Earth's Changing Surface Lesson 2

During a storm, rainwater can quickly erode soil by

• soaking into the soil and making it damp.

• getting absorbed by plant roots in soil.

• hitting and loosening the soil at the surface.

• All of the above.

Eroded materials deposited in new areas is called _______.

• crust

• mud

• sediment

• rock

What is sedimentary rock?

What is the process of ice wedging?

• Blocks of ice freeze together and create a large block.

• Water in a pond freezes into a single piece of ice.

• Cracks in a rock get bigger when water inside them freezes.

• Snow and rocks are deposited in layers and form sedimentary rock.

Analyze this image of a river. After a rainstorm, rainwater flows downhill and can collect into very large streams or rivers like this one.

How does this river cause erosion?

How does this river cause weathering?

After a heavy rainstorm, Alex notices how muddy a nearby stream is. In which way does this extra rainwater in the stream cause weathering?

• Rainwater picks up sediment from the stream bed.

• Rainwater widens the stream so that it can carry more water.

• Rainwater deposits rocks and soil in lakes farther downstream.

• Rainwater carries sand that grinds down rocks in the stream.

When Alicia walks along a stream on a summer day, she sees this pattern of dirt near the stream. What occurred in the past here? Use evidence from the picture.

• Glaciers eroded rocks.

• Water deposited soil.

• Water removed minerals.

• Frozen water cracked the rocks.

When Julian and his family go hiking in the mountains, they see this rock along the trail. Julian wonders why the rock has such large cracks in it. Which process MOST LIKELY formed the cracks in the rock?

• earthquakes

• river erosion

• ice wedging

• volcanic action