of spheroidal boulders of unweathered rock, around which are to be observed layers or flakes of disintegrated material.
Spheroidal weathering
What is an interface in the earth system?
Soil