Earth Science Regents Review
Unit 4
It is the physical break down of rocks into
smaller pieces.
It is the breakdown of rocks by
changing their chemical composition
and making them weaker.
Frost Wedging:
Water seeps into
cracks, freezes then
widens the crack
until it breaks the
rock.
The chipping off of sharp edges of
rocks.
Oxidation:
When oxygen combines with a metal in
the presence of water.
It is the amount of space the surfaces
take up. The greater the surface area
the faster the weathering.
Heat speeds up reactions so the more
heat and water present the faster the
reaction.
1) Define erosion:
The process where weathered fragments are
carried away.
2) Agents of Erosion
_______________
 Abrasion by sand
 Carries small particles
 Pitted surface

6
_____________________
 Faster flow = more power
 #1 agent of erosion
 Rounded particles
 “V”- shaped valleys
 Fastest in the middle just
below the surface

__________________
 “U”-shaped valley
 “rivers of ice”
 Striations (scratches in
bedrock)
 Erratics (boulders in
odd places)

_______________________
 Driving force of all agents
 Jagged edges

What moved each of these sediments? How do you
know?
Aim: How do soils
form?

1) What are the three ways a river can
carry sediments?
Pebbles, Cobbles and Boulders
Halite and Calcite
Silt and Clay
3) What is the relationship between the
speed of a river and the size of the
particle that it can carry?
 The
faster the river, the bigger the particle it can
carry.
4) What makes a stream flow
fast?
(a)
(b)
Stream discharge_________________________
Gradient________________________________
5) What is a meander and how does it tell you
about the shape of the land?
 A meander is a bend in a river. These bends
form when the land is flat.
6) How does water flow in a meander?
 It
flows fastest
on the outside
(erosion) and
slowest on the
inside
(deposition) of
the bend.
Exit Card
1)
Draw the shape of the
side view of the river
from point 1 to point 2.
Use p. 6 of the ESRT’s to answer the following question
2) How fast does a river
have to travel to carry
sediments 0.2 cm in
diameter?
1) What is beach erosion?
• It is the
disappearance of
a beach and its
sand due to
longshore drift.
2) What is longshore drift?
• The migration of sand downshore by
waves crashing onto the beach.
4) What is a groin and what is
its purpose?
• A groin is a structure set perpendicular to
a beach to slow the migration of sand.
5) How can you tell which way the
ocean current is flowing?
• The current is coming from the same
side of the groin as the sand.
Which way is the longshore drift?
Today’s Exit Card
• 1) What problems does beach erosion
cause?
Diva Dollar Question
• Which direction is the longshore drift
coming from? How can you tell?
2) When did the last glaciation of New
York occur?
About 10,000 years ago during the Pleistocene epoch.
4) What are moraines?
Large piles of unsorted sediment left at the front
or sides of a glacier.
5) Where does a glacier move the
fastest?
Glaciers move fastest in the middle at the surface.
6) What four features do glacial
landscapes have?
(a) U-shaped valley
(b) unsorted sediments
(c) striations
(d) erratics
• 1) Deposition is the settling of eroded
sediments.
3) Factors which affect the rate of
deposition:
Factor
Relationship
• 5) ______________
largest sizes on the
bottom and the
smallest on the top.
• 5) ______________________: largest sizes
close to the shore and the smaller sediments
farther out.
Horizontal Sorting
8) Do glaciers sort sediment?
• No, glaciers do not sort sediments. They
just push them into piles and scratch them.
1) Define delta

A fan shaped
deposit of
sediments
that form
when the
mouth of a
river enters
the ocean.
3) What are oxbow lakes and how
do they form?

These are cut
off sections of
a river formed
as a river
erodes the
outsides and
deposits on
the insides of
meanders.
Stream Drainage Patterns
• A: Dendritic: flat land; random branches
• B: Trellis: folded rocks of different resistance
• C: Rectangular: faulted rocks (water flows in
cracks)
• D: Radial: mountain or volcano
3) What features separate one
landscape from another?
 A) bedrock structure
 B) relief
 C) stream patterns
 D) slope of the land
 E) type of soil
5) What are the three types of
landscapes?
________________
 Flat area (low relief)
 Low elevation
 Small hills
 Mostly sedimentary
 Kansas or Long Island

__________________
 Middle relief
 Horizontal layers
 Flat with deep valleys
(think Road Runner)
 Grand Canyon (Arizona)

_________________
 High relief
 High elevation
 Metamorphic
 Non-horizontal layers
 Steep slopes
 Rocky Mountains

6) How does climate affect
landscapes?
 (a) Humid= chemical weathering= smooth slopes
and lots of vegetation
 (b) Arid= physical weathering= steep slopes,
rocky, sharp and less vegetation