Unit 07 · Weathering, Erosion & Landforms
Mountains do not last; they are taken apart grain by grain and rebuilt as new landscapes. This unit covers mechanical weathering — frost wedging and exfoliation that break rock without changing it — and chemical weathering — carbonate dissolution and karst, oxidation, and hydrolysis that alter it; the erosion and transport of that debris by water, wind, and glacial ice; the deposition that follows; and the signature landforms each agent carves, from meanders and deltas to dunes, moraines, and karst caves. Mastery means you can name the process from the landform and read a landscape as a record of the forces that shaped it.
| Criterion | Not yet | Approaching | Mastered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mechanical vs. chemical weathering | Treats all weathering as the same breakdown. | Names both types but cannot tell them apart in the field. | Distinguishes mechanical weathering (frost wedging, exfoliation) from chemical weathering (dissolution, oxidation, hydrolysis) with evidence. |
| Agents of erosion & transport | Cannot name what moves weathered material. | Lists water, wind, or ice but not how each carries its load. | Explains how water, wind, and glacial ice erode and transport sediment, and how each sorts what it carries. |
| Landforms from process | Sees landforms as random shapes. | Names a landform but not the agent that built it. | Links an agent of erosion or deposition to the landform it produces — meanders, deltas, dunes, moraines, or karst caves. |
| Carbonate dissolution & karst | Ignores how water dissolves and alters rock. | Mentions dissolution but not which rock or why. | Explains carbonate dissolution and karst using the dilute-acid fizz test and links it to cave and sinkhole formation. |
| Lab technique (weathering, erosion & landform investigation) | Cannot design a test that isolates one process. | Runs a weathering or erosion test but confounds variables. | Investigates a weathering or erosion process cleanly and links the result to the landform it would build over time. |
| Integration (cross-domain) | Treats the science as isolated facts; makes no cross-domain connection. | Names a link to history, reading, or writing but cannot defend why it matters. | Connects the unit to its anchor across History · Reading · Writing (plus chosen electives) and defends why the connection matters. |
“A drop of dilute acid fizzed on the limestone but not the sandstone — that’s carbonate dissolution, chemical weathering, and it’s why this region has caves and sinkholes. The frost-wedged talus above it is mechanical: the same rock, broken but not changed.”
“The rock just wore down over time. Water and wind do it. This valley is U-shaped because it’s old, I guess.”
You demonstrate this unit through a weathering, erosion, and landform investigation — testing a process at the bench, then reading a real landscape as the record of the agent that shaped it, aloud rather than on a multiple-choice test. A criterion counts as mastered only when you can name the process from the landform and back it with evidence such as the dilute-acid test. Mastery is demonstrated, not awarded.
A 5-page clipboard packet — unit overview, key terms, the mastery rubric, anchor examples, and a score sheet you can print and grade against.