Exam 5: Weathering and Soil

Ferromagnesian minerals such as pyroxene, amphibole, biotite, and olivine are chemically altered in the presence of _____.

The _____ horizon is the incompletely weathered parent material lying below the B-horizon.

All rocks chemically weather the same way.

Plants, such as roots growing in cracks, and animals compacting the soil, have little influence on mechanical weathering.

The process of chemical weathering is also called ____.

The solution of calcite in a limestone supplies substantial amounts of ______ to ground water.

Expanding ice in soil pushes large boulders down into the ground.

_____ is the mineral least susceptible to chemical attack on the Earth's surface.

What, in terms of Earth systems, forms an essential interface between the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere?

_______ are commonly left after complete chemical weathering.

______ is wind transported and deposited sediment.

Under wet and humid tropical conditions the least soluble material is the aluminum oxide called _____.

The _______ horizon is the uppermost layer of a soil; it consists of organic material.

The ____ describes the process in which this dominant greenhouse gas circulates among Earth systems.

Clay minerals help hold water and clay nutrients in soil.

___ is the picking up and physical removal of rock particles by an agent such as wind, flowing liquid water, or glaciers.

Oxygen is abundant in the atmosphere but it does not combine with minerals of the Earth's crust.

______, formed as water evaporates inside small spaces in rock, helps disintegrate desert rocks.

________ forms as a chemical weathering product of iron-rich minerals.

Because of the slow pace of weathering processes, it takes millions of years for a viable soil profile capable of supporting plant life to develop in most areas.