Erosion is the movement and removal of weathered rock, soil and sediment by wind, water, ice or gravity, distinct from weathering because it displaces material rather than merely breaking it down in place. Rain, rivers, ocean waves and glaciers all erode continuously, from the daily wearing of a coastline to the slow deepening of a river canyon over geologic time. Landslides are erosion driven by gravity alone, moving material already loosened by weathering.
Facts
Process Type TimescaleContinuous and ongoing at every scale: waves rework a beach many times a minute, while a river-cut canyon deepens over millions of years. 1 Erosion
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Connections
Caused By
Causes
Demonstrated By
A major river actively eroding and reworking its channel and banks today.
Source British Geological Survey
Shaped
The canyon's depth is the product of sustained fluvial erosion by the Colorado River system over millions of years.
Source British Geological Survey
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Nature Atlas: Erosion, the same subject.
Sources
1. British Geological Survey
British Geological SurveyErosion, Discovering Geology
Erosion involves the movement of fragments of rock by the erosion processes and therefore differs from weathering, which is just concerned with the decay of rock in situ.
- Shaped: The Grand Canyon
- Demonstrated By: The Yangtze
View the Source James Hutton (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationPart Of: Rock Cycle, Theory of rock formations sectionQuote, Part Of: Rock Cycle, Theory of rock formations section
Hutton reasoned that there must have been innumerable cycles, each involving deposition on the seabed, uplift with tilting and erosion then undersea again for further layers to be deposited.
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