Geo Reviewer Surface Water Practice Exam

The process that involves grinding down particles carried by water, leading to erosion, is abrasion. This occurs when moving water, such as in rivers or streams, transports sediment and other materials. As these particles move along with the water, they collide with the riverbed and banks, effectively wearing away these surfaces and further breaking down the particles themselves. Over time, this consistent action of particles scraping against one another and against solid surfaces results in the gradual erosion of both the transported materials and the landscape they flow through.

In contrast, deposition refers to the process where materials carried by water are settled or laid down in a new location, not involved in the grinding or erosion aspect. Infiltration involves the process of water soaking into the soil, and percolation is the movement of water through the soil, neither of which contributes directly to the mechanical grind-down of materials like abrasion does.