Weathering erosion and deposition are natural processes that alter the shape of Earth’s surface. They involve three key components: weathering consists of breaking apart rocks and minerals into constituent parts, erosion is the wearing away of loose rock particles through wear-and-tear action and deposition is where these loosed particles settle back down again.
Physical weathering includes waves crashing against sea cliffs, glaciers scraping against rocks, frost wedging (rocks cracking when frozen water freezes inside them), while chemical weathering includes things such as iron turning to rust or carbon dioxide dissolving limestone to form caves.
Wind
Wind erosion of rocks can create amazing shapes. Eroding rocks range in size from large boulders to tiny grains of sand; for instance, at Scotts Bluff National Monument the winds have created amazing sand dunes and arches from erosion at Scotts Bluff National Monument. Wind can also carry material to new locations creating erosion that lasts years – this long-range process may wash chemicals, fertilizers, and pesticides into waterways, making these long-range processes damaging.
Erosion can be caused by various natural forces such as wind, running water, waves, glaciers and underground water. Any medium which moves material and causes it to break down or be removed from a landscape causes erosion.
Water
Water erosion occurs when moving bodies of water carry rocks and soil particles from one place to another, either slowly like on beaches, or quickly like with mudslides.
Physical erosion wears away rocks and reduces their size and smoothness, often seen in coastal cliffs subjected to waves or rockfalls. Its effects also include creating clastic sediments made up of fragments from older rocks transported away from their place of origin.
Bornhardts are formed through mechanical weathering. Soft materials like clay absorb water and expand as it passes through them, eventually eroding away hard rock layers through sheeting erosion. Chemical weathering also plays an important role in erosion: anhydrite changes to gypsum through hydration while hydrolysis dissolves certain minerals from rocks into groundwater.
Ice
Glacial erosion involves rock particles rubbing against each other and being worn away, with ice picking up and carrying debris along its path. As glaciers melt, they deposit piles of rocks and silt called glacial till, similar to what mudslides or landslides create over time. Unlike these faster processes however, glacier erosion takes much longer.
Frost wedging occurs when water in the form of ice seeps through cracks in rocks or sidewalks and then freezes, widening cracks and splitting rocks, as it does so. Road crews frequently need to patch these weathering-induced holes left behind.
Glacial erosion can alter the landscape by carving U-shaped valleys, moraines and drumlins as well as creating horns from multiple glacier erosion of one spot, shaping coastlines into stacks or arches like those found at Western Victoria Australia’s Twelve Apostles; creating hoodoos and spires made from limestone like those seen in Utah’s Bryce Canyon National Park; even creating stacks in Western Victoria Australia known as Twelve Apostles from various beaches along their paths; even creating hoodoos from multiple glacier invasion of one spot; creating pointed mountain peaks formed when several glaciers work simultaneously to erode one spot resulting in several glaciers a given point; creating coast-shaped stacks in Western Victoria to stacks similar to Australia where glacier action creates them in these coastal forms as they form; shaping coastlines into stacks or arches that form as it does in Western Victoria Australia’s Twelve Apostles National Park as it does in Western Victoria Australia’s 12 Apostles National Park where erosion forms stacks-arches along the coastline as seen here in Western Victoria Australia while erosion can form hoodoos or even create them as seen here in Utah’s Bryce Canyon National Park!
Plants
As plants develop, their presence alters the molecular structures of rocks and soils they reside in, altering physical properties like making them weaker or easier to break apart. Plants also play a significant role in chemical weathering; for instance carbonic acid dissolves limestone which then forms sinkholes, caves or cliffs over time.
Plant roots have the power to crack apart rocks through mechanical weathering. Their roots explore every crevice in rocks and, as they get bigger, pull or “pry” apart the rock surface – one reason why farmers in windy regions plant rows of tall grass.
Erosion occurs when particles of Earth are carried by wind currents to another location and deposited, such as on beaches or rivers. Erosion may take millions of years, or occur quickly as a result of human activities like burning fossil fuels which create acid rain – this latter case can bring harmful chemicals into water sources polluting them further.