mastering geology 7-9

Groundwater moving beneath the surface below the water table flows is which direction?

Downhill perpendicular to the topographic contour lines

Cross beds are a preserved record of what?

The deposition of sand on the leeward side of a dune.

What is an end moraine?

a ridge of debris deposited at the end of a glacier

arete

form between 2 u shaped glacial valleys

Which of the following are part of the bed load?

gravel, sand

What is mass movement?

movement of material under the influence of gravity alone

What is the cone of depression?

the shape that the water table takes on near a pumping well

How are debris avalanches and flows related?

Debris avalanches are large, rapid flows of rock.

How is a fall different from creep?

Falls occur rapidly and in areas with high slope, whereas creep occurs slowly in areas with low slope.

Which of the following statements is the best explanation for the occurrence of the Great Basin Desert in the western United States?

The Great Basin Desert exists because it is a rain shadow desert.

What would happen to atmospheric water if Earth were mostly covered with land?

The atmosphere would contain less water.

Why do desert dunes migrate?

Wind erodes material on the windward side of the dune and deposits it on the leeward side of the dune.

Erosional/depositional processes that dominate in the Basin and Range province of North America produce alluvial fans, which may evolve into _____.

bajadas

Which of the following are classifications describing how rock and other material move downslope?

fall, slide, slump, creep, flow

When pumping removed groundwater from an aquifer in the Santa Clara Valley

ground subsidence can occur as grains pack more closely together.

Which of the following dune types would you expect to exhibit an arced shape that opens in the upwind direction, but where the slip face occurs on the downwind side of the dune?

parabolic

What property of a piece of material will most directly determine how it is carried by wind?

size

When might a well, Well A, go dry?

when the cone of depression of a second well intersects the deepest part of Well A

Will plucking occur if a glacier is NOT advancing?

Yes, because glacial ice is still moving inside the glacier even if the glacier's front is not advancing.

The Great Basin located in the western United States is what type of desert?

a middle-latitude desert

Fan-shaped cones deposited at the mouth of a canyon in a desert are known as _____________.

alluvial fans

Which of the following would produce a LOWER water table?

an increase in the amount of discharge to surface water and a decrease in the amount of recharge to groundwater

Where is most of Earth's freshwater found?

as ice at Earth's surface

Which way does ice flow in a glacier retreating uphill?

downslope

Depositional landforms that dominate where glaciers melt include __________.

drumlins

Which type of mass movement event requires the addition of water?

flow

What are cross beds?

inclined layers in sediment or sedimentary rocks that reveal the direction of wave or wind transport

Complete this analogy: Sliding is to gravel as dissolution is to_____________.

ions

strike and dip symbol

long line is the longer one the dip is the shorter

The original source of groundwater is

precipitation

How can pieces of rock in contact with a stream bed move?

rolling, sliding, bouncing

How do pieces of rock move under the influence of wind?

rolling, sliding, bouncing, suspension

The term glacial till describes

sediment picked up as the glacier erodes rocks upstream, then dropped by melting ice as an unstratified mass deposit.

Topographic contour lines __________

show elevation above sea level

A topographic profile __________

shows changes in elevation from a side-looking perspective

What feature is responsible for creating eskers?

streams that flowed below, in, or on the glacier

Scale on a topographic map _

tells you the ratio between distance on the map and distance on the ground

Which landform marks the furthest extent of an advancing glacier?

terminal moraine

Which ocean is Earth's largest?

the Pacific Ocean

What is the zone of wastage?

the part of a glacier where snow melting exceeds snow accumulation

What is the water table?

the top of the saturated zone beneath Earth's surface

Which of the following terms best describes long, sinuous bed forms that develop perpendicular to the prevailing wind direction in desert environments?

transverse dunes

When will a cone of depression stop enlarging?

when the amount of water flowing toward the well equals the amount of water being pumped out of the well

Which of the following provides the best explanation for the abundance of desert areas in the low latitudes?

High-pressure systems in these regions prevent the formation of clouds that could carry water.

Features seen within a river valley change as you move along its course from the head towards the mouth of the river. Meanders first appear where?

Midway through its course

Complete this analogy: Bouncing is to sand as suspension is to_____________.

clay

Which of the following deserts is not considered a low-latitude or subtropical desert?

the Patagonian Desert

What is the snowline?

the elevation above which snow persists throughout the year

What is suspended load?

the fine-grained particles that travel in the water column above the stream bed

Which is the best definition of glacial snow line?

the line dividing zones of accumulation and melting of ice at the surface of a glacier

Which two regions currently contain the world's last remaining ice sheets?

Antarctica and Greenland

The cross bedding in a preserved layer of sandstone dips (tilts downward) to the East. What can be inferred about the wind direction at the time of deposition?

From West to East

Under what conditions will the front of a glacier remain stationary?

Glacial fronts remain stationary when melting and snow accumulation are equal.

How does water get from the oceans onto land?

Ocean water evaporates to form gaseous water and moves into the atmosphere, where it condenses into liquid water and falls out of the atmosphere to land as rain.

What would happen to the oceans if surface runoff and groundwater flow did NOT occur?

The oceans would become smaller.

How would a snow line on a glacier move as a glacial front is advancing?

The snow line would move downslope.

What would likely happen to a fence on a hill over time if the fence were built perpendicular to the hill's slope?

The top of the fence would likely bend uphill as creeping rocks moved under the fence and pushed the fence bottom downslope.

How does the water table change around a pumping water well?

The water table elevation decreases

How would the water table be affected if Earth were made up of uniform, permeable material?

The water table would not exist.

Where do glaciers form?

in places where more snow falls in the winter than melts away in the summer

The initial power source for the water cycle is

the Sun

Why does groundwater discharge to Earth's surface?

Earth's surface is irregular, and permeability decreases with depth within Earth.

What are the three types of loads carried by streams?

bed load, suspended load, dissolved load

Deserts in the North America occur where

continental interior locations in the rain shadow of major mountains.

horns

peaks that have been eroded on all sides by glaciers

When was the last time North America had major ice sheets?

18,000 years ago

How much of Earth's surface water exists in the oceans?

Almost all of Earth's surface water exists in the oceans.

__________ are defined as a chain of glacial lakes where each lake flows into the next.

Pater noster lakes Submit

How does an end moraine form?

Pieces of rock are transported to the front of a glacier as ice within the glacier moves.

How are slumps and slides related?

Slumps are a type of slide in the special case where the rupture surface is curved.

How does the use of water by humans affect the water table?

Use of water by humans increases discharge, resulting in lowered water tables.

How would you expect the front of a glacier to move if it undergoes a period of net accumulation, followed by net wastage, and finally a period of net accumulation?

The glacier's front would move forward, backward, and then forward again.

What does the hydrologic cycle describe?

The hydrologic cycle describes how liquid and gaseous water move between the ocean, atmosphere, and land.

What is the best way to describe the shape of a glacial valley?

U-shaped

Glacial erosion carves the V-shaped valley typical of mountainous regions into __________.

U-shaped glacial troughs