Geology final

Karst topography is formed primarily by

Dissolution of limestone

Of the world's largest rivers, which has the greatest discharge?

Amazon river

Particles of sand, gravels, and shells that move along the shore form the

Beach drift

Natural levees are created during

Floods

The average size of particles in a natural levee is _____ the particles found in the surrounding floodplain.

Larger than

Bedload

Largest particles transported by a steam

Relative to dine movement and form, a dune's slip face forms on which side?

Leeward side

A sea stack is the erosional remnant of a

Rocky headland

The littoral zone extends inland to

The highest water line that occurs during a storm

What is true of glacial movement?

The internal flow just below the surface is typically greater than the basal flow

An example of chemical weathering is

The limestone formations of Carlsbad caverns in New Mexico

Ablation zone

The opposite of the accumulation zone in a glacier

What is not an example of an erosional coastal landform

Tombolo

The coastal environment is considered to extend seaward

Usually to depths of 60m, where storm waves can no longer move sediments.

As the discharge of a stream increases, which of the following also happens?

Width, depth, and velocity all increase

Barrier spit

Sand that extends from a coast into open water

As a stream's transport capacity decreases, what size of sediment will be deposited last?

Silt

The weathering of limestone can create circular depressions known as

Sinkholes

Fluvial

Stream-related processes

Hydration involves

Swelling and stress within a rock due to the addition of water

Waves in shallow water that "feel bottom" are _____ and more ________ spaced than the swell they are related to

Taller;closely

Weathering

The disintegration and dissolving of surface and and subsurface rock

Horizon

The general name for any distinct layer in a soil profile

Alluvium

The general term for clay, silt, and sand deposited by running water

An equilibrium line

The zone where positive gains end and losses begin in the glacial mass balance

Medial moraine

Type of moraine that is oriented parallel to the direction of ice flow

The rate at which rocks weather depends upon

Vegetation cover, the type of rock, and the climate of an area

Wave refraction is caused by the

Velocity difference of wave crests that is approaching towards the coast and topographic variation of the ocean floor proximate to the coast

What is not an example of a depositional coastal landform?

Wave-cut platform

Physical weatherinf

When rock is broken and disintegrated without dissolving

Parabolic dune

A crescent shaped dune with anchoring vegetation

When a river reaches the base level, it's forward velocity rapidly decelerates as it enters a larger body of standing water and thus _____ is formed

A delta

Soil creep

A natural process sometimes related to a freeze-thaw cycle of soil moisture

Piedmont glacier

A valley glacier that extends beyond the confines of its valley and coalesces with other valley glaciers at the base of a mountain range

A firn line

A visible snow line across the surface of a glacier

Which channel pattern is likely to develop when deposition greatly exceeds erosion?

Braided channels

The process by which ______ is called ______

Breaking waves eventually enters into the beach; swash

An atoll is approximately ______ in shape because it forms _____

Circular; around submerged volcanic islands

What erosional landforms created by alpine glaciers?

Cirques and horn

The surface of the moon is covered with loose rock debris and fine particles. Given this, and what you know about the moon, the surface material

Could not be considered a soil because no organic matter is present and no organic processes occur

The height of a tsunami grows as it approaches a coastline primarily because

It's wavelength shortens

Firn

Snow that has a compact granular structure

The A horizon is usually _____ underlying layers because

darker than; it contains humus

Tarn

A lake in a cirque

As a stream approaches the base level, it's ability to erode the stream bed

Decreases

Stream order

Defines the boundary of a watershed

What is true to the snowline

It decreases in elevation with increasing latitude

Barchan dune

Formed when there is limited sand

The process primarily responsible for the formation of barrier spit is

Longshore current

When two valley glaciers join together they tend to form a ______ at the point at which they merge

Medial moraine

If transport capacity of a stream < the amount of available sediment, ____ will occur

Deposition

Tensional force

Forms crevasses

The fact that water expands as much as 9 percent of its volume as it freezes is the basis of

Frost wedging

The suspended load of a stream consists of particles that are

Held aloft in the stream flow

Chemical weathering is greatest under conditions of

Higher mean annual rainfall and temperatures

The r horizon refers to

I weathered sediment or consolidated bedrock

Alpine glaciers do not include

Ice caps

In terms of areal extent what sequence is in order from highest to lowest area covered?

Ice sheet, ice cap, ice field

Ground ice

In an area of permafrost, subsurface water that is frozen

A coastal terrace

Is an uplifted wave-cut platform

Rounded soil aggregates usually have ______ space between them than other structures, and are therefore ______

More; better for plant growth

A translational slide involves

Movement of surface material along a planar surface

What is not formed in an alpine glacier valley?

Outwash plain

Exfoliation occurs because of

Overlying rock is removed, thereby allowing the underlying rock mass to peels or slip off in sheets

The yellow-red stains that occur on some rock surfaces are the result of_______ which is a form of ________ weathering

Oxidation; chemical

Angle of repose

represents an equilibrium between the driving force of gravity and the resisting force