ESTU 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Parent Material, Weathering, Pedogenesis
Document Summary
Seasonal change such as temperature causes expansion and contraction of parent materials. Water causes cracking of rocks and kick starts its break down through physical weathering: chemical weathering is when water and other materials interact with the parent material. Chemical weathering breaks down the mineral constituents of the rock such as headstone of a cemetery. Limestone easily dissolve with water and acidic solution: biological weathering occurs when living things break down the parent materials chemically or physically. Biophysical weathering is when the trees grow their roots into rocks thus breaking it down. Biochemistry weathering would be lichens producing acids that chemical break down minerals and rocks. Furthermore, biological activity contributes to soil formation through decomposition and accumulation of organic matter. When plant, animals, and microbes die, they combine with the broken-down parent materials in the soil: after weathering, comes erosion. Another process that involves the movement of the fine particles made through weathering from one location to another.