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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 ...
Abrasion (geology) Abrasion is a process of weathering that occurs when material being transported wears away at a surface over time, commonly happens in ice and glaciers. The primary process of abrasion is physical weathering. Its the process of friction caused by scuffing, scratching, wearing down, marring, and rubbing away of materials.
The carbonate-silicate cycle is the primary control on carbon dioxide levels over long timescales. [3] It can be seen as a branch of the carbon cycle, which also includes the organic carbon cycle, in which biological processes convert carbon dioxide and water into organic matter and oxygen via photosynthesis. [5]
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 ...
Space weathering is the type of weathering that occurs to any object exposed to the harsh environment of outer space. Bodies without atmospheres (including the Moon, Mercury, the asteroids, comets, and most of the moons of other planets) take on many weathering processes: bombardment by different sizes of meteorites and micrometeorites.
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 ...
The process of formation is called laterization. [2] Tropical weathering is a prolonged process of chemical weathering which produces a wide variety in the thickness, grade, chemistry and ore mineralogy of the resulting soils. The majority of the land area containing laterites is between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.