How do weathering and erosion differ?

• A. Weathering involves moving rock; erosion breaks it down in place.
• B. Weathering and erosion are the same process.
• C. Weathering breaks down rocks in place; erosion moves rock and sediment to new locations.
• D. Weathering requires water; erosion does not.

Answer: (C)

Weathering is the process that breaks rocks into smaller pieces in place, while erosion is the movement of those pieces to new locations. Weathering can be physical, like freeze-thaw cracking, or chemical, like minerals dissolving, and it doesn’t relocate material. Erosion takes the already-weathered material and transports it—by water, wind, ice, or gravity—to new areas, where it can be deposited or further worn down. These two work together to shape landscapes: weathering provides the sediment, erosion moves it, and deposition finally settles it somewhere else.