JEG100 Week 10 Definitions: Weathering
& Soils Question and answers already
passed
Weathering - correct answer ✔Process of wearing down landscape:
Weathering: sets the stage for erosional processes
Not the same as:
• Mass wasting (gravity): spontaneous downslope movement (e.g., landslide)
• Erosion (water, ice, wind)
Erosion - correct answer ✔Transporting fragments elsewhere:
• Flowing water, wind, glacial ice, shoreline waves
3 Types of Weathering - correct answer ✔Attacks rocks, forms regolith
• a region of loose, unconsolidated rock and dust that sits atop a bedrock
layer.
3 types (all working together)
Physical (mechanical) weathering:
• Breakage, the disintegration of rocks without chemical alteration
Chemical weathering:
• Dissolution and chemical alteration
, Biological weathering:
• Physical and chemical
• Supplies material that will be eroded, and transported by wind, water, and
ice.
Weathering produces sediment - correct answer ✔Unconsolidated particles
and grains of rock can be transported and deposited by fluvial, glacial, coastal
or eolian agents.
Physical Weathering - correct answer ✔Mechanical breakage, no chemical
alteration (but increased surface area)
Frost action - role of joints
• Salt-crystal growth - arid climates
• Expansion and crystallization of solutes left behind by evaporation
• "Unloading": Pressure-release jointing (exfoliation)
• Role of vegetation
Salt weathering - correct answer ✔Crystal growth in evaporite deposits
Chemical Weathering - correct answer ✔Chemical change of minerals in
rock
• Water / air + rock
• Increases with increased temperature and precipitation•
Natural waters are slightly acidic (carbonic acid) - the power to dissolve rock
& Soils Question and answers already
passed
Weathering - correct answer ✔Process of wearing down landscape:
Weathering: sets the stage for erosional processes
Not the same as:
• Mass wasting (gravity): spontaneous downslope movement (e.g., landslide)
• Erosion (water, ice, wind)
Erosion - correct answer ✔Transporting fragments elsewhere:
• Flowing water, wind, glacial ice, shoreline waves
3 Types of Weathering - correct answer ✔Attacks rocks, forms regolith
• a region of loose, unconsolidated rock and dust that sits atop a bedrock
layer.
3 types (all working together)
Physical (mechanical) weathering:
• Breakage, the disintegration of rocks without chemical alteration
Chemical weathering:
• Dissolution and chemical alteration
, Biological weathering:
• Physical and chemical
• Supplies material that will be eroded, and transported by wind, water, and
ice.
Weathering produces sediment - correct answer ✔Unconsolidated particles
and grains of rock can be transported and deposited by fluvial, glacial, coastal
or eolian agents.
Physical Weathering - correct answer ✔Mechanical breakage, no chemical
alteration (but increased surface area)
Frost action - role of joints
• Salt-crystal growth - arid climates
• Expansion and crystallization of solutes left behind by evaporation
• "Unloading": Pressure-release jointing (exfoliation)
• Role of vegetation
Salt weathering - correct answer ✔Crystal growth in evaporite deposits
Chemical Weathering - correct answer ✔Chemical change of minerals in
rock
• Water / air + rock
• Increases with increased temperature and precipitation•
Natural waters are slightly acidic (carbonic acid) - the power to dissolve rock
