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Physical Science > Ch 27 > Flashcards

Ch 27 Flashcards

1
Q

What is the process that involves the physical or chemical breakdown of materials on Earth’s surface ?

A

Weathering

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2
Q

What is the mixture of weathered rock, organic matter, water, and air that is capable of supporting plant life called?

A

Soil

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3
Q

What is the removal of surface material through the process of weathering called?

A

Erosion

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4
Q

What is it called as rocks weather, erosional agents like water, ice, wind, and gravity move eroded materials from one place to another?

A

sediment transport

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5
Q

When the erosional agent slows down or melts, and it drops this sediment load in the process called what?

A

Deposition

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6
Q

The land area that gathers water for a major river is called a river’s what?

A

Drainage basin

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7
Q

The movement of water parallel to the shoreline is called what?

A

A longshore current

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8
Q

Do rocks weather at the same rate?

A

No

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9
Q

What are the main two factors that determine how fast a rock will weather?

A

Rock Type and Landscape

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10
Q

What are the two types of weathering?

A

Mechanical and Chemical

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11
Q

What type of change happens with mechanical weathering?

A

physical change

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12
Q

What type of change happens with chemical weathering?

A

Chemical change

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13
Q

What are the 3 specific types of mechanical weathering?

A

Frost Wedging, Biological Activity, and Collisions

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14
Q

What causes frost wedging?

A

collected water in the cracks of a rock and then freezes

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15
Q

What is the cycle called during the frost wedging?

A

freeze-thaw cycle

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16
Q

What causes biological activity?

A

Plants and Animals

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17
Q

What causes weathering during collisions ?

A

Rocks falling from a cliff or tumble through turbulent rivers, or rockslides

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18
Q

What is parent material?

A

the material soil is formed from

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19
Q

What are soil horizons?

A

All the different layers of soil

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20
Q

How many soil horizons are there?

A

6

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21
Q

True or False. All soils contain every soil horizon?

A

False

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22
Q

What are the specific soil horizons?

A

O, A, E, B, C, and R horizons

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23
Q

What does the first soil horizon contain ?

A

Organic material

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24
Q

What is the second horizon mostly made up of?

A

Mostly minerals

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25
Which layer does leaching occur?
E horizon
26
Which horizon collects materials from previous horizons?
B Horizon
27
Which layer is partially weathered bedrock?
C Horizon
28
Which layer is unweathered bedrock?
R Horizon
29
Which soil horizons make up the topsoil?
O and A Horizons
30
Which soil horizons make up the subsoil?
E and B Subsoil
31
Which horizons make up the true soil?
O, A, E, and B Horizon
32
What are chemical changes due to water?
Hydrolysis
33
What are chemical changes due to oxygen ?
Oxidation
34
What is the difference between weathering and erosion?
Weathering is the breakdown of materials and erosion is the removal of surface material
35
If the slope of the river decreases, what happens to the speed of the river?
it decreases
36
small streams that flow into larger rivers are called ____
tributaries
37
land area that gathers water for a major river is called a ____
drainage basin
38
A boundary that separates distinct drainage basins is called a ____
drainage divide
39
As water flows downhill under the influence of gravity, water erodes earth's surface creating _____
channels
40
Young rivers are _____ due to the fast movement
V-shaped
41
_____ rivers are wide with smooth and gentle slopes
Mature
42
When rivers flood and drop their sediment load, which type of land form is created?
Flood Plains
43
What is a fan-shaped sediment deposit that forms at the mouth of the river?
Deltas
44
What are distributaries?
the branching channels
45
What land forms form where the mouth of the river or stream enters dry land?
Alluvial Fans
46
What are the two types of glaciers?
Valley and Continental Glaciers
47
Where do valley glaciers form?
in high, mountainous regions
48
Where do continental glaciers form?
in colder climates that occupy large land areas
49
Where are the two continental glaciers located?
Greenland and Antarctica
50
What is a cirque?
A bowl shaped basin
51
What is an arete?
a long, sharp ridgeline between two tributary glaciers
52
What is a horn in a mountainous region?
sharpened peaks
53
What shape of valley do valley glaciers form?
U-shape valley
54
What are tributary glaciers?
small glaciers that feed into a large glacier
55
What type of valleys do tributary glaciers form?
Hanging valleys
56
Which side of a sand dune does erosion occur?
windward side
57
Which side of a sand dune does deposition occur?
leeward side
58
What is the removal of small particles by wind, leaving heavier particles behind?
Deflation
59
What is the remaining surface called after small particles are removed?
desert pavement
60
What 3 things do the shape and sizes of landforms do to wind depend on?
wind speed, amount of time the wind blows, and sediment supply
61
what are three landforms that are created due to wave erosion ?
Coastal Cliffs, Sea Arches, and Sea Stacks
62
What are the two landforms that are created by wave deposition?
Sand Bars and Sand Spits
63
What are landforms that are parallel to the shoreline called?
Sand Bars
64
What are landforms that are like Sand Bars but curve back toward land in a hook shape called?
Sand Splits
65
What can cause mass wasting?
Snow, heavy rains, earthquakes, or human activity
66
What are some examples of mass wasting?
Rock slides, Mudflows, and Landslides
67
What percentage of water on Earth is salt water?
97%
68
What percentage of water on Earth is freshwater?
3%
69
Where is the majority of freshwater found?
in glaciers
70
Where is the smaller percentage of freshwater found?
in lakes, rivers, and stored as ground water
71
What is precipitation?
when water vapor in the air cools and condenses and causes rain. snow, sleet, and hail to form
72
What is runoff?
when water runs off the land surface
73
What is infiltration?
where water enters the Earths surface and can become groundwater below the surface
74
What is transpiration?
when plants release water vapor into the atmosphere through their leaves
75
What is evaporation?
when water enters the atmosphere as water vapor
76
What is condensation?
when water vapor collides with other water molecules to form water droplets
77
What is the water cycle?
where water on the land goes into the atmosphere and heats up and turns into water vapor and eventually returns back to land
78
What is an unsaturated zone for groundwater storage?
a porous are where water easily passes through
79
What is a saturated zone for groundwater storage?
beneath the unsaturated zone, where water completely fills the pore space
80
What is a water table?
the upper boundary of the saturated zone
81
What does it mean if sediment is permeable?
the more permeable the material is the easier water can go through the ground
82
What is an aquifer ?
a rock unit that can transfer water through its pore space
83
What is the name of the Great Plains Aquifer ?
Ogallala Aquifer
84
How many states does the Great Plains Aquifer run through?
8 states
85
What are the names of the states that the Great Plains Aquifer runs through?
South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas
86
What is an aquitard?
impermeable layer that holds confined water
87
How are water springs formed?
where the water table naturally meets Earth's surface
88
What is an artesian well?
wells drilled into pressurized aquifer forming when an aquifer is sandwiched between aquitards
89
What is a cone of depression?
the direction that the water flows down towards the well
90
What is the process of assigning an exact numerical age to an organism, an object, or event.
Absolute dating
91
What is the process of placing objects or events in their proper order in time?
Relative dating
92
What states that the laws of nature operate today as they have in the past?
Uniformitarianism
93
What states that in an undisturbed sequence of sedimentary rock layers, the youngest rocks will be at the top and the oldest rocks will be at the bottom?
Principle of superposition
94
What are the gaps in the rock record during which either erosion occurred or deposition was absent called?
Unconformity
95
What are the remains or traces of organisms found in the geographic rock record called?
Fossils

Physical Science (6 decks)

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