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.
The water cycle. The water cycle is the process that re-circulates water so we can have bodies of water as well as clouds and precipitation. The first step of the water cycle is evaporation. About 85% of the water vapor in the air comes from water that evaporated from the oceans. The other 15% comes from evapotranspiration, which is a catch-all term for water that evaporates from over land.