Practice explaining how rain, rivers, waves, and floods can change the shape of land through erosion and deposition.
Read each problem carefully. Write your answer in complete sentences when you can. Use the hints and pictures to help you think like a scientist.
Learning how moving water carries and drops earth materials
Science - Grade 2-3
- 1
A rainstorm washes loose soil from the top of a hill down to the bottom. Is this an example of erosion or deposition? Explain your answer.
- 2
A river slows down and drops sand along its bank. Is this erosion or deposition? Explain your answer.
- 3
Fill in the blank: Erosion is when water, wind, or ice picks up and moves soil, sand, or rocks. Deposition is when those materials are ______ in a new place.
- 4
After a big rain, you see a tiny path in the dirt where water flowed. What caused the tiny path to form?
- 5
Look at a beach after waves come in and out. The waves move sand from one spot and leave it in another spot. Name one way waves can change the beach.
- 6
A child builds a sandcastle near the water. Later, waves break part of the sandcastle and carry sand away. What process is happening to the sandcastle?
- 7
Which would probably cause more erosion on a bare dirt hill: a light sprinkle or heavy rain? Explain why.
- 8
A stream carries small rocks, sand, and leaves after a storm. Then the stream becomes slower and leaves a pile of sand near a bend. What happened when the stream slowed down?
- 9
Circle the place where deposition is most likely to happen: fast water rushing down a steep hill or slow water spreading out on flat land. Explain your choice.
- 10
A student says, "Water can only change land during floods." Is the student correct? Explain your answer.
- 11
Put these events in order from 1 to 3: water flows down a hill, water picks up loose soil, soil is dropped at the bottom of the hill.
- 12
Plants have roots that hold soil in place. How might grass help stop erosion on a hill?
- 13
Write one sentence using the word erosion and one sentence using the word deposition.