Weathering

Question 1

What is de denudation

Answer 1

The wearing down of the surface of the earth.mot is done by weathering and erosion

Question 2

What is weathering

Answer 2

The breakdown of rock, usually by the forces of the weather. The broken rock lies where it has been broken. There are two types of weathering - mechanical and chemical

Question 3

What is chemical weathering

Answer 3

Weathering that occurs when rocks broken apart by physical force applied by frost and plants

Question 4

What is freeze - thaw action

Answer 4

Mechanical
Where the temperature rises above and falls below 0°
Where precipitation occurs
Water gets in the cracks of rocks, freezes and expands during the night, contracts during the day and the cycle goes over and over again till the rocks fall down the mountains and break up into scree

Question 5

What is exfoliation

Answer 5

Mechanical
A difference up to 32° between day and night.
Onion weathering
Outer layer of rock expands during the day and contracts during the night. Day after day eventually the outer layer cracks

Question 6

What is chemical weathering

Answer 6

Occurs when chemical change in the rocks causes them to dissolve

Question 7

What is carbonation

Answer 7

Chemical
Limestone is dissolved by carbon dioxide in rainwater
Carbonic acid opens cracks and joints in the limestone by dissolving it
E.g. Burren co. Clare

Question 8

What is a karst landscape

Answer 8

The burren
Limestone pavements, swallow holes, underground rivers and
caves
Surface features;
Clints - the blocks of limestone that for the limestone pavement
Grikes - the gaps between the blocks. Joints in the rock were opened wider when the limestone was dissolved by rainwater through the process of carbonation
Swallow holes - rivers that disappear underground
Underground features;
Stalactites - cone-shaped deposits of materials hanging down (calcite)
Stalagmites - built up from the floor of a limestone cave
Pillars - when stalactites and stalagmites join
E.g. Aillwee cave, Co. Clare