The grand canyon
You know Grand Canyon, because that is a HUGE example of weathering and erosion… why? Because the WHOLE Canyon is weathering and erosion. In fact, it's happening right now, tiny little parts of stone are breaking apart with its original source, the large rock. And rocks are being moved by streams.
Weathering
Weathering… Weathering is the process by which rock materials are broken down by the action of physical or chemical processes. So taking our grand canyon example from earlier, I said that it was happening right now by quite a few ways. To take that further, the water from rain softens rock into tiny pieces of rock called Sediment. Also hikers stepping on the trail, which is a form of gravity landing on the rock, breaking it up slowly. And also water can get into the rock, and it can FREEZE, and in which ice expands, the rock is forced to grow (which breaks it apart). And of course wind can smash rocks into each other, and gust away pebbles, and throw rocks of cliffs.
Erosion
Have you ever seen rocks by a river? Of course you have! They have most likely been eroded to where they are now. If you don't know what erosion is, eroded, is the process by which: wind, water, ice, or gravity transports soil and sediment from one location to another.
This Picture shows Erosion because of the rocks beside the river had transferd to a different destination
Works citedSmith, Jane, Dr. of Archeology, Personal Interview. At GCFI
Berry, Kathleen Meehan. Holt Science & Technology Earth Science. Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2005. Print. |
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