URSP 204 - Wk9HW
The presence of the Green River has a significant impact on the water table in the area around Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. How does the relationship between the Green River and the water table affect cave passage formation?
As the Green River erodes downward, the water table will lower as the groundwater flows toward the stream, carving new cave passages further from the surface.
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.
In the late twentieth century, Hidden River Cave had suffered from significant pollution and bad odor. Although various chemical pollutants had been dumped or spilled nearby, none had intentionally been disposed of in Hidden River Cave. How did they end up there?
Hidden River Cave and the dump sites are connected via various sinkholes and subterranean passages.
Three types of chemical weathering processes are particularly important for transforming minerals within rocks into weathered products. These are hydrolysis, oxidation, and dissolution.Through hydrolysis reactions, minerals are weathered in the presence of water. Hydrolysis takes place when acid rain reacts with rock-forming minerals such as feldspar to produce soluble minerals that are removed in solution.Through oxidation reactions, iron-rich materials transform in the presence of oxygen in the air. Oxidation is responsible for why an apple may turn brown after your cut it open and place it in an open space.And through dissolution, minerals dissolve in water, making their chemical products ions within water. Example: Halite (NaCl) usually forms where ocean water evaporates. On the otherhand, it undergoes dissolution when placed in water.You will sort each example into its category of chemical weathering process.
Hydrolysis -Feldspar in granite rocks weathering to clayOxidation- red color of rocks in Arches National Park -yellow-stained rocks that use to contain pyrite before it is weatheredDissolution -the salty taste of ocean water -caves formed in limestone
The Mammoth Plateau near Mammoth Cave National Park is higher in elevation than the surrounding landscape and separates the Sinkhole Plain from the Green River. As the Mammoth Plateau is a major topographical barrier, how does precipitation that falls on the Sinkhole Plain make it into the Green River Valley?
Precipitation infiltrates into the subsurface via sinkholes and flows through subterranean passages to the Green River Valley.
How are slumps and slides related?
Slumps are a type of slide in the special case where the rupture surface is curved.
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.
Both freeze-thaw and salt weathering require rain and force rocks apart physically.
What do freeze-thaw and salt weathering have in common?
The formation of minerals in rock cracks during the evaporation of salty water, forcing rock apart.
What is salt weathering?
Water expands when frozen and physically forces the rock apart.
Why does water frozen in the cracks of a rock help to break down the rock?
Which of the following are classifications describing how rock and other material move downslope?
fall, slide, slump, creep, flow
Which type of mass movement event requires the addition of water?
flow
What is mass movement?
movement of material under the influence of gravity alone
Which of the following can control groundwater's ability to flow?
pores/fractures in the rock; change of water table elevation
Where is the majority of liquid freshwater found?
rocks and sediments
