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Rocks to Soil
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Erosion | The process of wearing down and carrying away rocks. |
Weathering | The process that breaks down rock and other substances. |
Mechanical Weathering | A type of weathering in which rock is physically broken into smaller pieces. |
Chemical Weathering | The process that breaks down rock through chemical changes. |
Abrasion | The wearing away of rock by rock particles carried by water, ice, wind, or gravity. |
Frost Wedging | Water seeps into cracks of rock then freezes, expanding the rock, and then it thaws. Wedges of ice widen and deepen the rock. |
Oxidation | Oxygen in air is an important cause of chemical weathering, and iron mixes with oxygen with the presence of water to make rust in a process called this. |
Permeable | A material is full of tiny, connected air spaces that allow water to seep through it. |
Soil | The loose, weathered material on Earth's surface in which plants can grow. |
Bedrock | The solid layer of rock beneath soil. |
Humus | A dark-colored substance that forms as plant and animal remains decay. |
Fertility | A measure of how well the soil supports plant growth. |
Loam | Soil that is made up of |