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Weathering
Question | Answer |
---|---|
What is weathering ? | Weathering is the breaking down or dissolving of rocks and minerals on the Earths surface. |
What are the three types of weathering ? | Chemical, physical and biological |
What is an example of mechanical weathering ? | Freeze thaw action. |
What is freeze thaw and action ? | Its when water gathers in the cracks of rocks during the day. At night if the temperature drops below 0 degrees, the water freezes and becomes ice. This puts pressure on the rock as the ice can expand by up to 10%. If it keeps on repeating it can result i |
what is mechanical weathering ? | Mechanical weathering is the psychical breaking down of rocks into smaller pieces. |
what is chemical weathering ? | Chemical weathering is caused by chemical changes, when rock is dissolved or decays. |
what is an example of chemical weathering ? | carbonation |
what is carbonation ? | As rain water falls and passes through the air, it dissolves carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide mixes with rainwater to form a weak carbonic acid. Limestone in the ground contains calcium carbonate. When the weak carbonic acid in rainwater falls onto limesto |
What are karst landscapes | They are areas of land made up of limestone. |
Name an example of a karst landscape | The Burren in co. Clare |
What are the surface features of a karst landscape ? | The bare, rocky karst surface is called a limestone pavement, the pavement is made up of clints and grikes |
What are clints ? | Lints are the slabs of rock on the surface that separate the grikes |
what are grikes | grimes are deep grooves in the pavement |
what are terraces | terraces are areas of sloping land that look like steps. They can be separated by steep cliffs. |
what are the underground features of a karst landscape | there are passages, caves, stalactites, stalagmites and pillars |
which are stalactites and which are stalagmites | stalactites hang from the roof of the cave and stalagmites are on the floor. When the two connect they form what is called a pillar. |
What is biological weathering ? | biological weathering takes place when rocks are worn away by animals, plants and living organisms. |