The general process or the group of processes whereby the materials of the Earth's crust are loosened, dissolved, or worn away, and simultaneously moved from one place to another, by natural agencies, which include weathering, solution, corrosion, and transportation, but usually exclude mass wasting; specif. the mechanical destruction of the land and the removal of material (such as soil) by running water (including rainfall), waves and currents, moving ice, or wind. (Neuendorf, K.K.E. and others, 2011)
