Weathering and Erosion

Weathering is when rock breaks down because of exposure to the environment and aspects of the environment like the air, water or moisture, or exposure to plants, animals or other organisms which cause the rocks to be physically broken down or to have their chemical make-up altered. Erosion often occurs at the same time as weathering, carrying away the particles that are broken away by weathering, but it is somewhat different from the process of weathering.   Where weathering is breaking down or altering the rock, erosion is carrying the particles away.   Erosion is often speeded up by deforestation or the removal of vegetation because although the plants may have been weathering the rock, they were also holding much of it together.   Severe weather and earthquakes can also speed up the process of erosion due to their violent nature and the amount of earth that the severe wind and rain can move.   Erosion is more likely to happen is areas with steep terrain because gravity works to pull the loose parts of the rock downward and carry it away (Mackenzie, Murck, & Skinner, 2009).   This paper will discuss types of weathering including mechanical weathering and chemical weathering as well as a few of the   types of erosion including erosion from sources such as wind, water, and ice.
In mechanical weathering the rocks are physically broken down.   There are several different manners in which this happens.   One manner in which this happens is called frost wedging.   Frost wedging happens first of all because there are joints in the rock.   Joints happen because of tectonic activity and they can extend quite far into the rocks.   Water enters into these gaps in the rocks and when it freezes it expands, forcing the rocks to move and the cracks in the rocks to expand.   After it melts more water gathers into the space and when it freezes again it expands and makes the rocks break apart even further.   This happens over and over until the rocks eventually fall apart.   The formation...