Science: How Water Changes Land Erosion and Deposition for Young Learners
Learning how moving water carries and drops earth materials
Science: How Water Changes Land Erosion and Deposition for Young Learners
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.
Erosion happens when earth materials are picked up and moved.
This is an example of erosion because water is moving soil from one place to another. - 2
A river slows down and drops sand along its bank. Is this erosion or deposition? Explain your answer.
This is deposition because the river is dropping sand in a new place. - 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.
Think about what happens when moving water slows down.
Deposition is when those materials are dropped or left 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?
The tiny path formed because moving water carried away some of the dirt. - 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.
Waves are moving water, and moving water can carry sand.
Waves can change the beach by moving sand away from one place and dropping it in another place. - 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?
Erosion is happening because the waves are carrying sand away from the sandcastle. - 7
Which would probably cause more erosion on a bare dirt hill: a light sprinkle or heavy rain? Explain why.
Stronger moving water can move more material.
Heavy rain would probably cause more erosion because fast, strong water can carry more soil away. - 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?
When the stream slowed down, deposition happened because the water dropped some of the sand it was carrying. - 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.
Materials often drop when water loses speed.
Deposition is most likely to happen in slow water spreading out on flat land because slow water drops materials more easily. - 10
A student says, "Water can only change land during floods." Is the student correct? Explain your answer.
The student is not correct because rain, rivers, streams, and waves can change land even when there is no flood. - 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.
First the water moves, then it carries material, and later it drops material.
The correct order is 1: water flows down a hill, 2: water picks up loose soil, and 3: 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?
Roots act like tiny anchors in the soil.
Grass can help stop erosion because its roots hold the soil in place so water does not wash away as much soil. - 13
Write one sentence using the word erosion and one sentence using the word deposition.
A correct answer should say that erosion moves earth materials and deposition drops earth materials in a new place. For example, erosion carries sand away, and deposition leaves sand near a river.