Question:
Are physical and chemical weathering processes independent of each other? If not, why? Explain with examples.
Answer:
Weathering is an exogenic geomorphic process that is the result of weather and climate over the earth's surface.
Weathering can be defined as mechanical disintegration and chemical decomposition of rocks through the actions of various elements of weather and climate.
There are three groups of weathering processes:
- Physical or mechanical weathering
- Chemical weathering
- Biological weathering
In the physical weathering, the disintegration of rocks happens due to:
- Gravitation stress on rocks
- Expansion or shrinking of rocks due to temperature changes
In chemical weathering, the decomposition of rocks happens due to:
- Carbonation, oxidation, hydration, etc process.
- Presence of Water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and heat speed up the chemical weathering.
However, these processes are not independent of each other, they are interdependent.
The following way physical and chemical weathering are interdependent:
- In some cases, chemical weathering or decomposition of big rocks can not be initiated on the unweathered rock, because minerals present on the rocks are not yet exposed for reaction. Chemical weathering starts after the disintegration of rocks or when cracks developed on the rock by the physical weathering process.
- In the same way, Physical weathering also gets speeds up the chemical weathered materials.
- In reality, physical or chemical weathering does not happen in sequential order or independent from each other; rather, it happens parallel or simultaneously and they are interrelated.
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