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98 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Karst |
Terrain with distinctive hydrology and landforms arising from a combination of high rock solubility and well-developed secondary porosity. |
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What type of rocks contain karst? |
Predominantly limestone |
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Describe primary porosity. |
Intergranular flow through rock matrix with generally low porosity and highly variable permeability |
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Describe secondary porosity. |
Important process that occurs along joints, bedding planes, fractures, and faults where intersection of vertical joint sets promote downward movement of GW to form shafts. |
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Karren |
General term used to describe small-scale solutional features on soluble rocks. |
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Six Karren landforms |
Pits, runnels, clints, grikes, rillenkarren, and spongework. |
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Where does CO2 originate for solution? |
Atmosphere, plant respiration, and organic matter decomposition in soil. |
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What type of environments allow for increased solubility of CO2? |
Tropics and mid-latitudes |
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What is a doline? |
Solutionally enlarged shaft that serves as a conduit from surface to subsurface; AKA sinkhole. |
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What are the types of dolines? |
Solution and collapse |
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What causes aggressiveness of solution? |
Cold waters; Mixing of saturated solutions may result in a mixture that is undersaturated in carbonate. |
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Name the two types of CO2 origins. |
Atmospheric and Biologic. |
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What is epikarst? |
Upper boundary (surface/edges) of weathered limestone. |
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What are pits? |
Small solution cavities. |
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What are runnels? |
Epikarst landform of low-relief, gutter-like runoff channels. |
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What are rillenkarrens? |
Epikarst landform of vertical runoff channels (flutes) |
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What are grikes? |
Epikarst landform of solutionally widened vertical joints. |
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What are clints? |
Epikarst landform of remnant pavement surface between grikes. |
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What is "spongework" dissolution? |
Randomly shaped cavities. |
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What is a solution doline? |
Funnel-shaped, near vertical depression formed by dissolution along joints, cracks, etc. |
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What is a collapse doline? |
Sinkhole formed by roof collapse over solution cavities and rapid collapse often associated with GW lowering. |
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What is an uvala? |
Enlargment and coalescence of smaller sinkholes that can become several square km in area. |
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What is a polje? |
Large closed depression formed by solutional processes that may flood during wet periods and contains blind valleys. |
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What is a blind valley? |
Kart landform where sinking water flows upstream. |
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What is a dry valley? |
Karst landforms where sinking water flows downstream. |
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What is a cockpit karst? |
Conical limestone hills separated by star-shaped sinkholes and developed in humid tropics. |
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What is a tower karst? |
Steep to vertical limestone hills, usually found in swampy plains. |
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What are epigenic caves? |
90% of caves formed from movement of water from above. |
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What are hypogenic caves? |
10% of caves formed from movement of water from below the surface. |
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What is the CO2 source for epigenic caves? |
Atmospheric and Biologic. |
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What is the theory of cave formation? |
It centers on the relationship of circulating GW to the water table. |
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What is the theory of vadose water? |
Cave formed above water table by vadose water (unsaturated zone). |
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What is the theory of phreatic water? |
Cave formed below water table by phreatic water (saturated zone). |
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What is the theory of water table? |
Caves formed at water table. |
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What are speleothems? |
Cave calcite formations. |
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What is stalagmite? |
Type of speleothem that grows from bottom up. |
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What is stalactite? |
Type of speolothem that grows top down. |
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What is flow stone? |
Thin sheet deposited by precipitation from flowing water. |
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What is the littoral zone? |
Zone near the shoreline from high water mark during storms to the point where waves can no longer move material back and forth. |
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What processes create waves? |
Most waves are produced by wind blowing over ocean surface. |
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What is swell? |
Dispersion of waves from generating area. |
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What is fetch? |
Distance of blown wind |
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What is wave height? |
Distance from peak to trough. |
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What is wavelength? |
Measurement from wave crest to wave crest. |
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What is wave period? |
Time in seconds between wave crests. |
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Example of swell in relation to wavelength. |
Low height leads to long wavelength. |
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What is wave refraction? |
Bending of waves due to ocean floor. |
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How do waves move? |
In the direction of circular orbit. |
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When waves converge... |
Erosion occurs due to higher energy. |
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When waves diverge... |
Deposition occurs due to less energy |
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What is shoaling? |
Occurs when waves begin to interact with ocean bottom, breaking to produce surf. |
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What processes create wave breakers? |
Combination of increased steepness and friction causing waves to become unstable. |
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What are the 3 types of breakers? |
Spilling, plunging, and surging. |
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What is spilling breaker? |
Wave crest that becomes unstable due to shallow beach slope, producing less erosive power. |
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What is plunging breaker? |
Surfers' favorite, wave crest that curls due to sudden change in depth, resulting in more erosive power. |
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What is surging breaker? |
Wave crest that remains an unbroken, sudden surge due to low, flat waves and steeply sloping beaches, resulting in sliding motion. |
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What are tsunamis? |
Waves formed commonly by earthquakes or mass wasting displacement in water. |
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Example of physical characteristics (height, period, wavelength) of tsunamis. |
Long-period, low wave height = high velocity. |
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What is a seiche? |
Standing wave due to oscillation in water within an enclosed basin (e.g. Great Lakes). |
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What are tides? |
Twice-daily high and low water levels. |
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What forces cause tides? |
Gravitational attraction of the moon and sun, and centrifugal force produced by Earth-Moon system revolving around its center of mass. |
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What are the 3 types of tidal environments? |
Microtidal (0-2 m), mesotidal (2-4 m), Microtidal (>4 m). |
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What are spring tides? |
Tides 20% higher than normal, caused by alignment of Earth, Sun, and Moon. |
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What are neap tides? |
Tides 20% lower than average, caused by moon and sun at 90 degrees angle to Earth. |
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What are tidal bores? |
Tide-generated currents that flow perpendicular to coasts in and out of bays/lagoons. |
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What are the effects of tidal flows with enough energy? |
Prevents sediment accumulation, maintains tidal inlets, and forces seawater into tidal channels in estuaries. |
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Role of seabed geometry in tidal bores. |
Increases or decreases local tidal ranges. |
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What is the effect of rapidly advancing tidal fronts (tidal bores)? |
Pushes breaking waves into estuaries and rivers, forcing saltwater inland. |
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What are nearshore currents? |
Currents that are parallel and normal to shores, producing crescentic indentations in coastline. |
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What are rip currents? |
Type of current that flows back towards the ocean (opposite direction of waves). |
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What are beaches? |
Accumulation of sand, pebbles, or cobbles along a shoreline, affected by wave activity. |
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What constitutes a beach? |
Narrow portion of coast from mean low water line to cliff, dune, and vegetation. |
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Equilibrium beach profile. |
Interplay between wave climate, sediment delivery, sediment erosion, tidal range and landforms are constant. |
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Dissipative morphodynamic continuum. |
Low angle beach with spilling waves dominating. |
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Reflective morphodynamic continuum. |
Steep, linear beach faces and berms and well developed beach cusps with surging breakers dominating. |
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What are littoral drifts? |
"Longshore currents" where larger angle leads to greater velocity of water alongshore |
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What are beach cusps? |
Arch shaped depression in between two ridges or horns formed by rotational circulation |
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What is the rhythmic topography? |
Large-scale crescentic shore lines caused by rotational circulation due to rip currents. |
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What creates high-relief erosional shorelines? |
Sea cliff erosion. |
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What are the 4 major erosional processes for high relief erosional shorelines? |
Corrosion, attrition, corrasion, and hydraulic action |
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What is coastal corrosion? |
Solution of coastal rocks by chemical action of seawater. |
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What is coastal attrition? |
Diminution of rock particles as water slides over them. |
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What is coastal corrasion? |
Physical erosion of bedrock caused by grinding action of rock fragments carried in waves and currents. |
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What is hydraulic action? |
Erosion caused by force of water itself. |
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What are the high-relief erosional shorline landforms? |
Wave-cut platform, wave-cut notch, stack, sea cave, and sea arch. |
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What is wave-cut platform? |
Marine terrace caused by prolonged erosion and retreat of sea cliff. |
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What is wave-cut notch? |
Landform created by erosion at water level cutting into rock. |
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What is sea stack? |
Landform created from erosion of peninsula where waves are refracted around headland until tip is isolated |
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What is a sea cave? |
Landform created from erosion of less-resistant material via wave action and salt weathering. |
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What is a sea arch? |
Landform where sea cave goes entirely through rock mass. |
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What are low-relief depositional shorelines? |
Landforms due to longshore drift and wave action. |
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What are the low-relief depositional shorelines landforms? |
Spits, baymouth bars, barrier islands, and tombolo |
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What is coastal spit? |
Protruding sand deposit due to littoral drift; may be recurved (hook) |
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What is baymouth bar? |
Extended spit across a bay |
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What are barrier islands? |
Elongated bodies of sand, or offshore sand islands not attached to the mainland but separated by a lagoon or bay. |
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What is tombolo? |
Sediment bridge to an island or stack. |
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Barrier islands are... |
Separated by inlets, which serves as connection from lagoon to the ocean, and susceptible to storm erosion. |
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What are the basic characteristic components of beaches? |
Backshore, foreshore, nearshore, mean low water line, and mean high water line. |
