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Weathering is the deterioration of rocks, soils and minerals (as well as wood and artificial materials) through contact with water, atmospheric gases, sunlight, and biological organisms. It occurs in situ (on-site, with little or no movement), and so is distinct from erosion, which involves the transport of rocks and minerals by agents such as ...
Frost weathering is a collective term for several mechanical weathering processes induced by stresses created by the freezing of water into ice. The term serves as an umbrella term for a variety of processes, such as frost shattering, frost wedging, and cryofracturing. The process may act on a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, from ...
Honeycomb weathering, also known as honeycombs, honeycombed sandstone, is a form of cavernous weathering that consists of regular, tightly adjoining, and commonly patterned cavities that are developed in weathered bedrock; are less than 2 cm (0.79 in) in size; and resemble a honeycombed structure. Honeycombs also been called alveoli, lacework ...
Spheroidal weathering is a form of chemical weathering that affects jointed bedrock and results in the formation of concentric or spherical layers of highly decayed rock within weathered bedrock that is known as saprolite. When saprolite is exposed by physical erosion, these concentric layers peel (spall) off as concentric shells much like the ...
Clastic rocks are composed of fragments, or clasts, of pre-existing minerals and rock. A clast is a fragment of geological detritus, [1] chunks, and smaller grains of rock broken off other rocks by physical weathering. [2] Geologists use the term clastic to refer to sedimentary rocks and particles in sediment transport, whether in suspension or ...
The Southern North Sea basin is the largest gas producing basin in the UK continental shelf, with production coming from the lower Permian sandstones which are sealed by the upper Zechstein salt. [1] The evolution of the North Sea basin occurred through multiple stages throughout the geologic timeline. First the creation of the Sub-Cambrian ...
Joint (geology) Horizontal joints in the sedimentary rocks of the foreground and a more varied set of joints in the granitic rocks in the background. Image from the Kazakh Uplands in Balkhash District, Kazakhstan. Orthogonal joint sets on a bedding plane in flagstones, Caithness, Scotland. Joints in the Almo Pluton, City of Rocks National ...
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains, cemented together by another mineral. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. [1] Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar, because they are the most resistant minerals to the weathering processes at the Earth's ...