Question

How does energy relate to the transportation and deposition of sediments?

Answer 1

Sediment is any solid material that is moved by a variety mechanisms, transported and deposited in a new location. Movement of sediment is generally termed as erosion. Sediment varies in size. It can be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a boulder. Generally, sediment is composed of rocks, minerals, and the remains of plants and animals.

Energy required for transportation and relocation of sediment is provided by

1. Air power. Wind can move dirt across a plane during a dust-storm. Sand dunes are created when rocky sediment is worn down by wind and the sediment is deposited in one place.
2. Movement of Ice. Movement of glaciers transports extremely large pieces of sediment, which is frozen into a glacier. As the ice sheet moves across the landscape or melts sediments are deposited elsewhere.
3. Water. Rain water carries large amount of soil from hills along-with it to plains. River Water can wash medium and small sediment into a delta. Stronger flow of the water has the ability to transport more sediment, in terms of size and quantity.
   Waves, tides and ocean currents are agents for sediment relocation.
4. Gravity. Falling of rocks and large boulders from the top of hills due to gravity also facilitates erosion.