Question

Watch each erosional video and fill in the chart. You may also want to reference your notes, labs, etc...
Causes of Erosion
Describe weathering by this process
(destructive processes)
Deposition features formed as a result?
(constructive processes)
Gravity
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Glaciers
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Wind
(goo.gl/TSqfKZ)






Water
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Answer 1

Below I’ve filled the chart for each erosional agent with causes, how it weathers/erodes (destructive processes), and the main deposition features it produces (constructive processes).

Gravity
- Causes of erosion
- Downhill movement of rock, soil, and regolith due to gravity (mass wasting).
- Triggers: oversteepened slopes, heavy rainfall (saturation), earthquakes, loss of vegetation, thawing of ice.
- Describe weathering by this process (destructive)
- Mechanical dislodgement and transport of material (rockfall, landslide, slump, creep, earthflow).
- Breaks bedrock and moves unconsolidated material downslope; fragments abrade and break further during movement.
- Deposition features formed as a result (constructive)
- Talus (scree) slopes at the base of cliffs.
- Colluvial deposits, landslide blocks, slump blocks and hummocky deposits.
- Debris-flow deposits and fan-shaped aprons on lower slopes.

Glaciers
- Causes of erosion
- Movement of ice under gravity in alpine (valley) or continental (ice sheet) glaciers.
- Basal sliding, internal deformation, and freeze–thaw processes at the glacier bed.
- Describe weathering by this process (destructive)
- Plucking (lifting out of blocks of bedrock) and abrasion (rock fragments in ice scouring the bed).
- Creates striations, grooves, and polished bedrock; deepens and widens valleys into U-shapes; forms cirques and arêtes.
- Deposition features formed as a result (constructive)
- Unsorted till and terminal, lateral, and medial moraines.
- Drumlins (streamlined hills), eskers (sinuous ridges of glacial meltwater deposits), kames (mounds), outwash plains, and erratic boulders.
- Proglacial lakes with varved sediments.

Wind (Aeolian)
- Causes of erosion
- Wind shear over loose, dry, unvegetated surfaces (deserts, beaches).
- Strong winds lift or roll loose particles; lack of vegetation increases vulnerability.
- Describe weathering by this process (destructive)
- Deflation (removal of loose fine particles) and abrasion (sandblasting of rock surfaces).
- Breaks down rock surfaces, forms ventifacts, and removes silt and sand from source areas.
- Deposition features formed as a result (constructive)
- Sand dunes (barchan, transverse, parabolic, longitudinal) and dune fields.
- Loess deposits (fine silt deposited downwind), sand sheets, and dune slipfaces.

Water (Rivers, Streams, Rain, Ocean)
- Causes of erosion
- Running water from precipitation, streams/rivers, waves, and coastal currents.
- Erosion intensity depends on discharge, slope/gradient, sediment load, and velocity.
- Describe weathering by this process (destructive)
- Hydraulic action (water forcing into cracks), abrasion (sediment grinding bedrock), solution (chemical dissolution), and attrition (particles breaking apart).
- Forms V-shaped valleys, river incision, potholes, meanders by lateral erosion, headward erosion, coastal cliffs by wave action.
- Deposition features formed as a result (constructive)
- River/stream: alluvial fans, floodplains, point bars, oxbow lakes, deltas (river meets standing water), and levees.
- Coastal: beaches, spits, barrier islands, sandbars.
- Sorted sediments: well-sorted sand/gravel on beaches and river bars; finer silts/clays on floodplains and in deltas.

If you want, I can format this into a printable table or tailor the entries to match specific class vocab (e.g., include terms like “arenic” or “mass wasting types”) — tell me which.