Home | Session
4 | Product of Weathering Pg 1, 2,
3, 4
The
Products of Weathering and Erosion
Presented
by Lisa White
San Francisco State University
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Closely
observe the various rocks and sediment samples on display and see
if you can match the rocks with the sand-sized material and the soil.
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How
closely does the parent material match the weathering product?
Does the sediment always look exactly like source rock? Why
or why not?
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What
series of processes occur to generate sand and clay that changes
the physical appearance of the material?
Answer:
The process of weathering mechanically breaks down the rocks
to fragments of various sizes and shapes. The material initially
produced during weathering will be smaller fragments of the
parent rock and will look much like the source. After a series
of weathering cycles, sand-sized material will be produced
and the grains continue to reflect the parent rocks. After
many generations, particularly of extensive chemical weathering
that operates on long time scales, the rock is worn-down to
clay minerals that are physically and chemically different
from the parent rock . Visually, they will appear to not as
closely match the materials produced during early generations
of weathering.
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