What is exfoliation of rocks?
What is exfoliation of rocks?
Exfoliation is a process in which large flat or curved sheets of rock fracture and are detached from the outcrop due to pressure release: As erosion removes the overburden from a rock that formed at high pressure deep in the Earth´s crust, it allows the rock to expand, thus resulting in cracks and fractures along sheet …
What is the process of exfoliation?
Exfoliating is the process of removing dead skin cells from the surface of your skin using a chemical, granular substance, or exfoliation tool. Your skin naturally sheds dead skin cells to make room for new cells every 30 days or so.
What causes exfoliation of rocks?
Exfoliation can occur due to several processes. Unloading or release of stress in a rock that produces expansion joints can cause exfoliation. A reduction in stress occurs when rocks previously buried deeply are exposed due to erosion of overlying rocks, or when ice sheets that bury rocks melt.
How are rocks disintegrated through the process of exfoliation?
Exfoliation is a mechanical weathering process in which pressure in a rock is released (unloading) along parallel alignments (sheet joints) near the surface of the bedrock and layers or slabs of the rock along these alignments break off from the bedrock and move downhill by gravity.
What is known as exfoliation name the process involved in it?
The sudden contraction and expansion peels off the outer layer known as exfoliation. The processes involved are formation of fissures, chemical weathering, contraction and expansion of rocks.
What kind of weathering is exfoliation?
Exfoliation is a form of mechanical weathering in which curved plates of rock are stripped from rock below. This results in exfoliation domes or dome-like hills and rounded boulders. Exfoliation domes occur along planes of parting called joints, which are curved more or less parallel to the surface.