Answer:
The Influence of Weather
Weathering and erosion slowly chisel, polish, and buff Earth's rock into ever evolving works of art—and then wash the remains into the sea.
The processes are definitively independent, but not exclusive. Weathering is the mechanical and chemical hammer that breaks down and sculpts the rocks. Erosion transports the fragments away.
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Working together they create and reveal marvels of nature from tumbling boulders high in the mountains to sandstone arches in the parched desert to polished cliffs braced against violent seas.
Water is nature's most versatile tool. For example, take rain on a frigid day. The water pools in cracks and crevices. Then, at night, the temperature drops and the water expands as it turns to ice, splitting the rock like a sledgehammer to a wedge. The next day, under the beating sun, the ice melts and trickles the cracked fragments away.
Repeated swings in temperature can also weaken and eventually fragment rock, which expands when hot and shrinks when cold. Such pulsing slowly turns stones in the arid desert to sand. Likewise, constant cycles from wet...
Explanation:
Erosion is another geological process that creates landforms. When mechanical and chemical weathering breaks up materials on the Earth's surface, erosion can move them to new locations. For example, wind, water or ice can create a valley by removing material. Plateaus can also be formed this way.
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Plants, Animals, and Earth Processes, Oh My! Changes to the Environment
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NSTA Plants, Animals, and Earth Processes, Oh My! Changes to the Environment
By Christine Anne Royce
Plants, Animals, and Earth Processes, Oh My! Changes to the Environment
The Earth changes over time. Some of the processes that change the Earth’s surface are natural, such as weathering and erosion; other changes can be made by plants and animals, including humans. Organisms have had to evolve over time to adapt to new environments. As these organisms evolved, they made still further changes to the Earth and its processes.
The activity for the young students asks them to consider how animals use different parts of their environment to meet their needs and how the environment is impacted by this use. Older students are asked to take the changes seen on Earth a step further by considering how water makes major changes to the Earth’s surface through the process of weathering and erosion.
