What human activities cause weathering?
1 Answer
Any activity that removes or tears up vegetative cover will do it.
Explanation:
Mountain biking, 4X4 trucks, motocross, or dune buggy activities tend to be very hard on the environment as they rip up the surface vegetation and expose it to faster rates of weathering. On sand dunes, these kinds of vehicles they can also destabilize the dune and cause it to start migrating over agricultural lands.
Millions of tourists walking at popular spots can also create bare rock exposures that make it susceptible to enhanced weathering. Although, this will be a fairly local impact. For example, when I was in Mexico City some years ago I went on a tour of the Teotithuacan temple and millions (well, maybe a few hundred) of tourists were scrambling all over the temple - probably keeps the rock clear of lichens and other plants, and hence, more making the temple more susceptible to weathering.
