Chapter 3

Through investigations, you will explore surface processes that change the geosphere. You will study how rocks form and what they are made of. You will research how they weather to form soil. You will use models to explore how streams, waves, and glaciers erode, transport, and deposit rock and sediment to make new landforms. All of your labs will relate to the rock cycle, a major cycle of matter on Earth. You will study chemical change and physical change. You will also explore the law of conservation of matter. Many processes change rocks physically and chemically into new kinds of rock, but matter is not created or destroyed when new rocks form.

Earth systems interact to change the geosphere. Shells of marine animals settle in water to form sediment that becomes limestone. Plants that live and die in swamps can become coal. Gases in the air dissolve in water to form weak acids that weather rock. These three examples show how Earth system interactions change the geosphere.