Peering into the Cracks

Natural processes of mechanical weathering cause solid rock to break up. However, there are a range of forces that cause cracks, different rates of cracking and several processes by which cracks grow. A recent article in Reviews of Geophysics looked specifically at how low-level forces and climate may combine to break up rock. The journal’s editors invited the authors – an earth scientist and a mechanical engineer – to answer some questions about this stage in the rock cycle and to explain what their interdisciplinary collaboration has revealed.

By Martha Cary Eppes and Russell Keanini

Read the full article here https://eos.org/editors-vox/peering-into-the-cracks