chemical weathering
Rock dissolves chemically
Chemical weathering is the breakdown of rocks and minerals through chemical reactions with water, air, or other substances.
Unlike physical weathering, which simply breaks rock into smaller pieces, chemical weathering transforms the rock's composition—dissolite calcium carbite, oxidation rusts iron-bearing minerals, acid rain dissolves limestone.
The cave system formed through millions of years of chemical weathering.
- dissolutionBreaking up completely
- carbonationGas dissolved in liquid
- iron oxidesMetal-oxygen corrosion products
- hydrolysisWater-induced bond cleavage
- oxidationLosing electrons chemically
rust stains · climate · feldspar · chelation · redox reactions · silicates · leaching · laterite · soil formation · soil fertility · kaolinite · acidification · carbon cycle · erosion · temperature · limestone · cave systems · groundwater
- Earth processesplate tectonics, erosion, volcanism, sedimentation, earthquakes
- erosionerosion, wearing, wearing down, beach erosion, river erosion
- geological processeserosion, sedimentation, metamorphism, crystallization, compaction
- biogeochemistrycarbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, oxygen cycle, nutrient cycle, mineralization
- geochemistryisotope geochemistry, biogeochemistry, trace element, trace elements, isotopes
- rock processesmineralization, albitization, contact metamorphism, metamorphism, recrystallization
chemical weatheringthermal expansion
Volume increase from warming
exfoliation · abrasion · glacial erosion · pressure release · wind erosion