GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Tiny plants may sprout up in and around broken rocks. These sprouts turn into bigger plants. As they grow bigger, their roots start penetrating the rock, particularly in weak spots or joints. Eventually, the rock splits.

Detailed explanation-2: -Plants and animals can be agents of mechanical weathering. The seed of a tree may sprout in soil that has collected in a cracked rock. As the roots grow, they widen the cracks, eventually breaking the rock into pieces. Over time, trees can break apart even large rocks.

Detailed explanation-3: -Root Pry: Plants and plant roots also tend to pull rock apart (a form of mechanical weathering). Roots follow nooks and crannies along in the subsurface and, as they get older, expand. Root expansion pulls and pries apart rock.

Detailed explanation-4: -Flowing water can move rocks, causing them to rub together and wear down into rounded shapes. When plants grow in cracks in a rock, their roots can widen the cracks and force the rock apart. Rainwater fills small cracks in a rock. As the water freezes, it expands, widening the cracks and splitting apart the rock.

Detailed explanation-5: -Roots tend to form nooks and crannies that when get older, expand and result in weathering of rocks. Another way by which plants cause weathering is when they are yanked out of ground by wind or when they fall over after a certain age.