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rocks and weathering
Question | Answer |
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Weathering | is the process that breaks down rocks and other substances |
Mechanical Weathering | a type of weathering where rock is physically broken |
Chemical Weathering | is the process that breaks down rock through chemicalchanges |
Abrasion | wearing away rock by rock particles carried by water ice wind or gravity |
Uniformitarianism | the geological principal that the same processes that operate today operated in the past to change earths surface |
Erosion | the process of wearing down and carrying rocks |
Frost Wedging | when wedges of ice in rocks widen and deepen cracks |
Oxidation | when iron combines with oxygen in the presence of water |
Permeable | means that a material is full of tiny connected air spaces that allow water to seep through it. |
Soil | is the loose weathered material on earth's surface in which plants can grow |
Bedrock | is the solid layer of rock beneath the soil |
Humus | is a dark colored substance that forms as a plant and remains animal decay |
Fertility | is a measure of how well the soil supports plant growth |
Loam | soil that is made up of about equal parts of clay sand and silt |
pH scale | measures acidity |
Soil Horizon | is a layer of soil that differs in color texture and composition from the layers above and below it |
Topsoil | a crumbly dark brown soil that is a mixture of humus clay and other minerals |
Subsoil | usually consists of clay and other particles of rock but little humus |
Decomposers | are the organisms that break the remains of dead organisms into smaller pieces and digest them with chemicals |