Chapter 27 Flashcards
Weathering
The process involving the physical or chemical breakdown of materials on Earth’s surface.
Soil
The mixture of weathered rock, organic matter, water, and air supporting plant life.
Erosion
The removal of surface material through the process of weathering.
Sediment Transport
When water, ice, wind, and gravity move eroded materials from one place to another.
Deposition
When the erosional agent slows or melts it drops the sediment in the process of deposition.
Drainage Basin
The land area that gathers water for a major river.
Longshore Current
The parallel movement of water to the shoreline.
Do rocks weather at the same rate?
No.
What are the two main factors that determine how fast a rock will weather?
Rock type and landscape.
What are the two types of weathering?
Mechanical and Chemical weathering.
What type of change happens with mechanical weathering?
Physical changes.
What type of change happens with chemical weathering?
Chemical changes.
What are three specific types of mechanical weathering?
Frost wedging, Biological Activity, and Collisions.
What causes Frost wedging?
Water collects in the cracks of a rock and freezes and the rock will break apart after a number of freeze thaw cycles?
What is the cycle called during frost wedging?
Freeze-Thaw Cycle.
What causes biological activity?
Plants and animals
What causes weathering during collisions?
Rock slides or rocks sliding through turbulent rivers.
What is parent material?
What soil is made from.
What are the two types of chemical weathering cause by?
Oxygen and Water.
What is the chemical process called that is caused by oxygen?
Oxidation.
What is the chemical process that is caused by water?
Hydrolysis.
What are soil horizons?
The different layers of soil.
How many soil horizons are there?
6 soil horizons
All soils contain every soil horizon. True or False.
False.
What are the specific soil horizons?
The: O, A, E, B, C, and R horizons.
What does the first soil contain?
Organic material.
What is the second horizon mostly made up of?
Mostly made up of minerals.
Which layer does leaching occur?
Horizon E.
Which horizon collects materials from previous horizons?
Horizon E.
Which layer is partially weathered bedrock?
Horizon C.
Which layer is unweathered bedrock?
Horizon R.
Which soil horizons make up the topsoil?
Horizons O and A
Which soil horizons make up the subsoil?
Horizons E and B.
Which soil horizons make up the true soil?
Horizons O, A, E, and B.
What is the difference between weathering and erosion?
Weathering is the breakdown of material and erosion is the removal of surface material.
As the slope of a river decreases the river’s speed _____?
Decreases as well.
As the slope of a river decreases the river’s speed _____?
Decreases as well.
Small streams flow into larger rivers are called ____?
Tributaries.
Land area that gathers water for a major river is called ____?
Drainage Basin
A boundary that separates distinct drainage basins is called a ____?
Drainage Divide.
As water flows downhill under the influence of gravity, water erodes earth’s surface creating ____?
Channels.
Young rivers are ____ due to the fast movement.
V-shaped
____ rivers are wide with smooth and gentle slope.
Mature.
When rivers flood and drop their sediment load, what landform is created?
Flood plains.
When rivers flood and drop their sediment load, what landform is created?
Flood plains.
What is a fan shaped sediment deposit that forms at the mouth of a river?
Deltas.
What are distributaries?
The branching channels within deltas.
What landform forms where the mouth of a river or stream enter dry land.
Alluvial Fans.
What are the two types of glaciers?
Valley Glaciers & Continental Glaciers
Where do valley glaciers form?
High mountainous regions.
Where do continental glaciers form?
Ice sheets that occupy large land areas in colder climates
Where are the two continental glaciers located?
Greenland and Antarctica
What is a cirque?
A bowl shaped basin
What is arete?
A long sharp ridge line between two tributary glaciers
What is a horn in a mountainous region?
Sharpened peaks
Ex: Peak of a mountain
What shape of valley do valley glaciers form?
U-shaped Valleys
What are tributary glaciers?
Small glaciers that feed into large glaciers
What type of valleys do tributary glaciers form?
Hanging valleys
On which side of a sand dune does erosion occur?
The Winward Side.
On which side of a sand dune does deposition occur?
The Leeward Side.
What is deflation?
The removal of small particles by the wind, which leaves the heavier/bigger particles behind.
What is desert pavement?
The removal of small particles where what is left is the desert pavement.
What do the shapes and sizes of landforms depend upon due to wind?
They depend on wind speed, the amount of time the wind blows, and sediment supply.
What are three landforms that are created due to wave erosion?
Coastal cliffs, sea arches, and sea stacks.
What are two landforms that are created by wave deposition?
Sand bars and Sand spits.
What is a sandbar?
A sandbar is a sand lanform that is parallel to the shoreline
What is a sand spit?
A sandspit is a sandbar which extends out from the shoreline and back in.
What causes mass wasting?
Snow, heavy rains, earthquakes, and human activity.
What causes mass wasting?
Snow, heavy rains, earthquakes, and human activity.
What are some examples of mass wasting?
Rock slides, mudflows, and 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
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, object, or event.
Relative Dating
The process in which objects or event are put in their proper order in time.
Uniformitarianism
A principle that believes all laws are the same as they were in the past.
Principle of Superposition
A principle that states that in an undisturbed sequence of sedimentary rock layers, the oldest rocks are at the bottom and the youngest are at the top.
Unconformity
Gaps in the rock record where erosion occured or deposition was absent.
Fossil
The remains or traces of organisms found in the geological rock record.
What percentage of water on Earth is saltwater?
97%
What percentage of water on Earth is freshwater?
3%
Where is the majority of freshwater found?
2% is found in glaciers.
Where is the smaller percentage of freshwater found?
1% is found in lakes, rivers, and stored as groundwater.
What is precipitation?
When water vapor cools and condenses.
Examples: rain, snow, sleet, & hail.
What is runoff?
Where water runs off the land surface.
What is infiltration?
The process of which water enters the Earth and becomes groundwater below the surface.
What is transpiration?
When plants release water vapor into the atmosphere through 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?
Where water starts on the land, gets heated up turning to water vapor, rises in the air, and falls back down to the ground.
What is an unsaturated zone for groundwater storage?
A porous area where water easily passes through.
What is a saturated zone for groundwater storage?
Beneath the saturated zone, where water completely fills the pore space.
What is a water table?
Thr upper boundary of saturated zone.
What does it mean if sediment is permeable?
The more permeable, the more easily water can pass through it.
What does it mean if sediment is non-permeable?
The less permeable, the less easily water can pass through it.
What is an aquifer?
A rock unit that can transfer water through its pore space.
What is the name of the Great Plains Aquifer?
Ogalla Aquifer.
How many states does the Great Plains Aquifer run through?
8 States.
What are the names of the states that the Geat Plains Aquifer runs through?
South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas.
What is an aquitard?
An impermeable layer that keeps water confined.
How are water springs formed?
Where the water table meets the surface.
What is an artesian well?
When we drill down into a pressurized aquifer and they form when an aquifer is sandwiched between aquitards. Pressure causes the water to spew out.
What is a cone of depression?
The diresction of which the water flows down towards the well.
Troposphere
A layer extending an average of 12 km above Earths surface.
Temperature Inversion
Occurs when altitude and the air become stable.
Greenhouse Effect
A natural process in which certain gases in the atmosphere warm a planet as they absorb and emit infrared radiation.
