Weathering Basics
This process breaks down rock and other substances at Earth’s surface.
weathering
This type of weathering physically breaks rock into smaller pieces without changing its composition.
mechanical weathering
This type of weathering breaks down rock through chemical changes and often forms new minerals.
chemical weathering
These two factors determine how quickly weathering occurs.
rock type and climate
crust, mantle, outer core, inner core
This principle states that geologic processes operating today worked the same way in the past.
The Principal of Uniformitarianism
This process occurs when wind or water causes small particles to strike and wear away rock surfaces.
abrasion
During chemical weathering, this mineral in granite changes into clay.
feldspar
Rocks weather faster when their minerals have the ability to what?
dissolve in water
This type of igneous rock forms below Earth’s surface and has larger crystals because it cools slowly.
There are 5 causes of weathering. Name them.
heat, cold, water, ice, and gases
This process happens when water freezes in cracks of rock and expands, widening the cracks.
frost wedging
When iron combines with oxygen in the presence of water, this reddish-brown substance forms.
rust
This term describes rocks that have tiny spaces allowing water to pass through, increasing surface area for weathering.
permeable (or permeability)
This process changes rock’s shape and mineral arrangement due to intense heat and pressure.
deformation
This process removes and transports rock particles after they have been broken down.
erosion
These two forces can crack rock over time by expanding in cracks or by putting stress and pressure on rock.
plant roots and gravity
When dissolved in water, carbonic acid weakens and weathers what type of sedimentary rock made from skeletal fragments, shells, and coral from marine organisms.
limestone
Chemical weathering occurs more quickly in climates that are both this temperature condition and this moisture condition.
hot and wet conditions
Energy from this part of Earth drives volcanic eruptions, creates metamorphic rock, and helps power plate tectonics.
Earth's interior
These two processes work together to reshape Earth’s surface over millions of years — but can also cause rapid changes like sinkholes and avalanches.
weathering and erosion
This mechanical process explains why potholes grow larger after repeated freezing and thawing cycles.
frost wedging (freeze-thaw weathering)
This human activity increases air pollution, leading to more acidic rain and faster chemical weathering.
burning fossil fuels
This explains why marble gravestones may weather faster than slate gravestones, even if the slate is older.
marble’s minerals dissolve more easily than slate's
A rock forms from cooling magma deep underground. Over millions of years, it is uplifted, weathered into sediment, buried, and later exposed to intense heat and pressure without melting. Which ONE of the 3 types of rock is it now?
metamorphic rock