Impact of Weathering

Changes the colour of rocks/minerals (discoloration) Breaks rocks into smaller sizes (increases surface area of rocks) Mobilization of mineral ores into commercial quantities for exploitation

Soil formation

Definition of soils
a dynamic and natural body composed of mineral and organic solids, gases and liquids, and living organisms, which can serve as a medium for plant growth

Soil Composition

(weathered)

Typical soil Soil Composition Typical composition

Soil Profile/Horizon
Horizon - layers of soil, approximately parallel to the soil surface, differing in physical, chemical, and biological properties from adjacent layers above or below it

Profile - A vertical section of soil through all its horizons, extending into parent material

Soil Profile/Horizon

Possible soil type showing iron oxide enriched B horizon

Factors of Soil Formation

Five factors control the type of soil formed and its formation rate:

SOIL = f (cl, o, r, p, t) Hans Jenny (American soil scientist, 1941) cl = climate o = organisms r = topography p = parent material t = time

Factors of Soil Formation

1. Climate Determines nature/type and intensity/degree of weathering Temperature and precipitation affect rates of all processes Influences natural vegetation (i.e. trees or grasslands)

Factors of Soil Formation

1. Climate

Factors of Soil Formation

2. Living Organisms Plant and animal activity (especially microscopic) organic matter accumulation, biochemical weathering, profile mixing, nutrient cycling and aggregate stability Human activities: Removing trees + cultivating; burning
Irrigating a soil in an arid area, adding fertilizer and lime Engineered soils in golf greens

Factors of Soil Formation

Relief/Topography
nature of the terrain -Soil loss by erosion (soil depth) -Less rainfall enters soil

-Less vegetation cover - Flat land drains slower - waterlog

Relief/Topography

Factors of Soil Formation

4. Parent Material Composition and properties of rock being weathered

Factors of Soil Formation

5. Time

Length of time materials subjected to weathering Compare adjacent glaciated and unglaciated areas

Influence of parent material more apparent in soils of glaciated regions (relatively young soils
Soils on alluvial/lacustrine material (young)

Factors of Soil Formation 5. Time

Mature soil - agriculturally productive

In humid-temperate climate it may take a 100 to tens of thousands of years to form a mature soil

Mass Movement/Mass Wasting

Goal of the Topic define mass wasting state the types of mass wasting account for factors affecting mass wasting

Mass Movement/Mass Wasting

Mass movements are important processes in all types of landscapes, in all climatic settings, and even in the ocean.

Mass Movement/Mass Wasting

The down slope movement of rock and regolith near the Earth's surface mainly due to the force of gravity.

Rates of movements sometimes may be catastrophically violent like the landslide that plunges down a mountain to its base or slow and imperceptible like the creep.

Factors that Influence the Rate of Mass Movement

1. Climate Factors - Moisture in the form of rainfall in the tropics or snow melt in the temperate regions increases the weight of the debris. The moisture also acts as a lubricant
2. Nature of bed rock (Lithology) Poorly consolidated, lubricated and bulky debris are more prone to mass movement down a slope as compared to well compacted sediments which are well bonded by surface tension.

3. Vegetation Sparsely vegetated slopes stimulate mass wasting of loose sediments or rock debris than heavily vegetated topographies. The later thus minimizes soil movements down slopes. binds rock debris/serves as a protective cover

Factors that Influence the Rate of Mass Movement

4. Tectonic Activities (earthquakes) Crustal disturbances such as earthquakes, tremors and volcanic eruptions trigger and could accelerate mass movements such as landslides, rock fall 5. Biotic Factors Activities of man and animals such as quarrying, surface mining, road construction, farming, animal grazing etc initiate the movement of loose materials or the break-away of sediments of scarp slopes. 6. Gravity

Classification/Types of Mass Wasting

Nature of the movement
1. FLOWS Debris Flows Earth Flows Mud flows 2. FALLS Rock Falls Rock topples

3. HEAVES/ CREEP Soil creep Rock creep Talus creep

4. SLIDES Slump Spread

Examples of flows: Snout of debris flow deposit

Flows
Spatially continuous movement in which the distribution of velocities is that of a viscous fluid.
Geomorphology of debris flows Intermediate between water flow and sediment flow. Rapid movements of granular solids, water and air. Vary in flow characteristics depending rheology of flow materials (clay content, water content, sediment size). Occur in a variety of climatic and physiographic zones: i) mountainous terrain; ii) steep slopes in unconsolidated materials or weak bedrock; iii) deserts and even on steep slopes in the valleys cut through the Prairies. Have velocities from 1-10 m/s.

Debris flows
Debris flows typically have a point source Originate when poorly consolidated rock or soil masses are mobilized by the addition of water by: Periods of extended rainfall Localized areas of intense rainfall Ponding on surface upstream of flow Snowmelt or rain on snow

Earthflow

Earthflow

Typically high viscosity flows formed from weathered volcanic rock

Large slow moving flows Several km in length and composed of several million m3 of material. Form in weathered volcanic rock that form clay materials Often have a defined slide plane and shear surfaces Movement and rotation of blocks mean there is mixing Many flows occur over several thousands of years
Have velocities up to 1 m/s.

Confluence of Muskwa and Chisca rivers, northern British Columbia.

Toe of Drynoch Earthflow along Thompson River

Falls
Falls begin with the detachment of rock from a steep slope along a surface on which little or no shear displacement takes place. The material then falls or rolls through the air. Topple is a forward rotation, out of the slope, of a mass of soil or rock about a point or axis below the center of gravity of the displaced mass.

Heaves/Creep
Periodic expansion and contraction of a soil or sediment mass that is usually linked to clay swelling and dewatering or freezing and thawing.

Heave leads to downslope creep of hillslope materials as the strength of the materials is decreased.

Heaves/Creep

Slides
Slide - downslope movement of soil or a rock mass occurring dominantly along a surface of rupture or relatively thin zones of intense shear

A) Pure slide

slump involves movement along a curved surface, with the upper part moving downward and the lower part outwards

B) Rotational slide

Examples of slides: shallow-seated landslide, Briones Regional Park, CA

Examples of slides: shallow-seated rotational landslide, Marin Headlands, CA

Examples of slides: deep-seated landslide, Keetmanshoop, Southern Namibia

Examples of slides: Deep-seated rotational landslide

La Conchita slump. March 4, 1995 Santa Barbara, California.

Examples of slides: Deep-seated rotational landslide, Churchill River, Labrador

Examples of slides: Deep-seated rotational landslide, La Conchita