Rivers, Coasts and Glaciations Flashcards
What is weathering?
Weathering is the breakdown of rocks by factors such as water, frost, temperature, plants, animals, people, etc.
What is freeze-thaw weathering?
When water fills a crack in a rock, the water freezes and the crack expands, breaking the rock into small pieces.
What is onion-skin weathering?
This occurs when a rock is repeatedly heated or cooled. When it is heated, the outer layer expands. When it is cooled, it contracts. When it is heated and cooled continuously, pieces of the rock start to peel off like the skin of an onion.
What is biological weathering?
This occurs with the action of plants or animals. Seeds can fall into the cracks of the rock, and shelter and moisture can help it grow into small plants or trees. When roots start growing, they widen the cracks and the rocks break down into pieces.
What is chemical weathering?
It occurs when chemical processes cause rocks to dissolve or decompose. It is a way where rocks are broken down and chemically altered.
What is erosion?
the process of removing earth materials from their original sites through weathering and transport.
What are sediments?
Small, solid pieces of material from rocks or organisms
List agents of erosion
Gravity, wind, running water, glaciers, waves
How does gravity help in erosion?
Gravity is a force that moves rock and other materials downhill, causing mass movement.
How does wind help in erosion?
Wind, erodes, transports and deposits rocks. The flow of wind can change the shape and size of rocks.
How does running water help in erosion?
Both surface water and ground water act as Agents of erosion. Groundwater can create underground surfaces like caves. Water running on land can create surfaces like Deltas.
How does Ice help in erosion?
A large mass of moving ice is called a glacier. When glaciers move, they carve their own valleys. Like rivers, glaciers break and carry away rock fragments.
How do waves help in erosion?
In coastal areas, the sea is constantly eroding old landforms and creating new ones.
What is weathering, erosion and deposition?
Weathering is the breaking down of rock. Erosion is the movement of sediment from broken rock. Deposition is the transportation of sediment to a new place.
What is coastal erosion?
Coastal erosion is the wearing away of land and the removal of beach or dune sediments by wave action, tidal currents, wave currents, drainage or high winds.
