Name __________________________________
Weathering and Erosion Review Sheet Chapters 12-14
Use your notes and textbook to complete this review activity.
1. What is weathering? The break up of rock at the surface.
2. The 2 types of weathering are mechanical (physical) and chemical.
3. How do these types of weathering differ?
Mechanical weathering breaks rock into smaller pieces of the same material. When chemical weathering takes
place a chemical change in composition of the rock occurs
4. Identify and describe the 4 ways that mechanical weathering occurs:
Frost wedging – water in rock, freezes, expands, wedges rock apart
Plants and Animals – plant roots or animal burrows break up rock
Abrasion – sediment carried by wind or water scours rocks
Exfoliation – peeling away of upper rock layers
5. Identify and describe the three ways that chemical weathering occurs:
Oxidation – rust bearing rocks react with oxygen
Hydrolysis – water reacts with minerals changing them to clay
Acid – dissolves limestone and leaches others
6. What is soil?
A mixture of weathered rock and decaying organics
7. A residual soil formed in the place where it was found. It matches the bedrock under it.
8. A transported soil was moved to a new area by erosion. It does not match the bedrock beneath it.
9. Label the parts of the soil profile below. Describe what is in each horizon.
A Horizon – topsoil, contains humus, dark in color
B Horizon – subsoil, red/brown in color, minerals leach from above
C Horizon – Partly weathered parent material
Bedrock
10. What factors determine how fast weathering will occur? Climate, Composition, Surface exposure
11. What 3 factors determine the composition of soil? Climate, plants and animals, parent material
(composition)
12. For farms to be productive they must practice soil conservation to reduce soil erosion.
13. Planting trees along the edge of a field to reduce wind erosion creates a wind break.
14. Contour farming is when farmers plow their fields parallel to the slope.
15. Flattening a slope into terraces is used in cultivating rice.
16. When farmers plant 2 different crops in one field to cover up bare soil, it is called strip cropping.
17. When all plowing, fertilizing, planting, and weeding is done at one time, a farmer is practicing the no till
method.
18. Where is most of the earth’s fresh water located? ice caps and glaciers What % of earth’s water us useable
in rivers, lakes, streams, etc? .5% Where is most of the drinking water in the US located?groundwater
18. Label the stages of river development below. List at least 4 things that occur in each stage.
Young
Mature
old
Narrow, v-shape
Fast water, steep slope
Rapids, straight
meanders start
floodplain and levees start
slower water
broad meanders, floodplain
oxbow lakes, yazoo streams
slowest water, low slope
20. Rivers carry 3 types of sediment load, solution, suspension and bedload.
21. The amount of erosion depends on its discharge and velocity.
22. Define each of the following words:
Drainage basin – area of land that drains into a specific river
Divide – high land that separates drainage basins
Discharge – amount of water moving in a river
Floodplain – flat area of land on both sides of a river, fertile
23. What can change the carrying power of a river? Flooding – inc, drought – dec, widening channel – dec,
narrowing channel – inc, steep slope – inc, low slope - dec
24. A fan-shaped deposit formed when a river meets a slower moving body of water is called a delta. A deposit
formed on land when a stream enters a flat plain is called an alluvial fan.
25. Karst Topography is the name for regions with caves, sinkholes, and natural bridges. It is formed in areas
with limestone bedrock.
26. Define the following words:
Stalagmite – calcite formations that form from dripping water on the ceiling of a cave
Stalactite – calcite formations that form from dripping water on the floor of a cave
Column – stalactites and stalagmites grow and connect
Sinkhole – when the roof of a cave gets thin and collapses
Aquifer – a permeable layer of rock containing water
27. What is groundwater? Water stored in rock below the surface
28. What is the difference between porosity and permeability?
Porosity is the percent of a rock that is pore space, it is the rocks ability to absorb water. Permeability is how
fast that water moves through the rock – depends on the size of the pore spaces and how well connected they
are.
29. What does it mean if a rock is impermeable? Give an example.
It cannot absorb water or allow water to pass through it, shale is a good example
30. In the diagram below, label or draw the following:
Zone of aeration
Zone of saturation
Water table
Refer to your notes
Spring
diagrams!
Aquifer
Ordinary well
Artesian well
Recharge area
for several
31. How deep is the water table below the surface? What changes the depth of the water table?
The depth varies based on climate, slope, topography; drought and flood can change the depth of the water
table
Some good review activities can be found at:
http://www.quia.com/pages/psinclair19/page4