WEATHERING
This type of weathering breaks rocks down without changing their chemical composition (through means like wind).
What is physical weathering?
This process is the movement of weathered material from one location to another.
What is erosion?
These are the three major types of rocks.
What are igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic?
This is the original material from which soil develops.
What is parent material?
This type of weathering is caused by living organisms such as plants and animals.
What is biological weathering?
These are small pieces of weathered rock and other material.
What is sediment?
This type of rock forms when magma or lava cools and solidifies.
What is igneous rock?
This factor includes temperature and precipitation and influences weathering and soil development.
What is climate?
This type of weathering occurs when the minerals in a rock are chemically changed (through means like oxidation).
What is chemical weathering?
This process occurs when sediment is dropped or settles in a new location.
What is deposition?
This type of rock forms when existing rock is changed by extreme heat and pressure.
What is metamorphic rock?
This factor includes plants and animals that add organic matter and help break down materials.
What are organisms?
When oxygen reacts with iron in a rock and causes it to rust, this chemical weathering process is occurring.
What is oxidation?
Name three major agents of erosion.
What are water, wind, and ice?
Name the process that can turn each of the following into the next stage:
Rock → Magma
Magma → Igneous Rock
Rock → Sediment
Sediment → Sedimentary Rock
What are melting, cooling/solidification, weathering and erosion, and compaction/cementation?
This factor refers to the slope and landscape position of an area and can affect drainage and erosion.
What is topography?
Water freezes inside cracks in a rock, expands, and causes the rock to break apart. Identify the type of weathering and explain why.
What is physical weathering because the rock is broken apart without changing its chemical composition?
A river carries sediment downstream. When the river slows down, the sediment settles to the bottom. Identify both processes.
What are erosion and deposition?
A rock is exposed at Earth's surface. Over time, it is broken down into smaller pieces. Water carries those pieces downstream, and eventually the water slows down and drops the sediment. Over a long period of time, the sediment becomes compacted and cemented into a new rock.
What are the four major processes described in this scenario?
Answer: What are weathering → erosion → deposition → compaction and cementation?
Name the five major factors that influence soil formation.
What are climate, organisms, parent material, topography, and time?