Unit 13

Question 1

Weathering

Answer 1

process that leads to another type of material found on Earth’s surface (soil)

Question 2

Denudation

Answer 2

A) Overall effect of all disintegration, wearing away, and removing of rock material
B) 3 types of activities: weathering, mass wasting, erosion
C) Impacts building/structures as well as natural landscapes

Question 3

weathering agents

Answer 3

water, ice, wind, acids, salt, plants, animals, changes in temperature

Question 4

Mass Wasting

Answer 4

material that falls under the influence of gravity with little or no transporting agent

Question 5

Erosion

Answer 5

A)processes that move material to another place under the influence of transporting agents
B)some rivers can have either an alluvial fan or delta (deposit of sediment

Question 6

transporting agents (erosion)

Answer 6

water (river: move material downstream), ice, wind(winds from Africa get blown to North America)

Question 7

Alluvial Fan

Answer 7

weathered material that spread out over a plain; sits at bottom of valley

Question 8

Delta

Answer 8

river flows into large body of water (Mississippi river)

Question 9

ice

Answer 9

a glacier is a body of ice formed on land that is in motion: not readily apparent over short periods

Question 10

Weathering structures

Answer 10

A) great sphinx
B) Grand Canyon (water was agent)
C) analope canyon

Question 11

Mechanical Weathering

Answer 11

destruction of rocks through the imposition of stress (pressure)
A) frost wedging
B) salt wedging
C) thermal expansion (desert rocks, lightening, forest fires)

Question 12

Chemical Weathering

Answer 12

breaking down ricks through a chemical rection

A) change the materials that make up rocks

Question 13

oxidation ( chemical weathering)

Answer 13

oxygen combines with metallic elements in minerals to form new products known as “iron oxides” (rust)

• iron oxides: easy to break down, reddish brown to orange minerals, rust like coating
• produces acid that dissolves rock

Question 14

Carbonation (chemical weathering)

Answer 14

CO2 gas dissolves in water to form an acidic solution

-acidic solutions are good at attacking and dissolving rocks

Question 15

Biological Weathering

Answer 15

Weathering from plants and animals
A) Tree roots: roots crack through rock
B) Animals burrowing into ground: break apart rock and soil
-Weathering processes do not work independently; occur simultaneously and work together to break down rocks
-weathering is a natural process, but humans speed it up
A) some types of air pollution increase the rate of weathering: burning coal, natural gas, and oil release gas(Nitrogen oxide and Sulfur Dioxide)
B) chemicals combine with sunlight and moisture: form into acids and fall back to earth as acid rain

Question 16

soil

Answer 16

Are comprised of broken fragments of rock called DETRITUS
A) weathering is the act of creating these fragments
B) fragments come from variety of rocks and are produced from a combination of weathering processes

Question 17

Infiltration rate

Answer 17

amount of water able to enter the soil in a specified time period

Question 18

Pore Size

Answer 18

space between soil particles

Question 19

Sand

Answer 19

relatively large particles, high infiltration rate, large pores, vegetation struggles to grow,

Question 20

Clay

Answer 20

Most fine type of soil, low infiltration rate, small pores, large quantities can make soil heavy and dense, plant roots cannot penetrate it

Question 21

Silt

Answer 21

more fine than sand but more coarse than clay, higher infiltration rate than clay but lower than sand, pore size in between clay and sand, common in floodplains, most prominent component of mud, good for plants

Question 22

Loam

Answer 22

type of soil that is a combination of sand, silt, and clay. There are many different variations, which are determined by composition (percentage of sand, silt, and clay)