EES 1030 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Half Dome, Thermal Expansion, Sediment Transport
16 Feb 2018
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Document Summary
Erosion: the transport of earth materials from one place to another. Ice wedging: a crack grows, ice wedges a crack open, a block is lifted and pushed out. (this is how potholes in roads during the winter are made) Evaporation of water rich in dissolved species will lead to growth of crystals in cracks. Thermal expansion (and contraction): rocks expand when hot and shrink when they are cooled leads them to cracking. Exfoliation dome: usually granite, flakes in large sheets the surface (we call it the half dome), so the granite starts to flake off. Root wedging: roots get into small cracks in rocks and expand. Water: only 2-3% of all water is fresh water 70% of fresh water is in ice, 30% in ground water, about 0. 01% in rivers and lakes. Gravity driven movement provides power to erode minerals. Streams: moving water, driven by gravity, flows from higher to lower elevation, is confined in a channel.
