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This phenomenon is coined cavitation inception and may occur behind the blade of a rapidly rotating propeller or on any surface vibrating in the liquid with sufficient amplitude and acceleration. A fast-flowing river can cause cavitation on rock surfaces, particularly when there is a drop-off, such as on a waterfall. [citation needed]
Hydraulic action, most generally, is the ability of moving water (flowing or waves) to dislodge and transport rock particles.This includes a number of specific erosional processes, including abrasion, at facilitated erosion, such as static erosion where water leaches salts and floats off organic material from unconsolidated sediments, and from chemical erosion more often called chemical ...
Abrasion is the natural scratching of bedrock by a continuous movement of snow or glacier downhill. This is caused by a force, friction, vibration, or internal deformation of the ice, and by sliding over the rocks and sediments at the base (that also causes an avalanche) that causes the glacier to move.
Rocks do not conduct heat well, so when they are exposed to extreme heat, the outermost layer becomes much hotter than the rock underneath causing differential thermal expansion. This differential expansion causes sub-surface shear stress, in turn causing spalling. Extreme temperature change, such as forest fires, can also cause spalling of rock.
A vug, vugh, or vugg (/ ˈ v ʌ ɡ /) [1] is a small- to medium-sized [quantify] cavity inside rock. It may be formed through a variety of processes. It may be formed through a variety of processes. Most commonly, cracks and fissures opened by tectonic activity ( folding and faulting ) are partially filled by quartz , calcite , and other ...
White veins in dark rock at Imperia, Italy. In geology, a vein is a distinct sheetlike body of crystallized minerals within a rock. Veins form when mineral constituents carried by an aqueous solution within the rock mass are deposited through precipitation. The hydraulic flow involved is usually due to hydrothermal circulation. [1]
Talus cones produced by mass moving, north shore of Isfjord, Svalbard, Norway Mass wasting at Palo Duro Canyon, West Texas (2002) A rockfall in Grand Canyon National Park. Mass wasting, also known as mass movement, [1] is a general term for the movement of rock or soil down slopes under the force of gravity.
Columnar jointing in Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland Columnar jointing in the Alcantara Gorge, Sicily. Columnar jointing is a geological structure where sets of intersecting closely spaced fractures, referred to as joints, result in the formation of a regular array of polygonal prisms (basalt prisms), or columns.