Chapter 15 Quiz: Mass Wasting

24 July 2022
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question
All of the following are factors affecting mass wasting except for ________.
answer
geologic age
question
Which one of the following materials has the maximum, sustainable, slope angle, as determined by the angle of repose?
answer
dry sand
question
Which mass wasting process has the slowest rate of movement?
answer
creep
question
Consider a weathered rock or soil particle lying on a slope. How will the gravitational force pulling the particle downward along the land surface vary with the inclination of the slope?
answer
it will decrease as the slope angle is lessened
question
Which of the following was a major factor leading to the Gros Ventre, WY slide?
answer
soils and shallow bedrock were very wet and locally saturated
question
How do the strength and cohesion of clay-rich regolith or soil change with the addition of water?
answer
water lowers the strength and cohesion
question
The most rapid type of mass movement is a ________.
answer
rock avalanche
question
________ denotes the exposed, crescent-shaped rupture surface at the head of a slump.
answer
Scarp
question
Of the following, which one would most likely be triggered by an earthquake?
answer
rock avalanche
question
As an erosional process, how is mass wasting unique from wind, water, and ice?
answer
Mass wasting does not require a transporting medium.
question
Which statement best describes slumping, a mass wasting process?
answer
A block or blocks of unconsolidated regolith slide downhill along a curved slip surface.
question
Which one of the following operates primarily in areas of permafrost?
answer
solifluction
question
________ involves movement on a zone of compressed air.
answer
A rock avalanche
question
Consider a steep highway cut made by removing slightly weathered to fresh, fractured, granite bedrock. Which of the following situations is most stable against rockslides?
answer
one set of widely spaced, sub-horizontal fractures
question
What caused the mudflows (1985) on the Nevado del Ruiz volcano?
answer
Hot ash fell onto snow near the summit.
question
Why was the Alaskan pipeline built above ground and insulated?
answer
to protect the pipeline against damage due to thawing ground and to keep the crude oil hot and fluid
question
How do freezing, thawing, wetting, and drying contribute to soil creep?
answer
The soil expands and contracts, lifting particles and dropping them a slight distance downslope.
question
A geologist wants to locate a horizontal coal bed on a soil-covered slope where soil creep is active. A distinctive sandstone bed underlies the coal bed. On the basis of weathered sandstone fragments in the soil, where is the coal bed?
answer
just above the highest piece of sandstone seen in the soil
question
Which of the following mass movements is most likely to occur in a geologic setting where the rock strata are inclined?
answer
rockslide
question
During wet weather or times when snow is melting, sometimes the downhill toe of a slump ________.
answer
becomes an earthflow
question
All of the following are possible indicators that creep is occurring except for ________.
answer
an extremely thick soil profile
question
Which of the following statements concerning mudflows is not true?
answer
Mudflows deposit talus slopes.
question
Which disaster was triggered by a huge mass of soil and rock that suddenly slid into a water-filled reservoir?
answer
Vaiont Canyon, Italy, 1963