ch. 18 science vocab
Terms
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- mass wasting
- the downhill movement of large masses of soil and rocks under the influence of graviy
- mechanical weathering
- the breakdown of rocks into smaller pieces by the action of physical forces
- mouth
- lowest point at which a stream flows
- rockslide
- a sudden slippage of bedrock
- chemical weathering
- the breakdown of rock by the action of natural acids dissolved in water
- gradient
- measure of the slope of a stream
- divide
- ridge seperating one stream's drainage basin from another's
- tributary
- a stream that flows into and feeds a larger stream
- frost heaving
- the pushing of rocks upward in soil by repeated freezing and thawing of water in the soil
- blowout
- an excavated desert basin caused by the wind carrying away loose material such as sand and silt( makes depression)
- exfoliation
- a process by which thin slabvs or flakes of rock are removed from larger rocks by mechanical weathering
- delta
- deposit of sediment at the mouth of a river
- horizon
- any line or layer that lies flat with respect to gravity
- alluvial fan
- deposit of sediments at the point where a stream emerges from a narrow valley onto a plain
- landslide
- the rapid movement of a mass of soil and rock downward on a steep slope
- source
- the highest point or origin of a stream
- talus
- a sloping pile of weathered rock at the base of a cliff composed ofrock pieces that have fallen from the cliff
- desert pavemnet
- a thin crust that forms in deserts when sand and silt have been blown away and only pebbles and cobbles remain
- creep
- slow movement of a mass of soil down a slope due to gravity
- drainage basin
- the area that is drained by a river and its tributaries