Weathering, Erosion, and
Deposition
Weathering
• The breakdown of Earth's crust into smaller
pieces.
• The chemical and physical processes that
break down rock at Earth's surface.
Mechanical (Physical)
Weathering
• The type of weathering in which rock is
physically broken into smaller pieces.
• Types of Mechanical weathering
— Ice (Frost) wedging
— Plant root growth
— Release of Pressure/Exfoliation
— Abrasion
— Burrowing of animals
— Temperature changes
seeps into cracks, then
Ice (Frost) freezes and expands.
Wedging Frost Wedging
The process that splits
rock when water
Water-filled Freezes to Breaks crack
ice Rock
Release of Pressure/ExfoIiation
• As erosion removes
material from the
surface of a mass of
rock, pressure on
the rock is reduced.
• This release of
pressure causes
the outside of the
rock to crack and flake off like the layers of an
onion.
Abrasion
• The grinding away of rock particles carried
Burrowing of Animals
Burrowing animals, like moles and rabbits dig holes that
expose new rocks to the effects of weathering. The holes allow
water and other weathering agents to reach the rock layer that
had been covered by the soil.
Temperature Changes
repeated daily heating and cooling of rock;
• h
e
a
t
causes expansion; cooling causes
contraction.
• different minerals expand and
contract at different rates
causing stresses along mineral
boundaries
-e example: Stone Mountain, Georgia
Chemical Weathering
• The process that breaks down rock
through chemical changes.
• The agents of chemical weathering
— Water
— Oxygen
— Living organisms
— Acid Rain
— Carbon Dioxide
Water
• Water weathers rock by dissolving it.
Oxygen
• A chemical change in
which a substance
combines with
oxygen, as when iron
oxidizes, forming rust.
• Rock that contains iron also oxidizes, or
rusts.
Living Organisms
• Lichens that grow on rocks produce weak
acids that chemically weather rock.
Acid Rain
• Compounds from burning coal, oil and gas
react chemically with water forming acids.
• Acid rain causes very rapid chemical
weathering.
Carbon
Dioxide
• C02 dissolves
in rain water
and creates
carbonic acid.
• Carbonic acid easily weathers limestone and
marble.
Karst Topography
• Karst is created by chemical weathering of
limestone.
• A type of landscape in rainy regions where
there is limestone near the surface,
characterized by caves, sinkholes, and
disappearing streams.
Features of Karst: Sinkholes
Erosion
• The process by which water, ice, wind,
or gravity moves weathered rock or
soil.
Erosion
• The process by which water, ice, wind,
or gravity moves weathered rock or
soil.
Agents of Erosion
• 1 . Gravity
• 2. Running Water
• 3. Wind
• 4. Glacier
• 5. Man
What is Gravity?
• A force that moves rocks and other
materials downhill;
• The force that pulls objects towards each
other.
Gravity is the underlying force behind all erosion;
it may act alone or with a transporting agent:
• causes water to flow downhill.
• causes glaciers to flow down a valley or spread outward.
• causes winds by pulling heavier (more dense) cold air beneath (less dense) warm
air.
Gravity
1 . Gravity pulls sediments down slopes
2. The downhill movement of sediments by
gravity is called Mass Wastinq
Mass Movement
3. Types of mass wasting include:
Landslides Mudslides mud flows
Avalanches
Mass Movements
• Landslides, mudslides, slump and creep
Wind Erosion
• sediments that have been
transported by wind are appear
pitted (random holes) and frosted
(glazed look) and are deposited in
sorted piles.
• Onl
y
very small particles can be
transported by wind.
desert wind
erosion pitted
Ice Erosion • Glaciers
There are 5 ways that man can cause
erosion:
1. Forestry — all vegetation of removed, and
without roots, the soil will erode away.
2. Strip Mining — removing rock cover to get
to the resources below, which causes the
loose sediments to erode away.
3. Construction — the clearing of land to build
buildings/houses also causes all loose soil to
erode away.
4. Improper Farming — not plowing the land at
right angles to slopes causes soil to erode
away.
5. Salting Highways — the salt is washed off the road to the sides,
where it prevents vegetative growth along the sides.
Deposition — Process in which sediment is laid down in new
locations.
• Most deposition happens in standing/still bodies of water
(oceans/lakes).
• Deposition is caused by the slowing down of the agent of
erosion.
Sediment - Small, solid pieces of material that come from rocks
or organisms; earth materials deposited by erosion.
There are 3 factors that influence the rate of sediment deposition:
1. Sediment size
2. Sediment shape
3. Sediment density -
Graded Bedding/Vertical Sorting
• a situation where larger particles settle on the bottom and smaller
particles settle towards the top.
This happens naturally when a fast moving river/stream meets a large
standing body of water.
• This happens because the velocity of the water decreases very
quickly. (A waterfall emptying into a lake)
Each graded
laye r
represents a single
event of deposition.
Laterlayer of
EarlierWitlin a single
layerlayer, the
particles gradually
change from largest at
tie bottom to smallest at the top.
Horizontal Sorting
a situation where moving water enters a larger, still body of
water slowly, and causes the larger particles to be deposited
closer to the shoreline.
Particle size decreases as you move away from the shore.
Delta
• a fan shaped deposit that forms at the mouth of a river/stream when it
enters a larger body of water.
• This is seen under the water.
• The particles are horizontally sorted.
Alluvial Fan
• a fan shaped deposit of sediments that forms when a stream/river
flows out of a mountain on to flat, dry plains.
• These are not under water and are very visible.
• This only happens on the land. You can call it a "land delta"
Cross-Bedding
• a situation where layers of sediments are
deposited at angles to one another as a result of a
change of direction of the erosional agent.
• These are usually found in sand Cross Beds dunes, deltas, and
alluvial fans.
What have you learned?
1 . What is erosion?
2. How are weathering and erosion connected?
Give 2 examples of weathering.
3.
4.
Give 2 examples of erosion.
5.
6.