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• Mineral


  A naturally occurring substance with distinctive chemical and physical properties, composition and atomic structure
• Rock


  Generally made up of two or more minerals, mixed up through geological processes
• Types of rocks


  • Igneous
  • Sedimentary
  • Metamorphic
• Formation of igneous rocks

  1. Slow cooling

  2. Rapid cooling

  3. Formation as pyroclastics
• Formation of sedimentary rocks

  1. Cementation

  2. Chemical precipitation
• Formation of metamorphic rocks

  1. Formation through pressure

  2. Formation through temperature
• Exogenic process


  Geological phenomena and processes that originate externally to the Earth's surface, driven by exogenic forces that primarily derive their energy from solar radiation
• Types of weathering


  • Physical weathering
  • Chemical weathering
  • Biological weathering
• Physical weathering


  • The physical breakdown of rock into unconnected grains and/or chunks without any chemical alteration
• Chemical weathering


  • The breakdown of a rock due to the chemical changes it is experiencing, either on its surface or near-surface, usually the result of water dissolution
• Biological weathering


  • The process where living organisms, such as plants and fungi, release chemicals into the affected rock (or mineral) to dissolve them
• Types of erosion


  • Wind erosion
  • Glacial erosion
  • Water or tidal erosion
• Wind erosion


  • Sediments and loose soil are carried by the wind to new locations, resulting in soil loss, soil dryness, soil structure deterioration, soil nutrient and productivity losses, and air pollution
• Glacial erosion


  • Erosion caused by glacier movement, where rocks and ice being carried by glaciers weather against other stones on the Earth's surface
• Water or tidal erosion

  • Erosion through water interaction on the affected rock, moving the sediments in four ways
• Surface creep wind erosion

  1. Rolling across the surface of large particles ranging from 0.5 mm to 2 mm in diameter

  2. Causing them to collide with, and dislodge other particles

  3. Results in these large particles moving only a few meters
• Saltation


  1. Occurs among middle-sized soil particles that range from 0.05 mm to 0.5 mm in diameter

  2. Particles are light enough to be lifted off the surface but are too large to become suspended

  3. Particles move through a series of low bounces over the surface

  4. Causing abrasion on soil surface and attrition which is the breaking of particles into smaller particles
• Suspension


  1. Involves tiny particles less than 0.1 mm in diameter being moved into the air by saltation

  2. Forming dust storms when taken further upwards by turbulence

  3. Particles include very fine grains of sand, clay particles, and organic matter
• Glacier


  A permanent body of ice that consists of mostly recrystallized snow and moves slowly downward due to gravity
• Glacial Erosion


  Erosion caused by glacier movement, where rocks and ice being carried by glaciers weather against other stones on the Earth's surface
• Glacial erosion


  1. Glaciers erode the underlying rock by abrasion and plucking

  2. Glacial meltwater seeps into cracks of the underlying rock, the water freezes and pushes pieces of rock outward

  3. The rock is then plucked out and carried away by the flowing ice of the moving glacier
• Glacier formation


  1. Snow accumulates over time, turns to ice, and begins to flow outwards and downwards under the pressure of its own weight

  2. In polar and high-altitude alpine regions, glaciers generally accumulate more snow than they lose from melting, evaporation, or calving
• Water erosion


  1. Traction: Movement caused by rolling or dragging large sediment grains aided by smaller grains pushing against them

  2. Saltation: Movement caused by repeated bouncing of sand grains as they are transported by water

  3. Suspension: Movement observed in fine particles such as silt and clay

  4. Solution: Movement found in soluble materials such as salts
• Water erosion in mountainsides and valleys occur in tributaries and rivers, carrying large angular sediments such as boulders and cobbles (fist-sized sediments) as its first eroded materials. As these materials are carried away by the water, they gradually become smaller and smoother, until these turn into pebbles and sand.
• Water erosion in lowlands occurs in rivers that form meanders and floodplains, where sand and mud are obtained from river bends and are transported and deposited in tide flats carried by distributary river channels (or simply distributary channels).
• Water erosion in coastlines is caused by tidal action. The action of waves wears the rocks down, forming cliffs and arches. Sediments carried by distributary channels are transported along the shoreline by longshore drifting— tidal currents transport sediments under the sea.
• Water erosion is caused by the detachment and transport of soil by rainfall, runoff, melting snow or ice, and irrigation.
• Mass wasting


  The downslope movement of rocks, soil, and ice due to the pull of gravity
• Types of mass wasting

  • Fall
  • Topple
  • Slide
  • Spread
  • Flow
  • Complex
• Factors contributing to mass wasting

  • Relief: The difference in elevation between two places creates slopes, allowing gravity to pull down the materials at higher elevations
  • Slope Stability: The balance between the downslope force and the resistance force of the materials due to friction
  • Fragmentation and weathering: Rocks with weak joints or points can fall apart because they fragment from their original formation
• Unbalanced forces that disrupt the equilibrium between downslope force and resistance force

  • Tectonic Vibrations / Earthquakes
  • Changes in the structure of the slope
  • Material Composition
• Material types in mass wasting

  • Predominantly coarser soil materials are known as debris
  • Predominantly finer soil materials are known as earth
• Classifications of mass wasting by movement speed

  • Extremely slow to prolonged motion
  • Moderate to very rapid movement
  • Rapid to extremely rapid movement
• Motion types in mass wasting

  • Fall: Any freefall movement, bouncing, and/or rolling of materials on a slope
  • Topple: The forward rotation out of the slope of a soil and rock mass
  • Slide: The downslope movement of coherent materials along a distinct sliding surface
  • Spread: The lateral extension and fracturing of a coherent mass due to the plastic flow of its underlying material
  • Flow: Movement where materials become saturated and move downslope as a viscous fluid
  • Complex: The combination of any of the five defined movements
• Deposition


  The process where sediments settle out of the transporting medium, usually associated with water
• When sediments settle in a new area, they form a layer called a bed. The distribution of grains in a bed is called the bed's sorting. A well-sorted bed has uniform-sized grains. A poorly sorted bed contains grains of inconsistent sizes.
• During the deposition process, the sediments get pressed over by new bed buildup over the years (compaction), while dissolved chemicals in the water form new minerals (cement) when the pores in between sediments are filled with it, leaving the chemicals to bind with the sediments in a process known as cementation.
• The combined processes of compaction, cementation, and recrystallization are known as diagenesis, which create sedimentary rocks while these compacted sediments also undergo lithification.
• Sedimentary environments


  • Glacial areas
  • Mountainous areas
  • Desert areas (cold and hot)
  • Lacustrine
  • Fluvial
  • Delta
  • Beach
  • Shallow marine
  • Shallow water (carbonate)
  • Deep slope
• lines and river ends (or river mouths) are transported by tidal currents and deposited in the quieter waters below the wave zone, which is either a part or found above the epipelagic zone (depending on the source material)