Agents, Forces, and Results

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• Wind – wears away rocks and is responsible for the
creation of deserts such as the Sahara and the Gobi
- Most effective in moving loose material
– Main effects:
1. Wind lifts small particles and moves them away.
2. Suspended particles may cause erosion on solid objects by abrasion
(rubbing).
– Occurs in areas where there is not enough rainfall to support vegetation

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• Water – most influential force in erosion
– Moves materials
– Transports large objects with fast moving streams
– Wears away rocks:
• rivers
• lakes
• oceans

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• Waves – relentless pounding
• Erodes:
• softer/weaker rock first
• harder/more resistant left behind
• Can take over 100 years to erode a rock to sand
• Energy of waves and chemicals contained in the water erode
the rock off the coastline.

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• Mass Movement – downward movement of rock
and sediments, due primarily to the force of gravity
– Streams and glaciers
• move material from higher  to lower  elevation
– Occurs continuously on all slopes
» slow moving and sudden movement until equilibrium is reached

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• Ice – moves and carries rocks, grinding the rocks
beneath the glacier
– Plucking occurs when water enters cracks under the glacier.
• freezing
• breaking off pieces of rock that are then carried by the glacier
– Abrade (abrasion)
• cuts into the rock under the glacier
• smoothing
• polishing the rock surface

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• Deposition – laying down of sediment that has
been transported by a medium such as wind,
water, or ice
– Process of erosion stops:
• when the moving particles fall out of the transporting
medium and settle on a surface
– Speed of the medium slows or the resistance of the particles
increases, the balance changes and causes deposition
– Speed can be reduced by large rocks, hills, vegetation, etc.
 Wind speed can be related to variations in heating
and cooling.
 Transportation of particles in wind:
– Fine particles in suspension hundreds of km from its original source in
the desert
– Heavier material may be blown along the ground.
– Material is deposited when the wind changes direction or loses its
strength.

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• Running water enters a large, fairly still body of water
and its speed decreases
• SPEED
• As the speed of the water decreases, the water's ability to carry
sediment also decreases.
• Deposited in streams, rivers, and oceans:
• Running water deposits sediments where the slowing water can no
longer move them.
• Largest particles are deposited near the shore.
• Increasingly smaller particles settle out farther from the shore where
the water is calmer.

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• Glacial flows of ice – become slower when the ice begins
melting
– Deposits left by glaciers:
– Outwashes are deposits similar to those left by rivers.
– Large chunks of broken rock deposited at the base and sides of the glacier as
it melts and recedes are called Moraines.
– When the glacial ice melts, smaller material is carried by the rivers.

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• WEATHERING – Think of weather wearing rock down.

• EROSION – Think of a road and traveling.

• DEPOSITION – Think of depositing money into a bank.