EARTH SCIENCE 11
EARTH PROCESSES
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
1ST SEMESTER A.Y. 2025 – 2026
OUTLINE
I. Chapter I: Exogenic II. Chapter II: Endogenic Processes • Thermal Expansion - The rock is
Processes 1. Sources of Earth’s Internal Heat exposed to high temperatures.
1. Weathering 2. Heat Transfer Processes When cooled, the outer layer
2. Erosion and Deposition contracts causing the surface to
break off into sheets.
I. EXOGENIC PROCESSES • Exfoliation - It refers to a rock that
splits into onion-like sheets parallel
❖ Exogenic Process
to the surface.
➢ These are external processes that occur on or
near the Earth’s surface. Its primary source is • Onion-like layers called Sheet
the energy coming from the sun, which drives
the weather. • Root Wedging - The joints expand
➢ Interconnected with the atmosphere, when plant roots growing on its
hydrosphere, and biosphere, and include the surface pry it opens in the process.
processes of weathering, erosion,
transportation, and deposition.
❖ Weathering
➢ Weathering is the natural process of breaking
down rocks, soil, and minerals into smaller
pieces through physical, chemical, or
biological means.
➢ It happens on or near the Earth’s surface and
does not involve movement of the broken
materials—that part comes later through
erosion.
❖ Two types of weathering • Salt Wedging - Salt wedging
➢ Mechanical/Physical Weathering happens when saltwater seeps into
➢ Chemical Weathering rocks and then evaporates on a hot
sunny day.
❖ Mechanical/Physical Weathering • Salt crystals grow within cracks and
➢ It is physical breakdown of rock into pores in the rock, and the growth of
unconnected grains or chunks without these crystals can push grains apart,
changes in its composition. causing the rock to weaken and
➢ Types of Physical Weathering: break.
• Frost Wedging – Often termed as
freeze-thaw weathering.
• Some rocks are porous (contain
holes or pores) or permeable (water
can pass through them).
• Rocks with these properties are
more susceptible to freeze-thaw
weathering.
ZOE MARIE Z. ALEGRE
EARTH SCIENCE 11
EARTH PROCESSES
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
1ST SEMESTER A.Y. 2025 – 2026
❖ Chemical Weathering II. EROSION AND DEPOSITION
➢ It occurs when chemical changes affect the ❖ What is Erosion?
composition of the rock. Surfaces are ➢ Erosion is when soil, sand, or rocks are worn
influenced by high temperature and pressure. away and moved from one place to another
➢ Rainwater and seawater can be weakly by natural forces like water, wind, ice, or
acidic. Particularly in the case of softer gravity.
sedimentary rocks, the acid in the water can ➢ Transport is the process by which sediments
gradually, over a long period of time, dissolve are moved along from the source to where
the rocks. they are deposited.
➢ Types of Chemical Weathering:
• Dissolution – It happens in certain ❖ Agents of Erosion
minerals, which are dissolved in ➢ Water
water. ➢ Ice/Glaciers
• Example: When salt is dissolved in ➢ Waves
water. ➢ Gravity
➢ Wind
❖ Type of Erosion (The different types of erosion are
named somehow depending on their agents)
➢ Water Erosion - Water is the most common
erosion agent.
• Millions of tons of sediments are
picked up and transported everyday
• Hydrolysis - It occurs when water along rivers, coasts, and oceans
reacts with the minerals and breaks around the world.
them down. The process occurs • It moves materials. Transports large
faster in slightly acidic water. objects with fast-moving streams of
• Example: Feldspar reacts with water.
water and hydrogen ions to ➢ Wind Erosion - Wind is responsible for
produced clay mineral. blowing away loose sand, soil, and dust. It
• Oxidation - It is a reaction of oxygen detaches soil particles and transports them by
with minerals in rock and forms wind.
oxides. When oxygen reacts with • It happens mostly in dry places like
Iron, rusting happens. deserts.
• Rusting involves the reaction of iron • Most effective in moving away loose
(Fe) with oxygen (O₂) and water materials.
(H₂O) to form iron oxides • Example: The sand dunes in Paoay,
(Fe₂O₃·nH₂O). Ilocos Norte are formed through the
process of wind erosion.
➢ Wave Erosion – It happens when ocean
waves hit the shoreline again and again,
slowly wearing away rocks, cliffs, and
beaches.
• The constant force of water plus the
sand and rocks carried by the waves
act like sandpaper, grinding and
breaking down the coast.
• Biological Weathering - It occurs in • Wave erosion creates beautiful
plants when fungi and lichens coastal landforms that attract
secrete organic acids that dissolve tourists.
minerals, and these organisms take
in the nutrients.
ZOE MARIE Z. ALEGRE
EARTH SCIENCE 11
EARTH PROCESSES
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
1ST SEMESTER A.Y. 2025 – 2026
• Example: The cliffs of Palawan in ❖ Deposition
the Philippines are shaped partly by ➢ Deposition is the process of sediments, soils,
wave erosion. and minerals being dropped or deposited in a
new place or location.
➢ Glacial Erosion - Ice moves and carries
rocks, grinding the rocks beneath the glaciers.
• It happens in cold regions with
glaciers (mountains, polar areas).
• Movement/transport includes
plucking of material like rocks.
• Example: Glaciers in the Himalayas
➢ Gravitational Erosion - Mass movement or
Mass wasting is the downward movement of
rock and sediments, mainly due to the force
of gravity.
• Movement from higher to lower
elevation.
➢ Types of Mass Wasting
• Fall - Rocks or soil fall freely through ENDOGENIC PROCESS
the air.
- Speed: Very fast ➢ Endogenic Process
- Example: Rockfall from a • It is caused by forces from within or in the interior
cliff. of the Earth.
- Key Feature: Materials • It happens inside the Earth’s surface.
don’t stay in contact with
the slope. ➢ Two (2) Sources of Hea in Earth’s Interior
• Slide - A large block of soil or rock • Primordial Heat
moves together along a flat surface. • Radioactive Heat
- Speed: Can be fast or
slow. ➢ (1) Primordial Heat
- Example: Landslide after • Heat from accretion and bombardment of the
heavy rain. Earth during the early stages of formation.
- Key Feature: Movement is • The core is a storage of primordial heat.
more or less in one big
piece.
• Flow - Soil, mud, or volcanic ash
flows like a liquid down a slope.
- Speed: Can be slow
(creep) or extremely fast
(mudflow, lahar).
- Examples:
- Mudflow: After a heavy
rain on bare soil.
- Lahar: Volcanic ash mixed
with rainwater flowing down
a volcano.
- Key Feature: Moves like a
➢ Accretion Energy
thick fluid.
• Heat released from collision of planetary objects
during the early formation of planets.
ZOE MARIE Z. ALEGRE
EARTH SCIENCE 11
EARTH PROCESSES
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
1ST SEMESTER A.Y. 2025 – 2026
➢ Adiabatic compression ✓ When particles in hotter regions vibrate faster,
• Heat is generated as materials are compressed they transfer energy to nearby cooler
and formed.
particles.
➢ Core formation energy ✓ This process allows heat to move slowly from
• Materials that compressed and formed gave birth the deep, hot mantle toward the surface.
to the core.
✓ Example:
➢ (2) Radiogenic Heat Heat from the mantle passes through the
• It is the heat that comes from the radioactive decay solid rocks of the crust by conduction.
of elements inside the Earth.
• Source: produced when radioactive isotopes (like ➢ Convection
Uranium-238, Thorium-232, and Potassium-40) ✓ Convection is the transfer of heat by the
break down into stable elements and release
movement of fluids (liquids or gases).
energy in the form of heat.
• It’s the new heat continually generated by the How it works inside Earth:
decay of radioactive materials in the Earth’s crust ✓ In the mantle, although rocks are mostly
and mantle.
solid, they behave like a viscous fluid over
long periods.
✓ Hot material deep within the mantle becomes
less dense and rises toward the surface.
✓ Cooler material near the top becomes denser
and sinks downward.
✓ This creates convection currents —
continuous circular movements that slowly stir
the mantle.
✓ Example:
Mantle convection is the driving force behind
➢ Heat Transfer Processes
plate tectonics.
• The Earth’s internal heat moves continuously from
✓ These currents cause continents to drift,
the hot interior toward the cooler surface.
mountains to form, and earthquakes and
• This movement of heat happens through three main
volcanoes to occur.
processes: conduction, convection, and radiation.
• Together, these processes distribute heat within the
planet and play a major role in shaping Earth’s
surface and internal structure.
➢ Conduction
✓ Conduction is the transfer of heat through
direct contact between particles of matter.
✓ This happens in solid materials like the crust.
✓ How it works inside Earth:
In Earth’s solid layers, like the crust, atoms
and molecules are packed closely together.
ZOE MARIE Z. ALEGRE
EARTH SCIENCE 11
EARTH PROCESSES
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
1ST SEMESTER A.Y. 2025 – 2026
➢ Significance/Importance of Heat Transfer in Earth
✓ Keeps the planet geologically active
(mountain building, earthquakes, volcanoes).
✓ Drives mantle convection, which moves
tectonic plates.
✓ Tectonic plate movement is Earth’s way of
✓ staying alive — it releases heat, renews the
crust, builds landscapes, supports the rock
and carbon cycles, and makes the planet
habitable.
✓ Helps maintain Earth’s magnetic field through
✓ Effect on temperature regulation:
convection in the liquid outer core.
Convection spreads heat evenly across the
✓ Regulates Earth’s temperature balance by
planet, preventing extreme hot or cold regions
radiating heat into space.
and keeping climate relatively stable.
➢ Radiation
✓ Radiation is the transfer of heat through
electromagnetic waves, without needing
any medium (no contact required with the
surface).
✓ Heat is being radiated from the Sun and back
into outer space.
✓ How it works inside Earth:
✓ Radiation mainly occurs at the Earth’s
surface, where internal heat is released into
space.
✓ The hot core and mantle emit infrared
radiation, which eventually escapes through
the crust and atmosphere.
✓ Although this process is slower than
conduction or convection inside the planet, it
is how Earth loses heat to outer space.
✓ The Earth’s way of breathing.
✓ Effect on temperature regulation: Radiation
balances incoming and outgoing energy —
too much trapped heat leads to global
warming, while too much loss causes cooling.
ZOE MARIE Z. ALEGRE