Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Exfoliating slabs of granite, on Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, USA. Exfoliating granite is a granite undergoing exfoliation, or onion skin weathering (desquamation).The external delaminated layers of granite are gradually produced by the cyclic variations of temperature at the surface of the rock in a process also called spalling.
Thermal stress weathering is an important mechanism in deserts, where there is a large diurnal temperature range, hot in the day and cold at night. [14] As a result, thermal stress weathering is sometimes called insolation weathering, but this is misleading. Thermal stress weathering can be caused by any large change of temperature, and not ...
Joints have a profound control on weathering and erosion of bedrock. As a result, they exert a strong control on how topography and morphology of landscapes develop. Understanding the local and regional distribution, physical character, and origin of joints is a significant part of understanding the geology and geomorphology of an area.
Honeycomb weathering – Form of cavernous weathering and subcategory of tafoni; Impact crater – Circular depression in a solid astronomical body formed by the impact of a smaller object; Joint valley – Landscape originates from the erosion of joints in the bedrock, leaving out small plateaus or ridges in between. Common in Fennoscandia.
Many explanations have been proposed for honeycomb and other cavernous weathering. These explanations include marine abrasion; wind corrosion; mechanical weathering resulting from short-term temperature variations; chemical weathering of the interior of the rock (core-softening) under a protective crust (case-hardening) followed by mechanical removal of the softened material; biogeochemical ...
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". This occurs in a type of glacier called a "valley glacier".
It is the most significant factor in the weathering of plastics. [2] Photo-oxidation causes the polymer chains to break (chain scission), resulting in the material becoming increasingly brittle. This leads to mechanical failure and, at an advanced stage, the formation of microplastics. In textiles, the process is called phototendering.
Art: marble, although a metamorphosed limestone, is an example of the use of sedimentary rocks in the pursuit of aesthetics and art; Architectural uses: stone derived from sedimentary rocks is used for dimension stone and in architecture, notably slate (metamorphosed shale) for roofing, sandstone for load-bearing buttresses