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| Carbonic Acid: A weak acid (H2CO3) that forms from the reaction of water and carbon dioxide. Most rain water is a very weak carbonic acid solution formed by the reaction of rain with small amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. |
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| The slowest form of mass movement, measured in millimeters or centimeters per year and occurring on virtually all slopes. cross bed A bed made up of particles dropped from a moving current, as of wind or water, and marked by a downward slope that indicates the direction of the current that deposited them. |
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| The process by which particles of rock and soil are loosened, as by weathering, and then transported elsewhere, as by wind, water, ice, or gravity |
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| Exfoliation: A physical weathering process in which concentric layers of rock are removed from an outcrop. |
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| Hydrolysis: A chemical reaction involving water that results in the breakdown of mineral material. |
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| : A downslope movement of rock and soil over a failure surface and under the influence of gravity. Slumps, earthflows, debris flows and debris slides are examples. |
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| A general term used for any downslope movement of rock, soil, snow or ice under the influence of gravity. Includes: landslides, creep, rock falls and avalanches. |
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mechanical weathering [image] |
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| A general term applied to a variety of weathering processes that result in the particle size reduction of rock materials with no change in composition. Frost action, salt crystal growth and pressure relief fracturing are examples. Also known as physical weathering |
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| A type of mass movement composed mainly of clay-size materials with a high enough water content that it flows readily. |
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| A chemical reaction in which substances combine with oxygen. For example, the combination of iron with oxygen to form an iron oxide. |
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| The source from which a given soil is chiefly derived, generally consisting of bedrock or sediment |
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| The top few meters of regolith, generally including some organic matter derived from plants |
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Soil is naturally removed by the action of water or wind: such 'background' (or 'geological') soil erosion has been occurring for some 450 million years, since the first land plants formed the first soil. Even before this, natural processes moved loose rock, or regolith, off the Earth's surface, just as has happened on the planet Mars. |
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| Soil not formed from the local rock but from parent material brought in from some other region and deposited, usually by running water, wind, or ... |
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| The process by which exposure to atmospheric agents, such as air or moisture, causes rocks and minerals to break down. This process takes place at or near the Earth's surface. Weathering entails little or no movement of the material that it loosens from the rocks and minerals. See also erosion. |
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