Physical Geology 1303

Front 1

A desert is defined by?

Back 1

< 25 cm annual rainfall

Front 2

Abrasion is ?

Back 2

Sandblasting

Front 3

Deflation

Back 3

Lowering of desert level due to the removal of sediment

Front 4

Saltation

Back 4

Rolling of sediment

Front 5

Blowout

Back 5

Extreme deflation

Front 6

Desert Varnish

Back 6

Coating of rocks by minerals such as Iron, Calcium, Mg

Front 7

Internal Drainage System

Back 7

Water being absorbed or evaporated within a certain area, never making it to the ocean

Front 8

Yardangs

Back 8

Elongated Sideways Hill

Front 9

Inselberg

Back 9

Island mountain that has formed from a flat surface eroding away and leaving a mountain like structure

Front 10

Succulents

Back 10

Plants that are ground cover, shallow root systems, thick stems

Front 11

Barchan Dune

Back 11

Areas with little sand, Tips point downwind

Front 12

Parabolic Dune

Back 12

Areas with sparse vegetation, Tips point into the wind

Front 13

Longitudinal Dude

Back 13

Areas of limited sand, Ridges parallel to the wind

Front 14

Transverse Dune

Back 14

Areas of high sand, Long ridges perpendicular to the wind

Front 15

Plateau

Back 15

Flat top Mountain that is up against a mountain

Front 16

Mesa

Back 16

Flat topped mountain that stands alone

Front 17

Bajadas

Back 17

Interconnected Alluvial Fans

Front 18

Playa Lake

Back 18

Seasonal Lake

Front 19

Ephermeral Streams

Back 19

Contain water seasonally, usually dry creek beds

Front 20

Loess

Back 20

Wind blown sediment

Front 21

What kind of boundary is the mid ocean ridge system

Back 21

Divergent

Front 22

What kind of boundary creates the offset of the ridge?

Back 22

Transform faults

Front 23

Explain transgressive sea and regressive sea

Back 23

Transgressive is the rising of the sea, regressive is the lowering

Front 24

What is one cause of transgressive sea?

Back 24

Glacial melting and melting ice caps

Front 25

What is one cause of regressive sea?

Back 25

Glacial forming, (water gets trapped in ice)

Front 26

List and describe three types of reefs

Back 26

Fringing reef- connected to island
Barrier reef- built around a partially sunken island
Atoll- built around a completely sunken island

Front 27

How many sediment layers are there?

Back 27

three

Front 28

Describe the first sediment layer

Back 28

It is split into two parts:
terrigeneous and pelagic
Terrigeneous sediment is sand, silt and clay eroded from continents and carried to the deep sea floor by gravity and submarine currents
Pelagic sediment is gray and red-brown mixture of clay mostly carried from continents by wind, and the remains of tiny plants and animals that live in the surface waters of the ocean

Front 29

Describe the second sediment layer

Back 29

Pillow Basalt- formed from hot magma that oozes into the sea floor

Front 30

Describe the third sediment layer

Back 30

Vertical Basalt dikes over Gabbro- formed as the magma oozing toward the surface froze in the cracks of the rift valley

Front 31

What are the two tides?

Back 31

Spring and Neap,
Spring has high tide. Neap has low tide

Front 32

Name and describe the parts of a wave

Back 32

Crest- Highest part
Trough- Lowest part
Height and Base (1/2 Length)

Front 33

What is Celerity

Back 33

Speed advances

Front 34

What causes surface currents?

Back 34

Wind

Front 35

Describe Fetch

Back 35

Distance wind travels over continuous water surface, resulting in larger or smaller waves

Front 36

What is the driving force behind Thermohaline circulation?

Back 36

Temperature and Salinity

Front 37

Photic Zone

Back 37

approx. 100m

Front 38

Aphotic Zone

Back 38

No sunlight

Front 39

What is the EEZ?

Back 39

Exclusive Economic Zone
200 Nautical Miles

Front 40

What is the difference between a groin and a jetty?

Back 40

Groin has no river

Front 41

Do waves normally occur in the foreshore or backshore of a beach?

Back 41

Always the foreshore, unless there is a storm (Storm Surge)

Front 42

What causes gyres?

Back 42

Wind, Currents, Coriolis effect

Front 43

Which direction do the gyres spin in the north?

Back 43

Clockwise

Front 44

Which direction do the gyres spin in the south?

Back 44

Counterclockwise

Front 45

Seacliff

Back 45

Steep cliff caused from erosion. Waves carrying sand and gravel crashing into the coastline leave a steep cliff that retreats landward.

Front 46

Wave Cut Platform

Back 46

beveled surface that extends seaward from the base of a seacliff, usually under shallow water

Front 47

Wave Build Platform

Back 47

The deeper water at the end of a wave cut platform, in which sediment that has been eroded from the sea cliff, is deposited

Front 48

Marine Terrace

Back 48

Wave cut platform that is now above sea level

Front 49

Submergent Coast

Back 49

Coast that is now underwater, (drowned coast, Estuaries)

Front 50

Emergent Coast

Back 50

Land has risen with respect to sea level

Front 51

Firn

Back 51

Glacial Ice

Front 52

Continental Glaciers

Back 52

knows as ice sheets, covering 50,000 square km, flowing outward in all directions

Front 53

Zone of Accumulation

Back 53

Upper part of glacier where additions exceed losses

Front 54

Sublimation

Back 54

advancing and retreating of snow on a glacier

Front 55

Cirque

Back 55

Only occurs in a valley glacier, bowl shaped formation cause from erosion, with one side opening to the trough of the glacier

Front 56

Horns

Back 56

Highest peaks formed from erosion by cirques

Front 57

Arete

Back 57

Thin ridges left from erosion on each side by glaciers

Front 58

Fiords

Back 58

Glaciers eroded away deep valleys that were deeper than present day sea level. At the end of the ice age, oceans filled the lower ends of the glacial troughs so that they are now long, steep walled embayments called fiords.

Front 59

Lateral Moraine

Back 59

Long ridges of sediment that is stripped from mountains and deposited along the margin of the glacier path

Front 60

Terminal Moraine

Back 60

Deposits of sediment that are deposited at the far edge of where the glacier has traveled,.

Front 61

Medial Moraine

Back 61

Formed when two Lateral Moraines come together, formed when two glaciers merge together

Front 62

Drumlin

Back 62

Long tear shaped formations made of the deposits of till

Front 63

Eskers

Back 63

Long ridges of stratified drift that meander

Front 64

Kettle Lake

Back 64

A glacier that retreats and leaves a block of ice that is partially buried, then melts, forming a lake. Like a lake that forms in a pothole created by a glacier

Front 65

Stratified Drift

Back 65

Drift that is layered and shows a degree of sorting by particle size

Front 66

Glacial Till

Back 66

Drift that has been deposited by a glacier that is made of up any type of sediment and shows no sign of stratification or sorting by particle size

Front 67

Hanging Valley

Back 67

A tributary glacial valley whose floor is at a higher level than that of the main glacial valley

Front 68

Snowline

Back 68

Line between seasonal snow and permanent snow

Front 69

tarn

Back 69

Water inside of a cirque