Earth Science Review

What are physical features on the earth’s surface?

Landforms

What are the four agents that

constantly change the earth’s landforms?

•Water•Wind•Ice•Mass movement

What is weathering?

The process of breaking rock into

silt, sand, clay, and other tiny pieces

What are these tiny pieces called?

Sediment

How does water weather rocks?

• Rivers can carve deep canyons

• Ocean waves can weather cliffs

• Freezes in cracks and expands breaking the rock apart

• Acid rain dissolves rock

• Tumbles rocks into each other

What is erosion?

The process of moving sediment from one place to

another

What is the process called of dropping it into a new location?

Deposition

How does water erode sediment?

• Waves take the sediment from the cliffs to the beach

• Rainfall carries it to rivers and streams

• Rivers carry it to their banks• Some rivers carry it to their mouths

What is a delta?

The new land that has been deposited in a triangle shape near the mouth of a

river

What does wind erode more quickly?

Dry soil instead of wet soil

Where is this greatest?

Where there is little plant life to hold

sediment in place

What unusual landforms can wind

erosion create?

•Tables

•Arches

•Columns

What are dunes?

Large mounds of sand

What are beach dunes caused by?

The constant blowing of the sea breeze

What are glaciers?

Large thick sheets of ice formed when more snow falls during the winter than melts in the

summer

Why does a glacier erode everything

under it?

It’s great size and weight

What are the two kinds of glaciers?

Valley and Continental

Where are valley glaciers found?

High in mountain valleys

How do they erode?

They flow slowly down the

mountainsides

What do they form?

A U-shaped valley

How many are left?

Very few and these are melting quickly

What are continental glaciers?

Thick sheets of ice that cover large

areas of the Earth

What is mass movement?

The downhill movement of rock

and soil because of gravity.

Give some examples of mass movement

•Mudslides•Landslides•Avalanches•Sinkholes

How does a landslide or mudslide occur?

The force of gravity is greater than the force of friction holding the

soil

What is creep?

The slow movement of soil downhill

How fast does it move?

Only a few centimeters each

year

What is a sinkhole?

A large hole in the ground that opens

suddenly

How does a sinkhole occur?

The limestone beneath the surface erodes and the land over the weakened

area collapses?

How does erosion and deposition effect

the landforms?

It can change them or produce new

ones.

What are terminal moraines?

The long ridges of soil and rock left

behind by glaciers.

Give an example of it.

Long Island or Cape Cod

How are new islands formed?

Volcanic eruptions

How does this happen?

Slowly over time the melted rock and ash

continue to be deposited on top until the it appears over the

surface of the water

The End