Weathering

Weathering is the process where rock is dissolved, worn away or broken down into smaller
and smaller pieces. There are mechanical, chemical and organic weathering processes.
Organic weathering happens when plants break up rocks with their growing roots or plant
acids help dissolve rock. Once the rock has been weakened and broken up by weathering it is
ready for erosion. Erosion happens when rocks and sediments are picked up and moved to
another place by ice, water, wind or gravity.
Except for volcanic rocks and some sedimentary rocks, most rocks are formed at some depth
within the crust. There they experience relatively constant temperature, high pressure, no
contact with the atmosphere, and little or no moving water. Once a rock is exposed at the
surface, which is what happens when the overlying rock is eroded, conditions change
dramatically. Temperatures vary widely, there is much less pressure, oxygen and other gases
are plentiful, and in most climates, water is abundant.
Weathering includes two main processes that are entirely different. One is the mechanical
breakdown of rock into smaller fragments, and the other is the chemical change of the
minerals within the rock to forms that are stable in the surface environment. Mechanical
weathering provides fresh surfaces for attack by chemical processes, and chemical
weathering weakens the rock so that it is more susceptible to mechanical weathering.
Together, these processes create two significant products, one being the sedimentary clasts
and ions in solution that can eventually become sedimentary rock, and the other being the soil
that is necessary for our existence on Earth.
Mechanical Weathering
Mechanical weathering physically breaks up rock. One example is called frost action or frost
shattering. Water gets into cracks and joints in bedrock. When the water freezes it expands
and the cracks are opened a little wider. Over time pieces of rock can split off a rock face and
big boulders are broken into smaller rocks and gravel. This process can also break up bricks
on buildings.

Intrusive igneous rocks form at depths of several hundreds of meters to several tens of
kilometers. Sediments are turned into sedimentary rocks only when other sediments bury
them to depths more than several hundreds of meters. Most metamorphic rocks are formed at
depths of kilometers to tens of kilometers. Weathering cannot even begin until these rocks are
uplifted through various processes of mountain building — most of which are related to plate
tectonics — and the overlying material has been eroded, and the rock is exposed as an
outcrop.
The critical agents of mechanical weathering are:
 The decrease in pressure that results from the removal of overlying rock
 Freezing and thawing of water in cracks in the rock
 Formation of salt crystals within the rock
 Cracking from plant roots and exposure by burrowing animals
When a mass of rock is exposed by weathering and removal of the overlying rock, there is a
decrease in the confining pressure on the rock, and the rock expands. This unloading
promotes cracking of the rock, known as exfoliation.
Granitic rock tends to exfoliate parallel to the exposed surface because the rock is typically
homogenous, and it does not have predetermined planes along which it must fracture.
Sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, on the other hand, tend to exfoliate along
predetermined planes.
Frost wedging, also called ice wedging, is the process by which water seeps into cracks in a
rock, expands on freezing, and thus enlarges the cracks. The effectiveness of frost wedging is
related to the frequency of freezing and thawing. Frost wedging is most effective in
mountainous climates. In warm areas where freezing is infrequent, in very cold areas where
thawing is infrequent, or in arid areas, where there is little water to seep into cracks, the role
of frost wedging is limited.

Chemical Weathering
Chemical weathering results from chemical changes to minerals that become unstable when
they are exposed to surface conditions. The kinds of changes that take place are highly
specific to the mineral and the environmental conditions. Some minerals, like quartz, are
virtually unaffected by chemical weathering, while others, like feldspar, are easily altered. In
general, the degree of chemical weathering is most significant in warm and wet climates and
least in cold and dry climates. The important characteristics of surface conditions that lead to
chemical weathering are the presence of water (in the air and on the ground surface), the
abundance of oxygen, and the presence of carbon dioxide, which produces weak carbonic
acid when combined with water. Chemical weathering decomposes or decays rocks and
minerals. An example of chemical weathering is water dissolving limestone.
When ice melts or wind and water slow down they can't carry as much sediment. The
sediment is dropped, or deposited, in landforms.
The Products of Weathering and Erosion
The products of weathering and erosion are the unconsolidated materials that we find around
us on slopes, beneath glaciers, in stream valleys, on beaches, and in deserts. The nature of
these materials — their composition, size, the degree of sorting, and degree of rounding — is
determined by the type of rock that is being weathered, the nature of the weathering, the
erosion, and transportation processes, and the climate.A summary of the weathering products
of some of the common minerals present in rocks is provided below.

Common Mineral Typical Weathering Products

Quartz Quartz as sand grains
Feldspar Clay minerals plus potassium, sodium, and calcium in solution
Biotite and amphibole   Chlorite plus iron and magnesium in solution
Pyroxene and olivine Serpentine plus iron and magnesium in solution
Calcite Calcium and carbonate in solution
Pyrite Iron oxide minerals plus iron in solution and sulphuric acid
The produces created from weathering range widely in size and shape depending on the
processes involved. If and when deposits like these are turned into sedimentary rocks, the
textures of those rocks will vary significantly.

EROSION
Erosion is a mechanical process, usually driven by water, gravity, wind, or ice that removes
sediment from the place of weathering. Liquid water is the principal agent of erosion.
EROSION BY STREAMS
Flowing streams pick up and transport weathered materials by eroding sediments from their
banks. Streams also carry ions and ionic compounds that dissolve easily in the water.
Sediments are carried as the following loads: dissolved, suspended, and bed. A dissolved load
is composed of ions in solution. These ions are usually carried in the water all the way to the
ocean.
Sediments carried as solids as the stream flows are called a suspended load. The size of
particles that can be carried within a load is determined by the stream’s velocity. Faster
streams can carry larger particles. Streams that carry larger particles have greater
competence. Streams with a steep gradient (slope) have a faster velocity and greater
competence.
Particles that are too large to be carried as suspended loads are bumped and pushed along the
stream bed, called bed load. Bed load sediments do not move continuously, but rather in
intermittent movements, called saltation. Streams with high velocities and steep gradients do
a great deal of down cutting into the stream bed, which is primarily accomplished by
movement of particles that make up the bed load.
 Ground Water Erosion
Groundwater is a strong erosional force, as it works to dissolve away solid rock. Carbonic
acid is especially good at dissolving the rock limestone. Over many years, groundwater
travels along small cracks. The water dissolves and carries away the solid rock gradually
enlarging the cracks, eventually forming a cave.
Groundwater carries the dissolved minerals in solution. The minerals may then be deposited,
for example, as stalagmites (grows from the top) or stalactites (grows from the bottom). If a
stalactite and stalagmite join together, they form a column. One of the wonders of visiting a
cave is to witness the beauty of these fantastic and strangely captivating structures. Caves
also produce a beautiful rock, formed from calcium carbonate, travertine. Groundwater
saturated with calcium carbonate precipitates as the mineral calcite or aragonite.
Wave Action and Erosion
Waves transport sand onto and off of beaches, transport sand along beaches, carves structures
along the shore. The most massive waves form when the wind is very strong, blows steadily
for a long time, and blows over a long distance.
Rivers carry sediments from the land to the sea. If wave action is high, a delta will not form.
Waves will spread the sediments along the coastline to create a beach. Waves also erode
sediments from cliffs and shorelines and transport them onto beaches.
Beaches can be made of mineral grains, like quartz, rock fragments, and also pieces of shell
or coral. Waves continually move sand along the shore and move sand from the beaches on
shore to bars of sand offshore as the season’s change. In the summer, waves have lower
energy, so they bring sand up onto the beach. In the winter, higher energy waves bring the
sand back offshore.

Transport of Particles by Wind

The power of wind to erode depends on particle size, wind strength, and whether the particles
can be picked up. Wind is a more important erosional force in arid than humid regions. Wind
transports small particles, such as silt and clay, over great distances, even halfway across a
continent or an entire ocean basin. Particles may be suspended for days. Wind more easily
picks up particles on the ground that has been disturbed, such as a construction site or a dune.
wind erosion
Wind is a stronger erosional force in arid regions than it is in humid regions. In humid areas,
water and vegetation bind the soil, so it is harder to pick up. In arid regions, small particles
are selectively picked up and transported. As they are removed, the ground surface gets lower
and rockier, causing deflation. What is left is desert pavement, a surface covered by gravel-
sized particles that are not easily moved by wind.
Particles moved by wind do the work of abrasion. As a grain strikes another grain or surface,
it erodes that surface. Abrasion by wind may polish natural or human-made surfaces, such as
buildings. Stones that have become polished and faceted due to abrasion by sand particles are
called ventifacts.
LOESS
Windblown silt and clay deposited layer on a layer over a large area are loesses, which comes
from the German word loose. Loess deposits form downwind of glacial outwash or desert,
where fine particles are available. Loess deposits make very fertile soils in many regions of
the world.Fine-grained mud in the deep ocean is formed from silts and clays brought from the
land by wind. The particles are deposited on the sea surface, then slowly settle to the deep
ocean floor, forming brown, greenish, or reddish clays. Volcanic ash may also settle on the
seafloor.
GLACIAL EROSION
Glaciers erode the underlying rock by abrasion and plucking. Glacial meltwater seeps into
cracks of the underlying rock, the water freezes and pushes pieces of rock outward. The rock
is then plucked out and carried away by the flowing ice of the moving glacier. With the
weight of the ice over them, these rocks can scratch deeply into the underlying bedrock
making long, parallel grooves in the bedrock, called glacial striations.

DENUDATION