| A | B |
|---|
| mechanical weathering | the breaking down of rocks and other materials that does not involve changes in the chemical makeup of the rocks |
| chemical weathering | breaking down of rocks that involves changes in the chemical makeup of rocks |
| bedrock | the layer of rock beneath the soil |
| erosion | the process by which the products of weathering are moved from one place to another |
| exfoliation | the breaking off of slabs or sheets of rock due to weathering |
| frost action | the breaking apart of a rock caused by water freezing and expanding within cracks |
| landslide | a large downshill movement of loose rocks and soil caused by the pull of gravity |
| root-pry | the breaking apart of rocks caused by the growth of plant roots |
| oxidation | the process in which oxygen chemically combines with another substance (iron +oxygen = rust) |
| acid rain | formed by a chemical reaction between carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen with water |
| plant acids | formed by lichen and moss |
| soil pillows | formed from decaying tree stumps |
| stream bed | a dried up stream (permanent of temporary) |
| conglomerate | different rock types molded together by heat and pressure |
| glacial striations | scratches on a rock due to melting glaciers |
| glacial erratic | a rock that does not match the local bedrock and was carried and dumped by melting glaciers |
| human erratic | rocks, stone walls, roads made or transported by people |
| vein | crack in rock which allows seapage of water and minerals |
| glacial till | glacial drift composed of rocks, clay, sand and gravel |
| New England Potatoes | Nickname for rocks removed by man from farm land |
| glacier | a large mass of moving ice and snow |
| stable rock | a rock composed of minerals that resist chemical weathering |
| residual soil | soil that remains on top of the rock from which it was formed |
| transported soil | soil that is moved away from its placeof origin |
| humus | the part of the soil formed by decaying organic material |
| horizon | a soil layer |
| soil profile | a cross section of soil horizons |
| topsoil | the soil in the A horizon or uppermost layer of mature soil |
| subsoil | the soil in the B horizon or middle layer of soil |
| pore space | a space between soil particles |
| leaching | the process in which water washes minerals from the topsoil to the subsoil |
| kettle lake | a round, deep lake formed by a huge block of ice left behind by a glacier |
| iceberg | a part of a glacier that has broken off and drifted into the sea |
| weathered parent rock | makes up the C horizon of a soil profile |
| eskers, drumlins, and moraines | formed by glacial till |
