What is weathering?

• A. Deposition
• B. Transport of sediment
• C. Erosion
• D. Breaking material down in place

Answer: (D)

Weathering is the breakdown or alteration of rocks and minerals in their original location, by physical forces such as freezing and thawing, abrasion, or root growth, and by chemical reactions like dissolution or oxidation. This happens without moving the material away from where it started, so the rock is altered in place. The products of weathering—soils and loose fragments—form at the site and may later be moved by erosion. By contrast, deposition is placing sediment somewhere new after it has been transported, transport is the movement of material, and erosion is the removal and relocation of material from its initial place.