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Weathering and soil
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Uniformitarianism | The geological principal that the same geological processes that operate today operate in the past to change earth's surface. |
| erosion | The process by which water, ice, wind, or gravity moves weathered particles of rock and soil. |
| weathering | The chemical and physical processes that break down rock and other substances. |
| mechanical weathering | They type of weathering where rock is physically broken down into smaller pieces. |
| chemical weathering | The process that breaks down rock through chemical changes |
| abrasion | The grinding of way with rock by other rock carried by water ice or wind. |
| frost wedging | Process that splits rock when water seeps into cracks, then freezes and expands. |
| oxidation | A chemical change in which a substance combines with oxygen, as when iron oxidizes forming rust. |
| permeable | Characteristic of a material that contains connected through air spaces or pores that water can sleep through easily. |
| soil | The loose, weathered material on Earth's surface in which plants can grow. |
| bedrock | Rock that makes up Earth's crust; also the solid rock layer beneath the soil. |
| humus | Dark colored organic material in the soil. |
| fertilitly | A measure on how well soil supports plant growth. |
| loam | Rich fertile soil which is made up of about equal parts of clay sand and silt. |
| pH scale | A range of values used to indicate how acidic or basic a substance is; expresses the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution. |
| soil horizon | A layer of soil that differs in color and texture from the layers above or below it. |
| topsoil | The crumbly topmost layer made up of clay and other minerals and humus (nutrients and decaying plant and animal matter). |
| subsoil | The layer of soil below that has less plant and animal matter that topsoil and contains mostly clay and other minerals. |
| decomposer | An organism that gets energy by breaking down wastes and dead organisms and returns raw materials to the soil and water. |
| natural resources | Anything naturally occurring in the environment that humans use. |
| soil conservation | The management of soil to manage its destruction. |
| crop rotation | The planting of different crops in a field each year to maintain the soil's fertility. |
| contour plowing | Plowing fields along the curves of a slope to prevent soil loss. |
| conservation plowing | soil conservation method in which weeds and dead stalks from the previous year's crops are plowed into the ground. |