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EXOGENIC PROCESSES
These are the processes that occur on the surface (external) of the Earth and are usually affected by the forces
of the Earth and the Sun, or climate and weather. These could be in the form of weathering, erosion and deposition
and mass wasting.

A. WEATHERING
- the breaking down or dissolving of rocks and minerals on the surface of the Earth
- categorized into physical and chemical
1. PHYSICAL – also known as mechanical weathering and disintegration
- causes rocks to crumble, water as main agent
- rocks are physically broken into smaller pieces due to any force (natural or anthropogenic) without
any alteration of its composition
a. Freeze-Thaw Cycle: FROST WEDGING
- otherwise known as cryofracturing
- when water gets inside the joints, it expands; the ice then works as a wedge that slowly widens the cracks
and splits the rock
-when ice melts, liquid water performs the act of erosion by carrying away the tiny rock fragments lost in the
split. This specific process (the freeze-thaw cycle) is called frost weathering or cryofracturing

b. Thermal Stress: EXFOLIATION

- Changes in temperature cause rock to expand (with heat) and contract (with cold) and the structure of the
rock weakens until it crumbles like in rocky deserts.
- the outer layer of desert rocks undergoes repeated stress as the temperature changes from day to night until
the outer layers flake off in thin sheets
*** Exfoliation contributes to the formation of bornhardts which are tall, domed, isolated rocks often
found in tropical areas (ex: Sugarloaf Mountain in Brazil)
c. Pressure Change: SHEETING
- In a process called unloading, overlying materials are removed. The underlying rocks, released from
overlying pressure, can then expand. As the rock surface expands, it becomes vulnerable to fracturing in a
process called sheeting.
***Another type of mechanical weathering occurs when clay or other materials near rock absorb water. Clay,
more porous than rock, can swell with water, weathering the surrounding, harder rock.

d. Salt Crystal Growth: HALOCLASTY

- Saltwater sometimes gets into the cracks and pores of rock. If the saltwater evaporates, salt crystals are left
behind and as the crystals grow, they put pressure on the rock, slowly breaking it apart
- also called honeycomb weathering because the rocks resemble like that of a honeycomb structure
(formations with hundreds or even thousands of pits formed and is common in coastal areas, where sea sprays
constantly force rocks to interact with salts)
- Salt upwelling or the geologic process in which underground salt domes expand, can contribute to
weathering of the overlying rock like that in Petra, Jordan

e. Abrasion
- wearing away of rocks by constant collision of loose particles
- rocks appear to be scratched or scraped

f. Biological Activity
- Plants and animals can be agents of mechanical weathering. The seed of a tree may sprout in soil that has
collected in a cracked rock. As the roots grow, they widen the cracks, eventually breaking the rock into pieces.
Over time, trees can break apart even large rocks. Even small plants, such as mosses, can enlarge tiny cracks
as they grow.

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- Animals that tunnel underground, such as moles and prairie dogs, also work to break apart rock and soil.
Other animals dig and trample rock aboveground, causing rock to slowly crumble.

2. CHEMICAL – decomposes rocks through chemical reactions that change the original rock-forming
minerals or the molecular structure of soil and rock
- chemical processes:
a. Dissolution
- dissociation of molecules into ions; common example includes dissolution of calcite and salt that
dissolves large portions of limestone or other rock on the surface of the Earth to form a landscape called karst
(the surface rock is pockmarked with holes, sinkholes, and caves like the Stone Forest in China)

b. Carbonation
- carbon dioxide from the air or soil sometimes combines with water in a process producing a weak
acid, called carbonic acid, that can dissolve rock
- When carbonic acid seeps through limestone underground, it can open up huge cracks or hollow out
vast networks of cave (ex: Carlsbad Caverns National Park, in the U.S. state of New Mexico)

c. Oxidation
- reaction between minerals and oxygen dissolved in water
d. Hydration
- the chemical bonds of the mineral are changed as it interacts with water
- example: mineral anhydrite reacts with groundwater, transforming it into gypsum

e. Hydrolysis
- A new solution (a mixture of two or more substances) is formed as chemicals in rock
interact with water (like sodium minerals with water to form saltwater solution)

***both hydrolysis and hydration contribute to the formation of flared slopes which are concave rock
formations sometimes nicknamed “wave rocks” in which their c-shape is largely a result
of subsurface weathering, wearing away rocks beneath the landscape’s surface
Living or once-living organisms can also be agents of chemical weathering. The decaying remains of plants
and some fungi form carbonic acid, which can weaken and dissolve rock. Some bacteria can weather rock in order to
access nutrients such as magnesium or potassium.

Factors Affecting Weathering:

1. Climate - areas that are cold and dry tend to have slow rates of chemical weathering and weathering is mostly
physical; chemical weathering is most active in areas with high temperature and rainfall.

2. Rock type – those rocks which crystallize first are the least resistant to weathering and vice versa

3. Rock structure- rate of weathering is affected by the presence of joints, folds, faults, bedding planes through which
agents of weathering enter a rock mass; highly jointed/ fractured rocks disintegrate faster than a solid mass of rock of
the same dimension

4. Topography- physical weathering occurs more quickly on a steep slope than on a gentle one. On a gentle slope,
water may stay longer in contact with the rocks, hence chemical weathering is enhanced. Physical weathering occurs
faster when the slope is steep due to the higher slope’s susceptibility to mass wasting and the higher rate at which new
materials are exposed to agents of mass wasting (rainwater can easily wash away weathered materials downslope.

5. Time- length of exposure to agents of weather determines the degree of weathering of a rock in a directly
proportional manner

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B. EROSION AND DEPOSITION

Erosion – the incorporation and transportation of material by a mobile agent like wind, water or ice; weathering
products move due to fluid flow

Deposition – settling of weathered and eroded particles in an area for a period of time

Agents of Erosion:
1. Running Water
- can be overland (surface runoff flow) and streamflow (channel flow)
- affected by:
a. velocity – dictates the ability of stream to erode and transport; controlled by gradient, channel size and shape,
channel roughness, and the amount of water flowing in the channel
b. discharge- volume of water passing through a cross-section of a stream during a given time; as the discharge
increases, the width of the channel, the depth of flow, or flow velocity increase individually or simultaneously
- erosion can be vertical, lateral or headward and occurs through
hydraulic action in the form of suspension, traction, solution
and saltation

Note: A stream’s ability to transport solid particles is described

by: COMPETENCE (size of the largest particle) and CAPACITY
(maximum load under given conditions

Channel Types: straight, meandering and braided

2. Ocean or Sea Waves

- affected by wind speed, wind duration, fetch (distance the wind has travelled across water) and orbital motion
*** Deep – little or no orbital motion at depths greater than half the wavelength
Shallow – starts to “feel the bottom” at a depth equal to wave base (decreased velocity, but increased
wave height, same period)

- Waves can also erode and move sediment (drift)along the shore (shoreline erosion)

3. Glaciers
- Moving body of ice on land that moves downslope or outward from an area of accumulation
- types:
a. valley or alpine - bounded by valleys, narrow
b. ice sheets – continental glaciers, usually floats on water
c. ice shelves - sheets of ice floating on water and attached to the land
- Move to lower elevations by plastic flow due to great stress on ice at a depth, and basal slip facilitated by
meltwater which acts as lubricant between glacier and the surface over which it moves
- Velocity is lowest next to the base and where it is in contact with valley walls; velocity increases toward the
top center of the glacier
- Pick up rock fragments and use them to abrade the surfaces over which they pass
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- processes in glacial erosion:

Plucking - lifting pieces of bedrock under the glacier
Abrasion - grinding and scraping by sediments already in the ice
- All glacial deposits are called glacial drift and comprised of 2 types:
Till - deposited directly by ice, unsorted, many different particle sizes
Stratified Drift - by glacial meltwater, sorted by water, layered deposits

4. Groundwater
- main erosional process is solution
- Slow moving groundwater cannot erode rocks but can slowly dissolve rocks and carry these off in solution,
especially in soluble rocks like limestone and in acidic water (rainwater)
- formation of Karst Topography: tower karts, caves/caverns and dripstones, sinkholes/dolines, solution
valleys and disappearing streams

5. Wind or Aeolian factor

- 2 types of wind erosion:
a. dunes – mainly sand particles
b. loess – wind-blown angular silt

Agent Erosional Landforms Depositional Landforms

River Valley Alluvial Fan – complex, steeply sloping
Waterfalls fluvial systems at base of active mountain
Potholes – cylindrical holes drilled into the ranges
Running water ground by high velocity of water, with Levees – created from flood plains at rivers
characteristic “grinder pebbles” Delta – at mouth of river where river
Terraces deposits sediments into a sea, ocean or lake
Rills
Gullies
Peneplain
Ocean or Sea Beach
Waves Spit
Baymouth Bar
Tombolo
Roche Moutonne Cirque and Tarn
Fjord Paternoster Lakes (chain of lakes in glacial
Hanging Valley valley)
Glaciers Erratic – boulder or large block of bedrock Moraines – ridges of till
transported away from its source by a glacier
Drumlin
Features associated with glacial drift: Kame, Kettle Lakes
Wind Yardang
Blowout

C. MASS WASTING
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- also called mass movement

- downslope movement of loose weathered materials and masses (regolith) due to action of gravity
- other factors include water, wind, glaciers
- 2 categories:
1. Slow – gravity as main factor
a. CREEP – soil creep: fine weathered rocks affected by seasonal climatic conditions
- rock creep: unweathered blocks, affected by distortions and bends in rocks
b. SOLIDIFICATION – thick viscous (water and clay)
2. Rapid – water as main factor
a. LANDSLIDES – rocks and soil; water as not the main factor
- with shear plane (area or surface which breaks off upon movement)
- factors: earthquake, wind, water
- types of downward movement:
 Fall – instantaneous movement due to gravity
 Slide – downward movement along a certain path
b. EARTH FLOW – water-logged material down a slope of an area with alluvium (silt, clay, gravel)
c. MUDFLOW – more water content transported by rivers or streams as mud (on areas without
vegetation)
d. SHEET WASH – rock debris or soil saturated with viscous fluid removed by agents of gradiation
(water, wind, glaciers)
Controlling factors in mass wasting:
1. RELIEF : slope and slope angle
- slope parallel component increases while the slope
perpendicular component decreases
- difference in elevation between 2 places creates slopes

2. SLOPE STABILITY: balance between downslope force caused

by gravity and resistance force due to friction
- Shear strength: all forces resisting movement downslope
(frictional resistance, cohesion of particles, amount of pore
pressure of water)
- Normal Strength: perpendicular component

3. FRAGMENTATION and WEATHERING

- type and condition of material and factor affecting rocks to break, weather and crumble

Mass Wasting Processes:

1. Slope failures – rolling, sliding, slumping
a. Slump – downward rotation of rock or regolith
along a curved surface
b. rock or debris fall – free-falling movement of
dislodged bodies of rocks or mixture of rock,
regolith and soil
c. rock slide or debris slide – masses of rock or
debris along inclined plane

2. Sediment flow – materials flow downhill mixed with

water or wind/air
a. slurry flow – water saturated debris
b. solifluction – saturated soil and regolith; water
can’t escape from fragments or saturated surface
layer by infiltrating to deeper levels (gelifluction:
in cold regions)
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c. debris flow – from heavy rains, soil and regolith saturated with water
d. mud flow – more fluid, high velocity

3. Granular flow – lesser amount of water

a. creep – bent trees, offsets in roads and fences
b. Earth flow – narrow, tongue-like feature
c. grain flow – in dry places (sand)
d. debris avalanche – high velocity, huge masses of falling debris that break up and pulverize on impact; on
steep mountains/ranges

Classification of Mass Wasting According to:

A. TYPES OF MOTION
1. FALL – free-fall movement, rolling or bouncing of materials

2.
TOPPLE - forward rotation (usually at the base, below center of gravity) out of the slope of a
soil or rock mass

3.
SLIDE - downslope; coherent materials along well-defined surface of rupture (sliding surface)

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4. SPREAD - lateral extension and fracturing of coherent mass due to plastic flow of underlying material

5. FLOW - when
materials are saturated and
move downslope as a viscous
fluid

6. COMPLEX - combinations of several types of mass movements

Events that trigger mass wasting:

- Shocks/vibration, volcanic eruption, slope modification, changes in slope strength, undercutting (surf
action/streams eroding bank)

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 https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/weathering/
 Earth Science (CHED-PNU)
 Exploring Life Through Science (Earth Science)

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