Erosion and weathering
Make observations and measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation
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Weathering breaks down or changes rock in place. Erosion moves material. Deposition leaves moved material in a new place. Water, ice, wind, and living things can act in different ways. A paper model can show separation and movement, but it cannot measure a natural erosion rate. Safety: Keep paper off the floor. Do not use dust, soil, fans, or mouths to move particles. Stop: Stop after one map and four cases. No blowing powders, running water experiments, freezing containers, or rock breaking.
Materials: Paper; Pencil; One scrap sheet to tear; Ruler 1. Draw a 20 cm river line from a hill at the left to a basin at the right. Label 0 cm Hill and 20 cm Basin. Tear the scrap into six pieces large enough to handle. Place them at the hill and trace their starting positions. 2. Tear one piece into two while leaving it at the hill. Label this Weathering analogy: smaller pieces, same place. Move three pieces by hand to 5, 10, and 15 cm. Measure and record each distance. Label movement Erosion analogy. 3. Move the piece from 15 cm to the 20 cm basin and leave it there and label Deposition analogy. Sketch before and after. State that your hand stands for transport, not for water itself. 4. Classify these supplied cases: water carries sand downstream; water freezes in a crack and repeated freezing can widen it; wind carries loose sand; a growing root widens an existing crack. For each, identify breakdown or transport. Write one evidence sentence using your measured paper movement. Done: A before-and-after map, three measured transport distances, labels for all three processes, and four case classifications are present. Proof: Keep the map and distance table. Note help measuring, moving pieces, or deciding which process occurred. Stop: Stop after one map and four cases. No blowing powders, running water experiments, freezing containers, or rock breaking.
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Learning resources
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USGS · Practice link — not the full lesson
This Dynamic Earth: Plate Tectonics
Before you open · source notes
This Dynamic Earth: Plate Tectonics supports Erosion and weathering. An adult previews and guides; this is a learning page, not a scored quiz.
Free educational page, no sign-in required for the tested path.
Before you openAsk the learner one fact they learned and one question they still have.
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Source, access and review notes
Public USGS page. An anonymous GET on 2026-11-12 returned HTTP 200 with no login or payment prompt for this URL. Opening the link does not save practice or assess mastery. An adult should preview and guide the learner.
USGS. “This Dynamic Earth: Plate Tectonics.” External page; Gakuva does not copy, host, embed, or redistribute materials.
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Check understanding
- Define weathering (breaking down of rock in place) and erosion (movement of broken rock/soil, which is dropped elsewhere as deposition)
- Describe the effects of at least three agents of weathering/erosion: water, ice, wind, vegetation
- Provide evidence from observations showing how weathering or erosion has changed a landscape
“Can your child look at a crumbling cliff or a river bank and explain how water, wind, or ice has slowly worn away the rock or soil over time?”
Curriculum record
- Type
- Procedural
- Subject
- Science
- Domain
- Earth's Systems
- Age range
- Ages 9–11
Standards