EARTH PROCESSES
Endogenic - driven by the Earth’s vast heat engine; heat is transferred upward to
warm the mantle causing it to slowly circulate and tug on the plates above; interact
by colliding, sliding or by diverging from one another; result of such movement
produces faults and earthquakes, volcanoes, the creation of mountain systems, or
deep valleys and trenches.
Exogenic - processes acting on the surface of the Earth. (Solar, Water, Wind)
Deformation of the Crust - Weathering
Weathering - physical and biological disintegration, chemical alteration of rocks at
or near the Earth’s surface.
Types of Weathering based on how it disintegrates
1. Mechanical or physical - physical disintegration and reduction in the size of the
rocks without changing their chemical composition.
2. Chemical - decomposes, dissolves, alters, or weakens the rock through chemical
processes to form residual materials.
3. Biological - disintegration or decay of rocks and minerals caused by chemical or
physical agents of organisms.
Types of Mechanical Weathering
1. Exfoliation - pressure in a rock is released along parallel alignments near the
surface of the bedrock and layers or slabs of the rock along these alignments break
off from the bedrock and move downhill by gravity.
2. Frost wedging is a mechanical process caused by the freeze-thaw action of water
that is trapped between cracks in the rock. When water freezes, it expands and
applies pressure to the surrounding rock forcing the rock to accommodate the
expansion of the ice. It gradually weakens, cracks, and breaks the rock through
repetitive freeze-thaw weathering cycles. It could produce angular blocks.
3. Temperature Changes - warmer temperatures cause minerals to expand, and
cooler temperatures cause them to contract. The gradual expansion and contraction
of minerals weakens the rock causing it to break apart into smaller fragments or to
fracture.
4. Salt Wedging - salt crystallizes out of solution as water evaporates and apply
pressure to the surrounding rock weakening it, until it cracks and breaks down.
5. Abrasion - rocks collide against each other when transported by water, glacial ice,
wind and gravitational force causes them to slowly break apart into progressively
smaller particles.
Types of Chemical Weathering
1. Carbonation – CO2 and rainwater in the environment chemically reacts to produce
carbonic acid, a weak acid, which reacts with carbonate minerals in the rock,
weakens it and removes the chemically weathered materials.
2. Hydrolysis - reaction between H+ and OH- ions in water and the minerals in the
rock. The reaction creates compounds which tend to be softer and weaker than the
original parent rock.
3. Hydration - mineral structure in the rock forms a weak bond with water which
causes the mineral grains to expand, creating stress which causes the disintegration
of the rock.
4. Oxidation – O and H2O react with iron-rich minerals and weaken the structure of
the mineral. Minerals in the rock will change colors - rusty reddish-orange
appearance.
5. Solution - minerals in rock dissolve directly into water. Solution of large areas of
bedrock may cause sinkholes to form, where large areas of the ground subside or
collapse forming depression.
Types of Biological Weathering
1. Lichen, Algae and Decaying Plants - lichens and algae often live on bare rock
and extract minerals from the rock by ion-exchange mechanisms. This bio-chemical
weathering process leaches mineral from the rock causing it to weaken and to break
down. The decaying plant materials can also produce acidic compounds which
dissolve the exposed rock.
2. Plant Roots - plant roots penetrate into cracks and crevices of rocks and cause
the rock to split or break into smaller particles through mechanical weathering.
3. Organisms Activity - burrowing, tunneling, and acid secretion of organisms are
another form of biological weathering that chemically or mechanically contribute to
weathering. Animals may burrow or tunnel into rocks or cracks in rocks and cause
the rock to break down and disintegrate.
Differential Weathering - differences in rates of textures, or other characteristics are
referred to as differential weathering.
Erosion - physical removal and transportation of weathered material by water, wind,
ice and gravity.
- Gravity facilitates the down slope transportation of loosened, weathered materials
and enables them to move without the aid of water, wind, or ice.
- Gravity related erosion is a major component of mass wasting events.
Mass Wasting - rapid form of erosion that works primarily under the influence of
gravity in combination with other erosional agents.
- Among the factors that commonly trigger mass movements are saturation of surface
materials with water, over steepening of slopes, removal of vegetation, and
earthquakes.
Types of Mass Wasting
1. Rock Fall - rocks or rocks fragments fall freely through the air.
2. Landslides - a block of material moves suddenly along a flat, inclined surface.
- Slides that include segments of bedrock are called rockslides.
3. Debris and Mudflows - form when heavy rainfalls produce large amounts of runoff
that transport eroded soils, sediments and plant debris down slope where the flows
eventually spread out across valley bottoms.
- Mudflows move quickly and carry a mixture of soil, rock, and water that has a
consistency of wet concrete.
4. Slump - downward movement of a block of material along a curved surface.
5. Creep - slowest mass wasting process that involves a very gradual downhill
movement of soil, bedrock, and weathered rock fragments.
6. Deposition - a constructive process that lies down or places weathered and
eroded materials in a location that is different from their source.
Continental Drift Hypothesis
- 1900‘s
- Alfred Wegener set forth his continental drift hypothesis.
- He proposed that there is a supercontinent called Pangaea that began breaking
apart into smaller continents about 200 million years ago.
- Wegener’s continental drift hypothesis stated that the continents had once been
joined to form a single supercontinent.
Continental Drift Evidences According to Wegener
1. The Continental Jigsaw Puzzle
2. Fossils that Match Across the Sea
3. Rock Types and Structures Match
4. Ancient Climates
Lithosphere - uppermost mantle, along with the overlying crust, behaves as a
strong, rigid layer.
Boundary regions between plates are aptly called plate boundaries.
Plate is one of numerous rigid sections of the lithosphere that move as a unit over
the material of the asthenosphere.
Types of Plate Boundary
1. Divergent boundaries (constructive margins) place where two plates move apart.
- Oceanic Ridges, Rift valleys and Seafloor Spreading
2. Convergent boundaries (destructive margins) two plates move together.
Subduction zone occurs when one oceanic plate is forced down into the mantle
beneath a second plate.
Oceanic-Continental - Continental volcanic arcs
Oceanic-Oceanic - Volcanic island arc
Continental-Continental - mountain ranges (Himalayas formed from the collision
of Asia and India plate boundaries)
3. Transform fault boundaries (conservative margins) two plates grind past each
other without the production or destruction of the lithosphere.
Most join two segments of a mid-ocean ridge.