• Write brief notes not more than 5 lines for each question

1. Is earth’s structure static or dynamic? Explain.

2. What would happen if earth’s structure was static?
3. How are metamorphic rocks formed?
4. What possibly can be the reason for metamorphic rocks to be
found mostly under mountain chains?
• Weathering
• Erosion
• Classification of weathering
• Erosion transport agents
• Do you remember the dynamic nature of earth?

• What causes this dynamism?

• WEATHERING - processes at or near Earth’s surface that cause rocks
and minerals to break down

• EROSION - process of removal of Earth materials from their sources

through weathering and transportation through some agents to locations
other than their place of disintegration.

• Video Link
• Weathering occurs through two main agents

• MECHANICAL AGENTS.

• CHEMICAL AGENTS.
• MECHANICAL WEATHERING
• processes that break a rock or mineral into smaller pieces “without
altering its chemical composition”.

• CHEMICAL WEATHERING
• Processes that “change the chemical composition” of rocks and
minerals..
• Formation of rocks and minerals with different chemical
composition as compared to the parent rocks or minerals.
• PROCESSES AND AGENTS

• Frost wedging
• Thermal expansion and contraction
• Mechanical exfoliation
• Abrasion by wind, water or gravity
• Plant growth
• FROST WEDGING

• Water expands when it freezes.

• Cracking of rock mass by the expansion of water as it freezes in

crevices and cracks.
FROST WEDGING

Ice crystals
• THERMAL EXPANSION AND CONTRACTION

 Repeated heating and cooling

of materials cause rigid
substances to crack and
separate.
• MECHANICAL EXFOLIATION
• As underlying rock layers are exposed, there is less pressure on
them and they expand. This causes the rigid layers to crack and
sections to slide off (similar to peeling of outer skin layers after
a sunburn). The expanding layers often form a dome.
• MECHANICAL EXFOLIATION
• ABRASION BY WIND, WATER OR GRAVITY
• Moving sediments or rock sections can break off pieces from a
rock surface they strike. The sediments can be moved by wind or
water and the large rock sections by gravity.
 • ABRASION BY WIND, WATER OR GRAVITY

Wind Abrasion
 • ABRASION BY WIND, WATER OR GRAVITY

Water Abrasion
 • ABRASION BY WIND, WATER OR GRAVITY

Wind and Water

Abrasion
• ABRASION BY WIND, WATER OR GRAVITY

Wind and Gravity

Abrasion
• PLANT GROWTH
• As plants such as trees send out root systems, the fine roots find
their way into cracks in the rocks.

• As the roots increase in size, they force the rock sections apart,
increasing the separation and weathering the rocks.
• PLANT GROWTH
• PLANT GROWTH
• PROCESSES AND AGENTS

• Dissolving (dissolution)
• Oxidation
• Hydrolysis
• Living organisms
• DISSOLVING (DISSOLUTION)
• Water, often containing acid from dissolved carbon dioxide, will
dissolve minerals from a rock body leaving cavities in the rock.
These cavities may generate sinkholes or cave features such as
stalactites and stalagmites.
DISSOLVING (DISSOLUTION)

SINKHOLES
• DISSOLVING (DISSOLUTION)

Limestone cave feature

DISSOLUTION
• Several common minerals
dissolve in water
• halite
• calcite

• Limestone and marble contain

calcite and are soluble in acidic
water

• Marble tombstones and carvings

are particularly susceptible to
chemical weathering by
dissolution.
• OXIDATION
• Minerals may combine with oxygen to form new minerals that
are not as hard. For example, the iron-containing mineral pyrite
forms a rusty-colored mineral called limonite.
• OXIDATION

Pyrite

Pyrite Oxidation
Limonite
• HYDROLYSIS
• Minerals may chemically combine with water to form new
minerals. Again these are generally not as hard as the original
material.
• HYDROLYSIS

Feldspar Hydrolysis
Feldspar Kaolinite (clay)
• LIVING ORGANISMS
• Lichens that grow on rocks produce weak acids that chemically
weather rock
FACTORS IN CHEMICAL WEATHERING
• Climate
– wet and warm maximizes chemical reactions
• Plants and animals
– living organisms secrete substances that react with rock
• Time
– longer contact means greater change
• Mineral composition
– some minerals are more susceptible to change than others
 Factors Affecting Weathering
Mineral Content *Surface Area

Least stable Texture

Olivine
Ca plagioclase feldspar Temperature
Pyroxene
Amphibole
Humidity
Biotite
Na plagioclase feldspar
Potassium feldspar Plant growth
Muscovite
Quartz Topography
Most stable
Time
• Weathering produces regolith (“rock blanket”) which is composed of
small rock and mineral fragments.

• When organic matter is mixed into this material it is called soil.

AGENTS OF EROSION TRANSPORT

• WATER
Rain
Streams and rivers
Ocean dynamics
Ice in glaciers

• WIND

• GRAVITY
AGENTS OF EROSION TRANSPORT

• WATER
Rain
Rain droplets would cause the eroded material to detach
from the source and move along the surface flow and deposit
in different locations.
AGENTS OF EROSION TRANSPORT

• WATER
Streams and rivers

Flowing water will lift and carry

small sediments such as silt and
sand.
AGENTS OF EROSION TRANSPORT
Streams and rivers High water velocity causes erosion.
Low water velocity results in deposition.
AGENTS OF EROSION TRANSPORT
• WATER
Ocean dynamics

Tidal action and waves carry

away weathered materials.
AGENTS OF EROSION TRANSPORT
• WATER
Ice in glaciers

Glaciers are large ice

fields that slowly flow
downhill over time.
AGENTS OF EROSION TRANSPORT
• WATER
Ice in glaciers

Glacial ice drags

rocky material that
scours the surface it
flows over . The
glacier deposits
debris as it melts.
AGENTS OF EROSION TRANSPORT
• WIND

Wind will carry fine,

dry sediments over
long distances.
AGENTS OF EROSION TRANSPORT
• GRAVITY

When sediments are

weathered they may
be transported
downward by gravity.

The general term for

this is mass wasting.
AGENTS OF EROSION TRANSPORT
Slump
• GRAVITY

When sediments
are weathered
they may be
transported
downward by
gravity as a
Slump.
AGENTS OF EROSION TRANSPORT
Scree field
• GRAVITY

Loose
sediments
transported
by gravity
are called
scree.
• Classification of discontinuities
• Thin and thick bedded rock masses.

• Geological classification

• Identification of rocks by geological names.