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Earth Science
Weather, soil formation and erosion
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is soil? | a loose mixture of small mineral fragments, organic material, water, and air that can support the growth of vegetation |
| What is parent rock? | The rock formation that is the source of mineral fragments in the soil |
| What is bedrock? | the layer of rock beneath soil |
| What is soil that remains above its parent rock? | residual soil |
| What is soil washed away from its parent rock? | transported soil |
| What are some soil properties? | Texture,structure, and fertility |
| What is soil texture? | the soil quality that is based on the proportions of soil particles or the size of particles |
| What is soil structure? | the arrangement of soil particles |
| What is soil fertility? | A soil’s ability to hold nutrients and to supply nutrients to a plant |
| what is humus? | the organic material formed in soil from the decayed remains of plants and animals |
| Where is the nutrient of soil come from? | From the parent rock and/or humus |
| What is soil horizon? | A horizontal layer of soil that differs in color and texture from the layers above or below it. |
| What is subsoil? | the layer of soil where clays and dissolved substances from the topsoil collect. |
| What is topsoil? | the surface layer of the soil, which is usually richer in organic matter than the subsoil is. |
| Which layer contains more humus? | topsoil |
| What is leaching? | the removal of soluble substances from rock, ore, or layers of soil resulting from the passing of water. |
| Why is the topsoil in tropical rain forests thin? | The nutrients are leached away by heavy rain deep into soil layer and forests take a lot of nutrients. |
| Why low rate of weathering exist in desert areas? | lack of enough rain results low rate of chemical weathering |
| Which climate has the most-productive soil? | Temperate climate. Temperate areas get enough rain to cause a high level of chemical weathering, but not so much that the nutrients are leached out of the soil. |
| What is weathering? | the process by which rock materials are broken down by the action of physical or chemical processes. |
| What is mechanical weathering? | the breakdown of rock into smaller pieces by physical means |
| What are agents of mechanical weathering? | ice, wind, water, gravity, plants, and even animals |
| What is ice wedging? | mechanical weathering caused by the freezing and thawing of water that seeps into cracks in rocks. |
| What is abrasion? | the grinding and wearing away of rock surfaces through the mechanical action of other rock or sand particles. |
| Things that can cause abrasion | wind, water, and gravity |
| How do plants break rocks? | when plants send their roots into existing cracks in rocks |
| What is chemical weathering? | The process by which rocks break down as a result of chemical reaction |
| What are common agents of chemical weathering? | water, weak acids, and air |
| What is acid precipitation? | rain, sleet, or snow, that contains a high concentration of acids |
| What is oxidation? | a chemical reaction in which an element combines with oxygen to form an oxide |
| What is the most familiar chemical reaction as a result of oxidation? | Rust also called iron oxide |
| What can cause oxidation? | When Oxygen combines with element such as an Iron |
| What are the factors that affect the rate at which a rock weathers? | climate, elevation, and the makeup of the rock. |
| What is differential weathering? | a process by which softer, less weather resistant rocks wear away and leave harder, more weather resistant rocks behind |
| ___________weather more slowly than soft rocks | Hard rocks |
| The more surface area that is exposed to weathering, ____________________________ | the faster a rock will be worn down |
| How does an increase in surface area affect the rate of weathering? | The rate of weathering is faster because larger surface areas are exposed to more weathering |
| Why would a mailbox in a warm, humid climate experience a higher rate of weathering than a mailbox in a cold, dry climate? | Oxidation, like other chemical reactions, happens at a faster rate |
| Why do mountaintops weather faster than rocks at sea level? | they are exposed to more wind, rain, and ice |
| A rock will have a lower rate of weathering when the rock | when a rock is very hard such as granite |
| How does climate affect the rate of weathering? | Warm and humid weather increases the rate of weathering |
| What is soil conservation? | a method to maintain the fertility of the soil by protecting the soil from erosion and nutrient loss |
| What is the importance of soil? | provides minerals and other nutrients for plants |
| How can soil be damaged? | from overuse by poor farming techniques or by overgrazing. |
| What happen when soil is overused? | it can lose its nutrients and become infertile |
| What is land degradation or desertification? | when plants and moisture from the soil are removed or washed away. |
| what is erosion? | the process by which wind, water, or gravity transport soil and sediment from one location to another |
| what is deposition? | the process in which sediments is moved by erosion is dropped and comes to rest |
| what is contour plowing? | plowing the farm across the slope of the hills instead of up and down the hill |
| what are farming practices that help soil conservation? | contour plowing, terracing, no-till farming, and cover crop |
| How terracing prevent soil erosion? | by changing one steep field into a series of smaller, flatter fields |
| What is the practice of leaving old stalks, provides cover from rain? | No-till farming |
| How does the cover crop like soybean prevent erosion? | by providing cover from wind and rain |
| what are cover crops? | crops that are planted between harvests to replace certain nutrients and prevent erosion |
| what is crop rotation? | growing different crops year after year in the same field |
| which of the following soil conservation techniques will replace nutrients in the soil? cover crop use, no-till farming, terracing d. contour plowing | cover crop use |
| Soil texture from small to large | clay, silt, sand, and gravel |
| _______________is the ability for materials to let water pass through them. | Permeable |
| _____________is made up of about equal parts of clay, sand, and silt and best for growing plants. | loam |
| What are decomposers? | organisms that break the remains of dead organisms into smaller pieces and eat them with chemicals |
| Describe water cycle | the continuous movement of Earth’s water from the ocean to the atmosphere to the land and back to the ocean |
| What is tributary? | A stream that flows into a lake or into a larger stream |
| What is watershed, or drainage basin? | the area of land that is drained by a water system |
| What is channel? | the path that a stream follows |
| What is gradient and what happens if it is high? | the change in elevation over a distance. A high gradient gives a river more energy to erode rock and soil than a low gradient. |
| What is discharge? | the volume of water that flows within a given time |
| What are the three factors that affects the stream's ability to erode | gradient, discharge, and load |
| What is a stream's load? | the materials carried by a stream |
| What kind of river is characterized by the following? Its channel is deeper rather than wider. It has a steep gradient with many rapids and waterfalls. It has few tributaries. | youthful river |
| What kind of river is characterized by the following?Its channel is wider rather than deeper. Its gradient is not as steep as the gradient of a youthful river. It has many tributaries. | mature river |
| What kind of river is characterized by the following? It has a low gradient and low erosive power. It deposits its sediment instead of getting wider and deeper. It has flood plains and many curves. It has very few tributaries. | old river |
| How is delta formed? | a fan-shaped mass of rock material deposited at the mouth of a stream |
| How alluvial fan is formed? | when a fast-moving mountain stream flows onto a flat plain and the streams slows down very quickly |
Created by:
mystudystuck
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