Wacky weathering

Weathering helped form Cheddar Gorge

Well, weathering is both wacky and powerful. It’s helped form landmarks like Cheddar George, beaches and the Grand Canyon in the US! You can plan a school visit to Cheddar Gorge here (external link).

Weathering is where things associated with the weather like the wind, temperature and even water breakdown or change rock. And there’s a lot of rock on Earth! And a lot of wacky weathering, too.

One example of physical weathering is temperature. Cold temperatures can cause rocks to expand, but then as the temperature drops, the rock shrinks again. This puts a lot of pressure on the poor rock and can cause it to crack. This is also why water mains tend to burst in the winter months!