Learn about the reshaping of Earth's land

A Long, Long Time Ago...
Erosion has created some of the Earth's most beautiful masterpieces. For instance, millions of years ago, the wild Colorado River carved it's way through rock to finally create the Grand Canyon. This process carries away rocks and soils particlesborken down by weathering and deposites them in other places. Other time, these materials build up to create new landforms.

A Mutal Partnership
Erosion needs an agent, or force that moves sedimates from place to place. Such forces can be gravity, wind, running water, glaciers or waves.

Mechanical Weathering
When rock is broken down into smaller pieces, it is called mechanical weathering. There are many forms of this type of weathering such as freezing and thawing, heating and cooling, growth of plants, actions of animals and abrasion.

Science/Processes that Shape the Earth

Standard 1: The student recognizes that processes in the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere interact to shape the Earth (SC.D.1.3).

Objective 1: Knows the mechanical and chemical activities shape and reshape the Earth's land surface by eroding rock and soil in some areas and depositing them in other areas, sometimes in seasonal layers.

Amusement Park Activity

Oooops! That Wasn't Supposed
to Happen! - What types of things in an amusment park would be prone to erosion?

Did you know

Steel roller coaster have at
least 1 hill that is more than
200 feet tall.

Vocabulary

Erosion - the process by which
particles of rock and soil are moved
from one place to another

Mechanical Weathering - the
process in which rock is broken
down into smaller pieces

Abrasion - the grinding away of

Links

Geography4Kids
Land and Weathering- A great
site about mechanical weather and
it's effect on the Earth.

Earth: Geology: Erosion-
If you ever wanted to know
anything about the planet Earth,
then this is your site!.