San Andreas Fault

Information

Most of us that have grown up in this state are aware of the San Andreas

Fault or have heard something about it on the news or in school. I figured

I would share this fault because it is in our backyard and is relevant to

everyone that lives here in this beautiful state. Although I wasn’t able to

go visit myself and take a picture but I found these two awesome pictures

that show two different views of the famous San Andreas Fault.

The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform and has a motion of

right-lateral strike-slip. It also is special because it happens to run exactly

810 miles in length throughout California. This specific fault forms the

tectonic boundaries between the Pacific Plate and the North American

Plate.

Weathering Process

In order to understand the different types of weathering process we must

understand what weathering is. Weathering is the breaking down of rocks,

soils and minerals as well as artificial materials through contact with the

Earth’s atmosphere, biota and waters. Weathering occurs in situ, or “with

no movement”, and should not be confused with erosion. There are two

classifications of weathering; physical weathering and chemical weathering.

Physical Weathering: It is the decomposition of rocks, but occurs

without the need of chemical changes. It involves the breakdown of

rocks and soils through direct contact with atmospheric conditions, like

heat, water, ice and pressure.

Chemical Weathering: this process changes the composition of rocks

and when water interacts with minerals, it causes rocks to transform. It

involves the direct effect of atmospheric chemicals or biologically

produced chemicals in the breakdown of rocks, soils and minerals.

In the next slide you will see examples of both weathering processes.

Physical and Chemical Weathering

This image is an example of Physical

Weathering in Yosemite National Park in CA.

The rock is broken into gently dipping plates by

unloading joints. Unloading is the process we

commonly see as granite tends to open and

peel away sheets of rock seen here in the

domes Yosemite.

This image is an example of Chemical Weathering. I wasn’t able to take this picture but found it online. You can see that the water over time as chemically altered the rocks form.

Mass Wasting

Mass wasting also known as slope movement or

mass movement is the process in which

rocks, soils, and all dirt move towards one

direction, which is down slope that is under the

force of gravity. Mass wasting consists of

falls, flows or slides. Here are some images of

mass wasting;

Erosion

Erosion events are things where materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. These events usually occur with the use of wind or water or more. For example, the way the waves move in the ocean are erosional events or how rocks, dirt or garbage are in one place and then end up in another is the cause of erosion. Here is an example of an erosion event;

Sedimentary Environment

Continued

The image is from google.com and it shows an

overlook of what sedimentary environment really is. I

believe explaining this wouldn’t give you justice so why

not have a visual perspective. It shows the climate

systems, geographic locations, organic processes and

of course the plate tectonic setting. Sedimentary

environments are usually a geographic representation

where sediment normally accumulates.

The Practical Use of

Geology

Here is a Picture of a Mountain top in Scottsdale, Arizona where my

sons Godparents live. This is definitely a perfect example of geology

at its finest. It represents to me the practical application of geological

science. I enjoyed Arizona as it is so different geologically to

California and that’s what makes this Earth so special.

Reference Page

http://geoweb.princeton.edu/research/SSG/Structuralimages.html

http://www.google.com

http://www2.pvc.maricopa.edu/~douglass/v_trips/wxing/introduction

_files/phys-wx.html

http://uregina.ca/~sauchyn/geog323/weather.html

http://www.wikipedia.org/

This was a fun and very knowledgeable experience and it makes you appreciate

geology as a science and the beautiful Earth we live on. I hope after all the research

and knowledge obtained throughout this class I was able to have a better

understanding for what geology is all about.