How do burning fossil fuels affect the rate of weathering?

Answer 1

In addition to natural factors like rock formation and climate, weathering is also affected by human activities. Some activities, like burning fossil fuel for power, have an indirect affect. The burning of the fuels leads to acid rain, which weathers rocks faster than neutral water. Other activities such as strip mining are more direct. Strip mining removes the vegetation and topsoil, which exposes rocks to rain and oxygen. Oxygen, readily present at the earth's surface, reacts through oxidation with many rocks formed at the earth's core where oxygen is lacking.