Geography Exam #2
Which zoogeographic covers most of Asia?
Palearctic
The longest of all visible light waves are ________.
Red
Most of the radiation hitting the Earth from the Sun falls within the ________ part of the spectrum.
Shortwave
The site of the world's record lowest average annual precipitation is on the continent of ________.
South America
________ is the arrangement in which two dissimilar organisms live together
Symbiosis
A small island on the Equator would most likely be classified ________.
Af
The tropical monsoon climate bears a letter classification of ________.
Am
This sea has shrunk to one-third its former size because of human interference.
Aral
On which continent is the intertropical convergence furthest from the equator in the summer season?
Asia
The presence of the cold Humboldt current and the Andes Mountains help to create the coastal ________ Desert
Atacama
The midlatitude steppe fits into the Köppen classification as ________.
BSk
The climatic type for the desert areas is ________.
BW
The area most closely associated with D climates is ________.
Canada
The text makes frequent use of ________, which are charts showing average monthly temperatures and precipitation amounts.
climographs
In the atmosphere, liquid water collects around minute particles called ________.
condensation nuclei
All of Earth's frozen water is called the ________.
cryosphere
Clouds of vertical development include the type called ________.
cumulonimbus
Which type of cloud is the associated with a thunderstorm?
cumulonimbus
Planetwide, a balance of chemicals is maintained by ________.
cycles
A counterclockwise atmospheric circulation in the Northern Hemisphere is known as a(n) ________.
cyclone
With respect to absorption of solar radiation, it is understood that ________ are the most efficient absorbers.
dark colors
the pressure of a gas is proportional to its temperature and ________.
density
Xerophytes are plants of the ________ region
desert
White frost is simply a cold weather form of ________.
dew
Concerning the biosphere, the geographic viewpoint is most often concerned with ________.
distributions and relationships
In the tropical deciduous forest, trees shed their leaves because of a short but pronounced ________.
dry season
The transfer of moisture from land to air is termed ________.
evapotranspiration
The correct designation for a hurricane is as a(n) ________.
tropical cyclone
Water that is not found in oceans accounts for ________ percent of the world's total water
2.8
For many centuries before the present one, scholars believed that the world had ________ climatic zones.
5
Surface water occupies somewhat more than ________ percent of our planet
70
An aquitard is a ___________
A low-permeability unit, such as a layer of shale, that can restrict flow.
Of the regions of the United States, which has the highest incidence of tornadoes?
Central States
Among cloud types, those that occur at the highest altitudes are the ________.
Cirrus
On a weather map, a symbol consisting of triangles arranged along one side of a line indicates a(n) ________ front
Cold
On the average, ________ fronts move the fastest of all fronts
Cold
A Cfa climate exists on the southeastern coast of the United States. Which climate type exists on the southwestern coast of the United States?
Csa
Of the main Köppen climate zones, ________ is the only one that does not occur in the Southern Hemisphere
D
"Biomagnification" refers to the evolutionary process of animals becoming larger through time.
False
"Exotic" species are those that live in trees.
False
Animals subsisting on smaller animals are called primary consumers.
False
The Ogallala aquifer is a massive aquifer beneath California.
False
The Tropics are characterized by a wide variations between temperatures of seasons.
False
visible light makes up most parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.
False
The energy emitted from the Sun is a product of ________.
Fusion
________ is NOT one of the world's biomes
Ice field
Solar energy is also known as ________.
Insolation
Which of the following concerning the Ogallala is FALSE?
It is the largest water supply in Mexico.
Although several factors are involved, the main factor controlling the distribution of annual average temperature for Earth as a whole is ________.
Latitude
The present binomial system of biological classification was devised by ________.
Linnaeus
Most of North America, including the U.S.A. and Canada, lies within the ________ zoogeographic realm
Nearctic
The South American continent falls within the zoogeographic ________ region
Neotropical
The zoogeographic region dominated by flightless birds is the ________.
New Zealand
Which front is shown on weather maps as a line with alternating semicircles and triangles on the same side of the line?
Occluded
The only major country still using the Fahrenheit scale for temperature determination is ________
The USA
Most of the wettest areas around the world are located in the ________.
Tropics
Conduction comes about through molecular collision.
True
It can be said that most of the species of Earth history have become extinct
True
Sea level is currently rising because of global warming
True
Seawater surface temperatures generally decrease with increasing latitude.
True
Significant areas of rainforest are present in North America.
True
The absence of light is an absolute limitation on terrestrial vegetation.
True
The general circulation of the oceans is a major mechanism for the transfer of energy from the Tropics to the Poles.
True
________ is (are) one of the features distinguishing mammals from all other animal groups
True hair
In most classification schemes, which principal indicator is used to delineate five zones and their subtypes?
Vegetation types
Which type of front causes many hours of steady rain BEFORE that front passes a location?
Warm
Presently, the most widely used classification system was derived by ________.
Wladimir Köppen
________ is a floristic association usually found in slightly drier climates than the forest floristic association
Woodlands
The Kelvin scale is based on ________.
absolute zero
_______ processes cause cooling by decompression.
adiabatic
The Linnaean classification system is based mainly on ________.
anatomical similarities
The hardwood broadleaf deciduous trees around the world are ________.
angiosperms
These plants perish during times of climatic stress
annuals
Sinking air that diverges when it reaches Earth's surface is closely associated with ________.
anticyclones
Rock through which groundwater cannot runor flow is a(n)________________
aquiclude
A ________ is separated from Earth's surface by rocks with low permeability.
aquitard
Gas molecules in the lower atmosphere ________.
are readily compressed and heated
Trade winds are found ________.
at 10° north and south of the Equator
At which locations are solar energy most concentrated?
at places where the angle of incidence is 90
The geographic study of living organisms is ________.
biogeography
Over the last century and a half, the main source of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide has been ________.
burning of fossil fuels
Of the list below, the coldest air is bound to be associated with a(n) ________ air mass
cP
The desert would be the obvious zone of origin of a(n) ________ air mass
cT
Which of the following types is a succulent?
cactus
The end product(s) of photosynthesis is (are) ________.
carbohydrates
Which components are necessary for photosynthesis to occur?
carbon dioxide, light, and water
The part of the hurricane characterized by scattered high clouds and light winds is known as the ________.
eye
The lowercase letter symbolizing "moist, with no dry season" in the Köppen classification system is ________.
f
The damage done in New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina was mainly a result of ________.
flooding from the failure of levees
"Work" is scientifically defined as ________.
force acting over area
Which of the following happens LAST before tornado drops to the ground?
formation of a mesocyclone
The three climate zones of the classical Greeks were "torrid," "temperate," and "________."
frigid
Above the influence of friction, most winds follow a(n) ________
geostrophic
As a middle latitude cyclone goes through its life cycle, the warm sector ________.
gets smaller
Of the Earth's liquid water inventory, most of the fresh water is stored in the form of ________.
glacial ice
Which of the following storage locations contains the most water?
glaciers
Which of the following plant types is herbaceous?
grasses
The term artesian means that...
groundwater is in a confined aquifer and is under enough pressure that the water rises within the well
Ungulates are ________.
hoofed animals
Advection is a(n) ________ wind movement.
horizontal
Global dimming is caused by ________.
human release of aerosols
Oxygen isotope analysis is used when studying ________ and climate change
ice cores
The Bergeron process is also known as the ________ process
ice crystal formation
The capacity of air to hold water ________.
increases as temperature increases
Any buoyant parcel of air is said to exhibit
instability
Evaporation ________.
is a cooling process
The process of evaporation of water to gas releases stored energy called ________
latent heat
The altitude at which rising air reaches the dew point temperature is the ________.
lifting condensation level
The main energy source for the biosphere is ________.
light from the Sun
Most water on Earth is in ________ form
liquid
The main reason for the occurrence of subtropical deserts around the world is ________.
locations of anticyclones
Earth's reradiation to space consists mainly of ________.
long rays
At Earth's surface, warm temperatures are associated with ________.
low pressure
When air is heated it expands and ________.
lowers its pressure
Considering all major biogeochemical cycles, the human input is ________.
making major alternations in most cycles
The current rise in global sea level can be attributed to ________.
melting of glaciers
The basic unit of pressure mapped on weather maps is ________.
millibars
Animals are not as accurate environmental indicators as are plants, mainly because of their ________.
mobility
Liquid converts to gas when ________.
molecules break loose from the liquid
Which of the following is closely associated with acid rain?
motor vehicle exhaust
Wind speed from the north pole is from ________to_______.
northeast to southwest
Which of the following can be said to be the "death" of a midlatitude cyclone?
occlusion
Plants which survive seasonal climatic fluctuations from year to year are ________.
perennials
The rate of groundwater flow is strongly controlled by the ______of the rock type
permeability
Flowing air responding to the difference between higher and lower pressure is responding to the ________.
pressure gradient
Which of the following is the force that initially causes the wind to blow?
pressure gradient
Albedo is the percentage of energy ________ from an object compared to the original amount of energy that struck the object.
reflected
Birds are believed to have evolved from ________.
reptiles
Vegetation growing alongside streams is termed ________.
riparian
If air's capacity for holding water vapor is diminished, then the relative humidity will ________.
rise
Air containing all of the water vapor it can hold is ________.
saturated
Relative humidity is "relative" to ________.
saturation
The reddish tint of the Sun in the late afternoon results from ________.
scattering
An alternate term for tropical rainforest biomes is ________.
selva
Deserts are arid; steppes are ________.
semiarid
Which of the following does NOT belong with the others?
shrubland
The classic example of the effects of the environment on a species is shown by the ________ on a fox
size of ears
Ninety-five percent of all reptiles are ________.
snakes and lizards
Air that resists vertical movement is said to be ________.
stable
When neither air mass displaces the adjacent one, their boundary is called a(n) ________ front.
stationary
The "horse latitudes" are zones of minimal winds which are associated with the ________ system
subtropical high pressure
The BWh climate is "caused" by the ________.
subtropical highs
The Köppen system of climate classification is based on ________.
temperature and precipitation
By far, the zoogeographic region with the most distinct flora and fauna is ________.
the Australian region
Which of the following facilitated the interchange of animals between the Nearctic and Paleartic regions?
the Bering Land Bridge
________ is the critical temperature at which saturation is reached
the dew point
The rising and subsequent cooling of air at the rate of 10°C per 1,000 meters is called ________.
the dry adiabatic lapse rate
The region in which the intertropical convergence can be found is ________.
the equator
The movement (track along the ground) of middle latitude cyclones is determined by ________.
the jet stream
If there were no continents and the Earth did not rotate, the surface wind patterns would be simple: Surface winds would blow from ________.
the north in the northern hemisphere
Rising air, warmed by the release of latent heat, cools at a rate called ________.
the saturated adiabatic lapse rate
After the rainforest is cleared for agriculture, the most typical occurrence is that ________.
the soils soon lose their fertility
A "dynamic low" is produced by ________.
the strong rise of air
The reason winds exist is ________.
the unequal heating of the Earth system
Overall, the Southern Hemisphere has a milder winter than the Northern Hemisphere because ________.
there is more water in the Southern Hemisphere
The ________ is the boundary between near-surface and cold, deep ocean waters
thermocline
The transfer of moisture from plant leaves to atmosphere is ________.
transpiration
Most of the "big game" mammals in Africa are naturally adapted to the biome ________.
tropical savanna
A(n) ________ is a linear zone of lower pressure between two areas of high pressure.
trough
A slope struck by a low Sun angle has relatively low evaporation and thus supports a relatively luxuriant vegetation growth and is known as a(n) ________ slope
ubac
The hydrologic cycle refers to the ________.
unending circulation of Earth's water supply
The __________is the surface between the unsaturated zone and the saturated zone.
water table
The top of the saturated zone of ground water is called the ________.
water table
The state of water that is the most important yet least obvious in the atmosphere is ________.
water vapor
El Niño is most closely associated with ________.
weakening of a cold current
The timing of an entire life cycle into a few days after a rain and then followed by a long period of dormancy is a characteristic of ________ plants
xerophytic
