Weathering and Erosion, a Dummy Comparison

weathering and erosion

We know we tend to harp on this a lot, but it certainly bears repeating: some of the most useless "information" on the internet was put there by people who were much more interested in making a few cents than in decreasing the level of ignorance in the world. Take, for instance, Kenneth C. Agudo, who took a single geology class (to quote Ken, "I don't like my coarse [sic]...") and yet managed to pound out several articles on Hubpages.com in which he mangled most of what he was allegedly learning. After botching posts on petrology and tectonics, Ken came back to misinform his readers about "Types of Weathering and Causes of Soil Erosion."

No college essay would be complete without a mention of the pressing issues of the day, which is probably why Agudo opened by informing folks that,

"There are abrupt changes that are happening in our earth due to some human activities leading to environmental destruction. Likewise, there are some instances that many interactions of some elements and substances create substances to surroundings that is due to some phenomenal happenings."

We'd like to think that Ken's instructor mentioned that both weathering and erosion were going on for billions of years before humans came along, but who knows? If the instructor said half the things Ken repeated, that fact probably never made it to the syllabus. Here's some of his daffynitions:

• Weathering: It is an interaction in the atmosphere or a process in which rocks are broken by the action of the atmosphere. This is relatively determinants of climate." – We don't even know what that "determinants" crap is supposed to mean.
• "Ice wedging- this is which the freezing water spread in rocks or bedding planes to where it wedges the rock apart." – If you already know what ice wedging is, you can decode this. If you don't? good luck with that.
• "Chemical weathering: ...Its most important agent is the water because it activates the weathering with the small amount of dissolved material..." – See comment about ice wedging.

• "Erosion: It is a big force that breaks of transport rock particles from one place to another." – Technically speaking, erosion and transportation are separate processes... but they are "big."
• "The continuous pounding of waves along the edges of the land can destroy the land that was called wave erosion." – Uhhh, you got us...
• "Abrasion, this is also a process where the ice moves along. It acts as giant rasp and it grinds the surface below within of [sic] it." – Just an FYI, Ken: the ice doesn't abrade rock, it's too soft. Rocks embedded in the ice are the agents of abrasion.
• "Soil: It is a combination of mineral and organic matter (45%), water (25%), and air(25%). It contains bicarbonates, chlorides, nitrates, phosphates, and sulfate." – That sure isn't soil, Ken; at the very least it is muddy froth!

With stupidificaton like that permeating the internet, it's no wonder that some people are gullible enough to believe conspiracy theories; they can no longer differentiate fact from bogosity! For his finale, Ken shared his notion of soil types, including:

"Laterites- it is formed from the hot wet climates of the tropics. This is where the chemical weathering occurs. A soluble material is not removing in this type but also great amount of water is removed due to the accumulation of the iron oxides and aluminum..."

Sort of: laterites form in climates that have both wet and dry periods. A laterite is a soil developed on weathered rock, a soil from which all cations except iron and aluminum have been leached. Agudo's "word salad" version of laterite contains many of the right terms, but the order in which our now four-time Dumbass of the Day set them down on paper simply makes zero sense.

SI - WEATHERING