Earth Science: Weathering, Landscapes, and Agents of Erosion Study Guide

Tropography

Shape of the land based on the relief of the plains, land, plateaus, and mountains

Tributary

Streams that feed into a rive also include in the water shed example

Which climate conditions most likely produce a landscape with rounded hills, large river valleys with many tributaries, and tropical vegetation?

Warm and humid climates because warm and humid climates together often produce rounded hills with lots of vegetation.

Radical Drainage Pattern

- A landscape with a mountain, volcano, or hill will have a radial drainage pattern meaning that water would flow from the peak at the center outwards in all directions down the slope. - Occurs at areas with big hill sides - When it rains, water flow off a mountain and off slope in all directions - Flow off sides of the mountains and flows down in all directions - Landscape Figure: Looks like a it has a tall landscape figure on it, like mountains - Drainage Pattern: Branches out from the center with arrows point out of the center and look like in a way a mountain that's totally flattened

Slump

- Another form of mass movement - Slump is typically identified as the downward movement of a block of earth material along some curved surface failure - Rotation of the package of sediments takes place during the movements and trees and other features are rotated, too - Short and fast movements --> Faster than creek - A river and some sediments that are highlighted in brown and a couple of trees and a package of sediments and one of the package of sediments hav e an arrow that shows that the sediments and the tree is moving downslope and into the red river and moving along a curved and not a straight flat surface —> moving a curved surface of failure - In real life, you can't really see the curve in image of slumps as you could and would see in the diagram, but you know that the same thing is happening of which there is curved surface of failure and the sediments are moving or falling into the stream downslope and the trees there, too.

Mountains

- Another name for this is high land - Relief(elevation): High--> high elevation - Features: Distorted rock, which means that the layers of the rocks are bent/folded to faulted/weak layer on Earth where the rocks shifts and offsets with tilted layers) - Mostly find igneous or metamorphic rocks here and in mountains

What are the climate's effects on landscapes?

- Arid(dry) climate: Think of desert areas --> Landscapes have steep slopes, angled rock, no vegetation, thin soil, and is dominated by physical weather - Humid(moist) climate: Think of tropical areas --> Landscapes have gentle slopes, rounded rock, a lot of vegetations, thick soils with chemical weathering

What is sand dunes?

- Categorized as mounds of wind-blown sand - Occurs on beaches and deserts enviornment - Formation: Forms when a barrier begins to sloth speed of the the wing --> When the wind speed slows, sand accumulates on both sides of the barrier. As more sand is deposited, the dune itself acts as a barrier, grows, and buries the original barrier. The barrier could be a rock. **Wind blows up the gradual side of the dune, so you can tell the direction of the wind by looking at the slopes on each side of the sand dunes** - Gradual: think of easier to walk up which side of the slope --> The easier side of the slope is going to show you the direction to and side of the wind was blowing in the sand particles in - Overtime the dune would migrate in the direction the wind is moving to the right or east of it, possibly if the wind direction is blowing from the west/left to the upwards part of the dune

ESRT page 3

- The map on this page is called the Generalized Bedrock Geology of New York State - The key tells you the time period that the rock was formed in as well as the type of rock found in different areas of the NY state

chemical weathering

- Chemical weathering is the process of the decomposition of rocks due to the chemical reactions that happens between minerals in rocks and the environment. - During the process of chemical weathering, the rocks are reacting and changing into different minerals when it comes in contact with air and water. As a result, it breaks down the rocks by chemical reactions that change the rocks' composition or makeup for the rocks are reacting and not dissolving when it is in contact with air and/or water. - Chemical weathering can be seen on a 100 years old statue. - Chemical weathering is the change that involves rocks being changed into new substances or minerals chemically. - Three major types of chemical weathering is oxidation, hydrolysis, and carbonation. - Oxidation occurs when oxygen is combined with iron in the rock and creates a new compound. When iron reacts with oxygen, it forms rust, or rust can also be called, iron oxide. Rust weakens the rocks! - Hydrolysis is when hydrogen reacts and creates or hydrates replaces the ion and creates a new substance. --> Hydrolysis can cause feldspar to turn into clay. - Carbonation is where you mix water with carbon dioxide to make carbonic acid. The acid then breaks down the rock furthermore and weakens the rock. --> For example, caves might be formed by carbonation dissolving limestone where the rainwater picks up carbon dioxide from the air and as it percolates through the soil slowly and dissolves out the limestone.

What is gravity/mass wasting as a selected agent of erosion?

- Description: The force of gravity drives all erosion processes. Sometimes gravity is working alone to transport sediment. If weathering weakens rocks near the top of the cliff, the force of gravity may be greater than the rock holding it in place, then the rock will move down slope. - Another term that is used and to think about gravity as is mass movement/wasting, which is the movement of rock and soil down slope under the influence of gravity. They're grouped by the velocity of movement and there are 4 different groups/types.

What are pitted ventifacts?

- Dessert setting that have rocks with this setting - Rocks that have been abraded(cut into the surface of the rock to create the sort of edge feature and look on the rock) and pitted by sand over time

Drainage Basin Versus Watersheds

- Drainage Basin: Water that drains in area into a major body of water(not going to be on/stay the land forever) - Watersheds: All the water in he area that feeds into the drainage basin--> Steps to how wated getting to the water sheds: Perception falls on the landscape --> Water moving in areas of high elevation like the ridges to the lower areas of elevations. There are arrows shows you how the water is moving from the ridges down the valleys into the tributary and then into large rivers and streams that then flows off to larger bodies of water, like oceans. - A watershed any area that has rainwater flowing and trailing down from it to the next and common location/destination. In other words, it is an area of land in which all the water is channelled to a common location. Watersheds can be studied at the regional-level or they can be nested and analyzed at the national level.

Abrasion

- During water abrasion, the rocks are wearing down due to friction, which is the rubbing of one object or surface against another. - The moving water's force can wear away particles of rocks that causes the rocks to tumble downstream that wears down as it is grinded against the riverbed and against each other that causes the ocean waves beating against the rocky shore that's added to and formed afterwards to have furthermore wears down the rocks. - There is also wind abrasion where, it is also a type of physical weathering because the rock is being broken down into smaller pieces and worn down due to the wind and sand charging at it, which are both considered to be natural processes and physical forces that caused the rock to break down and into smaller pieces and to be worn down.

What are the main characteristics of water as a selected agent of erosion?

- Has a V-shaped valley - It is basically the constant flow of water that erodes sediments away to produce a V-shaped valley - Running river going through the V-shaped structure in other words - The center of the running river is the fastest moving water and then it'll have the most erosion and that's why the landscape has a sharp V-shape —> erodes the stream bed the greatest at the center - Fastest moving water is in the center of the stream and it erodes the stream bed the greatest/most - There are also stiff cliffs are evident/seen, too, on the sides of the valley!

Ice wedging

- Ice weathering is where water freezes as it expands into the cracks and pores of the rock. The water freezing forces the rocks to split apart and to break up into huge boulders as a result. - Ice weathering happens in places where the temperature rises and falls below the freezing point of water, which is 0°C (32°F). *water expands when it freezes*

Creep

- It includes the movement of sediments down a slope to be very slow - Very slow movement of sediments; can take centuries to move sediment downslope —> very very slow - Need to loo at clues along hillside to determine if creep is occurring - Leaning fences and poles are evidence of creep --> If a fence is kind of leaning and lopsided in the middle of the fence, then that shows that there's going to be and is a creek in this area

Landscape/Land

- Land is malleable - The shape is molded, destroyed, and recreated as a result of different forces of nature, such as weathering and erosion with the help and use of the wind, ice, water, glaciers, and tectonic plates' movement. - Some takes a few hours while others take millions of years to form and create and then to appear afterwards

How does ESRT page 2 and 3 go together and be used altogether?

- Mostly suppose to be read together! - Both shows you either a landscape region or the generalized bedrock of NY state - Example: OLD FORGE, NY --> On page 3's key, it can tell you the time period the rock was formed in and the rock types that can be found there --> Then take the position and refer of where the landscape is about/estimated to be located on on the map and take the estimated location/area back to page 2 to correlate and figure out what the landscape region it is in in the region --> You'll see that it is found in the Adirondack Mountains

NYC's Watershed

- NYC has its own water shed - It is where we get our drinking water from! - In upstate NY - It is called the Croton and Catskill/Delaware Watersheds - NYC's water supply system is one of the largest surface water storage and supply system in the world - It supplies unfiltered surface water to city residents and delivers more than 1.1 billion gallons of safe drinking water to nine million people daily! --> That's 1/2 the population of NY state - Water purified and cleaned before it gets into our tap **Important to protect it for if it gets contaminated, then our drinking water will be contaminated as well.**

Dendritic Drainage Pattern

- Occur at very flat regions, landscapes, areas, and plains regions - Water would flow off and get "branched" off in all different directions - Different branches would feed off into larger streams that would later then stream in to the rivers - The drainage pattern looks like a tree with different branches branching off one another from the bottom center point/arrow

Mudslide

- Occurs when mud is mixed with water and sediment and slides down a hillslope - Normally occurs when soil is saturated with water, which means there's a lot of water and no air particles left in-between the pores of the soil and completely filled with water - Can be deadly!

Plain

- Other name is lowland - Relief(elevation): Low - Features: Horizontal layers and have and made up of mostly Sedimentary rocks

Wind Erosion

- Physical weathering - happens in mainly beaches and deserts - The largest particles that the wind carries has the size of sand because sand is easier for the wind to move it.

Pressure Release

- Pressure release is where the rock is releasing the pressure it has on the surface of the rock that causes the rock to expand as it is still experiencing high pressure at the same time inside the rock. The release of the surface pressure of the rock causes the rocks to expand that cause the rocks to crack that leads to exfoliation. - Exfoliation is where the rock sheets or layers are over time breaking off, and is also called onion-skin weathering for their cock surfaces breaks off in thin layers or sheets, like layers of onion do and looks like.

Plateau

- Relief(elevation): Medium/In the middle of high and low land/elevation/height - Features: Horizontal layers and is mostly made up of Sedimentary rocks

What are the features of water as a selected agent of erosion?

- Round and polished rocks: Water allows for rocks and sediments to hit each other becoming round, smooth, and polished. As pebbles tumble along the stream's bottom, they get smoothed down as they hit each other - Horizontal Sorting with running water: When a water enters a still body of water, like ocean, it starts to slow down a bit and starts to depositing sediments and there's going to be a certain pattern to the way the sediments are sorted horizontally. The largest sediments get deposited first and the smallest sediments get deposited last because you slowed down the velocity of the river and you need a lot go velocity/a very fast moving river in order to move large particle sizes, so once slowed it down, the large particle sizes they can't be moved anymore and get deposited first and the smallest particles are small, so it can still be moved —> This process is called horizontal sorting. - Graded Beading with stagnant water: Happens in very certain circumstances where there is stagnant water. In other words, this happens when there is no influence in the stream movement and the way the sediments settle will be different in a stagnant bodies of water. As a result, this is different to horizontal sorting! An example of this would be if a landslide release a large mass of sediments into deep stagnant water, particles in a wide range of sizes begin to settle/fall at the same time and this is called, graded bedding. A key information is that the largest most dense particles will settle first followed by smaller and smaller sediment. But there will still be an assortment of sediment sizing from largest to smallest, but it will happen vertically within one layer of sediments instead of horizontally.

Cross Bedding

- Special feature found in sand dunes due to wind erosion and deposition where the sediments gets layered at an angle and not horizontal for you are looking at the dune and the movement of the wind across the gradual slate/slope of the dune and not have nice flat cross bedding features as a result of looking at dunes that are angled in the first place - Different shapes of sand dunes occur depending on the supply of sand, the wind strength, and the amount of vegetation (plants). - Cross bedding will look different depending where you are. This can be seen out in nature and is due to the direction of wind it was blowing in at different times and history and result in different patterns and angles as you move outcrop of the mountains.

Water erosion

- The amount of erosion by a water body that depends on the velocity and volume of water flow - Faster your stream is, the bigger the particle size the stream can move as shown in the diagram/chart/graph above - more erosion=more rounder particles

Dissolving

- The process of dissolving where minerals are dissolved into ordinary water that causes the water to be slightly acidic. In the atmosphere on Earth, rainwater and small amounts of carbon dioxide dissolves together and the reaction of when the rain water comes in contact and dissolved with carbon dioxide causes a weak acid to form. Then, when the rainwater rains down onto Earth's surface, it moves through the soil and as it moves through the soil, it picks up more carbon dioxide from dead and decaying plants that causes the slightly acidic water to break down the minerals in rocks and overtime may break the rocks apart into smaller pieces. - Also, air pollution causes the rain water to be more acidic, power plants and automobiles produce gas that when it reacts with the water vapor in the atmosphere, it forms acid rain that causes rocks to weather much faster than the rocks' naturally weathering down speed/rate. - An image of this would show a statue has been broken down in different areas into smaller pieces that is resulted from acid rain raining down on the rock causing minerals to break be broken down and weakened that cause the rock to break apart into smaller pieces as a result that led to the statue to be broken down in different areas into smaller pieces. --> Dissolving a solution of marble with acid rain water

Trellis Drainage Pattern

- The trellis drainage pattern occurs along plateaus where you have faulted or folded rock. - Water flows off a plateau regions - Have a combinations of ridges(high areas) and valleys(low line areas) - Have faulted or folded rocks - The water would flow off the ridge and into the valley and the drainage pattern looks like a rectangular shape/is inside a rectangle. - Landscape have ridges and valleys on it that's associated with looking hilly

Annular Drainage Pattern

- Water flows off igneous body - Have a mix of igneous and sedimentary rocks in this area - Infusion breaks though sedimentary rocks after that - Water flows over grooves in the rock --> Matches what we see in the landscape feature - Lots of grooves - Sedimentary rocks are n the sides the landscape and the igneous rocks are in the middle part of the landscape--> Sedimentary rocks are intruding into the igneous rock layers on the landscape - Landscape Figure: Sedimentary rocks are on the side and in the middle is the Igneous rocks - Drainage Pattern looks like a swirling circle that are connected with like branching marks

Wind as the selected agent of erosion

- Wind is the weakest agent of erosion - At the same time, it can be a powerful force, too. - Wind erosion is prevalent in areas where the sand, silt, and clays are loose - Breaking down rock into smaller and smaller pieces via the wind's help, so the rock is not changing chemically in the rocks and staying the same just getting smaller and smaller - Large particles tend to be sand for it's the easiest particle and the particle's size that wind can move - It forms, creates, and result with pitted ventifacts and sand dunes on the landscapes

What process describes and involves/connected to the downward sliding of rock materials?

- mass movement/wasting - This is because there would be a slump, a pack of sediments that are moving down a curved failure or slope failed and the sediments are moving down the slop and rotates due to gravity.

physical (mechanical) weathering

-Physical weathering is the process of breaking a rock into smaller pieces and fragments through natural processes and through physical forces as well that splits the rock apart, but doesn't change the rock's composition of what it is made up of. In other words, Physical weathering is breaking rocks into smaller pieces and fragments that are caused by environmental factors. --> The process of breaking rocks apart without changing their chemical properties. - Three major types of physical weathering is abrasion, frost wedging, and thermal stress. - Abrasion is mechanical scraping that's caused by different factors that leads to the rocks to break apart. --> Examples of these factors include not limited to wind, water, glaciers, gravity, plants, animals, or waves. - Frost wedging occurs as water expands and as it expands, it freezes that causes the rock to break apart. - Thermal stress is where heat changes in temperature causes the rocks to expand and contract and leads to the rocks to break apart.

Landslide

-This describes a wide variety of processes that result in the downward and outward movement of rock, soil, and sediments - This can be deadly, too! - California experiences a lot of and prone to mud and landslide - East of the United States—> if you have a lot of mountains or high relief/elevation areas, it has then a greater risk of land and mudslides - Landslides can be triggered by rainfall, snowmelt, changes in water level, stream erosion, changes in ground water, earthquakes, volcanic activity, disturbance by human activities, or any combination of these factors. These factors of what causes landslides can't just be blamed on nature, we can create it ourselves, too. - Unsorted sediments= sediments be big and small —> don't have as much time to do the sorting as you would in a stream to do horizontal sorting and happens pretty rapidly and have various sizes of sediments - Unlayered because we don't have time for there to be any type of layering to happen - Lack/Rapid of time results in the shape of the sediments to be angled —> more time then the sediments would have more time to smoothend, broken down, and rub against each other and be rounder. - Poorly sorted semi nets instead of well sorted sediments in landslides due to the lack of time there is before it is finished sorting

Example of Dissolving

-Water is added to a mineral that results in a sodium water substance after the water and feldspar mineral is added and dissolved that results in the minerals to change form and turn into clay minerals to form in the dissolved liquid substance. - From that, the mineral changed form and composition after it was combined, added to, and dissolved into water. - As a result, the minerals changed form and composition after it was dissolved with water and chemically weathered.

What are the 3 major types of landscapes on Earth?

3 major types of landscapes on Earth: Plain, Plateau, and Mountain

From a cross section of a diagram of different rock layers, how do you know and figure out which rock layers shows the LEAST resistance to weathering and erosion?

A rock layer that is/has least resistance means it will be weathered down the most. As a result, the rock layer should show the most weathering in comparison to the other layers. --> Most likely look more worn down in a way as a result looking like the layer that is the smallest in terms of it being the shortest/lowest rock layer compared to the other rock layers looking taller.

Agents

Agents: different ways sediments can move across a landscape

What are the 4 groups/types of mass movement?

creep, slump, mudslide, and landslide

Relief

Different elevations

Erosion

Erosion would be moving the small particles that have been weathered high up in the mountains down to the coast of where it can be deposited. An erosional agent would be the streams where then broken down pieces of rocks will travel or move down the slope via the stream and be deposited at the coast line

Mesas

It is also a plateau-like landform. Mesas have angular, flat-topped hills, and in a dry climate the types of landforms that are produced have such characteristics (i.e. steep slopes, angled rock, etc.) --> dry climate

ESRT page 2

It shows... - Different areas of NY state that have very different types of landscapes - Roughly shows you the outline and boundaries of NY state - Key tells you the national boundaries of NY state as well as other things

Why is the sediments angled in areas/landscapes with gravity as the selected agent of erosion?

It's because the movements are due to gravity acting alone that deposits then all different shapes, densities, and sizes mixed together of sediments.

Example of Chemical Weathering

Large caves in limestone bedrocks can be en example that shows geologic feature that is caused primarily by chemical weathering. It is because if you think of chemical weathering, it needs water most of the time to do so in this case, the water is able dissolve some of the minerals in caves and creates a mineral "karst" topography. But there's limestone being dissolved into water that can change the rock's chemical composition as a result.

Is there only three selected agents of erosion?

No, there are many other types/selected agents of erosion as well still.

Plant Root Growth

Plant root growth is where the plants grow roots that crack into rocks causing rocks to crack and the crack are opened up due to the plant roots growing wedging into the rock and the crack. The rock will split completely apart over time as it is wedged and split into more and more deeper by the plant's roots growing further more.

Is the Catskill a mountain?

The Catskills have been called the "Catskill Mountains," but this is actually wrong. It is actually a plateau meaning it has medium relief. It is also made of horizontal layers of sedimentary rocks.

What are the difference between physical/mechanical weathering and chemical weathering?

The difference between physical and chemical weathering is that physical weathering breaks down the rocks into smaller pieces, parts, and fragments, but it doesn't change the composition of the rocks, while chemical weathering changes the rocks into different minerals as it reacts and when it comes in contact with air and water. This breaking down of rocks by chemical reactions with water, air, and chemicals, that changes the rocks' composition resulting in the rock to change into a new substance, mineral, and/or composition.

What is the difference between folding and faulting rock layers?

The difference is that during folding, rock layers are buckled and bent when two plates collide together. The result looks like folded and bent rock layers. During faulting, blocks of rocks move along the faults, which are weak areas in Earth's crust, in the Earth. The result looks like offset rock layers - Faulting: The layers of rock are offset. One of the blocks of rock moved down along the fault line while the other remained in position, resulting in this landform. - Folding: The rock layers look bent or folded

Rusting

The process of rusting is where as the minerals dissolve into water, the oxygen in the air, which air has oxygen in it, comes in contact with the water and combines with the iron that makes iron oxides, or rust that forms a coating that colors the weathered rocks. - An example that is showing rust would be something a change in the color of the metal chain and the rock behind the metal chain. This connects to rust and to the process of rusting/iron oxide, which connects to and is a type/form of chemical weathering.

Example of physical weathering

The smooth, polished surface of a rock in a dry, sandy area, blocks of basalt at the base of a steep slope, and the pattern of parallel cracks in a granite mountain shows geologic features that is primarily caused by the physical weathering. --> No change in the rock chemically due to how it is mechanically broken down in to pieces of the rock!!

What are the three general factors that determines a landscape?

The three general factors that determine a landscape is the ... - Elevation: Allows the plains, mountains, and plateaus to rise and have height - Bedrock Type - Drainage Pattern: This means the way water flows off landscapes for water will flow differently over mountains(made up of igneous and/or metamorphic rocks), plateaus(sedimentary), plains(sedimentary) and will be determined based on the rock type of the structure/landscape

What are the three selected agents of erosion?

Water, gravity(or also called mass wasting/movement), and wind

Where does weathering happen at?

Weathering happens in a variety of different landscapes and is basically the process/event of breaking down rocks into smaller pieces in place. - Weathering can occur high up in the mountains and where there would be wind, rain, ice wedging, and etc.

Weathering

Weathering of rocks is a physical or chemical change that changes the characteristics of rocks on Earth

How do you determine on sand dunes the direction the wind was blowing in that lead to the formation of the sand dunes?

Wind blows across a sand dune and the particles will first move up the gradual slide of the slope that is easier to walk up at it you think about it that way(think about it as in gradual slide=easier slide to walk up on/to). Then particles will fall down on the steep side of the slope (steep=harder to walk up on=not gradual slide).

What are the 4 different drainage patterns?

dendritic, trellis, rectangular, and radial

What are the two types of weathering?

physical weathering and chemical weathering

Which sediments/particles settles first in horizontal sorting?

the largest particles are deposited and settled first and then the smallest particles are last to be settled/deposited.