Chemical Weathering

1
Chemical Weathering

• the weathering of a rock surface through chemical
  processes such as oxidation, solution, and
  hydrolysis

Different effects of chemical weathering
according to rock type limestone in foreground
granite in left background, Vermont.
2
Contaminant

• A substance that is either present in an
  environment where it does not belong or is
  present at levels that might cause harmful

3

• a low triangular area of alluvial deposits where
  a river divides before entering a larger body of
  water

4
Deposition

• the natural process of laying down a deposit of
  something

5
Drought

• A long period of abnormally low rainfall,
  especially one that adversely affects growing or
  living conditions.

6
Dune

• a hill of sand built by aeolian processes

7
Earthquake

• shaking and vibration at the surface of the earth
  resulting from underground movement along a fault
  plane of from volcanic activity

8
Ecology

• is the scientific study of the relation of living
  organisms to each other

9
Ecological Succession

• a process of ecological change in which a series
  of natural communities are established and then
  replaced over time

10
Erosion

• the process of weathering and transport of solids
  (sediment, soil, rock and other particles) in the
  natural environment

11
Fertilizer

• substances that supply plant nutrients or amend
  soil fertility

12
Flood

• an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges
  land

13
Groundwater

• water located beneath the ground surface in soil
  pore spaces and in the fractures of rock
  formations

14
Mechanical Weathering

• when rocks are broken down without any change in
  the chemical nature of the rocks

15
Runoff

• the movement of landwater to the oceans, chiefly
  in the form of rivers, lakes, and streams.

16
Primary Succession

• the gradual growth of organisms in an area that
  was previously bare

17
Secondary Succession

• the series of community changes which take place
  on a previously colonized, but disturbed or
  damaged habitat

18
Surface Water

• water collecting on the ground or in a stream,
  river, lake, wetland, or ocean

19
Tornado

• a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that
  is in contact with both the surface of the earth
  and a cumulonimbus cloud

20
Tsunami

• caused by the displacement of a large volume of a
  body of water, usually an ocean, but can occur in
  large lakes

21
Volcano

• an opening, or rupture, in a planet's surface or
  crust, which allows hot magma, ash and gases to
  escape from below the surface

22
Watershed

• the area of land where all of the water that is
  under it or drains off of it goes into the same
  place

23
Weathering

• the breaking down of Earth's rocks, soils and
  minerals through direct contact with the planet's
  atmosphere

24
Wildfire

• any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation
  that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness
  area

25
Catastrophic Event

• a sudden and widespread disaster