EXOGENIC PROCESS

What is Exogenic Process?

Exogenic processes include geological phenomena and processes that originate externally to
the Earth's surface. They are genetically related to the atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere,
and therefore to processes of weathering, erosion, transportation, deposition, denudation etc.

WEATHERING
> COMBINED ACTION OF ALL THE PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROCESS.

TYPES OF WEATHERING

•PHYSICAL/ MECHANICAL WEATHERING

> THERE IS ONLY CHANGES IN PHYSICAL APPEARANCE AND NO CHANGES IN
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION.
Examples:

1.) BLOCK DISINTEGRATION

> ROCKS EXPANDS & CONTRACT DUE TO CONTINOUS HEATING AND COOLING.

2.) EXFOLIATION
> REMOVAL OF OUTER LAYER CAUSED BY SUCCESSIVE HEAT AND COOLING.

3.)FROST WEATHERING
> INCREASING OF VOLUME OF WATER CAUSES THE ROCKS TO SPLIT INTO SMALL
PORTIONS.

•CHEMICAL WEATHERING
> THE PROCESS WHERE THE ROCKS BREAKS DOWN OR WEAKENS & FORMS A NEW
SUBSTANCE CAUSED BY CHEMICAL REACTION.
Examples:

1.)OXIDATION
> REACTION OF OXYGEN TO THE ROCKS.

2.) CARBONATION
> THE PROCESS WHERE IT INCLUDES THE FORMATION OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF
CARBONATES IN ROCKS THAT IS SOLUBLE IN WATER CAUSES THE ROCKS TO
ENLARGE.

3.)Hydralysis
> Wet is perhaps the most important agent of chemical weathering. It affects silicate. For
example, in the case of olivine, a silicate, and water:
Mg²Si⁴ + 4H²0¹ ---> Mg(OH) + H⁴SiO⁴
divine water ---> magnesium silicic acid
hydroxide in solution

The reaction results in the dissolution of the uriginal mineral.

•MASS WASTING
What is mass Wasting?
> NATURAL HAZARD. IT REFERS TO THE MOVEMENT OF THE ROCK.

TYPES OF MASS WASTING

• Rock and Debris Falls

> Rock falls occur when a piece of rock or mass of rocks become dislodged and makes free-fall
along a steep cliff. Debris fall is similar to rock fall, except that it involves a mixture of soil
regolith, vegetation and rocks. At the base of the cliff is an accumulation of fallen materials
called talus.

• Land Slides
> Landslides are another type of mass wasting. They are sudden fast movement of cohesive
mass of soil, rock, or regolith. They occur in two types: translation and rotational slides.
Translational slides involve the movement of a mass of materials along a well-defined surface,
such as bedding plane, foliation surface, or joint surface. Rotational slides or slumps occur
when the descending materials move en-masse along a concave, upward curved.

• Flow
Flows may be slurry flows or granular flows. Slurry flows consist of a mixture of rocks and/or
regolith with 20% to 40% water. They are considered as water-saturated flows. Glanular flows
contain 0 to 20% water. They are not saturated with water.

Slurry flows may be subdivided further on the basis of velocity

. Solifluction - the flow rate is around 1 cm/yr and occurs i areas saturated with water

Debris flows - the velocities range from 1 m/yr to 100 m/ these result from heavy rains

Mudflows these are high velocity mixture of sediment and water. The velocities are greater than
1 km/h; these result from heavy rain and can travel long distances

•Granular flows may be subdivided further based on velocity:

Creep - the slow movement of regolith down a slope, observed in bent trees and fences

Earthflows - the velocities range from less than 1 cm/yr to less than 100 m/h
Grain flows - the velocities ranges from 9 to 100 m/h to less than 100 km/h; they are relatively
dry material like sand dunes

Debris avalanche - these are very high velocity flows (more than 100 km/h) of large volume of
mixtures of rocks and regolith.

Human and Mass Wasting

Although mass wasting is a natural phenomenon, human activities may induce mass
movement. Examples of human activities include the removal of vegetation through logging and
urban development, among others.

Vegetation helps hold soil, loos rocks, and regolith, through the roots of plants. Plant debris like
leaves, and twigs protect the soil. Observing practices, such as selective logging, reforestation,
planting trees on steeper slopes and along streams and rivers, and not removing or burning
plant debris, may reduce mass movement.

Oversteepening slopes may be due to quarrying, open-pit mining, home building on steep
slopes, highway construction (road cuts) and adding weight to slopes with housing construction.
Reducing the slope may reduce mass movement. Thus, it can be done through proper grading
or building terraces, reinforcing the base of the slope, and reducing the load in the slope.

Adding moisture to slopes through lawn watering, leakage and draining in swimming pool, and
water reservoir leakage also induces mass movement. Water serves as lubricant in mass
movement. Reducing water in a slope makes the slope more stable.

•EROSION AND TRANSPORTATION

EROSION: Wearing away the soil and rocks. This puts lots of sand, mud, pebbles and silt into
the river.

TRANSPORT: Moving material. The force of the flowing water moves the mud, sand, pebbles
and silt created by erosion.

AGENTS OF EROSION

Weathered materials are removed from the original site and transported away by natural agent
These agents derive the energy from the sun through the water cycle and through differential
heating Running water is the primary agent of erosion on Earth. Most running water is found in
stream and rivers.

There are different types of water erosion that affect landforms:

1. Splash erosion-Raindrops cause tiny particles of soil to be detached and to move out.

2. Sheet erosion-Raindrops break apart the soil structure which moves down the slope as water
flows overland as sheet.

3. Gully erosion-After heavy rain, water flows in narrow channels, eroding gullies into great
depth...

4. erosion-Continuous water flow alongside land and move downward, which deepens a valley.

5. Bank erosion-Continuous flow of water wears out stones along the bank of streams and
rivers.

6. Coastline erosion-Waves from ocean and seas crash against the shore, pounding the rocks
into pebbles and reducing the pebbles to sand. Sand is also removed from the beaches, which
changes the coastline.

7. Seaside cliff erosion-The battering of ocean waves erodes seaside cliffs, forming hales that
create caves. Continuous pounding of waves may create an arch that may fall, leaving nothing
but rock columns called sea stocks.

TRANSPORTATION
How are the materials transported? Materials are transported in four distinct ways-as solution
suspension, by traction, or through saltation.

Solution-Materials are described in water and carried along by water.

Suspension - The suspended particles are carried by a medium (air, water, or ice).

Traction - Particles move by rolling, sliding, and shuffling along eroded surface. The movements
occur in all erosional agents.

Saltation - Particles move from the surface to the medium in quick repeated cycles. The
repeated cycle has enough force to detach new particles.

•Deposition and Depositional Landforms

The process of weathering, mass wasting, erosion, and deposition are responsible for the
continued redhaping of Earth's surface. The agents of erosion are also agents of deposition.
Deposition is the aggradation or accumulation of weathered sediments to create different
landforms.

Water and Landforms

>Whenever stream velocity decreases, it deposits the sediments it carries. The material deposit
of stream is called alluvium. Some may be temporary because the materials may be carried
again and ventually carried to the ocean. Materials like sand and gravel may be deposited in a
longer lifespan as Ideas, alluvial fans, flood plains, and levees.

Deltas are formed when river loses energy as it flows in to an area of slow-moving water, such
as a ake or the sea. When the river meets the sea, clay particles coagulate and settle in the
seabed (flocculation). The water flows into a delta through distributaries. Distributaries are parts
of a stream that leaves the main flow.
Alluvial fans are formed when a stream reaches a flat area (called piedmont) or gently sloping
plain. Then its velocity slows, it loses its capacity to carry its sediment material and deposits
them at the action of the hill and piedmont, forming fan-shaped deposits.

Flood plain is a flat wide expanse of alluvium covering flat areas prone to flooding. A sheet of
silts is posited after successive flood, increasing the richness of the soil as well as its height.

Levees occur in the lower course of a river when there is an increase in the volume of water
flowing downstream and flooding occurs. Sediment that has been eroded further upstream is
transported downstream. When the river floods, the sediment spreads out across the floodplain.

GLACIER AND LANDFORMS

Glaciers, as they moved across the land, pick up and transport huge load of debris. Ultimately
these materials are deposited when glaciers melt In general, all unsorted deposits of rock
formed directly by the ice are called glacial till.

Moraines are layers or ridges of till. A long pile of rocky material at the edge of a glacier is called
lateral moraine while at the middle of the glacier is called medial moraine.

Esker is a winding ridge of sand and gravel deposited under a glacier by water melting from the
ice.

Drumlins are streamlined asymmetrical hills composed of till. They may occur in clusters as
drumlin fields

Kames are steep-sided hills. Like eskers, they are composed of sand and gravel.

WIND AND LANDFORMS

Like water and glacier, wind is considered a significant agent in creating landforms.
Accumulations of windblown sediments are usually found in dry lands and along sandy coasts.
There are two types of windblown deposits: loess and dunes.
Loess is the accumulated blanket of silt carried wind in suspension and deposited over broad
When a loess is cut by streams in road building, by areas. it tends to maintain a vertical cliff. Do
you know that the thickest and most extensive loess is found in Western and Northern China?
Loess can be as high as 100 meters.

Sand dunes are deposits of coarse materials in the shape of hills or ridges. Dune is a general
term to describe any mound or ridge of windblown sand rising to various heights up to 50 m.
Dunes are found in deserts or above low-lying coasts where sand is constantly renewed by
onshore winds flowing across the sandy beaches.

Do you know that there are some areas in Ilocos Norte that have sand dunes? Paoay sand
dunes have been attracting local tourists. Visit the place and appreciate how nature shapes
Earth's landscape.