Geography & History Notes | KCSE, NECTA, ZIMSEC & GCSE

  Although weathering is all about wear and tear of the earth’s surface, in the process it leads to the formation of landforms, especially within the karst regions . Karst regions are regions made up of limestone rocks. These landforms include; Glikes and clints: These are formed during the process of carbonation where by rainfall dissolves CO 2 in the atmosphere to form weak carbonic acids. These carbonic acids act on limestone rocks to form calcium carbonates or converted to a more readily dissolvable form of calcium bi carbonates. In areas where limestone rocks alternate with rocks with different minerals, the weak CaCO3 are removed in solution to form ditch-like depressions called grikes while the hard resistant rocks remaining behind form round topped ridges called clints e.g. at Kajjansi near Kampala . Stalactites. These are features found mostly in karst regions (areas with limestone rocks ). They are protrusions found on the roof of a chemically weathered limestone ca...

  Loss of lives. Severe landslides especially those associated with heavy rains and earthquakes result into rock falls and rock slides that destroy settlements and kill people living in s uch settlements like on the lower slopes of mountains like the Bulecheke landslides in 1996 killed about 100 people, in Buhweju many people were killed by the landslide s that occurred in May 2002, 2010 and 2018 on the slopes of mountain Elgon. Loss of property by the falling and sliding of rocks of various sizes. Many houses and settlements are normally destroyed for example in 1996 in Bundibugyo, a land slide occurred and destroyed several homes and properties for example roads, and electric poles connecting Bundibugyo to Fort Portal were destroyed and that from Kabale to Kisoro. Many crops and the would be agricultural land are often destroyed as they are buried by the debris from the upper slopes. Destruction of forest resources. When a slope with forests fails, chances are that those forests ...

  Nature of the parent rock Mineral composition of the parent rock: some rocks like those having calcium carbonate react with carbonic acids which are due to the combining of rainwater with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to produce calcium bicarbonate by a process known as carbonation e.g. at Nyakasura. The calcium-bi-carbonate can easily be dissolved in water. Some rocks have minerals like feldspar which when mixed with water decompose to produce other mineral compounds like potassium hydroxide and aminocilic acids through the process of hydrolysis. However, in the absence of water, feldspar is a very hard element to weathering . Some rocks have mineral compounds which react with oxygen in the presence of water to form new compounds or oxides through the process of oxidation e.g. ferrous rocks ( rocks rich in iron compounds) are turned into brown or red ferric compounds or laterite soils. Some rocks have minerals that can easily dissolve in water and the solution is carried...