Chapter 4 Lecture
Earth Science
Fourteenth Edition
Weathering, Soil,
and Mass Wasting Earth’s External Processes
• Weathering – the disintegration and decomposition
of material at or near the surface
• Mass wasting – the transfer of rock material
downslope under the influence of gravity
• Erosion – the incorporation and transportation of
material by a mobile agent, usually water, wind, or
ice Weathering
• Two kinds of weathering
– Mechanical weathering
• Breaking of rocks into smaller pieces
– Chemical weathering
• Chemical transformation of rock into one or more new
compounds Increase in Surface Area by Mechanical
Weathering
