Chapter 3-Earth Science
Terms
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- Eluviation
- The washing out of fine soil components from the A-horizon by downward-percolating water.
- Solum
- The O, A, and B horizons in the sub-profile where living roots and plant and animal life are confined to.
- Soil Profile
- A vertical section through a soil showing its succession of horizons and the underlying parent material.
- Laterite
- A red, highly leached soil type found in the tropics.
- Leaching
- The depletion of soluble materials from the upper soil by downward-percolating water.
- Regolith
- The layer of rock and mineral fragments that nearly everywhere covers Earth's surface.
- Differential Weathering
- The variation in the rate and degree of weathering caused by such factors as mineral makeup, degree of jointing, and climate.
- Fall
- A type of movement that refers to the free falling of detached individual peices of any size.
- Secondary Enrichment
- The concentration of minor amounts of metals that are scattered through unweathered rock.
- Horizon
- A layer in the soil profile.
- Parent Material
- The material upon which a soil develops.
- Weathering
- Disintegration and decomposition of rock at or near Earth's surface.
- Talus
- An accumulation of rock debris at the base of a cliff.
- Pedalfer
- Soil of humid regions in the B horizon.
- Humus
- Organic matter in soil produced by the decomposition of plants and animals.
- Soil
- The portion of regolith that supports plant growth.
- Pedocal
- Soil associated with drier regions in the upper horizons.
- Mass wasting
- Transfer of rock material downslope under the influence of gravity.
- Erosion
- Incorporation and transportation of material by a mobile agent, usually water, wind, or ice.
- Mechanical Weathering
- The breaking down of a rock into smaller peices made up of the rock's original material.
- Frost Wedging
- The mechanical breakup of rock caused by the expansion of freezing water in cracks and crevices.
- Chemical Weathering
- The processes by which the internal structure of a mineral is altered by the removal and addition of elements.
- Exfoliation Domes
- A large, dome-shaped structure, usually composed of granite, formed by sheeting.
- Sheeting
- A mechanical weathering process characterized by the splitting off of slablike sheets of rock.
- Spheroidal Weathering
- Any weathering process that tends to produce a spherical shape from an initially blocky shape.