Question: What is the difference between weathering and erosion?

Asked by maestro to Anna, Daniel, Denise, Jesse, Rehemat on 13 Jun 2014.

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  1. Photo: Rehemat BhatiaRehemat Bhatia
    answered on 13 Jun 2014:

    Weathering has processes that break down rocks and takes place purely on the surface. There are different types. Chemical weathering involves a change in the mineral chemistry within a rock e.g. acid rain on a limestone (a rock rich in calcium carbonate, thats the white stuff in your kettle). Mechanical weathering involves physically breaking rocks into fragments without changes in chemistry.

    When a rock fragment broken down because of weathering is moved by air, water or ice, it is called erosion.

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  2. Photo: Daniel Lao DavilaDaniel Lao Davila
    answered on 14 Jun 2014:

    I agree with Rehemat’s answer. One way in which humans contribute directly to weathering and erosion is in the mining industry. Using dynamite to blast wall rock is mechanical weathering. Then using trucks or lorries to transport the broken rocks somewhere else is similar to erosion (transportation of geologic materials at the surface).

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  3. Photo: Jesse DavenportJesse Davenport
    answered on 14 Jun 2014:

    I agree with the answers given by Rehemat and Daniel. Some examples of physical weathering might be exfoliation, abrasion, root and plant wedging/action and ice and frost wedging/action (freeze and thaw also). Chemical weathering could be oxidation (oxygen combines with the elements in the rock and it reacts to form rust), hydration (water can dissolve away rocks and mobile elements) and carbonation (carbon dioxide dissolves in water to form carbonic acid making acid rain which chemically weathers rocks).

    Erosion is a bit more straightforward as Rehemat and Daniel have said.

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  4. Photo: Anna RabittiAnna Rabitti
    answered on 15 Jun 2014:

    I never heard of rock weathering before my last cruise in the Mid Atlantic Ridge area. We took some samples of the seabed (at 2300 m depth!): they were mainly fine sand, but also some rocks came out of our instruments, and parts of these rocks were…soft! You could press you finger in it and make a hole! I was amazed, and then I learned what weathering was (as my colleagues here explained!). Learning things on the field is great, because you really feel the need to ask what you are staring at, and it is wonderful that scientists from different disciplines can help each other to improve the general understanding of a specific locations.

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  5. Photo: Denise De GaetanoDenise De Gaetano
    answered on 15 Jun 2014:

    Weathering is the mechanical and chemical hammer that breaks down and sculpts the rocks.

    Erosion transports the fragments away.

    Hope it helps! 🙂

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