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Science key concepts
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| two types of weathering | mechanical and chemical |
| root pry | when a tree or plant grows in a crack in rock and expands the crack as it grows |
| water abraison | the grinding away of rock by rock particles carried by water |
| wind abrasion | the grinding away of rock by rock particles carried by wind |
| animal activity | activities of animals which cause the breakdown of rocks and soil |
| ice wedging | freezing and thawing in rock cracks |
| carbonic acid | weak acid formed when carbon dioxide dissolves in water |
| oxidation | when iron combines with oxygen in the presence of water, leaves rust |
| sulfuric acid | strong acid made when sulphur dioxide mixed with rainwater, pollution, acid rain |
| how does climate affect the rate of weathering | rocks in hot climate weather quickly cold slowly |
| what is the first step in soil formation | rock begins to fracture and break down |
| what is the second step in soil formation | rock weathers into smaller fragments and plants begin to grow into weathered rock |
| what is the third step in soil formation | worms, insects, and fungi living among plant roots add organic matter to soil |
| what is the fourth step in soil formation | plants and animals in the soil die and they break down/decay and form dark humus |
| loess | loose soil, deposit of windblown sediments |
| loam | soil made of equal parts clay, sand, and silt it is best for growing most types of plants |
| silt | fine sand clay or other material carried by running water and deposited as a sediment |
| litter | loose layer of dead plants |
| decomposers | organisms that break the remains of dead organisms into smaller pieces and digest them with chemicals |
| humus | dark colored substance that forms as plants and animal remains decay |
| bedrock | the solid layer of rock beneath soil |
| topsoil | A horizon, crumbly, dark brown soil that is a mixture of humus, clay, and other minerals |
| what can you do to prevent soil loss | contour plowing, conservation plowing, and crop rotation |
| contour plowing | plowing along contour lines to minimize soil erosion |
| crop rotation | planting different crops in an area every year to get all of the nutrients out of the soil |
| what are the four agents of erosion | Water, wind, ice, and waves |
| creep | slow process, causes sediment to slowly move downhill when the ground freezes and thaws. sediments are pushed up and when they thaw they fall downslope |
| landslide | in mountains after heavy rain or earthquakes, leave rocks at the bottom of a hill |
| slump | on steep slopes when underlying material is weakened and cant support the material on top. Loose material slips downward as a large mass |
| mudflow | in dry areas with a lot of dry sediment, when it rains the sediment and water mixes and paste slides downhill |
| glacier | huge slow moving mass of ice formed in cold regions that erodes by plucking and leaves till moraine and glacial eratics |
| valley glacier | formed in high mountains from snow and ice, dont cover much land, smaller, very long, leave valleys |
| continental glacier | huge, covers much of continents, pieces break off as icebergs, located in polar regions only |
| cirque | bowl shaped hollow eroded by a glacier |
| arete | sharp ridge separating two cirques |
| moraine | ridge of till a glacier deposited |
| till | mixture of sediments that a glacier deposits directly on the surface |
| kettle pond | pond in a small depression that forms when a chunk of ice is left in glacial till |
| fjord | valley cut by a glacier fills with water when the sea level rises |
| plucking | when a glacier flows over land and picks up rock |
| abrasion | wind carried sand can polish rock but causes little erosion |
| deflation | when wind removes surface materials |
| sand dunes | dunes formed by wind deposition |
| dust bowl | area in southern plains when wind carried away all topsoil and farms and agriculture greatly suffered, started soil conservation |
| geosphere, WE | E mass movement, gravity, wind or wave abrasion, glacial movement, volcanoes W... |
| biosphere, WE | E animals moving rock or sediment, overgrazing, poor land use practices W root pry, animal burrows, plant acids, sulfuric acid from pollution |
| atmosphere, WE | E wind erosion, abrasion, deflation, sand dunes, dust bowl, glacial melt W oxidation, carbonation, rate, pollution, ice wedging, freezing and thawing |
| hydrosphere, WE | E water, rivers, glaciers, mass movement, slump, creep, mudflow, landslide W abrasion, acid rain, ice wedging, oxidation, carbonation |
Created by:
annieo143
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