Erosion by Glaciers Like flowing water, flowing ice erodes the land. It also can deposit the material elsewhere. Glaciers cause erosion in two main ways: plucking and abrasion. Plucking is caused when sediments are picked up by a glacier.

I study how glaciers and ice sheets change over time. To do this, I use satellite data and information collected from actual glaciers and ice sheets in the field. These particles may begin on land or in Earth’s atmosphere and end up in snow and ice.

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

1. Make the glaciers. You’ll need some sand, some gravel, some water, and a bowl.
2. Make the topography. Fill the biggest tray that you can find with potting soil, and pack it down.
3. Set up the model. Set your glacier at the highest point of the tray.
4. Let the glaciers melt.
5. Observe the model.

• Boat Trips and Rentals.
• Bus Tours.
• Guided Hiking Trips.
• Horseback Rides.
• Rafting.

Erosion is the movement of particles away from their source. Example of erosion: Wind carries small pieces of rock away from the side of a mountain. Chemical Weathering: – Decomposition of rock and soil due to chemical reactions.

These examples illustrate physical weathering:

• Swiftly moving water. Rapidly moving water can lift, for short periods of time, rocks from the stream bottom.
• Ice wedging. Ice wedging causes many rocks to break.
• Plant roots. Plant roots can grow in cracks.

There are four main types of weathering. These are freeze-thaw, onion skin (exfoliation), chemical and biological weathering. Most rocks are very hard.

Plant and animal life, atmosphere and water are the major causes of weathering. Weathering breaks down and loosens the surface minerals of rock so they can be transported away by agents of erosion such as water, wind and ice. There are two types of weathering: mechanical and chemical.

Water, ice, acids, salts, plants, animals, and changes in temperature are all agents of weathering. Once a rock has been broken down, a process called erosion transports the bits of rock and mineral away. No rock on Earth is hard enough to resist the forces of weathering and erosion.

physical and chemical weathering work together in complementary ways. when physical weathering breaks down a rock into several smaller pieces, it substantially increases the amount of surface area that is exposed to air and water, which are necessary for chemical weathering to occur.

Physical, or mechanical, weathering happens when rock is broken through the force of another substance on the rock such as ice, running water, wind, rapid heating/cooling, or plant growth. Chemical weathering occurs when reactions between rock and another substance dissolve the rock, causing parts of it to fall away.