earth materials and processes

Monday, October 3, 2022 1:27 PM

What are earth materials? Naturally occurring materials that are important since they provide
the basic components for many activities.

Rock Cycle Processes

1. Weathering - the breakdown of rocks; three types of weathering:

- Physical weathering: caused by the effects of changing temperature, sometimes assisted
by water.
- Chemical weathering: caused by rain water reacting with the mineral gains in rocks to
form new minerals and soluble salts; slightly acidic water.
- Biological weathering: caused by the activities of living organisms

2. Erosion and Transport

- Erosion is the process by which soil and rock particles are worn away and moved
elsewhere by gravity, or by a moving transport agent - wind, water, or ice.
- Transport is the process by which the sediment is moved along. Not continuous.

3. Deposition of Sediment - collecting and settling of particles?

4. Burial and Compaction - as the particles are layered and piled up, the sediments beneath
are buried, sometimes by hundreds of meters of sediment above.

5. Deformation and Metamorphism

- Deformation describes the processes by which rocks are folded and faulted. Movements.
- Metamorphism is the process where rocks are altered due to pressure and/or heat,
changing their appearance entirely. Changes in appearance.

6. Uplift -

Includes minerals, rocks, soil, and water.

The interaction between the earth's subsystems are complex and dynamic

Biosphere
Hydrosphere
Biosphere
Geosphere - the solid part of the earth

Geology is the science concerned with the changes of the earth over time, it deals with the
earth's physical structure and substance, it's history, and the processes that act on it. It is the
study of the

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study of the

Minerals - to a geologist, a mineral must have all the following characteristics:

- It is naturally occurring
- Chemically inorganic
- Homogenous solids
- Has definite chemical composition
- Ordered internal structure or crystal structure

10 minerals of distinctly different hardness identified by Friedrich Mohs: gypsum, calcite,

fluorite, apatite, orthoclase, quartz, topaz, corundum, and diamond

There are 4000 naturally occurring minerals and

60 to 80 minerals are discovered each year.

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