Understanding Weathering, Erosion, and Tectonic Plates

Weathering and Erosion

Weathering is the process which causes rocks and minerals to break down and disintegrate into smaller pieces. This can occur through chemical, biological, and mechanical processes influenced by temperature and humidity. Erosion by water forms gullies in the land, which can gradually deepen into ravines and gorges.

Landscapes and Tectonic Plates

Landscapes produced under the surface of the earth are known as karst landscapes. The solid part of the earth is divided into different layers separated by areas known as discontinuities, such as the Mohorovičić discontinuity, Repetti, Gutenberg, and Lehmann. Tectonic plates, made up of the crust and the upper mantle, are massive slabs of solid rock. Volcanoes are cracks or openings from which magma emerges to the exterior. Magma is a mixture of melted rocks, solid fragments, and dissolved gases. When it comes to the surface, it is called lava.

Types of Volcanic Eruptions

• Hawaiian eruption: fluid lava and flat
• Vesuvian eruption (stratovolcano): frequent in volcanic belts, thin and concave
• Vulcanian eruption: very viscous lava that solidifies in the chimney or on the crater, causing big explosions and burning clouds of pyroplastic flows

Earthquakes and Tectonic Boundaries

Earthquakes are the violent shaking of the superficial layers of the Earth's surface, caused by the displacement of large masses of rocks along a rupture or fault. The focus or hypocentre is the point where the earthquake rupture starts. The epicentre is the point on the earth's surface directly above the hypocentre. An earthquake is measured on the Richter Scale. Divergent boundaries occur where the plates separate, causing the lithosphere to become thinner and fractures to open, allowing magma to rise. Convergent boundaries occur where two plates move towards each other and collide, causing the ocean floor to sink into the mantle, melting and causing volcanoes in island arcs.