12 Worksheet 12.

2
1.  Match the terms with their definitions.

Term Definition
A Oxic 1 Chemical released when plant (or animal) matter decays.
B Anoxic 2 The decay and disintegration of rocks in situ, involving physical,
chemical and biological processes, resulting from the conditions in the
atmosphere.
C Biological weathering 3 When rocks at the Earth’s surface are broken down and plant or animal
matter plays an important part.
D Chemical weathering 4 The thin layer at the Earth’s surface formed from minerals produced by
weathering and decaying organic matter.
E Physical (mechanical) 5 Naturally occurring weak acid formed when carbon dioxide in the air is
weathering dissolved in rainwater.
F Carbonation 6 The addition of oxygen to a mineral (or the removal of an electron from
an atom or ion).
G Oxidation 7 The wearing away and removal of rock and weathered debris by
running water, glaciers, waves in the sea and the wind.
H Freeze-thaw action 8 Process of physical weathering occurring in deserts where layers of rock
peel off parallel to the surface.
I Exfoliation 9 Large, rounded hills of bare rock occurring in deserts and common in
crystalline rocks such as granite.
J Exfoliation domes 10 Process of physical weathering occurring in cold climates involving
water freezing in cracks causing the rocks to shatter.
K Erosion 11 Common rock type containing a large amount of calcium carbonate.
L Limestone 12 When oxygen is freely available for chemical reactions.
M Humic acid 13 When conditions are waterlogged and there is little oxygen.
N Carbonic acid 14 The breakdown of rocks at the Earth’s surface involving changes in
temperature.
O Scree 15 Angular rock fragments, often the result of physical weathering.
P Soil 16 When minerals in the rocks at the earth’s surface are broken down by
chemical reactions, causing the rock to disintegrate.
Q Weathering 17 Process of chemical weathering where calcium carbonate in limestone
is attacked by carbonic acid produced in rainwater.

© Oxford University Press 2012: this may be reproduced for class use solely for the purchaser’s institute