Frost Shattering

• H2O entering joints and cracks in rocks freezes and the crack expands rock eventually falls apart

Thermal Expansion

• Rock is heated all day and expands. At night the rock is cooled and contracts breaks apart

Exfoliation/Sheeting

• Rock that was once under intense pressure in the earth now exposed and pressure is released rock layers peel off as pressure is reduced

Solution

• As rain falls through the atmosphere it binds to CO2 carbonic acid.

• This acid dissolves rock like limestone

Oxidation

• 02 dissolved in H2O can change Fe into Iron Oxide.

• Iron Oxide comes into contact with H2O and carries it and deposits onto surfaces

• Often turns rocks red

Hydrolysis

• Carbonic acid acting on silicates and dissolves material gets carried in H20.

• This process can create soils of great depth as rock layers continue to dissolve