1. 7.8B Changes to Texas Land
Vocabulary List #6

2. Chemical Weathering
The chemical breakdown of rocks and minerals into new substances

3. Mechanical Weathering
The breakdown of rock into smaller pieces by physical means

4. Ice Wedging
The process of mechanical weathering in which water seeps into a crack in a rock during warm weather and then freezes during cold weather; when it expands, the ice pushes against the sides of the crack and forces it open wider.

5. Oxidation
A chemical reaction in which an element combines with oxygen to form an oxide; a common form of weathering.

6. Landform
Any natural formation of rock and dirt found on Earth

7. Biotic
Describe the part of the environment made up of organisms and the organic matter they produce

8. Abiotic
Describes the physical, or nonliving, part of the environment, including water, rocks, light, and temperature.