Author ‘s Name 1 Weathering and Soil Weathering , Erosion , and Transportation Weathering is the breakdown and state alteration of rocks at or near the surface of the earth through a set of physical , chemical and biological processes . Both rocks and soil undergo changes either physically , through disintegration , or chemically , through decomposition . This processes frequently involves water as an agent as it is the direct cause of frost shattering , wetting and drying , and other processes . Weathering is actually directly affected by climatic factors , hence it acquired its name . Most of the weathering activities occur at the earth ‘s surface as both weather and climate as the driving forces are located here , therefore weathering decreases with depth (Strahler and Strahler 320 . Erosion on the other hand is the process of particle displacement , which is applicable to rocks and soil , as they are carried by different agents such as water , wind , ice , and even organisms . This is the removal of particles form one location to another on the earth ‘s surface . The difference of erosion from weathering is that the former involves motion or movement , apart from weathering that only involves breakdown with the particles simply remaining in stasis (Abou-Shalah et al . 3 . Transportation itself is the mode which erosion displaces particles form their place of origin . Weathering and erosion more often than not occur simultaneously and hand in hand . Rocks are mostly form underneath the earth ‘s surface and they become exposed when natural phenomena occur such as volcanism and mountain formation . Upon exposure to the earth ‘s surface , with climate and weather playing as major factors , rocks consequently breakdown into sediments through the mentioned process of weathering . When these rocks are weathered into smaller particles , they are transported through different agents that cause the sediments to become even more abraded and worn down . As the distance they have traveled increases , they become more smaller and more rounded and eventually settle and become part of the soil composition of the area (Grotzinger et al . 329 .Author ‘s Name 2 Mechanical and Chemical Weathering There are two recognizable types of weathering , namely mechanical or physical and chemical weathering . The major difference between these two types is that in mechanical weathering , only the shape and size of the solid particles are changed while in chemical weathering the composition of the rocks and sediments are altered . Mechanical weathering involves the gradual physical breakdown of bigger rocks , dividing it further into smaller pieces . Here , the mineral contained in the original rock is identical to its subsequent fragments . Chemical weathering involves mineral composition change , in which these mineral are either modified or destroyed . Due to the chemical reactions transpiring when new particles are formed and due to dissolution of particles in water , the rocks are changed chemically (Abou-Shalah et al . 3 . Generally , these two processes result to different type of rocks .Mechanical weathering mostly produces cladistic rocks and sedimentary rocks such sand and sandstone . It also causes the formation of grains of quartz from a granite . Chemical…