Weathering, Erosion, Deposition, and Soils

Question 1

weathering

Answer 1

breakdown of rock

Question 2

physical weathering (also called mechanical)

Answer 2

breaking rock into smaller particles

Question 3

chemical weathering

Answer 3

when chemistry of rock changes when it’s broken down

Question 4

abrasion

Answer 4

weathering where rocks grind away by friction as they contact other rocks

Question 5

frost wedging

Answer 5

weathering in moist areas where water freezes and thaws in cracks making the cracks bigger in time

Question 6

soil

Answer 6

mixture of weathered rock and organic material

Question 7

residual soil

Answer 7

soil that forms in place

Question 8

transported soil

Answer 8

soil that is moved to a different location and is no longer where it had formed

Question 9

infiltration

Answer 9

water seeping into soil and ground

Question 10

erosion

Answer 10

the moving of sediments by agents of erosion

Question 11

agents of erosion

Answer 11

the thing that’s doing the moving (ice, liquid water, wind, gravity)

Question 12

solution

Answer 12

describes tiny sediments that are dissolved in water and transported in stream or ocean

Question 13

suspension

Answer 13

describes sediments that are carried within the water column of some body of water

Question 14

flotation

Answer 14

describes sediments that are transported near the top of some water body

Question 15

bed load

Answer 15

describes larger sediments that roll around along the bed of a stream because they are too big to be carried

Question 16

deposition

Answer 16

settling of sediments

Question 17

vertical sorting (also called graded bedding)

Answer 17

When sediments are arranged by size with largest on bottom and biggest on top (happens when seds. are deposited in water)

Question 18

horizontal sorting

Answer 18

When sediments get smaller as you move away from the shoreline (occurs where rivers enter lakes and oceans)

Question 19

dunes

Answer 19

hills or ridges of sediments deposited by wind (they shift with the wind)

Question 20

equilibrium

Answer 20

state of balance within nature

Question 21

dynamic equilibrium

Answer 21

when you have opposing forces or processes, but they balance out because they take place at the same rate (like the uplift of a mountain being equal to the rate of erosion)