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Hot Desert Systems and Landscapes

Thermal Fracture and Rock Breakdown

  • 4 things to know
  • Component 1

Overview

Recall questions on what heating and nocturnal cooling do to rock surfaces and on how differential stress weakens rock over repeated cycles.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

In thermal fracture, what happens to rock surfaces during intense daytime heating?

Key term

Why do repeated heating and cooling cycles progressively weaken rock through thermal fracture?

Key term

Why are chemical weathering rates limited in hot desert environments?

Process

Explain how thermal fracture and exfoliation break down desert rock.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    In thermal fracture, what happens to rock surfaces during intense daytime heating?

    Model answer

    The rock surface expands due to the heat.

  2. 2

    What occurs to rock during rapid nocturnal cooling in the thermal fracture process?

    Model answer

    The rock contracts as it cools.

  3. 3

    How does differential stress contribute to thermal fracture?

    Model answer

    The difference in expansion and contraction between the heated surface and cooler interior creates stresses that generate fractures in the rock.

  4. 4

    Why do repeated heating and cooling cycles progressively weaken rock through thermal fracture?

    Model answer

    Each cycle widens existing cracks, and repeated cycles cause progressive crack enlargement until rock fragments break away.

  5. 5

    What is exfoliation?

    Model answer

    The peeling away of curved sheets of rock from exposed surfaces due to pressure release or thermal stress.

  6. 6

    Name three types of chemical weathering that occur in deserts.

    Model answer

    Hydrolysis, oxidation and solution.

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Weathering means breakdown of rock in place.
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