Weathering (breaking down rock) and erosion (transporting rock material) at or near the earth's surface breaks down rocks into small and smaller pieces. These smaller pieces of rock (such as sand, silt, or mud) can be deposited as sediments that, after hardening, or lithifying, become sedimentary rocks.n Earth's surface, wind and water can break rock into pieces (weathering!). They can also carry rock pieces to another place (erosion)!. Usually, the rock pieces, called sediments, drop from the wind or water to make a layer.
The water cycle or hydrologic is a continuous cycle where water evaporates, travels into the air and becomes part of a cloud, falls down to earth as precipitation, and then evaporates again. This repeats again and again in a never-ending cycle.
Also called water cycle. The continuous circular process in which the water of the Earth evaporates from the oceans, condenses, falls to the Earth as rain or snow, and eventually returns to the oceans through run-off in rivers or streams. Some water is absorbed by plants and returned to the atmosphere as vapor.