WEATHERING
Rocks crop out at the lands surface are expose
to reaction that break and alter the minerals
The agents can be mechanical and chemical in
nature
The weathered rocks are normally softer and
disintegrate into small pieces
Erosion takes place rapidly on weathered rocks
Weathering begins the process by attacking the solid rock exposed at the
surface. Next gravity moves the weathered debris down slope. This step
termed mass wasting, may range fron a slow and gradual creep to a
thundering landslide. Eventually, the material that was once high up the slope
reaches the stream at the bottom. The moving water then transports the
debris away.
Weathering
Disintegration process of rocks
through physical and chemical
processes resulted in:
Soil
Sediment and
Dissolved ions
MECHANICAL WEATHERING
Breaking down of rocks by freezing of water
Pressure release from the body of rock
Root system
Crystallization
Running water, wind and glaciers
Unloading joints
Thermal expansion
Talus slope
Frost wedging. As water freezes it expands to 109 percent of
its original volume, exerting a face great enough to break rock.
When frost wedging occurs in a setting such as this, the
broken rock fragments fall to the base of the cliff and create a
cone-shaped accumulation known as talus.
Summit of Half Dome, an
exfoliation dome in Yosemite
National Park
Root wedging widens fractures in
rock and aids the process of
mechanical weathering.
CHEMICAL WEATHERING
Rainwater become acidic with CO2
Leaching of minerals in rocks
Sulphates and carbonate are easily dissolved/
become Solution
Hydrolysis of silicate minerals (micas &feldspar)
are hydrolyzed
Na, K & some silica dissolve in water
Oxidation of minerals containing Fe such as
biotite and amphibole.
Chemical weathering can occur only to those portions of a
rock that are exposed to the elements. Mechanical
weathering breaks rock into smaller and smaller piece,
thereby increasing the surface area available for chemical
attack.
Spheroidal weathering is evident in this exposure of granite of
the granite in California's Joshua Tree National Monument.
Because the rocks are attacked more vigorously on the corners
and edges, they take on a spherical shape. The lines visible in
the rock are called joints. Joints are important rock structure that
allow water to penetrate and start the weathering process long
before the rock is exposed.
Products of weathering
Weathering Grade
VI
V
IV
III
II
I
Soil
Completely weathered
Highly weathered
Moderately weathered
Slightly weathered
Fresh rock
Compressive strength of granite
(Mpa)
I
II
III
IV
V
250
150
5 - 100
2 15
<2
A soil profile is a vertical cross-section from the surface
down b the parent material. Well-developed soils show
distinct layers called horizons.
Idealized soil profile from
a humid climate in the
middle latitudes
Summary of soil types.
Composition (by volume) of a soil in good condition for
plant growth. Although the percentages vary, each soil is
composed of mineral and organic matter, water, and air.
Texture of any
soil can be
represented by a
point on this soil
texture diagram.
Soil texture is
one of the most
significant
factor's used to
estimate
agricultural
potential and
engineering
characteristics.
The parent material for residual soils is the underlying bedrock, whereas
transported soils form on unconsolidated deposits. Also note that as
slopes became steeper, soil becomes thinner.
Clearing the Amazon rain forest in Surinam. The thick lateritic soil
is highly leached.
Gully erosion in poorly protected soil.
The four processes illustrated here are all considered to be relatively rapid forms of mass
wasting. Because material in slumps A. and rockslides B. move along well-defined
surfaces, they are said to move by sliding. By contrast, when material moves downslope
as a viscous fluid, the movement described as a flow. Mudflow C. and earthflow D.
advance downslide in this manner.
