Weathering And Erosion Of Soft Rocks

Weathering is the when rocks break down physically or chemically into smaller particles called sediments. Physical weathering is the breakdown of rocks and minerals without changing the chemical composition. Examples of physical weathering include frost wedging, biological activity/root weathering, mining/burrowing, exfoliation, and abrasion. Chemical weathering is the breakdown of rocks into smaller pieces by changing the chemical composition of the sediments. Examples of chemical weathering include oxidation, hydration, carbonic acid reacting with calcite to form caves, and biosphere (plant acids). Erosion is taking the material that has been weathered and is ready to be moved or eroded, and transports those loose sediments or rocks that

Next, we can see that the rock displays a subtle porphyritic texture with plagioclase comprising the phenocrysts. The overall texture of the surrounding groundmass is granoblastic equigranular. Under thin section we also see a weakly defined foliation evidenced in the preferential alignment of actinolite grains and to a lesser extent chlorite grains. Undulose extinction is also observed in quartz indicating the rock was subject to deformation. The normalized quartz, alkali-feldspar, and plagioclase (QAP) values of this rock indicate that it is classified as a grano-diorite according to the IUGS QAPF classification system which is consistent with the hand sample interpretation.

Sandstone Federal Correctional Institution in Sandstone, Minnesota has housed many an inmate including the actor Tim Allen (Rodriguez) and it ranks 40 of 50 on arrestrecords.com’s 50 most comfortable prions in the world. A well-maintained lawns leads to well-kept cells, where nonviolent offenders are kept occupied with leather making and stained glass creation. Some inmates may consider this a little boring, but anything is better than being assaulted. (Records) This paper will discuss the history and current dynamic of Sandstone, inmate demographics, services available to them, staff demographics and their style of this staff.

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.

Broken pieces of rock would have drifted down a river, eventually the broken pieces of rock would have settled at the bottom of the water and become deposited, the deposited rocks form layers, the weight from the pieces of rock squashes the bottom layers of sediments and the water between the rocks are squeezed out, Crystals and different salts start to form which causes a type of glue- this is called cementation, eventually a sedimentary rock is formed, however this may take Millions of years.

This newly exposed rock already had small cracks - weathering and erosion took full advantage of these. Water would creep in and the freeze - thus expanding. This expansion would create more cracks. Wind and water eroded by carrying away particles from cracks like these, as well as from the surface of the rock and any other nooks. Not only did water wash particles away - it also softened the rock which made erosion easier.

The processes of erosion are wind, water, mass movements, glacier ice, and ocean waves. Wind erosion occurs when gusts of wind carry smaller sizes of sediment to different places. Wind erosion typically takes place in “...mostly in flat,

The Grand Canyon is a massive and is well know. It is kind of like a national and ecological monument. There are many different kinds of rocks that are found in the Grand Canyon. According to the article that I used for research, there are crystalline basement rocks inside the Grand Canyon that probably go back all the way to the creation. There are metamorphic rocks in there that used to be sedimentary rocks. The sedimentary rocks were transformed to metaphoric rocks by heat and pressure possibly during the time that land was formed during the creation. To determine the different ages of these rocks scientists and geologists used radioisotope dating. It can be difficult to determine the age of metamorphic rocks because radio isotopes

Quarry Rock is an amazing hike that everyone should try and do if they visit Vancouver, B.C. When I started hiking it felt like a crisp fall morning. The dew was shimmering in the brisk forest as I started walking. The ground was soft as the rain from the night before was still drying up. I came to a slim wooden bridge over a rushing river . The water was scrambling as if it had to be somewhere quickly. When the trail began getting skinny I leaned against a prickly cliff wall for balance. When i finally hand my footing i took my hand away from the cliff wall and it was covered with most dirt that was collected on it for the wall. I brushed my hands together and kept walking. As I hiked higher, the air got warm and the earthy

Introduction: Rocks are a natural substance composed of solid crystals of different minerals that have been fused together into a solid lump .1 They are so common and we see them especially along the river bed, along beaches, also when we visit historical places we notice that most of the castles and roads are made of rocks .If we look at the photos of these objects taken long time ago and compare them to how these objects look now we can notice that their appearances have changed .These changes occur when rocks are exposed to the processes such as wind, water, and biological activities .Chemical weathering is another process which may affect rocks and to understand how rocks are altered by chemical reactions can be answered through this

Solution rills are formed when acidic rain dissolves the calcium carbonate that holds sandstone together, forming depressions. Water flows along the grooves, deepening them until a flower-like pattern emerges. Concretions, or hard, dense masses of minerals within rock can be seen in the Cliff House Sandstone and Point Lookout Formation (“Geology of Mesa Verde, n.d.). They are often spherical in shade and elongate, and are typically harder than the rocks they are within. The concretions in Mesa Verde consist of either iron oxide or calcium carbonate (“Geology of Mesa Verde, n.d.). Unprotected Cliff House Sandstone atop mesa tops develop a feature known as turtle back weathering. As the exposed sandstone is eroded, an immense amount of pressure is released, and this release causes cracks in the rocks. Further weathering the cracks, water freezes, thaws, and dissolves the calcium carbonate holding the sandstone together. Eventually, the cracks erode the top of the rock into a rounded shape, giving it a likeness to that of turtle shells (“Geology of Mesa Verde, n.d.).

Physical weathering is caused by changes of temperature in which results in rocks being fractured. A type of physical weathering is heat fracture. Heat fracture is the result of a rapid change in temperature. Sudden exposure to high temperature causes expansion and when it cools the rock contracts which then leads to the breakage of the rock. Frost Wedging is also very similar to heat fracture.

     Metamorphic rocks are pre-existing rocks that are changed by heat and pressure. The pre-existing rock is called the parent rock, or protolith. Metamorphism occurs in these rocks when the minerals become instable. There are two types of metamorphism, contact and regional. Contact is high temperature, low pressure. It is basically a massive rock that is baked. Regional is high pressure and low temperature. Strong fabric, or layering, develops from

As shown by the Griffith criterion, tensile strength of brittle materials is theoretical 1/8 of the compressive strength. Typically, tensile strength of rock materials is about 1/10 to 1/8 of the compressive strength. Hence, rock fails easily under tension. In design, rock should be subjected to minimum tensile stress. Several methods are commonly used to test the tensile strength of rocks:

Weathering is the breaking down of rock into smaller components by atmospheric and biotic agencies.