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Physical weathering, also called mechanical weathering or disaggregation, is the class of processes that causes the disintegration of rocks without chemical change. Physical weathering involves the breakdown of rocks into smaller fragments through processes such as expansion and contraction, mainly due to temperature changes.
This occurs because in regions of higher elevation there are higher rates of mechanical erosion (i.e. gravity, fluvial processes) and there is constant exposure and availability of materials available for chemical weathering. [2] The following is a simplified equation describing the consumption of CO 2 during chemical weathering of silicates:
Denudation incorporates the mechanical, biological, and chemical processes of erosion, weathering, and mass wasting. Denudation can involve the removal of both solid particles and dissolved material. These include sub-processes of cryofracture, insolation weathering, slaking, salt weathering, bioturbation, and anthropogenic impacts. [4]
Spheroidal or woolsack weathering in granite on Haytor, Dartmoor, England Spheroidal weathering in granite, Estaca de Bares, A Coruña, Galicia, Spain Woolsack weathering in sandstone at the Externsteine rocks, Teutoburg Forest, Germany Corestones near Musina, South Africa that were created by spherodial weathering and exposed by the removal of surrounding saprolite by erosion.
Note 1: Erosion is a general characteristic of biodegradation by cells that adhere to a surface and the molar mass of the bulk does not change, basically. Note 2: Chemical degradation can present the characteristics of cell-mediated erosion when the rate of chemical chain scission is greater than the rate of penetration of the cleaving chemical ...
Zone of plucking in the formation of tarns and cirques Glacially-plucked granitic bedrock near Mariehamn, Åland. Plucking, also referred to as quarrying, is a glacial phenomenon that is responsible for the weathering and erosion of pieces of bedrock, especially large "joint blocks".
Erosion is distinct from weathering which involves no movement. [1] [2] Removal of rock or soil as clastic sediment is referred to as physical or mechanical erosion; this contrasts with chemical erosion, where soil or rock material is removed from an area by dissolution. [3]
Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms.