Chapter 8-13

Which of the following is true regarding freshwater on Earth?

Most of it is frozen in glaciers and ice caps

Orogenesis refers to

a general term for a mountain-building episode that thickens continental crust.

A yazoo tributary stream cannot join with the main river in an area because

a natural levee on the main river prevents joining

The aesthenosphere can best be described as

a plastic

Folded layers of rock can form a wavelike pattern of troughs and crests. The layers near the trough (i.e. downward fold) form

a syncline

A(n)________ is a homogenous volume of air defined based on its temperature, and moisture characteristics.

air mass

The degradation of a landscape by weathering, erosion, and transportation will ultimately reduce the landscape down to

base level

The sediment load consisting of coarse material too large to remain in suspension, moving along the channel bottom via traction and saltation is the

bed load

Excess sediment may result in which of the following channel patterns?

braided stream

Which of the following types of water is accessible to plants?

capillary

Air rising as a result of being stimulated by local surface heating is an example of ________ lifting.

convectional

Air flowing from different directions to an area of low pressure, coming together, and being displaced upward is an example of ________ lifting.

convergent

Which of the following is not a main component of the hydrologic cycle?

cryosphere

After a cold front passes, the temperature ________ and the pressure ________ (relative to the conditions that existed prior to the passage of the front).

decreses; increases

The sediment load that travels in solution is

dissolved load

The water in wetlands is

either freshwater or saltwater

A climate classification based on statistics or other data determined by measurements of observed effects is a(n)

empirical classification.

The uplift of mountains is caused by

endogenic processes

Mediterranean dry-summer climates

experience dry conditions in summer due to the subtropical high overhead.

Which of the following is not considered an important carbon sink?

farmlands

Processes that are related expressly to streams and rivers are termed

fluvial

The term "orographic" refers to

forced uplift due to the presence of a physical barrier.

The science that specifically studies the origin, evolution, form, and spatial distribution of landforms is

geomorphology

Since the Industrial Revolution

global temperatures have continued to warm at accelerating rates.

The density of material below the Moho is ________ that above it.

greater than

An active volcano is defined as one that

has erupted at least once within recorded history.

The suspended load of a stream consists of particles that are

held aloft in the stream flow

The science of water and its global circulation, distribution, and properties is known as

hydrology

Soil moisture tightly bound to each soil particle and unavailable for plant use is termed ________ water.

hygroscopic

The majority of Earth's crust is composed of ________ rock.

igneous

A batholith forms from

intrusive igneous rock

The principles of buoyancy and balance, when applied to Earth's crust, helps us to explain fluctuations in Earth's outer crust, a property known as

isostasy

Which of the following is incorrect regarding Earth's inner core?

it is the source of Earth's magnetic field

Extensive landscapes formed by the dissolution of limestone and other carbonate rock and characterized by pitted, bumpy surface topography, poor surface drainage, and well developed solutions channels are known as

karst topograph

Molten rock that pours forth on Earth's surface is called

lava.

The majority of the Earth's volume is within the

mantle

Earth's oceans possess

ninety-seven percent of Earth's waters

People often say that California is going to "fall into the ocean,". This idea is totally wrong because the San Andreas fault would have to be a ________ fault associated with ________ forces for this to happen.

normal; tension

Air rising forcibly lifted upslope when it meets a topographic barrier such as a mountain is an example of ________ lifting.orographic

orographic

A(n) ________ is a meander that becomes isolated from the rest of the river

oxbow lake

Rust, formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the presence of water, is an example of

oxidation

The three most abundant elements in Earth's crust are

oxygen, silicon, and aluminum

When rock is broken down and disintegrated without any chemical alterations, the process in operation is

physical weathering

Actual evapotranspiration (ACTET) is determined by

potential evapotranspiration - deficit

Which of the following is the fuel for continental drift and plate tectonics?

radioactive decay

The dry leeward side of a mountain is often termed a (n)

rain shadow

Seasonal fluctuations in CO2 emissions reflect

seasonal changes in vegetation cover in the higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.

A gently sloping mountain landform built from effusive eruption is known as a

shield volcano.

A slow persistent mass movement of surface soil is called

soil creep

Intercepted water that drains across plant leaves and down their stems to the ground is known as

stem flow

The sediment load consisting of fine-grained clastic particles held aloft in the stream is the

suspended load

Which of the following is not exogenic in nature?

tectonic uplift

The two principle climate components are

temperature and precipitation.

The tropical savanna climate has

the ITCZ in summer and the subtropical high in winter.

The concept of "orders of relief" refers to

the classification of landscapes based on scale

A genetic classification system can be based on, among other factors,

the interaction of air masses.

Climate is

the long-term atmospheric condition including extremes that may occur.

An earthquake is best described as

the sharp release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves.

Weather is

the short-term condition of the atmosphere.

Fault types are defined by

the tilt and orientation of the fault plane.

Plants are important to the development of karst primarily because

they supply organic acids that enhance the dissolution process

The general term for the undulations and other variations in the shape of the Earth's surface is called

topography.

Other than the rock itself, the most important chemical substance needed for the majority of weathering processes is

water

The subsurface are in which all pore spaces are completely fill with water is known as

zone of saturation

Which of the following pressure systems reside within the source region for mP air masses?

Aleutian low and Icelandic low

An estimated ________ percent of the Earth's precipitation occurs over oceans.

78

Which of the following is false regarding air masses?

Air masses tend to maintain their original characteristics as they migrate from their source regions.

In which of the following ways is the study of tree rings, speleothems, and corals for understanding past climatic conditions similar?

Each have growth bands, yielding evidence of the conditions under which they formed and grew.

The fact that Earth's interior is sorted into layers indicates that

Earth was once in a molten state, during which materials became sorted based on density.