unit two earth/space science
Name one depositional landform produced by wind.
Sand dunes
What is another name for a drainage basin?
Watershed
In what direction does wind blow?
Wind blows from regions of higher pressure to regions of lower pressure.
What produces wind?
a pressure gradient in the air.
what is the section of land that is crisscrossed by steams supplying water to a river called?
a water shed
What percentage of the world's glacial ice is included in the Antarctic Ice Sheet?
about 90%
The major mechanism by which wind produces erosion is _____________.
abrasion
The kinds of tectonic stress that act on Earth's crust, forming faults and folds, include________.
all of the above. (compression, tension & Shear stress )
Agents of change that break Earth's surface down, move material, and create new landforms include
all of the above. (ice, wind and running water)
How can rock respond to stress?
all of these (It can break. It can deform plastically. It can deform elastically. )
An arch-shaped fold is called a(n)
anticline.
Earth Sciences 4 Where is most of Earth`s fresh water found?
as ice at Earth`s surface
Do surface currents affect water temperature, air temperature, or both?
both water and air temperature
Compressive forces cause the crust to
buckle and fold, thereby shortening the crustal surface.
Which landform can develop where groundwater dissolves rock?
cave
Glaciers are like dirty snowballs because they
consist of debris embedded in ice.
An "ice sheet" is also known as a(n)
continental glacier
A passive margin is a _________
continental margin located far from tectonic plate boundaries.
Erosion and deposition
create landforms such as caves, waterfalls and valleys.
Why are sinkholes most common in locations where limestone makes up the bedrock?
create landforms such as caves, waterfalls and valleys.
Summer is experienced in the Northern Hemisphere when____________
earths axis of rotation is tilted away from the sun.
A wave does not transport water molecules toward the shore.
energy
Expensive homes on coastal cliffs are at risk due to
erosion from ocean waves.
What part of the water cycle requires direct input of solar energy?
evaporation
What drives surface currents?
global winds
Wind erodes rock by
grinding airborne sediments against rock and carrying away small fragments.
What is the water that resides in the saturation zone called?
groundwater
A cntinental glacier is also called a(n)_______.
ice sheet
Is San Francisco in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere?
in the nortnern hemisphere
Where are most of the volcanoes on Earth located?
in the ring of fire
The sea is salty because
it contains salts from Earth's crust that have been dumped into the ocean and dissolved.
Water flows into the cracks in a boulder and freezes. The water expands and pushes the rock apart. What surface process is this?
mechanical weathering
Earth Sciences13 The Earth`s crust is thicker beneath a mountain because
mountains sink until the upward buoyant force balances the downward gravitational force
A fault in which the footwall has moved down relative to the hanging wall is called a
normal fault
plains and plateaus are both flat. name one way in which plains look different from plateaus.
plateaus are elevated, while plains are at or near sea level.
Glaciers reshape Earth's surface because they
pluck rocks out of the ground, carry them away, and deposit them.
Most of Earth's freshwater is located in
polar ice caps and glaciers.
Evaporation of seawater produces clouds that precipitate freshwater because
salts are left behind when water evaporates.
Where are all the pore spaces in rocks and sediments filled with water?
saturation zone
Why is the solution to pollution not always dilution?
some pollutants are toxic at such low concentrations that they cannot be practically diluted.
What geological process created the Grand Canyon?
stream erosion
Mountain ranges that are made up of many folded mountains are usually produced by
tectonic compression
When you stteth a rubber band you are applying
tensional stress
Earth Sciences 3 Which ocean is Earth's larges?
the Pacific Ocean
What process produces most caves?
the dissolving action of groundwater on rock, especially on limestone
What is the main factor that produces surface currents and determines their direction?
the global winds.
Some of the reservoirs in the hydrologic cycle include
the ocean
What is the atmospheric layer in which weather occurs?
the troposphere
The climate zone with the warmest average global temperatures is the ______________.
tropical zone
The ocean floor topography is
varied
Anticlines and synclines are like
wrinkles in a rug when you push the end of the rug toward one another
How does the ocean change with increasing depth?
It gets darker and colder, pressure increases and it contains fewer organisms.
What happens to rock when it is weathered mechanically?
It is broken into smaller pieces by physical means such as ice wedging.
Describe the overall topography of the ocean floor.
It is varied, featuring expansive flat areas (abyssal plains) but also towering seamounts and trenches.
As a stream slows down, which sediments are deposited first − large ones or small ones?
Large sediments
Earth sciences16 what percentage of the Earth is covered with ocean?
71%
What percentage of Earth is covered with ocean?
71%
which of the following sources of water pollution are "point sources"?
A factory discharging heat into a steam.
What are the characteristics of a fall?
A fall is free-fall motion in which the moving material is not always in contact with the ground.
What are the characteristics of a flow?
A flow is the chaotic movement of unconsolidated material that mixes together as it moves, like a fluid.
What is Earth's atmosphere?
A mixture of tiny solid particles, gases, and liquid droplets.
What are the characteristics of a slide?
A slide is the downhill motion of a cohesive mass of material along a clearly defined surface or plane.
What happens to rainwater when it falls to Earth?
About 50% of it evaporates and 50% soaks into the ground.
What's the most common cause of mass wasting events?
Absorption of rainwater
Why does air travel in cycles, three in each hemisphere, producing the global winds?
Air heats up and rises, moves laterally, then sinks when it cools, forming convection cycles.
Factors that have shaped Earths land surface include____.
All of the above (The actions of plate tectonics. The actions of wind, water, gravity, and ice. The actions of people.)
The size of a stream channel depends on the
All of the above (stream velocity, gradient of the stream, stream channel's load.)
What produced the big scratch-like gouges or "striations" in rock formations found in Central Park, New York, NY?
An ancient glacier.
Where is the world's largest glacier located?
Antarctica
How are atmospheric pressure and air density related?
Atmospheric pressure and air density depend on one another so they rise and fall in sync.
Why does acidified rain water produce so many of Earth's caves?
Caves are often voids in subsurface limestone that are produced by the dissolving action of ground water.
How do clouds for?
Clouds form by the condensation of water vapor.
Folded mountains are produced by _______
Compression
What kind of mass movement occurs so slowly that you don't see it happening?
Creep
What clouds extend from low altitudes to very high levels of the troposphere?
Cumulus clounds.
Besides waves, what is an agent of change along the seashore?
Currents
What is the name of the geologic process that involves dumping sediment at a new location?
Deposition
Name an environment where wind shapes the landscape to a significant degree.
Desert
What is the principal index of a stream's erosive power?
Discharge.
Earth Sciences 6 What would happen to the oceans if surface runoff and groundwater flow did NOT occur?
The oceans would become smaller
How does the size of a stream's drainage basin relate to the size of the stream?
The size of a stream depends on the size of its drainage basin.
What is the name of the geologic process that involves lifting and transporting sediment?
Erosion
Along a reverse fault, the _____ wall moves downward relative to the _____ wall.
Foot, Hanging
Which agent of change can act on its own to produce landslides, creep, and falls?
Gravity
How do hailstones form?
Hailstones form when precipitation freezes high in the sky.
What percentage of Earth's water is freshwater?
3%
What is the difference between a plain and a plateau?
Plateaus are elevated more than 600 m above sea level while plains are not desribed by elevation.
Why has the salinity of the ocean remained approximately constant over billions of years?
Salts are deposited by decaying organisms, sediment disposition, and other factors. But this occurs about as fast as salts are removed by precipitation and other mechanisms.
How would you characterize the size of the sediments that slowly moving water can carry?
Small
What are surface processes (also called surficial processes)?
Surface processes are forces that affect Earth's surface and originate at or near Earth's surface.
Where are most of the volcanoes on Earth located?
The Ring of Fire encircles much of the Pacific Ocean.
How did the trade winds help traders in colonial America?
The Trade Winds blew European trading ships westward toward the Southeastern U.S American colonies and eastward from the Northeastern States colonies toward Europe.
What is a cold front?
The contact zone between a cold mass and a warm air mass where the cold air mass is moving into a warm air mass and pushing it upward.
What happens to the water vapor in the air when the air becomes saturated and its dew point is reached?
The water vapor condenses
What do sinkholes and caverns have in common?
They are both created by groundwater dissolving rock underground.
How do water molecules move within an ocean wave in the open sea?
They move in circular orbits under the wave.
Why is topsoil important to people?
Topsoil contains the constituents that plants need in order to grow.
The water table is
Uneven and generally follows surface contours.