Geologic Landforms Flashcards by Janielle Benito

Volcanoes that have steep sides and a symmetrical cone

Stratovolcano

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Stratovolcano

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Shield Volcano

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Also called as Scoria Cones

Cinder Volcano

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Cinder Volcano

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Complex Volcano

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Somma Volcano

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Black Smokers

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Cryptovolcano

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Caldera

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Maar

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Lava Dome

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Aa Lava

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Pahoehoe Lava

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Pillow Lava

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Columnar Joints

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Lava Lake

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Fumaroles

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Volcanic vents similar to fumaroles but lack sulfur dioxide emissions

Solfatara

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Glacier

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Piedmont

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Drifting floating masses of ice which broke off from ice shelves

Icebergs

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Glacial ice covering high upland areas

Ice Caps

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Glacial Trough

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

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

Hanging Valley

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

Truncated Spur

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

Cirque

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

Arete

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

Moraine

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

Fjord

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

Nunataks

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

Rift Valley

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

Cuestas

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

Flatirons

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

Plateau

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

Mesa

Flat-topped, steep-sided towers of rock

Butte

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

Butte

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

Normal Fault

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

Reverse fault

Faults where bodies slide against one another

Strike-slip fault

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

Graben

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

Horst

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

Hogbacks

Bends or wraps of rocks caused by compressive stress

Folds

An arch-shaped fold formed from compressional stress

Anticline

A trough-shaped fold formed from compressional stress

Syncline

Craters that formed due to meteorite impacts

Meteor Crater

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

Cave

Large, flat plain of karst territory

Polje

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

Lapies

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

Tower Karst

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

Cone Karst

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

Karst Valley

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

Doline

Large-scale dolines

Uvalas

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

Sinkholes

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

Coast

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

Beach

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

Lagoon

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

Lake

A deposition bar or beach landform off coasts or lake shores

Spit

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

Tombolo

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

Cuspate Foreland

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

Barrier island

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

Delta

Formed as coastal forests where mangrove trees can grow

Swamps

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

Mudflat

Fine-grained rocks that shrunk due to desiccation

Mudcracks

Forms from action of waves to unconsolidated sediment

Ripples

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

Sea arch

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

Sea Stack

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

Atoll

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

Fringing Reef

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

Coral Reef

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

Convoluted Beds

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

Meandering River

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

Braided River

A fluvial system consisting of a river, lagoon and barriers

Estuary

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

Canyon

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

Oxbow Lake

Develops when channel levee breaks and causes an overbank flooding

Crevasse Splay

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

Alluvial Fan

Accumulation of adjacent alluvial fans

Bajada

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

Levee

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

Arroyo

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

Potholes

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

Deserts

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

Ergs

Applied to wind-blown silts of different compositions

Loess

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

Badlands

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

Transverse Dune

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

Seif / Longitudinal dunes

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

Barchan Dune

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

Parabolic Dune

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

Star Dune

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

Blowout

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

Honeycomb Stuctures

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

Wind Caves

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

Undulations

Isolated rock islands formed due to its highly resistant nature

Inselberg

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

Yardang

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

Pedestal Rock

Irregular shaped rock formation that is tall and pillar-like

Hoodoo

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

Ventifact