Geography Final Exam

Front 1

The difference between eluviation and illuviation

Back 1

Eluviation is when fine soil particles are transported DOWNWARD, from the upper soil horizons. Illuviation is the ACCUMULATION of materials within the lower horizons after illuviation.

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Soil Solum

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Living plant roots influence this part of the soil. (A,E,B,C,R)

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5 Factors of soil formation

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parent material, vegetation, climate, time, topography

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Field Capacity

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the amount of moisture / water content held in soil after 24 hours when excess water has drained away

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Wilting Point

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The minimum point of soil moisture the plant requires to not wilt

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Peds

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The way in which soil grains group together into larger masses

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The texture of soil is determined by

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Which particles are in it (sand, silt, clay, etc.)

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Mollisols

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Dark, soft soils of grasslands. The top layer (mollic epipedon) is the top layer that is dark and full of nutrients. Good for agriculture.

Front 9

Gelisols

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Permafrost, polar / alpine regions. A high percentage of organic matter has accumulated in this soil, and as a result there is a slow rate of microbial decomposition in cold climates.

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Lithosphere

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Uppermost zone of mantle

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Asthenosphere

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Upper mantle, underlying lithosphere. Very hot, weak and easily deformed.

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Mesosphere

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The deep mantle

Front 13

The difference between extrusive and intrusive igneous rocks?

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Extrusive rocks are formed by molten that is ejected onto the Earth's surface and solidifies in open air. Intrusive are rocks that cool down and solidify beneath the Earth's surface.

Front 14

Where do sedimentary rocks form?

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In both terrestrial (non-marine) and marine environments.

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Types of sedimentary rocks

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sandstone, shale, limestone

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What are metamorphic rocks?

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A rock that was originally something else (igneous / sedimentary) but has changed by heat and or pressure within the Earth)

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Uniformitarianism

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The present is the key to the past, the idea that you can take what you see today and figure out how it was formed

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Lateral / Transform Movement:

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Nothing is created or destroyed, plates rub against each other, San Andreas Fault Line

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Folding

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Within one plate, lateral pressure on sides / parts of the plate will cause a weak part in the plate to break and form a mountain

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The vibration produced by shock waves resulting from sudden displacement usually along a fault is called

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an earthquake

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The creation of faults can be by

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variations in tension in the earths crust, land can buckle / fold, or break

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P Waves

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fast moving, alternatively compressing

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S Waves

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Slower moving, side to side and up and down movement

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The three processes of denundation

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Weathering, mass wasting, and erosion

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Weathering

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No real transportation of material, breaking down of rock into smaller particles

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Mass Wasting

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Transportation of material over a short distance, downslope movement of broken rock material due to gravity. Occurs every so often, whereas erosion and weathering occur all the time.

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Erosion

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More extensive and distant transportation of rock material

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Weathering Erosion Deposition

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Weathering --> Mass Wasting --> Erosion --> Deposition

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Types of weathering

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Mechanical, chemical, biological

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Mechanical weathering

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The mechanical disintegration of rock without a change in its chemical composition (thermal expansion, exfoliation, frost wedging, crystal growth, uploading)

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Chemical weathering

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reactions involving exchanges of materials between reactant and the rock (oxygen, water, CO2)

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Biological weathering

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roots, mosses open fissues in rock and scrounge nutrients. The more little places water can get in, the faster the rock will erode

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Regolith

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the transition zone between bedrock and soil

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Exfoliation

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Weathering due to the removal of pressure. A big boulder is covered in sand and rock, when the sand and rock is eroded away, the removal of the pressure from the sand and rock makes the boulder expand and crack

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Uploading

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Stripping away of roughly parallel rock slabs (curved layers of bedrock fall off due to removal of pressure in exfoliation)

Front 36

Angle of repose

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The maximum angle at which a material can remain at rest on a slope

Front 37

An earth flow occurs when....

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there is no water or ice to lubricate the movement of slope material

Front 38

4 types of mass wasting

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fall, slide, flow creep

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Fall

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vertical falling of rocks, not associated with water. Fast and dry

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Slide

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Fast and dry (no water), rocks slide down the side of a cliff on an angle and not straight down.

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Flow

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Water moves material down, fast, follows stream channels

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Debris or Mud flow

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happens in valleys and streambeds, forms a fanlike shape, fast. The difference between a mud and a debris flow is how much solid material is swept up in one

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Creep

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Very slow down-slope movement of material, soil slides down.

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Solifluction

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Permafrost, surface freezes and thaws and the melt water can't penetrate the ground so it just makes the ground sink in and sag slowly downslope.

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The maximum size of stream load is dependent upon

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velocity and volume of stream flow

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four types of stream channels

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straight, sinuous (winding), meandering, braided

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A braided stream pattern occurs when....

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A stream has little gradient and lots of material

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How do streams modify valleys?

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They deepen the valley (erosion), they lengthen the valley (erosion and deposition) and widen the valley (erosion)

Front 49

Base level

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The lowest spot where material could be deposited from a stream

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Degrading

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Material is eroded from the landscape by fast moving water, stream cuts into landscape

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Aggrading

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Material is deposited by slow moving water, depositional features.

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Knickpoint

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Two layers of material, the top layer is more resistant and the bottom layer is less resistant, over time the water will erode the top layer and the bottom layer will break off. Niagra Falls

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Floodplain

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A belt of low flat ground present on one or both sides of a stream channel, underlined with alluvium, periodic flooding

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Oxbow lake is formed by

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A wide meandering stream is cut off from the main stem of a river to create an oxbow lake (which is u shaped)

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Multiple uvalas (little holes) form

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sinkholes

Front 56

The difference between hot springs and geysers

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Hot springs are bodies of water that come in contact with magma / hot rocks, geysers are water that is heated up under pressure and shoots out of the ground.

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Geyser Basins

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magma chamber close to the surface and in between mountain ranges

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Inselbergs are

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island mountains, left after erosion

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Bonhardt and pediment are types of

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inselbergs. Bonhardt is an island of rocks that is resistant to erosion (the land surrounding it was eroded away), pediment is a platform that has been formed by weathering and the removal of rock

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Piedmont

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anything at the foot of a mountain range, in a desert, it is specifically an area of fluvial deposition. FLUVIAL = HAVING TO DO WITH RIVERS AND DEPOSITS FROM WATER

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Aeolian processes are related to

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wind

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Deflation

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lifts and removes loose particles from the surface (dust storm). This may lead to blowout depressions (basins ranging in size)

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Aeolian Abrasion

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Sand particles lifted free of the surface can "sand blast" rock surfaces in abrasion (looks like the rock is being cut apart)

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Ventifacts

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smooth faceted rocks that often have a polished surface that results from abrasion

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Yardangs

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Streamlined wind-eroded ridges found in deserts

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Wind can deposit sediment when...

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its velocity decreases to the point where the particles can no longer be transported. This can happen when topographic barriers (rocks, vegetation, human made structures) slow the wind velocity on the downwind side of the barrier.

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Dunes migrate by

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erosion of sand because of wind (saltation) on the gentle upwind slope and deposition / sliding on the slip face

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Sand dunes form when

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there is a lot of sand, a steady wind, and some kind of obstacle (vegetation, rocks, fences)

Front 69

Large deposits fo wind deposited silt is called ____ and the thickest deposits are found in _____.

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Loess, China. Forms agricultural soil, easily eroded and derived from debris left by glacial erosion

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Badlands are known for

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poorly consolidated soil, erosion happens very fast, lifeless terrain.

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Two types of glaciers

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Continental ice sheets and mountain glaciers

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Crevasses

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Cracks in the surface ice

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Sediment moves ____, but glacier moves _____ as it melts. Gravity causes the glacier to ______ material in front of the ablation zone

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Sediment moves forward, glacier moves backward, glacier deposits material in front of the ablation zone

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Drift

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any material deposited by glaciers or their meltwater

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Till

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unsorted material deposited directly by ice

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Cirques

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Broad, hallowed out basins

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Tarn

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Glacial ice melts away in a cirque and the depression holds water

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Horn

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3 or more cirques intersect, 3 or more aretes intersect. An arete is a ridge between cirques.

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Wave height is measured between

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the trough (bottom) and the crest (top)

Front 80

Wave of translation is when

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the wave hits the ocean floor, slows down, breaks, turbulent

Front 81

Submergence vs. emergence

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Emergence is when the land moves up out of the ocean because of plate tectonics, waves erode it, and a platform is created below the old cliff. Submergence is when water covers the land.