Chapter 14 Reading Assignment
1. Define weathering
2. Identify the two main types of weathering.
3. How is mechanical weathering different from chemical weathering?
4. Does mechanical weathering change the composition of the rock? Explain your answer.
5. Give two examples of mechanical weathering.
6. How does ice wedging cause mechanical weathering?
7. Identify three factors that cause abrasion.
8. Define oxidation.
9. Where would you commonly see oxidation?
10. Define hydrolysis and leaching.
11. Carbonation is dependent upon the reaction with what acid?
12. Define acid precipitation.
13. What is the main cause of acid precipitation?
14. What factors affect rate of weathering?
15. Define differential weathering.
16. What weathers at a faster rate, calcite or quartz? Support your answer.
17. Define surface area.
18. How does surface area affect rate of weathering?
19. Natural zones of weakness are called ___________________ or ________________________.
20. How do these areas of weakness affect rate of weathering? Give examples.
21. What is climate?
22. What type of climate will speed up the rate of weathering?
23. What type of climate slows the rate of weathering?
24. Define topography.
25. Identify two ways in which topography affects weathering and give examples of each.
26. Show how bat guano affects reaction rates two different ways.
27. Define regolith.
28. Define bedrock.
29. Where are the largest particles of regolith located and why?
30. Define soil.
31. Define parent rock.
32. What is the main difference between residual soil and transported soil?
33. What minerals must be present to form clay?
34. What minerals must be present to form sand?
35. What causes soil to be black and what causes soil to be red?
36. Identify the three main types of material in soil and how each is classified.
37. ________________ is a cross section of the soil and its bedrock.
38. ________________ is a horizontal layer of soil that can be distinguished from the layers above and below it.
39. Identify the three horizons and characteristics of each.
40. Compare and contrast tropical soil, temperate soil and desert and arctic soil.
Be sure to include the development of the three horizons.
41. Explain why slopes do not contain a large A Horizon.
42. What type of topography provides the best area for planting crops? Support your answer.
43. Define erosion.
44. Identify two processes that increase soil erosion.
45. Explain how plowing of furrows results in gullying.
46. Define sheet erosion and identify two processes that cause sheet erosion.
47. Why is the B Horizon not adequate to support plant growth and how this speeds erosion?
48. Identify three processes that contribute to land degradation and explain how each process leads to land degradation.
49. List the four processes by which gravity causes erosion and explain how each process works in causing soil erosion.
50. Explain the process of the formation of peneplains.
51. How are plateaus and mesas similar and how are they different.