Exam 10: Weathering, Soil, and Erosion

Frost wedging along canyon walls such as the Grand Canyon produce pile of loose, angular rock debris that accumulates beneath many cliffs and this pile of material is called what? _______________

Explain why the Earth no longer has most of its early impact craters.

If you are hiking in the Grand Canyon along a cliff wall and a segment of bedrock slides downslope along a fracture plane, you have observed what specific type of mass wasting?

Explain how water content in soil impact slope stability.

Soils that are rich in clay and organic matter typically have a low cation exchange capacity.

If you see a rock that has been oxidized and turned a red color, this would mean that chemical weathering had occurred when air and water reacted with rock to alter its chemical composition and mineral content.

Granite commonly fractures by ____, a process in which plates of weathered material split away like layers of an onion and you can observe this type of weathering in Yosemite National Park.

If you were driving in a canyon and rock falls on the road, what specific type of mass wasting did you observe? ____

The alternate shrinking and swelling of humus tightens soil and prevents roots from growing easily.

Explain how weathering can occur but erosion does not and then discuss how both often occur together.

If a rock becomes oxidized, what type of weathering has that rock undergone? ____________________

If a rock gets salt dissolved in water that are captured in fractures or joints and the water crystallizes to form salt gains in the joints, what type of specific chemical weathering has occurred to this rock?   ____________________

A type of mass wasting in which loose sediment moves downslope as a slurry-like fluid is called a(n) ____________________.

____________________ is a hardpan that forms in arid and semiarid soils when calcium carbonate precipitates and cements the soil particles together.

If wind picks up sand particles and scours the lower portion of a rock, what specific type of physical weathering is this called? __________________________

If you find a piece of limestone that has holes through it, this was caused because atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolves in rainwater and reacts to form a ________ that can chemically dissolve rock-like limestone.

If you see bent tree trunks that develops a J-shaped curve in a national park, this is an indicator of what specific type of flow? ___________________________________

The process by which solid rock is decomposed to loose gravel, sand, clay, and soil is called ____________________ which is different than the process of moving loose gravel, sand, clay and soil by wind, water, or glaciers.

The combined O and A soil horizons are also called ____________________.

Explain how climate influences soil formation.