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GEOLOGY BOARD EXAM REVIEWER > Geologic Landforms > Flashcards

Geologic Landforms Flashcards

1
Q

Volcanoes that have steep sides and a symmetrical cone

A

Stratovolcano

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2
Q

Associated magma is often viscous, making these volcanoes’ eruptions highly explosives

A

Stratovolcano

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3
Q

Volcanoes that produced low viscosity, runny lava that spreads far from the source, forming gentle slopes

A

Shield Volcano

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4
Q

Also called as Scoria Cones

A

Cinder Volcano

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5
Q

These are single, steep with straight or gently concave sides, and with a crater at the top

A

Cinder Volcano

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6
Q

Mixed landforms consisting of related volcanic centers and their associated lava flows and pyroclastic rock that may form due to changes in eruptive habit or in the location of the principal vent area on a particular volcano

A

Complex Volcano

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7
Q

A volcanic caldera that has been partially filled by a new central cone

A

Somma Volcano

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8
Q

Deep-sea hydrothermal vents where volcanic activities released dark colored smoke

A

Black Smokers

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9
Q

Roughly circular holes where a volcanic origin is postulated, but where no igneous rock can be found and may have only been formed from gaseous eruptions

A

Cryptovolcano

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10
Q

Forms due to the collapse of the summit of a large composite volcano following an explosive eruption

A

Caldera

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11
Q

Known as explosion craters, these are shallow craters that were caused by volcanic eruptions

A

Maar

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12
Q

Forms from piling of lava around the vent due to viscous magma being erupted effusively onto the surface

A

Lava Dome

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13
Q

A basaltic lava flow that has a fissured, rough, clinkery or jagged surface

A

Aa Lava

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14
Q

A lava flow that has a surface flow structure that looks like coiled rope or cord due to relatively low viscosity

A

Pahoehoe Lava

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15
Q

Spheroidal-shaped solidified lava formed underwater when the magma rapidly cooled as it made contact with the cold seawater

A

Pillow Lava

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16
Q

Elongated, pillar-like columns that formed from the cooling of lava, causing shrinkage fractures

A

Columnar Joints

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17
Q

A large quantity of molten lava in a crater, vent or other depression in the ground

A

Lava Lake

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18
Q

Volcanic vents or “stream valves” which emit volatile gasses such as hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide and ammonium chloride - at high temperatures in powerful jets

A

Fumaroles

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19
Q

Volcanic vents similar to fumaroles but lack sulfur dioxide emissions

A

Solfatara

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20
Q

Thick ice mass that forms over hundreds or thousands of years that originated on land from the accumulation, compaction and recrystallization of snow

A

Glacier

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21
Q

Formations where valley glaciers leave mountains and spread on to a flat land as large lobes of spreading ice

A

Piedmont

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22
Q

Drifting floating masses of ice which broke off from ice shelves

A

Icebergs

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23
Q

Glacial ice covering high upland areas

A

Ice Caps

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24
Q

U-shaped feature created during glaciation when narrow valleys undergo a transformation as the glacier widens and deepens them

A

Glacial Trough

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25
Q

Large valley glacier systems which consist of numerous cirques and smaller valley glaciers that feed ice into large trunk glacier

A

Hanging Valley

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26
Q

A ridge that descends towards a valley floor or coastline from a higher elevation, that ends in an inverted-V face produced by erosional truncation of the spur by the action of either streams, waves or glaciers

A

Truncated Spur

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27
Q

A small bowl- or amphitheater-shaped depression, where it is the focal point of the glacier’s growth, because it is the area of snow accumulation and ice formation

A

Cirque

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28
Q

Thin, crest of rock left after two adjacent glaciers have worn a steep ridge into the rock

A

Arete

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29
Q

Accumulation of dirt and rocks that have fallen onto the glacier surface or have been pushed along by the glacier as it moves

A

Moraine

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30
Q

Deep, often spectacular, steep-sided inlets of the sea that are present at high latitudes where mountains are adjacent to the ocean

A

Fjord

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31
Q

Rock outcrops that have been partially or completely covered by ice caps due to topography

A

Nunataks

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32
Q

A valley or depression in the land bordered by fault zones and separating tectonic plates

A

Rift Valley

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33
Q

Asymmetric ridges, steep on one side and gentle on the other, that form by the erosion of gently dipping rock beds

A

Cuestas

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34
Q

Triangular facets with their bases parallel to the strike and apices or peaks, pointing up the dip of the rock

A

Flatirons

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35
Q

Relatively level, large expanse of land that rises some 1,500 feet (457 meters) or more above its surroundings and has at least one steep side

A

Plateau

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36
Q

Capped-areas with resistant, near horizontal layer is uplifted or forms from erosion attacks to form either a more or less straight front created by parallel retreat, or an irregular front with erosion scraps resulting from spring erosion or concentration of surface runoff

A

Mesa

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37
Q

Flat-topped, steep-sided towers of rock

A

Butte

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38
Q

Created through the process of erosion, the gradual wearing away of earth by water, wind and ice

A

Butte

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39
Q

Dip-slip fault in which the hanging wall has move down relative to the foot wall

A

Normal Fault

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40
Q

Dip-slip fault where the hanging wall moves upward relative to the footwall

A

Reverse fault

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41
Q

Faults where bodies slide against one another

A

Strike-slip fault

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42
Q

A block that moved downward between subparallel normal faults dipping towards each other

A

Graben

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43
Q

Blocks that remain high bounded by two subparallel normal faults dipping towards each other

A

Horst

44
Q

A series of rock formations that are exposed above the ground, usually forming a line of narrow crests or ridges on top with a series of hills or mountains

A

Hogbacks

45
Q

Bends or wraps of rocks caused by compressive stress

A

Folds

46
Q

An arch-shaped fold formed from compressional stress

A

Anticline

47
Q

A trough-shaped fold formed from compressional stress

A

Syncline

48
Q

Craters that formed due to meteorite impacts

A

Meteor Crater

49
Q

Natural Subterranean runway voids; may be simple in plan or have complex ramifications; may extend vertically or horizontally, and it may occupy one or more levels that forms due to the dissolution of carbonate rocks

A

Cave

50
Q

Large, flat plain of karst territory

A

Polje

51
Q

Etched, pitted, grooved, fluted and otherwise rugged surface formed from weathered limestone

A

Lapies

52
Q

Residual hills are steep-sided or vertical and separated from each other by swamps or alluvial plains

A

Tower Karst

53
Q

A karst landscape where the terrain is approximately equally shared by conical dolines and conical residual hills

A

Cone Karst

54
Q

Valleys where a surface drainage pattern first develops on a non-soluble rock and later erodes into soluble rock when subsurface drainage totally defeats the surface flow

A

Karst Valley

55
Q

Closed cone- or bowl-shaped hollows of small or moderate depressions that forms from carbonate rocks

A

Doline

56
Q

Large-scale dolines

A

Uvalas

57
Q

Depression that varies in depth from a mere indentation of a few feet to a maximum of 100 feet or more and forms where the rock below the land surface is limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds or rocks that can naturally be dissolved by groundwater circulating through them

A

Sinkholes

58
Q

Most rapidly changing land forms which can be identified on a single photograph by tone, texture, pattern and shape

A

Coast

59
Q

A shoreline formation that meets a body of water and contains sand, gravel, soil or particles of sediment from seashells and other sea life

A

Beach

60
Q

A shallow body of water protected from a larger body of water (usually the ocean) by sandbars, barrier islands, or coral reefs

A

Lagoon

61
Q

Large isolated inland bodies of water that forms due to water filling large depressions

A

Lake

62
Q

A deposition bar or beach landform off coasts or lake shores

A

Spit

63
Q

A bar that extends outward from the shore, connecting with an island

A

Tombolo

64
Q

Extend outwards from the shoreline in a triangular shape that forms through accretion and progradation of sand and shingle

A

Cuspate Foreland

65
Q

A long, thin, sandy stretch of land, oriented parallel to the mainland coast that protects the coast from the full force of powerful storm waves

A

Barrier island

66
Q

Discrete shoreline protuberances formed where rivers enter oceans, seas, lakes or lagoons and supply sediment more rapidly than it can be redistributed

A

Delta

67
Q

Formed as coastal forests where mangrove trees can grow

A

Swamps

68
Q

Coastal wetlands that form when mud is deposited by tides or rivers

A

Mudflat

69
Q

Fine-grained rocks that shrunk due to desiccation

A

Mudcracks

70
Q

Forms from action of waves to unconsolidated sediment

A

Ripples

71
Q

Forms when wave erosion has hollowed out a line of weakness in otherwise resistant promontory and two caves on opposite sides of a headland unite

A

Sea arch

72
Q

Single column or columns of rock that jut toward the sky where they standout from the beach formations such as headlands or they may shoot out of the water, looking completely out of place

A

Sea Stack

73
Q

Ring-shaped coral reef, island, or series of islets that surrounds a lagoon

A

Atoll

74
Q

A reef that has either an entirely shallow backreef zone (lagoon) or none at all

A

Fringing Reef

75
Q

Complex organogenic framework of corals and sponges which forms a rocky eminence on the sea floor and customarily grows upward to the tide limit

A

Coral Reef

76
Q

Deformed beds that rolled into small anticlines and sharp synclines that formed from the disturbance off paleocurrents

A

Convoluted Beds

77
Q

River that bend in a sinuous watercourse that forms when the moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widen its valley

A

Meandering River

78
Q

A channel that consists of a network of small channels separated by small and often temporary islands called eyots

A

Braided River

79
Q

A fluvial system consisting of a river, lagoon and barriers

A

Estuary

80
Q

A narrow, deep, rocky and steep-walled valley carved by swift-moving river with a depth that may be considerably greater than its width

A

Canyon

81
Q

U-shaped body of water formed when a wide meander from the main stem of a river is cut off to create a lake

A

Oxbow Lake

82
Q

Develops when channel levee breaks and causes an overbank flooding

A

Crevasse Splay

83
Q

Fan-shaped deposits that are fed by a channel emanating from a very narrow, steep valley in a region of high topographic relief

A

Alluvial Fan

84
Q

Accumulation of adjacent alluvial fans

A

Bajada

85
Q

Naturally between a river’s banks and the floodplain around it that blocks water

A

Levee

86
Q

Stream channels with flat floors and steep walls of sediment usually found in deserts or other arid climates and completely dry up between periods of activity due to water-less conditions

A

Arroyo

87
Q

Circular holes that were caused by erosion due to the downward circular motion of eroding particles

A

Potholes

88
Q

Areas of great accumulation of sand found in arid and semi-arid regions

A

Deserts

89
Q

Sand seas or areas where there is a high accumulation of sand

A

Ergs

90
Q

Applied to wind-blown silts of different compositions

A

Loess

91
Q

Areas where deep erosion of poorly consolidated rocks creates a landscape of steep slopes, sparse vegetation and intricate stream networks

A

Badlands

92
Q

Crescentic concave ridges and mounds created and shaped by the transportation and deposition of sediment with the slip face transverse to the wind

A

Transverse Dune

93
Q

Linear dunes that form from constant wind direction and with no vegetation

A

Seif / Longitudinal dunes

94
Q

Isolated, long, scoop-shaped hollows, or parabolas, of sand with ends following the wind direction that forms due to sand blowouts and subsequent deposition

A

Barchan Dune

95
Q

Dunes that form in coastal areas where there is a partial cover of vegetation, a strong onshore wind, and abundant sand with ends opposite that of barchan dunes

A

Parabolic Dune

96
Q

Dunes with varying directions of ends that form from highly variable with direction

A

Star Dune

97
Q

Deflations where the topsoil or sand has been carried away by the wind

A

Blowout

98
Q

Intricately pitted rock surfaces that have often been attributed to wind abrasion

A

Honeycomb Stuctures

99
Q

Alcoves and niches in rock walls that may have been resulted from wind abrasion, where they are at the base of a cliff

A

Wind Caves

100
Q

Short, flat-topped sand ridges which extend parallel to the prevailing winds but lack the collapsing fronts

A

Undulations

101
Q

Isolated rock islands formed due to its highly resistant nature

A

Inselberg

102
Q

A streamlined, wind-sculpted landform that is carved in soft rock by persistent winds in flat deserts oriented parallel to the prevailing winds

A

Yardang

103
Q

Residual masses of weak rock capped with harder rock primarily formed by the wind action

A

Pedestal Rock

104
Q

Irregular shaped rock formation that is tall and pillar-like

A

Hoodoo

105
Q

Rocks that exhibit one or polished and faceted surfaces, but these are relatively rare because strong winds, abundance of sand, and absence of vegetation are essential to their best development

A

Ventifact

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