How can temperature affect weathering?
Temperature changes can also contribute to mechanical weathering in a process called thermal stress. Changes in temperature cause rock to expand (with heat) and contract (with cold). As this happens over and over again, the structure of the rock weakens.
What factors influence weathering?
There are two factors that play in weathering, viz. Temperature and Precipitation. Warm climates affect by chemical weathering while cold climates affect by physical weathering (particularly by frost action). In either case the weathering is more pronounced with more moisture content.
How does temperature cause physical weathering?
Physical weathering is caused by the effects of changing temperature on rocks, causing the rock to break apart. Freeze-thaw occurs when water continually seeps into cracks, freezes and expands, eventually breaking the rock apart.
Why does weathering occur faster in a hot climate?
A warm, wet climate will produce the highest rate of weathering. The warmer a climate is, the more types of vegetation it will have and the greater the rate of biological weathering. This happens because plants and bacteria grow and multiply faster in warmer temperatures.
Which of the following is an example of physical weathering?
Physical Weathering Caused by Water Rocks often experience physical weathering as a result of exposure to swiftly moving water. Water flowing in a stream into a rock can eventually create a hole in the rock. When the water in a river or stream moves quickly, it can lift up rocks from the bottom of that body of water.
What is the major difference between physical and chemical weathering?
Physical, or mechanical, weathering happens when rock is broken through the force of another substance on the rock such as ice, running water, wind, rapid heating/cooling, or plant growth. Chemical weathering occurs when reactions between rock and another substance dissolve the rock, causing parts of it to fall away.
Is granite resistant to weathering?
Certain types of rock are very resistant to weathering. Igneous rocks, especially intrusive igneous rocks such as granite, weather slowly because it is hard for water to penetrate them. Rocks that resist weathering remain at the surface and form ridges or hills.
What are the five factors of weathering?
Factors affecting weathering
- rock strength/hardness.
- mineral and chemical composition.
- colour.
- rock texture.
- rock structure.