The Role Of Erosion And Weathering In The Painted Desert Of Arizona

The environment will cause a lot of erosion when a large region remains bare for such a long time.

Erosion is a process where natural forces like water, wind, ice, and gravity wear away rocks and soil. Erosion occurs at the Earth’s surface, and has no effect on the Earth’s mantle and core. Water erosion is the removal of soil particles by heavy rainfall or running water. “While the causes of erosion by water are generally natural, water erosion is usually caused by rainfall and runoff on a slope” (GEI Works Erosion Pollution). “The process of water erosion usually occurs on stream and river banks, sea shores and seaside cliffs” (Reference.com).

There are coarsening-upward sequences preserved, with flooding surfaces represented by low-relief erosional contact of trough-cross-stratification (runnel) upon low-angle planar bedding (swash zone).

Mesa Verde National Park on the Colorado Plateau contains many geological aspects of interest, including its sedimentary rock layers, its canyons, its alcoves utilized by ancient people and how these alcoves were formed. Mesa Verde National Park is located in the southwest corner of Colorado, close to the Four Corners area, on top of a high mesa overlooking the Mancos River (Harris et al. 2004). The park, covering 81 square miles, consists of several main sedimentary formations that are characteristic to the park (Encyclopedia Britannica 2015). Canyons are carved into the sedimentary rock, with the cave dwellings found high on their steep walls. These dwellings are an especially unique aspect to the Mesa Verde National Park, and are built out of large alcoves. The alcoves were produced by weathering and erosion of the sedimentary rock type. To better understand how these alcoves formed, we must understand the geology of Mesa Verde National Park and how it has developed over history.

What type of weathering is when a chemical change occurs and a new product is created from the material that has undergone weathering.

Around 650 A.D., the Mesa Verdean peoples initiated construction of apartment-style homes, termed by Spanish explorers as pueblos. The Puebloan architecture is original in that it utilized the local stone and mud deposits of the region to maintain the structural integrity of their burgeoning developments. As this community evolved into the twelfth century, Mesa Verdeans further integrated the geology of their environment into their lifestyles by building homes, known as cliff dwellings, within the naturally formed alcoves of Mesa Verde. By the thirteenth century, the Mesa Verdeans vacated this region due to severe droughts and subsequent social instability. Despite the later abandonment of their cliff dwellings, it is clear that the geology of Mesa Verde National Park impacted the lives of the Ancestral Puebloans significantly. The following sections provide detailed information regarding the rock formations that make up the geological

One type of succession that can form an ecosystem is a lithosere. A lithosere is a plant succession that begins life on a newly exposed rock surface, such as one left bare as a result of glacial retreat, tectonic uplift as in the formation of a raised beach, or volcanic eruption. The lithosere succession is initiated by pioneer plants, such as blue and green algae with colonise the sock as there are into a lot of nutrients available and they have no root systems, so they can survive in the hostile conditions. The succession then progresses due to the pioneer plants dissolving the rock, resulting in a release of nutrients. This then means that mosses, lichens and liverworts are able to thrive on that ground as the moss can absorb nutrients from rain water and they provide their own energy from photosynthesis. These plants chemically decay the rock by releasing acids, and physically decay the rock as a result of their root systems, leading

The tiny pieces of rocks broken off by weathering are called sediment or alluvium. Erosion is the process of transportation of this sediment which on sea cliffs sediments becomes part of the seafloor and is washed away with the waves. The larger rocks that are broken off by sediment as shown in this picture are called scree or talus; scree builds up at the bottom of cliffs as the rocks tumble down, these piles are called scree slopes or talus piles.

Arizona’s historical development dates back to thousands of years ago. Arizona holds the second largest amount of indigenous/ Native American population of any other state in the United States. One of the first groups of people to live on Arizona’s land was the Native Americans, or otherwise called the American Indians. These Natives came much before any of the Europeans, or the Spanish settlers came to Arizona. There were three main Native American groups that truly began the exploration of Arizona. These groups include the Anasazi, Hohokam, and Mogollon tribes. Each of their tribes settled in different sections of Arizona ranging from Northeastern to Southeastern parts of the land.

As lack of water and a particularly dry climate out competes shrubs, trees, and grasslands across Colorado, erosion rates increase reducing the infiltration of moisture into the soil. Causation is believed to have come from heavy livestock grazing, fire suppression, and the introduction of exotic annual plants. Habitat problems for animals and communities that rely on ranching and hunting have been directly affected by these desertification effects. Desertification has had large ecological impacts on the state of Colorado. Vegetation and ecosystems are among the most crucially impacted by the effects of desertification. While Colorado continues its dry drought like climate, restoration of soil becomes one of the major solutions to fight off desertification. Because of the overuse of our land in past generations, we are continuing to see the harmful effects due to desertification. The overall impact on humans produced by desertification is best noticed by a diminishing food production as well as a wealth of water sources becoming dry. People in affected areas are likely to experience poor water quality, dust storms, and pollution. More importantly, as soil loses its nutrients, it no longer becomes farmable; thus, impacting local businesses, livestock, and the many people in that community. If desertification continues in Colorado, an increase of lost farmlands and livestock will pose an economic decease within agriculture markets, farmers will be forced to move to find better

First of all chemical weathering is when there is rainwater that is able to react with mineral grains in rocks to form new minerals and also soluble salts. This type of reaction would usually occur when the water is slightly acidic. For this reaction to occur it needs water and would occur more rapidly at higher temperatures for example damp and warm climates would be the best for this reaction to occur. Chemical weathering usually happens more often in the spring because this is when it is more humid and hot outside and that is what chemical weathering needs for it to occur and also when it is usually hot or humid there will also be water.

An example of a chemical change that one could come into contact with daily is rust. Air and iron are the reactants in this situation while rust is the product. The chemical equation for this reaction would look roughly like this, O+FE= OFE or rust. This is clearly a chemical change because you cannot reverse it meaning you cannot take rust and pull out the iron to leave air or vise versa. All chemical changes are finite. One other example of a chemical change is the burning of any substance. For example if one were to burn a sheet of paper it would create ash. This chemical change is finite because you cannot change ash back into paper.

It doesn’t need to be create into an art form like assemblage is. They are generally indoors but can also exist outdoors in contained spaces such as a plazas. For an example: Anish Kappor, “cloud gate”. Is a site specific sculpture in City of Chicago Millennium Park. Shaped like a giant bean and has seamlessly weld together stainless-steel plates. This reflected the surface of Chicago skyline. Earthworks are made in and of the land. They are outdoor. Large scale artwork outdoor. An example is Robert Smithson “Spiral Jetty”. Stretching into the Great Salt Lake and is make from salt, mud, crystals, rocks and water. It is a record of geological history. It was created by man and is

In conclusion you now know that pretty much everything is going through the process of mechanical weathering and that everything is breaking down slowly and also that acid precipitation take out mostly everything in it’s

The amount of rainfall and the temperature have a significant effect on the amount and depth if weathering occurs. The measure of precipitation decides the measure of water present for weathering. The temperature control the rate at which weathering happens. Weathering in the humid trophic more likely to be chemical type, under condition which favour chemical weathering, consistently high temperature and continually wet, the weathering reactions occur 3-4 times faster in the tropics than in temperate area. Many of the ancient regoliths of Australia were subject to chemical weathering for many million of years before the acidification of the continent, when it was mostly covered by humid rainforests that continued on from its time as part