What Are the Effects of Weathering?

• Weathering often forms hills.
  
  

Identification

• Weathering, not to be confused with erosion, occurs when rock breaks down either due to physical disintegration of the rock or chemical means, according to the National Park Service. Weathering does not include movement; when weathered rock moves, erosion occurs. Plant roots display a good example of physical weathering; roots grow in size as the plant matures and break the surrounding soil and rock into smaller pieces. An example of chemical weathering is the transformation of feldspar into clay by hydrolysis.
  
  

Breaking Man-Made Objects

• Weathering often causes damage to man-made objects; potholes are an example. When things become moist, water can seep into tiny cracks and pores. If the temperature drops to 32 degrees, the ice expands and exerts great pressure on the material, eventually causing cracking. Tree roots can also grow under foundations and cause breaks that disrupt houses.
  
  

Soil

• Although the process to create soil takes thousands of years, weathering plays a huge role in its formation, according to "Rock Cycles" by Rebecca Harman. As weathering breaks down rock, organic material like dead plants gets lodged in little nooks. As the organic material breaks down, it forms soil and continues to break up what is left of the already weathered rock.
  
  

Geography

• Many of our rocky and bumpy terrains form due to weathering over thousands of years, according to "Weathering and Erosion" by Clive Gifford (See Resources). Weathering of land occurs most often in desert climates or on the coast. In the desert, the days are extremely hot, but the nights very cold. The constant contraction and expansion of minerals eventually causes them to break. Gifford says the outer layers of rock are more susceptible to weathering, and then erosion--that's why you see a lot domes in deserts, such as Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio De Janeiro.
  
  

Famous Cases of Weathering

• One of the famous examples of weathering breaking down a great man-made monument is Cleopatra's Needle in New York's Central Park (Resources 2). The Egyptians had the Needle for about 3,500 years with few signs of weathering; when it was transplanted into Central Park, it only took about 80 years to see the degradation of the monument from water seeping into cracks and expanding (Resources 2).