Geology Test 3

Which of the following must result in a lower base level for rivers and streams?

Which one of the following best describes how urbanization affects small-stream watersheds?

Which of the following is the correct definition of stream gradient?

Many large rivers in the Colorado Plateau region meander in deep, narrow canyons and have no floodplains. How could this have happened?

What type of drainage pattern generally develops in areas underlain by tilted or folded strata, where tributary streams flow along outcrop areas of soft strata?

What term describes the particle transport mode that is intermediate between suspension and rolling along the bottom of streams? This process also moves sand grains in a sand dune.

What term generally refers to the highest percentage of the annual sediment load moved by a stream?

At the head of a delta, the major channel splits into smaller channels that follow different paths to the sea. What is the name applied to these smaller channels?

What are the primary sizes of grains that make up the suspended loads of most rivers and streams?

Which of the following is not part of the hydrologic cycle?

How does urbanization (paving, etc.) affect runoff and infiltration in a small, previously forested drainage basin?

A stream begins at an elevation of 200 meters and flows a distance of 400 kilometers to the ocean. What is the average gradient?

Which one of the following statements is correct?

What term describes the movement of water through Earth's hydrosphere?

Which one of the following rivers has the largest water discharge of any in the world?

Which of the following pairs of words are components of the hydrologic cycle that release water vapor directly into the atmosphere?

Where is erosion concentrated along a meandering stream?

What term describes the total sediment load transported by a stream?

Which of the following features characterize wide streams and valleys?

What fills an abandoned cutoff or meander loop?

A dam and a reservoir are constructed on a graded river. What will happen?

What type of stream pattern develops only on growing mountains like volcanoes or where the land surface is tectonically doming upward?

What is the term for the drop in water surface elevation divided by the distance the water flows?

Which of the following was the cause of the extraordinarily severe flooding on the Mississippi River and its tributaries in 1993?

The ________ describes the movement of water through Earth's hydrosphere.

The majority of freshwater on Earth is located where?

A drainage pattern that resembles the branching pattern of a deciduous tree is called ________.

________ comprise the suspended loads of most rivers and streams.

________ describes the total sediment load transported by a stream.

Smooth, rounded cobbles and pebbles are found in streams a result of ________.

________ refers to sediments deposited from streams.

The water table is ________.

________ controls the ease (or difficulty) of groundwater transmission through a porous material.

________ is the volume of voids or open space in a rock or unconsolidated material.

Lowering of the water table around a pumping well results in a ________.

A hydrothermal vent that periodically or occasionally erupts a column of steam and hot water is called a ________.

What is an unconfined water table?

Which of the following statements defines the aerated, or vadose, zone?

What reservoir(s) contain(s) the next-highest percentage of Earth's freshwater after ice sheets and glaciers?

Which of the following describes a disappearing (sinking) creek?

What characteristic of rocks and/or soil controls the ease (or difficulty) of groundwater transmission?

Which of the following defines an aquifer?

What is the name of an icicle-like speleothem that grows down from the roof of a cavern?

The hot spring deposits at Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park, are travertine. What rock probably lies somewhere beneath the hot springs?

Where are the most extensive geothermal features in the world located?

Which of the following describes an artesian well?

Which of the following statements concerning unconfined aquifers on barrier islands and atolls is correct?

Name two characteristics found in all aquifers.

What can be a result of excessive groundwater withdrawal?

Which of the following materials would have the best capability to naturally remove sewage pollutants?

Which of the following best describes how geysers erupt?

What force pushes groundwater from pore to pore below the water table?

What is the relationship between drawdown and the cone of depression associated with a pumping well?

What term describes the volume of voids or open spaces in a rock or unconsolidated material?

Which of the following describes the configuration of an unconfined water table around a pumping well?

Which one of the following is not a speleothem?

Which of the following are specific features of karst topography?

When will a perched water table develop?

Which of the following describes the water table?

Which common rock-forming mineral or mineral group is most readily dissolved by groundwater?

How would hazardous substances such as gasoline, kerosene, ethyl alcohol, pesticides, and acids that accidentally entered a groundwater system behave?

Rainshadow deserts are common in ________.

Which of the following best describes the climatic factors that cause low latitude deserts like the Sahara in Africa?

A ________ is a semiarid, transitional region.

________ does the most erosional work in deserts.

________ refers to the "bouncing" mode of sand transport in a windstorm or stream.

How is desert pavement formed?

________ dunes form where wind directions are variable.

An intermittent lake on the floor of a desert valley is called a(n) ________.

What type of material makes up loess deposits?

Which of the following is a wind deposit?

Where is the world's largest ice sheet located today?

Large, relatively flat masses of ice extending seaward from the coast are known as ________.

What term describes open fissures in the brittle, surface ice of a glacier?

A ________ is an erosional feature specifically produced by alpine glaciation.

Which of the following erosional features provides clues to the direction of ice flow?

Sinuous, knife-edged ridges called ________ are sculpted by valley glaciers.

In areas that were major centers of ice accumulation, the land has been slowly ________ over the last several thousand years.

________ are deposited by meltwater streams; they are composed of stratified sand and gravel.

Which type of glacial drift is deposited by glacial meltwater?

Where is the world's largest ice sheet currently located?

Which of the following best describes the term glacial drift?

Approximately how long ago did the last of the great North American ice sheets melt?

What term refers to the nearly vertical cliff left alongside a U-shaped valley where a tributary glacier entered at a high position on the valley wall?

Which of the following pairs of features are deposited by meltwater streams?

What erosional features are produced at the heads of valley/alpine glaciers?

What type of moraine is formed by the merging of two lateral moraines at a junction of two valley glaciers?

What epoch of the geologic time scale represents the time of the most recent Ice Age?

What depositional feature would logically be situated next to a large end moraine or a terminal moraine?

Which of the following is often associated with a cirque basin in high, mountainous terrain?

Which of the choices below is an irregular, usually thin till layer laid down by a retreating glacier?

What is the typical cross-valley profile of canyons and valleys eroded and deepened by alpine or valley glaciers?

Which one of the following samples and experimental measurements would provide the most information about Earth's climate over the last 100,000 years or so?

Which process occurs when a glacier enters the sea?

Which of the following describes a drumlin?

Abrasion and plucking generally involve what part of a glacier?

Which one of the following describes a valley glacier that lengthens (extends its terminus downslope) over a period of many years?

Which of the following is the best explanation for a glacial surge?

What is one of the two major flow mechanisms in a glacier?

Which of the following is an erosional feature specifically produced by alpine glaciation?

Which feature represents a former meltwater channel or tunnel in glacial ice that was filled with sand and gravel?

Which of the following does not contribute to the formation of glaciers?

How do icebergs in the North Atlantic Ocean originate?

Where is the world's second-largest continental ice sheet?

Which one of the following features forms when stagnant, glacial ice melts after being buried by drift?

Which one of the following concerning desert lands is FALSE?

Which of the following is the best measure of the wetness or dryness of a region?

Which of the following is formed from the abrasion of rocks by windblown sand?

What are inselbergs?

Which dune is crescent-shaped with its tips pointing downwind?

Between which latitudes do most dry lands lie?

Which sand dunes are long, high, and parallel with the prevailing wind direction?

Which one of the following is determined by the angle of repose for dry sand?

How are sand grains transported by the wind?

What percentage of Earth's land area do desert and steppe lands cover?

Where did the great loess deposits in the central United States originate?

What term refers to the "bouncing" mode of sand transport in a windstorm or stream?

Where are rain shadow deserts common?

Which of the following statements concerning dry lands is FALSE?

What type of deposit consists of glacial rock flour from blowing winds?

What mature desert landscape feature consists of coalesced alluvial fans?

Where has the process of desertification been particularly well documented over the past 50 years?

Which one of the following statements concerning rock weathering is true?

Which one of the following will effectively limit further deflation in a given area?

A(n)___________ would be similar in appearance to sinkhole of a karst area.

Large, relatively flat masses of ice extending seaward from the coast

Which of the following is located in the headwaters region of a river system?

When water moves in straight-line paths parallel to the system channel, in slow moving streams

Highly impermeable layers such as compacted clay or shale.

Sedimentary rock formed when glacial till becomes lithified

An intermittent lake on the floor of a desert valley.

Applies to a valley glacier that shortens (retreats) over a period of many years?

Drainage pattern that resembles the branching pattern of a deciduous tree

The process by which a glacier lifts blocks of rock and incorporates them into the ice

Granular, recrystallized snow that is part of the process of glacier formation.