CHAPTER 15 Key Terms

CHAPTER 15 Key Terms

Match each of the terms on the left with its definition on the right. Click on the term first and then click on the matching definition. As you match them correctly, they will move to the bottom of the activity.

Question

avalanche
chemical weathering
collapse sinkhole
debris flow
debris slide
denudation
differential weathering
disappearing stream
erosion
exfoliation
frost wedging
karst
landslide
limestone column
mass movement (or mass wasting)
mudflow
physical weathering
rockfall
rock slide
root wedging
salt wedging
sinkhole
sinkhole lake
slump
soil creep
solifluction
speleothem
stalactite
stalagmite
tafoni
talus (or scree)
weathering
A physical weathering process in which plant roots break rocks apart.
A sinkhole that has filled with water.
The breakdown of rocks into smaller pieces, or clasts, without altering the chemical makeup of the rock.
(or mass wasting) Downslope movement of rock, soil, snow, or ice caused by gravity.
A type of soil creep in which freeze-thaw cycles cause the soil to flow slowly downslope in overlapping sheets.
A depression in Earth’s surface resulting from the weathering of carbonate rock underground.
(or scree) Pieces of angular broken rock that accumulate at the base of a steep slope or vertical cliff.
The lowering and wearing away of Earth’s surface.
A sinkhole formed where the ceiling of a cavern has collapsed.
A physical weathering process in which joints form parallel to a rock surface, creating sheetlike slabs of rock.
A stream that leaves the ground surface and flows into subterranean channels.
A type of mass movement in which regolith detaches and slides downslope along a spoon-shaped failure surface and comes to rest more or less as a unit.
The process by which solid rock is dissolved and broken apart into smaller fragments.
A landslide that consists of a mixture of rocks, soil, and vegetation.
A cylindrical speleothem resulting when a stalactite joins with a stalagmite.
Unequal weathering across a rock surface.
A fast-moving flow composed mostly of mud.
Rapid movement of rock or debris down a steep slope.
A speleothem that grows from the floor of a cavern upward.
A fast-flowing slurry of mud mixed with large objects, such as rocks and vegetation.
A turbulent cloud of rock debris or snow that is mixed with air and races quickly down a steep slope.
A type of mass movement in which rocks tumble off a vertical or nearly vertical cliff face.
A physical weathering process in which salt crystals grow in pore spaces on a rock’s surface and dislodge individual mineral grains within the rock.
The transport of rock fragments by moving water, ice, or air.
The imperceptible downslope movement of soil and regolith as their volume changes in seasonal expansion-contraction cycles.
A physical weathering process in which water trapped in an opening in a rock freezes and expands, causing the opening to grow.
An area dominated by the weathering of carbonate rocks, usually limestone.
Pits or cavities on the surface of a rock that form through salt wedging.
A landslide that consists of rocks and broken rock fragments.
A process that changes the minerals in a rock through chemical reactions involving water.
A cavern formation that forms by precipitation of calcium carbonate.
A speleothem that grows from the ceiling of a cavern downward.