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    Weathering, Erosion, and Transportation

    Uploaded by

    Kyla Isabel
    This document discusses the processes of weathering, erosion, and transportation that change rocks at Earth's surface. It describes two main types of weathering - mechanical and chemical. Mechanical weathering physically breaks rocks into smaller pieces with little chemical change, such as from frost wedging or plant growth. Chemical weathering decomposes rocks through exposure to water, carbon dioxide, and other gases, transforming minerals into different types like feldspar changing to clay. Weathering produces soil and affects structures, landscapes, and ecosystems. Factors like water availability, temperature, and slope influence chemical and mechanical weathering rates.

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    Weathering, Erosion, and Transportation

    Uploaded by

    Kyla Isabel
    110 views3 pages
    This document discusses the processes of weathering, erosion, and transportation that change rocks at Earth's surface. It describes two main types of weathering - mechanical and chemical. Mechanical weathering physically breaks rocks into smaller pieces with little chemical change, such as from frost wedging or plant growth. Chemical weathering decomposes rocks through exposure to water, carbon dioxide, and other gases, transforming minerals into different types like feldspar changing to clay. Weathering produces soil and affects structures, landscapes, and ecosystems. Factors like water availability, temperature, and slope influence chemical and mechanical weathering rates.

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    WEATHERING.docx

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    This document discusses the processes of weathering, erosion, and transportation that change rocks at Earth's surface. It describes two main types of weathering - mechanical and chemical. Mechanical weathering physically breaks rocks into smaller pieces with little chemical change, such as from frost wedging or plant growth. Chemical weathering decomposes rocks through exposure to water, carbon dioxide, and other gases, transforming minerals into different types like feldspar changing to clay. Weathering produces soil and affects structures, landscapes, and ecosystems. Factors like water availability, temperature, and slope influence chemical and mechanical weathering rates.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    110 views3 pages

    Weathering, Erosion, and Transportation

    Uploaded by

    Kyla Isabel
    This document discusses the processes of weathering, erosion, and transportation that change rocks at Earth's surface. It describes two main types of weathering - mechanical and chemical. Mechanical weathering physically breaks rocks into smaller pieces with little chemical change, such as from frost wedging or plant growth. Chemical weathering decomposes rocks through exposure to water, carbon dioxide, and other gases, transforming minerals into different types like feldspar changing to clay. Weathering produces soil and affects structures, landscapes, and ecosystems. Factors like water availability, temperature, and slope influence chemical and mechanical weathering rates.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    WEATHERING, EROSION, AND TRANSPORTATION

    Weathering – the process that change the physical and chemical character of rock at or near the
    surface. The tightly bound crystals of any rock can be loosened and altered to new minerals
    when to exposed to air and water during this process.
    Erosion – the process of picking up or physical removal of rock particles by an agent such as
    ocean waves, running water, or glaciers.
    Transportation – the movement of eroded particles by agents such as rivers, waves, glaciers, or
    wind.

    HOW WEATHERING CHANGES ROCKS


    Rocks undergo both mechanical weathering and chemical weathering.
    Mechanical Weathering (Physical Disintegration)
    - Includes several processes that break rock into smaller pieces. The change in the rock is
    physical; there is little or no chemical change.
    Chemical Weathering (Rock Decomposition)
    - Decomposition of rock from exposure to water and atmospheric gases (principally carbon
    dioxide, oxygen, and water vapor).
    EXAMPLE:
    Weathering on granite.
    Mechanical Chemical
    Its original crystals of quartz, feldspar, and Some of the original minerals are chemically
    ferromagnesian minerals are unchanged. changed into different minerals. Feldspar will
    change into clay mineral.

    EFFECTS OF WEATHERING
    - The effects of chemical weathering can be found along the edges or corners of old stone
    structures. Stones have different reactions to chemical weathering. Some can be
    weathered for a short time like blocks of limestone or marble, while some may take a
    while like granite and slate.
    - Surface discoloration is also an effect of weathering.
    - Soil is produced by rock weathering, so most plants depend on weathering for the soil
    they need in order to grow.
    - Weathering products transported to the sea by rivers as dissolved solids make seawater
    salty and serve as nutrients for many marine organisms.
    - Some metallic ores, such as those of copper and aluminum, are concentrated into
    economic deposits by chemical weathering.
    - Chemical weathering removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, allowing it to be
    transformed into limestone and stored in the crust.
    Spheroidal Weathering occurs where rock has been rounded by weathering from an initial
    blocky shape.
    Differential Weathering describes the tendency for different types of rock to weather at
    different rates.

    TYPES OF WEATHERING
    Mechanical Weathering
    Of the many processes that cause rocks to disintegrate, the most effective are pressure release
    and frost action.
    a. Pressure Release
    - The reduction of pressure on a body of rock can cause it to crack as it expands. Sheet
    joints develop parallel to the outer surface of the rock as the outer part of the rock
    expands more than the inner part.
    - Exfoliation refers to the process of spalling off of rock layers.

    b. Frost Action
    - Occurs as frost wedging or frost heaving.
    - Frost wedging refers to the expansion of freezing water which pries a rock apart
    - Frost heaving lifts rock and soil vertically.

    c. Other Processes
    - Plant growth, where the roots growing in cracks can break up rocks, as can burrowing
    animals.
    - Extreme changes in temperature can cause a rock to expand until it cracks
    - Pressure of salt crystals formed as water evaporates inside small spaces in rock also
    helps to disintegrate desert rocks

    Chemical Weathering
    Rock decomposition transform rocks and minerals exposed to water and air into new chemical
    products. Minerals change gradually at the surface until the come into equilibrium, or balance,
    with the surrounding conditions.
    a. Role of Oxygen
    - Oxygen is abundant in the atmosphere and quite active chemically, so it often combines
    with minerals or with elements within minerals that are exposed at Earth’s surface. The
    brown, yellow, or red color of soil and many kinds of sedimentary rock is commonly the
    result of small amounts of hematite and limonite released by the weathering of iron-
    containing minerals.
    b. Role of Acids
    - Acids are chemical compounds that give off hydrogen ions when they dissociate, or break
    down, in water. The hydrogen ions disrupt the orderly arrangement of atoms within most
    minerals. The mineral exposed to acid decomposes, often into a different mineral.
    - The most important natural source of acid for rock weathering at Earth’s surface is
    dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) in water.
    Solution Weathering
    Some minerals are completely dissolved by chemical weathering. For example, calcite gets
    completely dissolved when exposed to carbon dioxide and water.

    FACTORS AFFECTING WEATHERING


    - Chemical weathering is largely a function of the availability of liquid water.
    - Temperature is also a factor in chemical weathering.
    - Mechanical weathering intensity is also related to climate, as well as to slope.

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