Water saturated soils can lift whole sidewalks and roads by frost heaving. Many of these rocks have been brought to the surface by erosion of overlying rocks or by tectonic forces into a lower pressure environment. Such rocks expand and form sheet joints, parallel to the surface of the rock. The Sierra Nevada Mts. Thermal Expansion and Contraction A minor process of mechanical weathering caused by expansion and contraction of rock with changing temperature 4.
Solution is a major chemical weathering process dissolving Florida limestones.
This is a major agent of weathering in warm temperate to tropical climates. The weathered clays are easily eroded and transported by rivers. Summary chemical weathering proceeds more rapidly in hot, wet environments.