Weathering And Erosion Vocabulary Flashcards
Topsoil
Mixture of humus, clay, and other minerals that forms the crumbly, topmost layer of soil.
Erosion
The process by which water, ice, wind, or gravity moves weathered rock or soil.
Mechanical Weathering
The type of weathering in which rock is physically broken in to smaller pieces.
Chemical Weathering
The process that breaks down rock through chemical changes
Litter
The loose layer of dead plant leaves and stems on the surface of the soil
Natural resource
Anything in the environment that humans use
Crop rotation
The planting of different crops in a field each year to maintain the soil’s fertility
Soil
The loose, weathered material on Earth’s surface in which plants can grow.
Soil Horizen
The layer of soil that differs in color and texture from the layers above or below it
Humus
Dark-colored organic material in soil
Weathering
The chemical and physical process that breaks down rock at Earth’s surface
Soil conservation
The management of soil to prevent its destruction
Bedrock
The solid layer of rock beneath the soil
Permeable
Characteristics of a material that is full of tiny, connected air spaces that water can seep through.
Uniformaitarianism
The geologic principle that the same geologic process that operate today operated in the past to change Earth’s surface.
Abrasion
The grinding away of rock by other rock particles carried in water, ice, and wind.
Ice Weadging
Process that splits rock when water seeps into cracks, then freezes and expands.
Oxidation
A chemical change in which a substance combines with oxygen, as when iron oxidizes, forming rust.
Fertility
A measure of how well soil supports plants growth.
Loam
Rich, fertile soil that is made up of about equal parts of clay, sand, and silt.
Subsoil
Develops as rainwater washes clay and minerals from A horizan to the B horizan
Decomposer
Soil organism that breaks down the remains of organisms and digests them.
Sod
A thick mass of grass roots and soil.
Contour plowing
Plowing fields along the curves of a slope to prevent soil loss.
Conservation Plowing
Soil conservation method in which the dead stalks from the previous year’s crop are left in the ground to hold the soil in place.
