Erosion & Deposition Basics
The process by which sediment is picked up and moved by water, wind, ice, or gravity.
What is Erosion?
A bend or curve in a river formed by erosion on the outside and deposition on the inside.
What is a meander?
A mound or ridge of sand formed by wind deposition.
What is a dune?
The general term for downhill movement of rock and soil due to gravity.
What is mass wasting?
A large, slow-moving mass of ice that reshapes Earth’s surface.
What is a glacier?
The process that happens when transported sediment is dropped in a new location.
What is deposition?
A current that moves sand along the shoreline parallel to the coast.
What is a longshore current?
Fine, wind-blown sediment that creates fertile soil far from its source.
What is loess?
A sudden, fast movement of rock and soil down a slope.
What is a landslide?
Unsorted sediment deposited directly by melting glacial ice.
What is till?
This relationship explains why erosion and deposition usually happen together in nature.
What is that erosion moves sediment and deposition drops it?
This landform forms when a river slows down and deposits sediment at its mouth.
What is a delta?
Wind erosion most commonly occurs in areas that are dry and have this surface condition.
What is little or no vegetation?
This pile of broken rock often forms at the base of a cliff.
What is talus?
A ridge of sediment formed at the edge of a glacier.
What is a moraine?
The wearing away of rock by sediment rubbing against it.
What is abrasion?
Fast-moving water usually causes this process, while slow-moving water causes deposition.
What is erosion?
Compared to water, wind can move sediment that is mostly this size.
What is small or fine sediment?
Heavy rainfall increases the chance of this gravity-driven process.
What is mass wasting?
Sediment carried by meltwater away from a glacier.
What is outwash?
This factor most affects whether sediment is eroded or deposited: water speed, rock type, or temperature?
What is water speed (velocity)?
Over time, streams can change from steep and fast to wide and slow—this describes the stages of what process?
What are the stages of stream development?
This evidence suggests wind deposition rather than erosion shaped a landform.
What are sand dunes or layered deposits?
This factor most affects the speed of mass wasting: slope steepness, latitude, or Earth’s rotation?
What is slope steepness?
This process allows glaciers to carve valleys by scraping rock beneath them.
What is abrasion?