Weathering, Erosion, and Deposition
What is:
Breaking down of rock material through physical or chemical means.
Weathering
What is:
The moving of weathered Earth materials.
Erosion
What is the strongest agent of Erosion?
Water
What is the main geological feature we see formed by wind erosion?
Sand dunes
What is an index fossil.
Fossil of an organism that lived for a short amount of time over a large area used to find absolute ages of some rocks.
What is:
The placing of Earth materials in a new location.
Deposition
What is one example of chemically weathering in geology?
Hydrolysis, acid
What is hydrolysis in geology?
When rock materials are chemically altered by chemical reactions with water.
What is loess?
Very rich soils formed from the deposition of materials picked up during deflation.
What percentage of living things that have ever lived on Earth are extinct?
99%
What is physical/mechanical weathering?
The breaking up of rock materials without altering the chemical makeup of the rock.
What is chemical weathering?
When rocks are chemically broken down.
What is ice wedging?
Water freezes and expands inside cracks within rocks forcing the rock apart
What is abrasion in geology?
When rocks or sand moved by water or wind hit rocks and break or chip off parts of other rocks.
What is moraine?
material left behind by a glacier
What are three agents of erosion?
Moving water, gravity, wind, moving ice.
What is mass wasting?
The movement of rock and soil down slopes under the influence of gravity.
What is the difference between creep and slump?
Creep occurs slowly, slump occurs suddenly (fast)
What is wind deflation?
When the wind picks up small particles of Earth and carries them high into the air.
What is the difference between a landslide and a mudslide?
How might plants be an agent of weathering?
Roots might split apart rocks, fallen trees could break rocks, etc.
How might animals be an agent of weathering?
Animals often scratch apart rocks to make habitats.
When surface of rocks flake off because of stresses caused by differential heating.
What is the main factor that will determine whether or not wind and water will be a major factor of weathering and erosion in a given area?
How much vegetation/plant life there is in the area.
What did modern bird evolve from?