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Types of Weathering
In this lesson, you will learn how weathering leads to soil formation and erosion, what the differences and similarities are of mechanical and chemical weathering, and what factors affect the rate of weathering.
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to identify causes of erosion, explain how the processes of erosion deposition are connected, and explain the changes to earth's surface that erosion and deposition cause. Let's get started!
Have you ever wondered how cracks form on the sidewalk? Or have you ever thought about what caused the Grand Canyon to be so big and wide? In this video, you and your kids will learn about weathering, the three types of weathering, and how they affect the earth.
Difference between Weathering and Erosion
Weathering breaks down the rock, and erosion carries the rock away. In this video, I explain the difference between weathering and erosion. Weathering weakens rocks and breaks the rock down using chemical or physical changes. The physical changes may be abrasion, wind, water, or ice. Chemical changes include oxidation, hydrolysis, and carbonation. Erosion moves the broken down rock away. This may include wind, water, or ice.
Coastal Erosion
With the recent wild weather on the East Coast, the Bureau of Meteorology is warning that it could cause coastal erosion. We look at what coastal erosion is, how it works and what’s being done to protect people who live on the coast.
Weathering and Erosion of Rivers
Why do rivers change their course? This video showcases the amazing phenomenon of how the Ucayali River has changed over time.
Storm Erosion
Storms and flooding caused huge problems across eastern Australia last week. The damage was particularly bad along the coastline where many homes were badly damaged. Here's why.
In this interactive video, students will respond to six questions on the fluvial processes of erosion, transportation and deposition.
Quick Quiz: Weathering
Quick Quiz: Indigenous Sustainability
Indigenous peoples pass down knowledge of how to take care of the land to each generation.
Weathering, Erosion and Deposition Song
This song compliments "The Rock Cycle Rock" and focuses on the processes that change Earth's surface; weathering, erosion, and deposition. It explains how water, wind, and ice are chief agents of these changes that happen constantly. Often these changes are slow, but they are happening nonetheless.
Types of Weathering
Information about Weathering, Erosion, Transportation and Deposition
- Weathering - National Geographic
Weathering describes the breaking down or dissolving of rocks and minerals on the surface of Earth. Water, ice, acids, salts, plants, animals, and changes in temperature are all agents of weathering. - Earth Eclipse - What is Weathering and Erosion?*Types and Examples of Weathering
*Different Types of Erosion
*10 Fun Facts about Erosion - Britannica - Weathering and Erosion of a coastLand bordering an ocean, sea, or lake is called a coast or shore. Coasts feature a great variety of landforms ranging from gently sloping beaches to steep cliffs. This variety is the result of the different natural processes that formed the coasts as well as the type and structure of the rock that underlies them.
- What does Transportation mean in Geology?Transportation is the movement of material across the Earth's surface by water, wind, ice or gravity. It includes the physical processes of traction (dragging), suspension (being carried) and saltation (bouncing) and the chemical process of solution.
- Sediment - National GeographicSediment is solid material that is moved and deposited in a new location. Sediment can consist of rocks and minerals, as well as the remains of plants and animals.
- Preventing and Managing Erosion in Queensland (QLD Government)Programs to control erosion in Queensland began in the 1950s and have been very successful.
The 3 main principles to control erosion are to:
* use land according to its capability
* protect the soil surface with some form of cover
* control runoff before it develops into an erosive force. - Impacts of Erosion (QLD Government)All soils can suffer erosion but some are more vulnerable than others. Soils with dispersible subsoils, for example, are subject to serious erosion by tunnelling and gully formation.
Understanding the type of soil and how prone it is to erosion can help avoid problems in agriculture and on waterways and infrastructure. - Soil Conservation Plans (QLD Government)About soil conservation plans
Soil conservation plans show how runoff can be controlled and guided through a property to minimise erosion. - Wetland Management Tools and Guidelines
Wetlands provide a range of benefits through the provision of water and forage for stock, flood mitigation, nutrient and sediment transformation, and biodiversity.
Industry sectors, local governments and private landowners play an important role in the sustainable management of wetland systems as most wetlands in Queensland exist on private property.
The Wetland Info website provides a range of valuable information that can help with wetland management at a property level. This page gives links to resources that directly relate to property management and provides a list of tools for property managers. - Pressures affecting Queensland’s aquatic ecosystemsThe pressures affecting Queensland's aquatic ecosystems vary depending on local conditions and land management use and practices. Broadly, sediments, nutrients and pesticides are the main catchment pressures on our aquatic ecosystems. Climate change is also a pressure on aquatic ecosystems, particularly the Great Barrier Reef.
- Soil Erosion and Degradation (WWF)Soil is the earth’s fragile skin that anchors all life on Earth. It is comprised of countless species that create a dynamic and complex ecosystem and is among the most precious resources to humans. Increased demand for agriculture commodities generates incentives to convert forests and grasslands to farm fields and pastures. The transition to agriculture from natural vegetation often cannot hold onto the soil and many of these plants, such as coffee, cotton, palm oil, soybean and wheat, can actually increase soil erosion beyond the soil’s ability to maintain itself.
- Erosion and Transport (Geological Society)Erosion is the process by which soil and rock particles are worn away and moved elsewhere by gravity, or by a moving transport agent – wind, water or ice.
Transport refers to the processes by which the sediment is moved along – for example, pebbles rolled along a river-bed or sea shore, sand grains whipped up by the wind, salts carried in solution.
How Uluru Came to be? (ABC)
How Uluru Came to Be?
- How Uluru Came to be? (ABC)Uluru is found in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in Australia's Red Centre.
This region contains many landform features and is a place of special significance for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples alike.
Find out about the Earth movements that created these incredible landforms and the creation stories of the area's Aboriginal traditional landowners.
Indigenous Perspectives
Indigenous Perspectives on Weathering and Erosion
- Climate impact (CABAH)The timing and impacts of past — and future — extreme climate change remains highly uncertain. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the Climate Theme aims to better understand changes over the past 130,000 years, from the last interglacial when Australia was apparently warmer and wetter than today, to the last two millennia, during which the continent experienced spatial and temporal extremes in hydroclimate.
By looking at so-called ‘natural archives — preserved in lakes, peats, ocean sediments and trees — we are investigating the magnitude, timing and mechanisms of abrupt and extreme change, and providing a context to Australia’s rich ecological and archaeological record. - Landscapes (CABAH)Our ‘wide brown land’ seems timeless and unchanging. But if we look back across the past 130,000 years we discover that the Australian landscape has changed dramatically and constantly.
What drove these changes? How did the first people adapt to this alien ’sunburnt country’? And what can our past tell us about our shared future? - Time (CABAH)Time is fundamental to understanding the story of Australia’s natural and Indigenous history and heritage. Our transdisciplinary research program is connected via a timeline starting 130,000 years ago – during the last interglacial period when Australia was devoid of modern humans (Homo sapiens) and the climate was broadly similar to today’s – and extending to the time of initial European contact in the 17th century. This covers the entire period of Indigenous occupation prior to European arrival.
Resource Key
Resource Level
We have graded each source in this Research Guide according to the following levels.
Level 1
Brief, easy to read information which may be basic and use informal language. Newspaper articles are generally this level.
Level 2
Generally includes subject-specific language, provides additional reading and may provide additional background information.
Level 3
Typically, these will be longer in length, detailed and contain technical information.