Weathering, Soil, and Mass Wasting
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47 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Earth's External Processes | at the surface, responsible for transforming solid rock into sediment, process: weathering, mass wasting, erosion |
| weathering | the disintegration and decomposition of material at or near the surface, mechanical or chemical |
| mass wasting | the transfer of rock material downslope under the influence of gravity |
| erosion | the incorporation and transportation of material by a mobile agent, usually water, wind, or ice |
| mechanical weathering | breaking rock into smaller pieces through frost wedging, unloading, biological activity |
| Frost wedging | wet climate, cool water freezes, water will get into small cracks and freezes and expands,temp increases, water thaws, repeat, bust and move the rock, occurs in NE climate |
| chemical weathering | alters the internal structures of minerals by removing or adding elements, most important agent is water |
| rates of weathering | surface area increase advances weathering, important factors: rock characteristics, climate, and differential weathering |
| rates of weathering: rock characteristics | mineral composition, solubility, physical features such as joints |
| rates of weathering: climate | temperature and moisture, chemical weathering is the most effective in areas of warm temperatures and abundant moisture |
| rates of weathering: differential weathering | caused by variations in compositions, creates unusual and spectacular rock formations, west the wind is going to do the damage` |
| difference between chemical and physical weathering | chemical leaves odd shapes because of the way the acids eat away |
| joint-controlled weathering in igneous rock | crack because of force and frost wedging opens up the joints |
| soil | interface in earth's system, combination of mineral matter, water and air, final product of weathering |
| soil classification: texture | refers to the proportions of different particle sizes sand, silt, clay, loam |
| loam | a mixture of all three sizes of particles , best suited for plant life |
| soil classification: structure | soil particles clumped to give a soil its structure, helps determine a soils porosity and permeability, platy, prismatic, blocky, spheroidal |
| controls of soil formation | parent material, time, climate, plants and animals, slope |
| controls of soil: residual soil | parent material of the soil (bedrock) |
| controls of soil:transported soil | parent material has been carried from eleswhere and depositied ex: buying pot soil or water carrying sediments |
| control of soil: time | important in all geologic processes (nothing happens fast), amount of time to evolve varies for different soil |
| control of soil: climate | needs water |
| control of soil: plants and animals | organisms influence the soils physical and chemical properties and furnish organic matter to soil |
| control of soil: slope | steep slopes often have poorly developed soils because of water run off, the direction the slope is facing |
| soil profile | soil forming process operates from the surface downward |
| horizons | zones or layers of soil |
| soil profile: topsoil | organic matter and mineral matter |
| soil types | pedalfer, pedocal, and laterite |
| soil types: pedalfer ( 2 example) | alumunin, iron, best developed under the forest region (NW forest regions, Borreal forest |
| soil types: pedocal ( 2 example) | oxygen, calcium, dry grasslands (Africa and MW grain belt) |
| soil types: laterite | hot, wet, tropical climates, rain forest, intense chemical weathering |
| soil erosion | recycling of earths material, can cause reservoirs to fill with sediments |
| natural rates of soil erosion | soil characteristics, climate, slope, type of vegetation |
| secondary enrichment | concentrates metals into economical deposits |
| process of secondary enrichment | removing undesired material from decomposing rock leaving the desired materials behind, desired elements are carried to lower zones and deposited |
| mass wasting | the downslope movement of the rock, regolith, and soil under the direct influence of gravity, gravity is controlling force |
| mass wasting triggering factors | saturation of the material with water, over steeping of slopes, removal of anchoring vegetation, and ground vibrations from earthquakes |
| types of mass wasting process | the material involved: debris, mud, earth, or rock, the movement of the material: fall, slide, flow |
| types of mass wasting process | slump, rock slide, mud flow, earth flow, liquefaction, creep, solifluction |
| types of mass wasting process: slump | rapid movement along curved surface, occurs along over steepened slopes |
| types of mass wasting process: rock slide | rapid, blocks of bedrock move down a slope |
| types of mass wasting process: mud flow | rapid flow of debris with water, often confined to channels, serious problem in dry areas with heavy rains |
| lahar | debris flows composed mostly of volcanic materials |
| types of mass wasting process: earth flow | rapid, typically occur on hillside in humid regions, water saturate the soil |
| types of mass wasting process: liquefaction | a special type of earth flow sometime associated with earthquakes |
| types of mass wasting process: creep | slow movement of soil and regolith downhill, cause fences and utilty poles to tilt |
| types of mass wasting process: solifuction | slow movement in areas by permafrost, upper (active) soil layer becomes saturated and slowly flows over a frozen surface below |
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