how does wind cause erosion?
925589
Air currents will certainly transport small sedimentary grains.  Dry clay particles are small enough to be held in suspension by the wind.  Sand grains can be moved by a process known as saltation: bouncing grains along the ground or over other grains.  It is by this process that sand dunes migrate.  A storm will move tons of material in this way.  \n\nAs sand grains are moved, they bounce and chip against each other and any exposed rock, breaking off small fragments and rounding the grains in their turn.
360341
We have an atmosphere and weather.  That is always changing the surface of the earth.  Erosion takes place and over time things flaten out.\nIn other cases the craters are still there, they just happen to be so large the only way we see them is through pictures from satellites.  The vegitation also help mask the craters
1089980
Water\n\nSplash erosion is the detachment and airborne movement of small soil particles caused by the impact of raindrops on soil. Sheet erosion is the result of heavy rain on bare soil where water flows as a sheet down any gradient, carrying soil particles. Where precipitation rates exceed soil infiltration rates, runoff occurs. Surface runoff turbulence can often cause more erosion than the initial raindrop impact. Gully erosion results where water flows along a linear depression eroding a trench or gully.\n\nValley or stream erosion occurs with continued water flow along a linear feature. The erosion is both downward, deepening the valley, and headward, extending the valley into the hillside. In the earliest stage of stream erosion, the erosive activity is dominantly vertical, the valleys have a typical V cross-section and the stream gradient is relatively steep. When some base level is reached the erosive activity switches to lateral erosion which widens the valley floor and creates a narrow floodplain. The stream gradient becomes nearly flat and lateral deposition of sediments becomes important as the stream meanders across the valley floor. In all stages of stream erosion by far the most erosion occurs during times of flood, when more and faster-moving water is available to carry a larger sediment load. In such processes, it is not the water alone that erodes, suspended abrasive particles, pebbles and boulders can also act erosively, as they traverse a surface.\n\nWind\n\nWind erosion, also known as eolian erosion is the movement of rock and/or sediment by the wind. Windbreaks are often planted by farmers to reduce wind erosion. This includes the planting of trees, shrubs, or other vegetation, usually perpendicular or nearly so to the principal wind direction. The wind causes dust particles to be lifted and therefore moved to another region. Wind erosion generally occurs in areas with little or no vegetation, often in areas where there is insufficient rainfall to support vegetation. An example is the formation of sand dunes, on a beach or in a desert.\n\nGlacial\n\nIce erosion is caused by movement of ice, typically as glaciers. Glaciers can scrape down a slope and break up rock and then transport it, leaving moraines, drumlins and glacial erratics in their wake, typically at the terminus or during glacier retreat. Ice wedging is the weathering process in which water trapped in tiny rock cracks freezes and expands, breaking the rock. This can lead to gravity erosion on steep slopes. The scree which forms at the bottom of a steep mountainside is mostly formed from pieces of rock broken away by this means. It is a common engineering problem, wherever rock cliffs are alongside roads, because morning thaws can drop hazardous rock pieces onto the road.
128765
We had a teacher at school who did a project on erosion that I still remember, so it must have taught us somehting.\n\nHe got a wheelbarrow load of fine sand and piled it into a mound out in theplayground. Then he got a hose and wet the top of it and let some of it wash away. \n\nNot only do you see a practical demonstration of the way that rain erodes mountains and forms streams and rivers but by varying the steepness of the mound or the speed of the water falling on it you can form shallow, broad wandering 'rivers' or steep sided straight valleys and so on.\n\nWe all thought it was prety cool that you could actualy see the rivers form as you watched.
797490
Wind strength, or more specifically, its effect and destructiveness.
500664
During the process of erosion, the surface of a rock is broken down.\n\nIt can be done by one or two means...\n\nMechanical weathering: rock is broken down into smaller pieces through frost wedging, abrasion, exfoliation, etc.\n\nChemical weathering: rock is broken down into one or more new substances usually through the action of water. Water reacts w/ iron to produce iron oxide. Water also reacts w/ other elements & compounds to produce mild acids that eat away at the surfaces of rocks. Most of the acids are completely natural while some are caused by pollution.\n\nBoth of these can act together to break rock down faster. When a rock has been mechanically weathered it's surface area will increase allowing the chemical weathering to occur at a faster rate.
762290
Water...\n\n* Liquid water, eg in rivers and coasts (in the sea this is largely caused by the gravitational effect of the moon);\n* Liquid water is a major cause of landslides - soil becomes over-saturated and therefore loses its adhesion to the soil or rock beneath;\n* The action of freeze-thaw where liquid water seeps into cracks, expands when it freezes thereby widening the crack and ultimately splitting rocks apart;\n* Frozen water in the form of glaciers grinding away at mountains;\n\nOther causes of erosion include:-\n* the wind, especially when it blows sand particles with it which erode rocks;\n* the Sun which alternatively heats and cools rocks so that they split in much they same way as freeze-thaw (especially in desert areas);\n* humans - we contribute to many of the above processes by our own actions, eg deforestation prevents the soil from holding as much water so landslides become more likely; over-farming creates deserts which are subject to wind and sun; coastal "management" often results in more rapid erosion of some areas of coastline
11514
large rocks break into smaller rocks by means or erosion, and by water seeping into cracks and freezing.  Ice may be rarer in deserts, but it is not unknown.  Wind also plays a role in erosion, but much less.  In some cases, rocks might have been formed in other places, and carried to distant places by rivers or glaciers.  Deserts weren't always deserts--a place that is today a desert might have once been a swamp, a prarie, or the bottom of a lake or sea.
720397
Wind and water erosion both erode top layes of the soil which is fertile.\nBoth can be controlled by planting trees over loose soil so that the roots can prevent soil erosion.\n\nBut water erosin is much more harmful since it can cut up land and make it unfit for cultivation, and water erosion can only take plaec where there is a slope.
419160
wind is the result of basically a pressure difference.whenever there is a pressure difference between two places the wind blows from the high pressure side to the low pressure side.this pressure difference can be caused due to several reasond...in summers,the land is overheated and so is the air just around it.the air gets hot and start rising.this tends to lower the pressure of that area.then air from some high pressure area takes the place of that low pressure area.in winters over cooling hightens the pressure of the air.which again tends the air to flow,causing mild winds.near a beach,the heating of the land and the water is uneaven and thus causes the sea breeze during the day and land breeze during the night.
543373
We have air around us. The atmosphere has high preasure and low preasure. When the high preasure area turns into low preasure, the air moves from high preasure area towards the low preasure. This movement of air from one area to another causes the wind. \n\nIt has nothing to do with clouds. The faster the low preasure area is formed, depends on whether you have clouds, or thunderstorms. Low preasure areas causes rain. This is why normally you have winds before the rain.
1110263
Weathering is the process of disintegration of rocks, soils and their minerals through natural, chemical, and biological processes. It is not to be confused with erosion, which is the movement of rocks and/or weathering products by water, wind, ice or gravity.
292725
I will give this question a stab and I caution that the answer may not be exactly correct. \n\n The weathering complex refers to the action of wind and rain on sculping the geography of the Earth or any other planet for that matter. The Grand Canyon is a prime example of this action. It was sculped--there is probably a better word to use here but I can't think of it--by the flow of the Colorado River. In this particular area of the country where it does not rain very frequently and there is sparce vegitation, when it does rain hard, the erosion can be severe. The same can be said of soil erosion caused by the wind. During the 1930's the mid-west became a dust bowl and millions of tons of soil were displaced by wind.  In some places when the wind blew, it was like night at mid day because of all the dusk in the air.  \n\nIf you have ever driven through the Appalachian Mountians and looked at where the road was cut through the mountians you would have noticed that the layers of sedamentary rock seemed to abrutly  terminate at one side of the mountain. It is like a giant hand came down and scooped out part of the mountain. That giant hand was the stream or river at the bottom of the mountain. It literally cut through the mountain during millions and millions of years. \n\nOne of the best examples of wind erosion in the U S can be found at Great Sand Dunes National Monument in southern Colorado.  There there are sand dunes hundreds of feet high cause by the wind carrying the particals of sand into that sheltered area. A lesser example of this are the sand dunes in Dunes State Park in Indiana along the south shore of Lake Michigan. And of course everyone has seen the sand dunes of the Sahara Desert in the movies.
1107261
It seems you are confusing the term 'blowing wind' with the idea of breathing. The wind is not 'blown out' from anywhere when it warms, so there is no question of it being sucked back in when cooled.\n\nWind is just the movement of air from areas of higher pressure to areas of lower pressure. When some part of the Earth warms up, it heats the air above it. Warm air expands and rises. It has lower pressure. Cooler air from nearby places has higher pressure, so it comes in to the low pressure area.\n\nSo wind is actually caused by the differences of temperature and pressure in areas near each other. There is no blowing out or sucking in. Its simply a movement of air from one place to another.
639560
The wind is just the observable and measurable manifestation of air molecules being drawn en masse from one place to another by a differential in atmospheric pressure between the two places.  What causes most of these pressure differentiations is (a) earth's rotation creating friction between the lower and upper components of the atmosphere, and (b) temperature gradients in the atmosphere and the oceans caused by the heating action of our star, the Sun.\n\nLet's go fly a kite!
760451
Erosion\nSoil erosion is a gradual process that occurs when the actions of water, wind, and other factors eat away and wear down the land, causing the soil to deteriorate or disappear completely. The main agents of soil erosion are wind, water, and tillage. Maintaining a continuous vegetative cover on the soil is usually the best way to control erosion. Soil deterioration and low quality of water due to erosion and run off has often become a severe problem around the world. Many times the problems become so severe that the land can no longer be cultivated and is abandoned. The key to minimizing soil erosion and saving the farm lands is the farmer himself. Ultimately, he is the one who must reduce the level at which erosion sediments are dislodged from his cropland. \n\nStudies in water quality relating to agriculture have shown that, of the four to five billion tons of sediment being deposited in the country's streams each year, over half is coming from croplands. The deposited soil, which contains pesticides, farm chemicals, and nutrients vital to the crops but damaging to ground water, gets there mainly as a result of runoff due to rainstorms and sheet erosion. \n\nRunoff occurs when the rainfall rate exceeds the soil's infiltration capacity. On sloping areas, runoff is a concern since it can carry soil particles, nutrients, and other chemicals with it. \n\nGeological erosion occurs where soil is in its natural environment surrounded by its natural vegetation. This has been taking place naturally for millions of years and has helped create balance in uncultivated soil that enables plant growth. A classical example of the results of geological erosion is the Grand Canyon. \n\nAccelerated erosion can be caused by man's activities, such as agriculture and construction, which alter the natural state of the environment. \n\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nWind Erosion\nWind erosion, or "soil drifting" is caused by the action of wind on exposed soil, especially smooth, unprotected surfaces. Wind picks up finer soil particles and deposits them downwind. Improper tillage practices, low soil moisture, poor soil cover or any combinations thereof can increase the risk of wind erosion.\n\nDrip irrigation is a successful, economical way to water new windbreaks. \n\nWindbreaks of trees and shrubs in a subdivision in North Dakota make an interesting pattern on the land. \nA living snowfence in Colorado beautifies the landscape and will stop blowing snow, keeping snow on the fields where moisture is needed. \nWind barriers of grass and legume crops are rotated with row crops in Iowa. \nWheat residues are left on the soil surface to protect an Oklahoma crop field. \nBuffer strips of weeping lovegrass protect a cottonfield in Texas. \nPerennial grass barriers protect cucumbers growing in South Carolina. \nA combination of wind barriers and ground cover protects soil. \nWell-managed rangeland protects highly erosive soil in Wyoming. \nThe second most common erosion control practice in Canada is the use of windbreaks or shelterbelts, which are lines of trees or bushes planted at the borders of or within fields, normally at right angles to the prevailing winds (maintaining natural vegetation along fencelines has the same effect). This technique is most commonly used in the Prairies (29 to 37 percent of farms), where the flat terrain, minimal natural brush protection, large fields, and frequency of high winds make cultivated land especially vulnerable to wind erosion. Ontario farms also report substantial use of windbreaks (21 percent of farms).\n\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nWater Erosion\nWater erosion occurs when rain, spring run-off, or floodwater carry soil particles away. This can occur through sheet erosion, where soil materials are removed relatively uniformly, or rill erosion where flowing water creates sm
607583
erosion,corrosion and abrasion