Study Tip
Remember your “W”s! Water and Wind can cause Weathering.
Weathering
Weathering is the process that changes solid rock into sediments. Rock disintegrates, or breaks into pieces.
- Once these sediments are separated from the rocks, erosion is the process that moves the sediments
- Plate tectonics forces work to build huge mountains and other landscapes, but the forces of weathering gradually wear those rocks and landscapes away
- Together with erosion, tall mountains turn into hills and plains
- Weathering takes time (thousands and millions of years)