Chapter 27 Flashcards
The process that involves the physical or chemical breakdown of minerals on Earth’s surface.
Weathering.
Mixture of weathered rock,organic matter, water, and air that is capable of supporting plant life.
Soil
removal of surface material though the process of weathering
Erosion
As rocks weathering, erosional agent like water, ice, wind, and gravity eroded materials from one place to another.
Sediment transport
The erosional agent slows down (in the case of water, wind, or gravity) or melts, it drops this sediment load.
deposition
The land area that gathers water for a major river.
Drainage basin
The movement of water parallel to the shoreline
Longshore currents
do rocks weather at the same rate?
No
What are the two main factors that determine how fast a rock will weather?
Rock type
landscape
What are the two types of weathering?
Mechanical
chemical
What types of change happens with mechanical weathering?
Physical changes
What types of change happens with chemical weathering?
chemical changes changes color
What are the three specific type mechanical weathering?
Frost wedging
Biological Activity
Collisions
What causes frost wedging?
Occurs when water collects in the cracks of rock and then freezes
What is the cycle called during frost wedging
After a number of “Freeze-Thaw cycles” the rock will break apart
What causes biological activity?
Plant
animal activity
What causes weathering during collisions?
when rocks fall from a cliff or tumble through turbulent rivers
What are parent minerals?
where soil forms from
What are soil horizons?
the different layers of soil
How many soil horizons are there?
up to 6
True or False.All soils contain every soil horizon.
False
What are the specific soil horizons?
O horizon A horizon E horizon B horizon C horizon R horizon
What does the first soil horizon contain?
Organic material
What is the second horizon mostly made up of?
Mostly minerals
Which layer does leaching occur?
E horizon
Which horizon collects materials from previous horizons?
Horizon B
Which layer is partially weathered bedrock?
Horizon C
Which soil horizons make up top soil?
O and A horizon
Which layer is unweathered bedrock?
R
Which soil horizons make up the subsoil?
E and B
What are the two types of chemical weathering?
Oxygen
Water
What are chemical change due to oxygen?
Oxidation
Chemical changes due to water?
Hydrolysis
Which horizons make up the true soil
O Horizons
A
E
B
What is the difference of weathering and erosion
Weathering breakdown materials
Erosion Removal of surface material
IF the slope of a river decreases, does the speed decrease or increase
Decrease
What are small streams that flow into larger river?
Tributaries
What is an land area that gathers water for a major river called>
Drainage basin
What a boundary that separates distinct drainage basin>
Drainage divide
As water flows downhill under the influence of gravity, water erodes earth’s surface creating?
Channels
What is young rivers that has fast movement?
V-Shaped
What type of rivers are wide with smooth and gentle slopes?
Mature river
When rivers flood and drop their sediment load which type of land form is created?
Flood plains
What are the fan-shaped sediment deposits will form at the mouth of the river?
Deltas
What are the branching channels created by delta?
Distributes
What dorms when a river or stream enter into dry lands
Alluvial fans
What are the two type of glaciers
valley
continental
Where do valley glaciers form?
high, mountainous regions
Where do continental glaciers form?
Large land areas in colder climates
where are the two continental glaciers located?
Greenland
Antarctica
What are cirque?
Bowl shaped basins
What is an arete?
From where 2 adjacent valley glaciers meet and erode a long, sharp ridge line
What is a horn?
Sharpened peaks?
What shape of valleys do valley glaciers make?
u-shaped valleys
What is a tributary glaciers?
Small glaciers that feed into the large glaciers
What type of valley do tributary glaciers create?
Hanging valleys
Which side does the dune does erosion occur?
Windward
Which side of the dune does deposition occur?
Leeward
What is it called when the removal of small particles by wind, leaving heavier particles behind?
Deflation
What is it called when small particles are removed. the remaining surface?
Dessert Pavement
What does the shape and sizes of landforms due do wind depend on?
wind speed
amount of time the wind blows
sediment supply
What are some landforms created by erosion
Coastal Cliffs
Sea Stacks
Sea Arches
What are two examples of wave deposition?
Sand bars
Sand spits
What is a sand bar?
Landforms that are parallel to the shoreline
What is sand spits?
They are like sand bars but they curve back toward land in a hook shape
What can cause mass wasting?
snow
heavy rain
earthquakes
human activity
What are examples of mass wasting
Rock slides
mud flows
landslides
Infiltration
The process by which water enters Earth and becomes groundwater below the surface
water table
The upper boundary of the saturated zone
Aquifer
A rock unit that can transfer water through its pore space
Porosity
Material is the percentage of the material’s total volume that is pore space
Absolute dating
The process of assigning an exact numerical age to an organism, an object, or an event.
Relative dating
the process of placing objects or event in their proper order in time.
Uniformitarianism
the laws of nature operate today as they have in the past.
Principle of superposition
that in an undistributed sequence of sedimentary rock layers, the youngest rocks will be at the top and the oldest rocks will be at the bottom
Unconformities
gaps records in the rock record during with either erosion occurred or deposition was absent
fossils
The remains or traces of organisms found in the geologic rock record
What percentage of water on Earth is salt water?
97%
What percentage of water on Earth is freshwater?
3%
Where is the majority of freshwater found?
glaciers
Where is the smaller percentage of freshwater found?
lakes, rivers, and groundwater
What is precipitation?
When water vapor in the air cools and condenses
ex:Rain, snow
What is runoff
Water running off the land surface
What is infiltration?
The process by which water enters Earth and becomes groundwater below the surface
What is transpiration?
When plants release water vapor into the atmosphere though their leaves
What is evaporation?
When water enters the atmosphere as water vapor
What is condensation?
When water vapor collides with other water vapor molecules to form water droplets
What is the water cycle?
Water on land that goes to the atmosphere and goes back to the land
What is an unsaturated zone for groundwater storage?
A porous where water easily passes through
What is a saturated zone for groundwater storage?
Beneath the unsaturated zone where water completely fills the pore space
What is water table?
The upper boundary of the saturated zone
What does it mean of sediment is permeable?
The more permeable the material is the easier water can infiltrate though the ground
What is an aquifier?
a rock unit that dab transfer water through the pore spaces?
What is the name of the Great Plains Aquifer?
Ogallala Aquifer
How many states does the Great Plains Aquifer run though?
8
What are the names of the states that the Great Plains Aquifer runs though?
South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado. Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas
What is an aquitard?
keeps water confined
How are water springs formed?
Where the water table naturally meets Earth’s surface
What is an artesian well?
drilled into pressurized aquifers
What is a cone of depression?
The direction that the water flows towards the well
