Earth's Processes and Works of Rivers, Winds, Seas

• Earth's Processes

  
  

  The Earth is an ever-changing sphere shaped by forces operating both within and upon its surface. Among these forces are Endogenic Processes and Exogenic Processes.
• Exogenic Processes

  Activities or phenomena that occur on the Earth's surface.
• Erosion

  Detachment of earth material from the surface of the earth. It is a dynamic and includes the transportation of disintegrated rock and materials away from their origin.
• Erosion by Water

  Changes the shape of the coastlines. Waves constantly crash against shores. They pound rocks into pebbles and reduce pebbles to sand. Water sometimes takes sand away from beaches. This moves the coastline farther inland.
• Erosion by Wind

  Carries dust, sand, and volcanic ashes from one place to another. Wind can sometimes blow sand into towering dunes.
• Erosion by Ice

  In frigid areas and on some mountaintops, glaciers move slowly downhill and across the land. As they move, they pick up everything in their path, from tiny grains of sand to huge boulders.
• Glacier Plucking

  Defined as loosening and breaking of rock masses by the pressure of glacial ice. It is also called Glacial Quarrying.
• Glacial Abrasion

  It is the rubbing, scratching, grooving and polishing action of the glaciers on the rock surface along or over which these ice masses happen to move.
• Erosion by Gravity

  Also known as Mass Movement. Gravity pulls any loose bits down the side of a hill or mountain.
• Weathering

  When rocks break down over time because of things like rain, wind, and even plants growing in cracks. It's like nature's way of slowly wearing away at rocks, turning them into smaller pieces.
• Physical Weathering

  Also known as Mechanical Weathering. Refers to the process of breaking down rocks into smaller fragments without changing their chemical composition. It occurs through physical forces and processes that cause rocks to fracture or disintegrate into smaller pieces.
• Ice Wedging

  Also known as Freeze-Thaw Weathering. Occurs in cold climates where temperatures frequently fluctuate above and below freezing. It happens when water seeps into cracks and joints in rocks during warmer periods and then freezes when temperature drop. As water freezes, it expands, exerting pressure on the surrounding rock. Over time, repeated cycles of freezing and thawing cause the crack to widen and deepen, eventually leading to the mechanical breakup of the rock into smaller fragments.
• Freeze-Thaw Weathering

  Occurs when rocks are porous or permeable.
• Release of Pressure

  Also known as Exfoliation, occurs when overlying material is removed from a rock's surface.
• Growth of Plants

  Roots grow into cracks and push rocks apart.
• Animals

  Burrow and push apart rocks. They are also a factors affecting physical weathering.
• Chemical Weathering

  The process by which rocks and minerals are broken down and altered through chemical reactions with water, gasses, and other substances in the environment.
• Water

  It is a factor that affects chemical weathering. It dissolves rock chemically.
• Oxygen

  Another factor that affects chemical weathering through the process of oxidation.
• Living Organisms

  It is also a factor that affects chemical weathering as acids from plants and roots chemically weather rocks.
• Deposition / Sedimentation

  Process where sediment, soil, or rock particles that have been transported by erosional agents such as water, wind, ice, or gravity are deposited or laid down in a new location. It is the opposite or erosion, where materials are removed from one area.
• Glaciers

  It is a factor that affect sedimentation. It can freeze sediment and then deposit it elsewhere as the ice craves its way through the landscape or melts. Sediment created and deposited by glaciers is called Moraine.
• Wind

  Another factor that affects sedimentation as it can move dirt across a plain in dust storms or sandstorms. Sand Dunes are made of rocky sediment worn down by wind and collision with other sand particles.
• Mass Wasting

  Movement or rock and soil downward due to gravity.
• Slump

  A type of mass wasting that results in the sliding of coherent rock materials along a curved surface.
• Solifluction

  A classification of mass wasting where it is a slow downhill flow of soil.
• Earthflow

  A classification of mass wasting where it is a downward viscous flow of fine-grained materials that have been saturated by water and moves under the pull of gravity.
• Mudflow

  A classification of mass wasting where mud travels down a slope very quickly.
• Debris Slide

  A classification of mass wasting. A type of slide characterized by the chaotic movement of rocks, soil, and debris mixed with water or ice.
• Debris Flow

  Is a moving mass of loose mud, sand, soil, rock, water, and air that travels down a slope under the influence of gravity.
• Rock Flow

  A classification of mass wasting that occurs when pieces of rocks break loose from a steep rock face or cliff.
• Soil Creep

  A classification of mass wasting that is a slow, gradual movement of soil downhill over time.
• Endogenic Processes

  An internal geomorphic process. The energy from within the earth is the main force behind this process. This energy is mostly generated by radioactivity, rotational and tidal friction and primordial heat from the origin of the earth. This energy due to the geothermal gradients and heat flow within induces diastrophism and volcanism in the lithosphere.
• Folding

  When two forces push towards each other from opposite sides, the rock layers will bend into folds.
• Faulting

  Fracturing and displacement of more brittle rocks strata along a fault plan.
• Fault

  Break in a rock along which a vertical or horizontal rock movement has occured.
• Fault Line

  The line of fault. These lines are often lines of weaknesses which allow molten rock to rise up unto the earth's surface when there is a volcanic activity nearby.
• Volcanism

  Volcanic activity or igneous activity. Eruption of molten rock (magma) onto the surface of the Earth.
• Metamorphism

  Occurs when there is pressure and hear applied to geologic structures which leads to the formation of metamorphic rocks.
• Earthquake

  It is a seismic activity. A sudden shaking or vibration on the Earth's crust.