MINDANAO INSTITUTE

High School Department

United Church of Christ in the Philippines
Mayor B. Atega St., Brgy-10, Cabadbaran City, Agusan del Norte

FIRST QUARTER – FINAL

GRADE 11 EARTH AND LIFE LEARNING HANDOUTS

NAME: ___________________________________________________SECTION: __________

Most Essential Topic # 4: Exogenic Processes

Lesson # 4: Erosion
Prerequisite Content-knowledge: Weathering of Rocks - Identify the different types and agents of
weathering
Prerequisite Skill: - Expound the process and effects of weathering

Lesson 4: Exogenic Processes

It is a processes that occur at or near the surface of the Earth. Exogenic are part of the rock cycle.
They7 are responsible for transforming rock into sediment. It include degradation processes (weathering,
mass wasting, erosion and transportation) and aggradation processes (deposition).

● Weathering

The physical breakdown and or chemical alteration of rocks at or near Earth’s a surface I referred
to as weathering.

Types of weathering:

1.Mechanical Weathering or disintegration- is the breaking up large rocks into smaller fragments without
changing the rock’s mineral composition.
There are physical processes that occur in nature that breaks rocks into smaller pieces. These
include frost wedging (frost weathering), insolation weathering (thermal stress weathering), unloading
(pressure release), and biological activity.

A. Frost wedging or frost weathering occurs in regions where temperature fluctuates above and below
freezing point, resulting in a freeze-thaw cycle.

B. Insolation weathering or sometimes called thermal stress results from the expansion and
contraction of rocks caused by temperature change.
C. Unloading or pressure release occurs when the overlying rock is eroded away, causing the outer
rock to expand more than the rock below. This expansion may separate the outer rock from the rock
nobody. This process is evident in intrusive igneous rocks.

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2. Chemical Weathering decomposes rocks through chemical change. The process involved in chemical
weathering include the following:
a. Oxidation – Oxygen dissolved in water will oxidize some materials. Reddish- brown rust will
appear on the surface of iron-rich minerals which easily crumbles and weakens the rock.
b. Hydrolysis - a new solution (a mixture of two or more substances) is formed as chemicals in rock
interact with water. In many rocks, for example, sodium minerals interact with water to form a
saltwater solution.
c. Carbonation and Solution- Carbondioxide ( CO2 ) dissolves in water to form carbonic acid
( H2CO2 ) and reacts with carbonate rocks ( CaCO3) to form a soluble product ( calcium
bicarbonate).
d. Biological action
Some plants and animals may create chemical weathering by releasing chelating and,
audifying compounds that react with some minerals in rocks. Decaying remains of dead plants in
soil may form organic acids and, when dissolved in water, may cause chemical weathering.

● Mass Wasting

The mass movement of rocks, soil, and regolith. It is the step that follows weathering and is also a
degradation process. The driving force of mass wasting is gravity.

Types of Mass Wasting:

1. Rock and Debris Falls
Rock falls occur when a piece of rock or mass of rocks become dislodged and makes free-
fall along a steep cliff. Debris fall is similar to rock fall, except that it involves a mixture of soil
regolith, vegetation and rocks. At the base of the cliff is an accumulation of fallen materials
called talus.
2. Land Slides
Landslides are another type of mass wasting. They are sudden fast movement of cohesive
mass of soil, rock, and regolith. They occur in two types: translation and rotational slides.
Translational slides involve the movement of a mass of materials along a well-defined surface,
such as bedding plane, foliation surface, or joint surface. Rotational slides or slumps occur when
the descending materials move en-masse along a concave, upward curved surface.
3. Flow
Flows may be slurry flows or granular flows.

● Human and Mass Wasting

Although mass wasting is a natural phenomenon, human activities may induce mass
movement. Examples of human activities include the removal of vegetation through logging and
urban development, among others.
● Vegetation helps hold soil, loos rocks, and regolith, through the roots of plants. Plant
debris like leaves, and twigs protect the soil. Observing practices, such as selective
logging, reforestation planting trees on steeper slopes and along streams and rivers and
not removing or burning plant debris, may reduce mass movement.
● Oversteepeening slopes may be due to quarrying, open- pit mining. Home building on
steep slopes, highway construction (road cuts) and adding weight to slopes with housing
construction.

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 ● Adding moisture to slopes through lawn watering, leakage and draining in swimming
pool, and water reservoir leakage also induces mass movement.
● Erosion and Transportation

Weathered materials are removed from the original site and transported away by natural agents. These
agents derive the energy from the sun through the water cycle and through differential heating.
Agents of Erosion:
● Water is the most important erosional agent and erodes most commonly as running water in
streams. However, water in all its forms is erosional. Raindrops (especially in dry environments)
create splash erosion that moves tiny particles of soil. Water collecting on the surface of the soil
collects as it moves towards tiny rivulets and streams and creates sheet erosion.

Types of water erosion that affect landforms:

1. Splash erosion – raindrops cause tiny particles of soil to be detached and to move out.
2. Sheet erosion – raindrops break apart the soil structure which moves down the slope as water flows
overland as sheet.
3. Gully erosion - after heavy rain, water flows in narrow channels, eroding gullies into great depth.
4. Valley erosion –continuous water flow alongside land and move downward, which deepens a valley.
5. Bank erosion- continuous flow of water wears out stones along the bank of streams and rivers.
6. Coastline erosion- waves from ocean and seas crash against the shore, pounding the rocks into
pebbles and reducing the pebbles to sand. Sand is also removed from the beaches, which changes the
copastline.
7. Seaside cliff erosion- The battering of ocean waves erodes seaside cliffs, forming hales that create
caves. Continuous pounding of waves may create an arch that may fall, leaving nothing but rock
columns called sea stocks.
● Glaciers is a thick large mass of ice formed hundreds
of thousands of years mostly in remote areas like in the
poles or in high mountains. They move very slowly.
Glaciers are capable of great erosion. They can erode land
Through plucking and abrasion.
Plucking is the process wherein fractured bedrocks are
incorporated into the ice.

● Wind carries dust, sand, and volcanic ash from one place to another.

Transportation
Materials are transported in four distinct ways- as solution, as suspension, by traction, or
through saltation.
a. Solution – materials are described in water and carried along by the water.
b. Suspension – The suspended particles are carried by a medium ( air, water, or ice)
c. Traction – Particles move by rolling, sliding and shuffling along eroded surface.
d. Saltation – Particles move from the surface to the medium in quick repeated cycles.

References: You and natural world (Earth and Life) by: Lilia G. Vengco and Teresita F.
Religioso
https://bit.ly/3RWWlln

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https://bit.ly/3DI6q1e