Weathering: The breakdown or dissolution of rocks and minerals on the Earth's surface is referred to as weathering. Agents of weathering include water, ice, acids, salts, plants, animals, and variations in temperature.
After a rock has been fractured, the fragments of rock and mineral are carried away by a process known as erosion.
The effects of weathering and erosion cannot be resisted by any rock on Earth due to its softness. These processes combined to carve famous sites like Arizona's Grand Canyon.
This enormous canyon measures 446 km (277 miles) in length, up to 29 km (18 miles) in width, and up to 1,600 m (1 mile) in depth.
The rocky terrain of Earth is continually being altered by weathering and erosion. Over time, weathering degrades exposed surfaces.
There are three types of weathering, physical, chemical and biological.
1.Phyisical weathering
- Rocks undergo physical weathering when their structure is disrupted by the impacts of temperature change. Water can sometimes help the process.
Physical weathering can be divided into two categories:
- When water seeps into cracks over time, freezes, and then expands, it undergoes a process called freeze-thaw, which eventually breaks the rock.
- Exfoliation happens when fissures appear parallel to the surface of the land as a result of the pressure drop during uplift and erosion.
2.Chemical weathering
- When water dissolves the minerals in a rock, chemical weathering takes place and new compounds are created. Hydrolysis is the name of this process. For instance, when water comes into touch with granite, hydrolysis takes place. Clay minerals are created chemically by the reaction of feldspar crystals within the granite.
- Chemical weathering processes come in a variety of forms, including solution, hydration, hydrolysis, carbonation, oxidation, reduction, and chelation. Some of these reactions occur more easily when the water is slightly acidic.
3.Biological weatherin<u>g</u>
- When plants break apart rocks with their roots or root exudates, this is known as biological weathering. The delayed process could have a significant impact on how a landscape is formed. When biotic activity reaches its maximum, biological weathering declines as soil thickness increases because biotic activity no longer has as much of an impact on weathering.
- Here are a few illustrations of biological weathering.
1.Burrowing creatures
- Many animals, from small one-celled organisms to the mammals that establish a temporary or permanent home under soil, contribute to the development of soil. The earthworm is among the most well-known animals that burrow.
2.Organic substance
- The breakdown of plants and animals results in the addition of organic material to the soil. Other creatures can get nutrients from the remains of once-living things in the soil.
3.Lichens
- Some of the earliest living things to colonize a rock's bare surface are lichens. Algae and fungi, which make up lichens, coexist in a mutualistic, symbiotic manner (an interaction in which two organisms depend upon each other).
To learn more weathering and its type visit:brainly.com/question/24564316
#SPJ9
