Weathering
Erosion, or weathering is the name for a process whereby rocks are broken down into their most fundamental elements. The processes which do this are water, wind, acids, and the motion of the earth's crust.
Wind drives particles into the rock and gradually blasts rock into smaller pieces. Pressure from adjoining sections of the earth cause rocks to crack apart as well as fold and buckle. Pressure from water also causes rock to crack into smaller pieces.
Gradually these processes reduce large landforms to rubble, where their constituent components can then be reformed into new landforms.
This picture illustrates erosion.
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Last modified January 26, 1999 by the Windows Team
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