Weathering And Erosion Vocabulary

Question 1

Topsoil

Answer 1

Mixture of humus, clay, and other minerals that forms the crumbly, topmost layer of soil.

Question 2

Erosion

Answer 2

The process by which water, ice, wind, or gravity moves weathered rock or soil.

Question 3

Mechanical Weathering

Answer 3

The type of weathering in which rock is physically broken in to smaller pieces.

Question 4

Chemical Weathering

Answer 4

The process that breaks down rock through chemical changes

Question 5

Litter

Answer 5

The loose layer of dead plant leaves and stems on the surface of the soil

Question 6

Natural resource

Answer 6

Anything in the environment that humans use

Question 7

Crop rotation

Answer 7

The planting of different crops in a field each year to maintain the soil’s fertility

Question 8

Soil

Answer 8

The loose, weathered material on Earth’s surface in which plants can grow.

Question 9

Soil Horizen

Answer 9

The layer of soil that differs in color and texture from the layers above or below it

Question 10

Humus

Answer 10

Dark-colored organic material in soil

Question 11

Weathering

Answer 11

The chemical and physical process that breaks down rock at Earth’s surface

Question 12

Soil conservation

Answer 12

The management of soil to prevent its destruction

Question 13

Bedrock

Answer 13

The solid layer of rock beneath the soil

Question 14

Permeable

Answer 14

Characteristics of a material that is full of tiny, connected air spaces that water can seep through.

Question 15

Uniformaitarianism

Answer 15

The geologic principle that the same geologic process that operate today operated in the past to change Earth’s surface.

Question 16

Abrasion

Answer 16

The grinding away of rock by other rock particles carried in water, ice, and wind.

Question 17

Ice Weadging

Answer 17

Process that splits rock when water seeps into cracks, then freezes and expands.

Question 18

Oxidation

Answer 18

A chemical change in which a substance combines with oxygen, as when iron oxidizes, forming rust.

Question 19

Fertility

Answer 19

A measure of how well soil supports plants growth.

Question 20

Loam

Answer 20

Rich, fertile soil that is made up of about equal parts of clay, sand, and silt.

Question 21

Subsoil

Answer 21

Develops as rainwater washes clay and minerals from A horizan to the B horizan

Question 22

Decomposer

Answer 22

Soil organism that breaks down the remains of organisms and digests them.

Question 23

Sod

Answer 23

A thick mass of grass roots and soil.

Question 24

Contour plowing

Answer 24

Plowing fields along the curves of a slope to prevent soil loss.

Question 25

Conservation Plowing

Answer 25

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.