Weathering & Erosion

Causes of weathering
            Wind
            Water
            Ice
            Roots-
                        The actual pushing or breaking of a rock
                                                MECHANICAL WEATHERING
              CHEMICAL WEATHERING
                        Acid eats away at rock and actually dissolves it.
   
                                    Plants sometimes give off acids
                                    Acid Rain
                                    Combinations of minerals have acidic effects
                                    Humans spilling chemicals (like soda)
                                    Dead animals sometimes give off acids
  Erosion
            The moving of weathered sediment from place to place
                                      Agents of Erosion
                                                Water
                                                Wind
                                                Humans
                                                Animals
                                                GRAVITY-  The most common agent-
                             
Things fall down….. landslides, mudslides or just plain movement downhill are all caused by gravity, a pull downward.  

      As wind and water and even acid weather rocks on mountains, it loosens the fragments,  gravity pulls them downward so they fall down the mountain.  This is why mountains are wider on the bottom and narrow on top.