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How does water weather rocks and erode landscapes?

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Diagram illustrating Earth's environmental spheres, with labeled sections showing the geosphere (land and crust), biosphere (living things), atmosphere (air), and hydrosphere (water), each extending vertically from the Earth's surface. — hydrosphere Earth's environment includes the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the lithosphere, and the biosphere.

Water shapes Earth's surface through the complementary processes of weathering and erosion.

Weathering

Weathering involves the disintegration or chemical alteration of rock in its original position. Water contributes to this through:
* Physical processes: The alternate freezing and thawing of water within rock cracks exerts pressure, causing the rock to break apart.1
* Chemical processes: Water acts as a solvent, facilitating reactions such as solution, carbonation, hydration, and oxidation. For example, carbon dioxide-charged water can dissolve calcite in limestone or transform silicate minerals into clay minerals like kaolinite.12

Erosion

Erosion involves the removal and transportation of weathered material. Moving water is the most significant erosional agent:
* Fluvial action: Rivers scour their banks and beds, especially during floods. This moving water entrains sediments, which then act as abrasive tools to wear down other rock and soil.3
* Coastal action: Sea waves erode shorelines through hydraulic pressure and the abrasive friction of sand and pebbles, creating features like sea cliffs and arches.3
* Glacial action: Glaciers erode the landscape by grinding over the ground (abrasion) and plucking blocks of rock from the surface (quarrying).3