Rivers washing soil and nutrients from mountains to plains shows which effect of the water cycle?

Correct answer: Nutrient cycling and erosion

Direct answer: A, nutrient cycling and erosion. Flowing water has mechanical force. As a river moves downhill, it can loosen and carry soil, rock fragments and dissolved minerals; this removal and transport of material is erosion. When the river becomes slower on plains, some transported sediment and nutrients may be deposited. In this way, water movement connects places and helps redistribute materials involved in natural nutrient cycles. B is too narrow: pollution is contamination caused by harmful substances and is not an unavoidable meaning of river transport. C is not the described process; temperature may affect water movement but is not shown here. D is incorrect because water is transported and changes location or state, not destroyed. Memory cue: running water can “erode, carry and deposit.”