EXOGENIC PROCESSES

EXOGENIC PROCESSES

• Process that takes place at or near the

Earth’s surface that makes the surface
wear away. Exogenic process are very
destructive, they are responsible for
degradation and sculpting the Earth’s
surface.
 EXOGENIC PROCESSES

I II III IV

MASS
WEATHERING EROSION DEPOSITION
WASTING
 EXOGENIC PROCESSES

Weathering is the
WEATHERING
physical disintegration or
chemical alteration of rocks
at or near the Earth’s surface.
 PHYSICAL CHEMICAL BIOLOGICAL
WEATHERING WEATHERING WEATHERING

Is the
Rocks break
Rocks are broken disintegration or
down as their
down into smaller decay of rocks
minerals change
pieces without and minerals
in composition
changing their caused by
(they become
composition chemical or
different
(doesn’t change physical agents of
substances)
what they’re organisms.
made of)
 TYPES
OF
PHYSICAL WEATHERING
• Exfoliation

- soil and rock is removed

(glaciers or uplifting), exposing
rock found deep underground.
- This releases the pressure
causing the surface of the rock
to expand and eventually
crack.
• Ice wedging/Frost action

– Water enters small cracks in the

rock
– When it freezes, it expands and
forces the crack to open more
– The process repeats over again
until the rock breaks apart
• Temperature Changes

- Daily (diurnal) and seasonal temperature changes affect

certain minerals and facilitates the mechanical weathering
of bedrock.
- Warmer temperatures may cause some minerals to expand,
and cooler temperatures cause them to contract.
- This gradual expansion and contraction of mineral grains
weakens the rock causing it to break apart into smaller
fragments or to fracture.
- This process is more common in desert climates because
they experience extreme fluctuations in daily temperature
changes.
- Temperature changes are often not the dominant form of
weathering, but instead temperature changes tend to
accelerate other forms of weathering already occurring.
• Salt Wedging

- It happens when saltwater seeps into rocks

and then evaporates on a hot sunny day. Salt
crystals grow within cracks and pores in the
rock, and the growth of these crystals can
push grains apart, causing the rock to
weaken and break.
- Similar process to frost wedging.
- Most effective in coastal environments and
semi-arid environments.
• Abrasion

- Occurs when material being transported wears away at a

surface over time.
- Gravity causes abrasion as a rock tumbles down a
mountainside or cliff.
- Moving water causes abrasion as particles in the water
collide and bump against one another.
- Strong winds carrying pieces of sand can sandblast surfaces.
- Ice in glaciers carries many bits and pieces of rock. Rocks
embedded at the bottom of the glacier scrape against the
rocks below.
TYPES OF CHEMICAL WEATHERING

HYDROLYSIS HYDRATION

OXIDATION CARBONATION
Hydrolysis

- A new solution (a mixture of two or more

substances) is formed as chemicals in rock
interact with water.
- In many rocks, for example, sodium
minerals interact with water to form a
saltwater solution.
Hydration

- A form of chemical weathering in which

the chemical bonds of the mineral are
changed as it interacts with water.
- One instance of hydration occurs as the
mineral anhydrite reacts with
groundwater. The water transforms
anhydrite into gypsum, one of the most
common minerals on Earth.
Oxidation

- Occurs when oxygen combines with

another substance and creates
compounds called oxides.
- Rust, for example, is iron oxide.
- This process occurs fast with water.
Carbonation

- Mixing of water with carbon dioxide to

make carbonic acid.
- This type of weathering is important in the
formation of caves.
- Dissolved carbon dioxide in rainwater or in
moist air forms carbonic acid, and this
acid reacts with minerals in rocks.
 TYPES OF BIOLOGICAL WEATHERING

Roots Of Plants
- Some trees grow inside of rocks,
which aids in biological
weathering.
- Roots of plants and trees delve
into the soil in quest of moisture
and nutrients.
ANIMAL - The joints or cracks in the rocks are MICROBIAL
BURROWING traversed by the roots as they ACTIVITY
move through the soil, gradually
rupturing the rock.
- Additionally, larger, expanding
roots may exert pressure on
surrounding rocks.
- Additionally, some plant roots
release organic acids that aid in
the dissolution of rock minerals
 TYPES OF BIOLOGICAL WEATHERING

Microbial Activity

- Small creatures including

bacteria, moss, lichens,
and algae create organic
acids.
- This modifies the rock’s ANIMAL
ROOTS OF PLANTS
chemical makeup and BURROWING
gradually erodes its outer
covering.
- Chelation: organisms such
as lichen and moss
produce acids that
breakdown rocks.
 TYPES OF BIOLOGICAL WEATHERING

Animal Burrowing

- Some creatures, including

moles, squirrels, and
rabbits, can cause fissures
MICROBIAL in rocks.
ROOTS OF PLANTS
ACTIVITY - However, by making a
fissure, these organisms
absorb the nutrients from
the rock. It progressively
separates the rock into
substantial pieces.
 EXOGENIC PROCESSES

II

Removal of surface material from

Earth’s crust, primarily soil and rock
debris, and the transportation of
EROSION
the eroded materials by natural
agencies from the point of
removal.
 AGENTS OF EROSION

WATER

Liquid water is the major agent of

erosion on Earth. Rain,
rivers, floods, lakes, and the
ocean carry away bits of soil
and sand and slowly wash away
the sediment.
 AGENTS OF EROSION

ICE

Ice, usually in the form of glaciers, can erode the

earth and create dramatic landforms.
In frigid areas and on some mountaintops, glaciers
move slowly downhill and across the land. As they
move, they transport everything in their path, from
tiny grains of sand to huge boulders. Rocks carried
by glaciers scrape against the ground below,
eroding both the ground and the rocks. In this way,
glaciers grind up rocks and scrape away the soil.
 AGENTS OF EROSION

WIND

Wind is a powerful agent of

erosion. Aeolian (wind-driven)
processes constantly transport
dust, sand, and ash from one
place to another.
 AGENTS OF EROSION

GRAVITY

Gravity pull all things toward

Earth’s center. The result of these
“creeps” or “avalanches” will be
mixed piles of sediments usually
below slumps in the land.
 EXOGENIC PROCESSES

III

Is a rapid form of erosion that

works primarily under the
MASS
influence of gravity in
WASTING
combination with other erosional
agents.
 CLASSIFICATION OF MASS WASTING

ROCK FALLS
It occurs when rock becomes
dislodged because its
change in potential energy
becomes too great to
maintain, and the potential
energy becomes kinetic
energy which cause the rock
fragment to fall, restoring
equilibrium.
 CLASSIFICATION OF MASS WASTING

LANDSLIDES
Landslides are mass wasting
events where large amounts
of weathered rock materials
slide down a hillslope or
mountain side primarily by
gravity – related erosion.
 CLASSIFICATION OF MASS WASTING

DEBRIS AND MUDFLOW

Are mass wasting events that
form when heavy rainfalls
produce large amounts of
runoff that transport eroded
soils, sediments and plant
debris down slope where the
flows eventually spread out
across valley bottoms.
 CLASSIFICATION OF MASS WASTING

SLUMP
Fairly common form of mass
wasting were the rock or soil
collapses, breaks off from the
hill slope, rotates slightly and
slumps downhill.
 CLASSIFICATION OF MASS WASTING

CREEP
It is the slowest mass wasting
process that involves a very
gradual downhill movement
of soil, bedrock, and
weathered rock fragments.
Usually, the entire slope is
slowly creeping downhill as a
complete unit.
 EXOGENIC PROCESSES

IV

Laying down of sediment that

has been transported by an
erosional agent. It occurs after
DEPOSITION
erosion. This process adds
sediments, soil and rocks to a
landform or land mass.