Chapter 1

Question 1

What is geomorphology?

Answer 1

Science of landform origin, evolution, form, and spatial distribution

Question 2

What is denudation?

Answer 2

Process that wear away or rearrange landforms; processes include weathering, mass movement, erosion, transportation, and deposition

Question 3

What does geomorphology deal with on a global or continental scale?

Answer 3

major features of the surface of the Earth (continents, mountain systems)

Question 4

What does geomorphology deal with on a regional scale?

Answer 4

intermediate forms (individual mountain ranges, hill ranges, river basins, etc)

Question 5

What does geomorphology deal with on a local scale?

Answer 5

individual features of conventional ‘scenery’ (rivers, hill slopes, beaches, glaciers)

Question 6

How old are cratons?

Answer 6

2+ billion years of age

Question 7

What is the correct order of ERAs from oldest to newest?

Answer 7

Precambrian –> Paleozoic –> Mesozoic –> Cenozoic

Question 8

What is the correct order of Paleozoic periods from oldest to newest?

Answer 8

Cambrian –> Ordovician –> Silurian –> Devonian –> Carboniferous –> Permian

Question 9

What is the correct order of Mesozoic periods from the oldest to newest?

Answer 9

Triassic –> Jurassic –> Cretaceous

Question 10

Approximately how old is the Holocene?

Answer 10

Present - 11,000 Years

Question 11

Approximately how long ago did the Pleistocene start?

Answer 11

~2 million years ago

Question 12

What are Milankovitch cycles?

Answer 12

different cycles that affect the Earth’s orientation to the sun

Question 13

What is a recurrence interval?

Answer 13

Estimated time between events

Question 14

Why is oceanic crust denser than continental crust?

Answer 14

Oceanic crust has denser magnesium and iron; basaltic

Question 15

Which has more silica, oceanic or continental crust?

Answer 15

Continental crust

Question 16

What is the correct order of Earth’s layers from the center to the surface?

Answer 16

Inner core –> Outer core –> lower mantle –> upper mantle –> uppermost mantle –> crust

Question 17

Why is the asthenosphere called the “plastic layer”?

Answer 17

It is the least rigid region of the mantle

Question 18

How long ago did Pangaea exist?

Answer 18

~200-225 Million years ago

Question 19

What are the types of plate boundaries?

Answer 19

Divergent, Convergent, Transform

Question 20

What is subduction?

Answer 20

When one plate is forced under another towards the mantle

Question 21

What kind of plate boundary is most associated with mid-oceanic ridges?

Answer 21

Divergent

Question 22

Subduction is most associated with what plate boundary?

Answer 22

Convergent

Question 23

What type of plate boundary produces the most powerful earthquakes?

Answer 23

Transform

Question 24

What is infiltration capacity?

Answer 24

rate at which the soil can absorb the water

Question 25

What is field capacity?

Answer 25

how much water the soil is actually able to hold via capillary action

Question 26

How is infiltration different from percolation?

Answer 26

Infiltration is the surface of the soil absorbing the water

Percolation is how the water moves down the soil and rocks

Question 27

What is evapotranspiration?

Answer 27

sum total of moisture returned to the atmosphere by evaporation from open water and moist surfaces; evaporation and transportation

Question 28

When does a place have a moisture deficit?

Answer 28

When potential evapotranspiration is greater than the actual evapotranspiration happening

Question 29

What is dynamic equilibrium?

Answer 29

balance among force, form, and process