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What is the process of the breaking down of rocks into smaller pieces?
weathering
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What is the mechanical breakdown of rock?
Physical weathering
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What are four causes of physical weathering?
- temperature
- water
- vegetation
- wind
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What is it called when oxygen in the air reacts with certain deposits in rocks and minerals, weakening, and causing them to crumble?
Oxidation
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What is rain that has come in contact with contaminants such as industrial exhausts and becomes acidic?
acid rain
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the process by which weathered materials are carried away
erosion
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when something curves or bends in a streambed formed by slow moving water on gently sloping land
meanders
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a broad, flat area surrounding a streambed that is close enough in elevation to the streambed so that occasional flooding occurs
floodplain
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soil, sand, rock , and anything else suspended in the water
sediment
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What is formed when a stream reaheds its base level?
a delta
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the level at which the stream enters a lake or ocean
base level
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similar to a delta, but is formed upstream when deep, fast-moving waters enter a shallow, wide area and deposits its sediment in the streambed
alluvial fan
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the process in which particles settle to the bottom of a liquid
deposition
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a small bit of material
particle
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water that neither gets absorbed by the earth nor evaporates
runoff
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periodic changes in the surface level of the oceans - caused by the moon's gravitional pull
tides
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artificial barriers constructed along the shoreline to absorb or deflect energy of the breaking waves, therefore reducing the amount of the erosion
breakwaters
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an earth material that allows water to pass through it is...
permeable
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an earth material that has all its air pockets/space filled with water is....
saturated
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Where do waves get their energy?
From the wind blowing across the surface of the water
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What factors affect the size and strength of waves?
- speed of the wind
- direction of the wind
- hi or low tide
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How does temperature affect rocks and minerals?
Give examples
- Extreme changes in daytime and nighttime temperatures can cause rocks to crack
- example: a rock in the Sahara desert
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How does water weather rocks and minerals?
Give examples
- Water seeps into rocks' cracks, freezes, expands, causing the crack to get bigger and eventually break into smaller pieces
- Example: a waterfall
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How does vegetation weather rocks and minerals?
Give examples
- Roots of plants can grow in the cracks of rocks
- Example: moss, lichens growing on a rock
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How does wind weather rocks and minerals?
Give examples
The force of the wind pushes against the rock, and sand and soil blown onto the rock wears it away
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Which settled slowest to fastest?
(gravel, soil, sand)
- Gravel - slowest
- Sand - middle
- Clay soil - fastest
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Why did each material settle at its speed?
The heavier the substance, the faster it deposits
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