Geologic Processes on Earth

Exogenic Processes

The earth’s surface is composed of water and landmasses. The solid portion is made out of rocks and
minerals that could experience changes either physically or chemically. The weathered materials are
transported by different agents from one place to another and will settle down in a particular area. These
progressions that happen are achieved by forms called exogenic processes. It includes weathering, erosion, and
deposition.

Mechanical weathering or physical weathering is the breakdown of rocks into pieces without any
change in its composition. In this process, the size and shape of rocks changes and this occurs because of the
following factors shown in the table below.

Factors Description

Due to tectonic forces, granite may rise to form mountain range. After the
Pressure granite ascends and cools, the overlying rocks and sediments may erode.
At the point when the pressure diminishes, the rock expands, cools, and
became brittle and fractured.

Rocks expand and are fractured when expose to high temperature.

Temperature However, if the temperature drops to 0°C (freezing point of water), it also
expands and causes fracture.

Generally, rocks have fracture in its surface and when water accumulates
Frost Wedging in the crack and at that point freezes, the ice expands and breaks the rock
apart.

The breakdown of rocks is caused by impact and friction. This primarily

occurs during collision of rocks, sand, and silt due to current or waves
Abrasion along a stream or seashore causing sharp edges and corners to wear off
and become rounded.

The roots grow causing penetration into the crack, expand, and in the long
Organic Activity run, break the rock.
Activities such as digging, quarrying, denuding forests and cultivating land
Human Activities contribute to physical weathering.
Animals like rats, rabbits and squirrels excavate into the ground to create a
Burrowing Animals space for habitation.

In chemical weathering, there are changes in the composition of rocks due to the chemical reactions
presented below.

Chemical Reactions Description

It occurs in specific minerals which are dissolved in water. Examples of these
Dissolution minerals are Halite (NaCl) and Calcite (CaCO3 ). The formation of stalactites
and stalagmites in caves are brought about by this chemical reaction.
Rock-forming minerals like amphibole, pyroxene, and feldspar react with
Hydrolysis water and form different kinds of clay minerals.
It is the response of oxygen with minerals. If the iron oxidizes, the mineral
Oxidation in rocks decomposes. Rusting is an example of this chemical reaction.

Weathering is an important process in the formation of soil.

Soil is a mixture of grains, organic matter, H2O, and gas.
Erosion
is the separation and removal of weathered rocks due to different agents like water, wind, and glacier
that causes transportation of the material to where they are deposited. Plants, animals, and humans play an
important role in the erosional process.

The movement of sediments downslope under the influence of gravity is called mass wasting. The examples of
this are fall, slide, avalanche, and flow.

Deposition
Is the process in which the weathered materials carried out by erosion settle down in a particular
location.
It is the accumulation of materials such as soil, rock fragments, and soil particles settling on the ground. This
usually occurs in streams and sea erosion. Over time, the sediment load becomes thick and forms a new layer
of ground.
In some small inland waters, this sediment layer will eventually dry up the water and become part of the
soil. In oceans, the sediment layer can form the ocean basin. Because geologic processes are constant, ocean
basins change in size and depth. The change depends on the rate of erosion in their surrounding continental
masses or by ocean ridges.

The Earth’s Internal Heat

Heat energy plays a vital role in our planet. It is one of the extreme factors in what makes the world
liveable. If you think of a volcano, you know Earth must be hot inside. Our planet's internal heat shifts continents,
creates mountains, and produces earthquakes, but where does all this heat inside the earth originate?

Basically, Planet Earth has 3 main layers, these are Crust, Mantle and Core. The Crust of the earth is a
very thin layer when compared to the 3 other layers. The Mantle is the largest layer of the earth with estimated
1800 miles thick. The mantle is composed of very hot dense rock called magma, because of the high
temperatures with the Mantle, the rock is kept in a semi-liquefied state. The Outer Core is composed of liquefied
metals such as nickel and iron. It is kept in it liquefied state because of the immense heat in this layer. The Inner
Core is also composed of metals however they are not kept in a liquefied state. It is believed that the
temperature and pressure at depth is so great that the metals are squeezed tightly together restricting
movement, so much that the particles have to vibrated in place almost like a solid structure. Sources of heat in
our planet can be identified as Primordial and Radiogenic heat.

During the early formation of the Earth, the internal heat energy that gradually gathered together by
means of dispersion in the planet during its few million years of evolution is called Primordial heat. The major
contribution of this internal heat is the accretional energy – the energy deposited during the early formation
of a planet. The core is a storage of primordial heat that originates from times of accretion when kinetic energy
of colliding particles was transformed into thermal energy. This heat is constantly lost to the outer silicate layers
of the mantle and crust of the earth through convection and conduction. In addition, the heat of the core takes
tens of thousands of years to reach the surface of the earth. Today, the surface of the earth is made of a cold
rigid rock since 4.5 billion years ago, the earth’s surface cools from the outside but the core is still made of
extremely hot material.

On the other hand, the thermal energy released as a result of spontaneous nuclear disintegration is
called Radiogenic Heat. It involves the disintegration of natural radioactive elements inside the earth – like
Uranium, Thorium and Potassium. Uranium is a special kind of element because when it decays, heat
(radiogenic) is produced. Estimated at 47 terawatts (TW), the flow of heat from Earth’s interior to the surface
and it comes from two main sources in equal amounts: the radiogenic heat produced by the radioactive decay
of isotopes in the mantle and crust, and the primordial heat left over from the formation of the Earth.
Radioactive elements exist everywhere on earth in a fairly significant concentration. Without the process of
radioactive decay, there would be fewer volcanoes and earthquakes – and less formation of earth’s vast
mountain ranges.
 Sources of Heat and Heat Transfer
Both sources of heat whether primordial or radiogenic undergo heat transfer and it plays an important role to
the continuous changes and development of our planet. In connection, another part of this module describes
the heat transfer in the Earth. Three processes can transfer heat: conduction, convection, and radiation.

Conduction
Processes happen in the earth’s surface and it directs the thermal settings in almost entire solid portions
of the Earth and plays a very important role in the lithosphere. One of the three main ways of heat transfer is
conduction. Technically, it can be defined as the process by which heat energy is transmitted through collisions
between neighboring atoms or molecules. Conduction carries heat from the Earth's core and radiation from the
Sun to the Earth's surface. When the atmosphere in normal temperature contacts with the warm surfaces of
the land, it transfer thermal energy, then it will heats up the rest of the air through convection.

Convection
Is the transfer of heat by the movement of mass, and it is a more effective mode of heat transport in the
Earth than pure conduction. Convection dominates the thermal conditions in zones with significant amounts of
fluids (molten rocks) and thus governs the heat transport in the fluid outer core and the mantle. In geological
time scale, due to the tremendous temperature, the mantle acts like a viscous fluid. In convection current, the
mantle of the earth moves slowly because of transfer of heat from the interior of the earth up to the surface.
This results to the movement of tectonic plates. Hot materials are added at the edges of a plate and then it
cools. At those edges, it becomes dense by its exposure from the heat and sinks into the earth at an ocean
trench. This starts the formation of volcanoes.

Radiation
Is the least important mode of heat transport in the Earth. The process of heat exchange between the
Sun and the Earth, through radiation, controls the temperatures at the Earth's surface. Inside the Earth,
radiation is significant only in the hottest parts of the core and the lower mantle. When the land and water
become warm in summer, it emits long – wavelength infrared radiation that is readily absorbed by the
atmosphere. This continues during night time too. Convection in the air then spreads out the thermal energy
throughout the atmosphere.
Figure A shows a convection cell, warm material rises (up to the surface of the earth) and cool material sinks.
These cooled materials will eventually turn to land formation. In mantle convection, the heat source is the
core. The core of the earth is very hot. It is nearly as hot as the surface of the sun – about 6000˚C. Convection
current is relevant to the movement of tectonic plate because the heat builds up pressure underneath the
crust (tectonic plates). As they become unstable, they push against each other (subduction) and rise upwards
or one goes under the other.
Figure B shows the process of conduction on how air molecules come in contact with the warmer surface of
the land or ocean, resulting to the increase of its thermal energy through conduction. The thermal energy of
the core is transferred to the surface of the earth and the lower levels of ocean by conduction.