Geomorphology Flashcards
A wind-eroded depression in the side of a cliff of a homogenous rock type
Alcoves and yardang windows
A low, triangular-shaped deposits built from the accumulation of sediments at thr mouth of a valley
Alluvial fan
The size of an alluvial fan depends on which of the ff: (Area of Drainage Basin, Climate, Lithologies in the Source Area, Tectonic Activity, Space for Fan Growth)
All of the above
Roughly circular or oval in plan an have a surface exposure of over 100 km2; deep-seated and are usually composed of coarse-grained plutonic rocks
Batholiths, lopoliths, and stocks
Submarine, circular, steep-sided holes which occur in coral reefs
Blue hole
Shake hole, swallow hole, swallet, doline, or cenote
Sinkhole
A compound alluvial fan where neighboring alluvial fans converge into a single apron of deposits against a slope; may hole very shallow lakes called playa
Bajada
A small, steep-sided and flat-topped hill, built of flat lying soft rocks capped by a more resistant layer of sedimentary rock, lava flow, or duricrust, surrounded by a plain
Butte
A deeply-incised, steep-sided river valley
Canyon
An assymetrical upland feature usually associated with gently dipping rocks and comprisig a steep scarp slope (or escarpment) and a longer, gentler dip slope
Cuesta
Which of the following landforms are not associated with dipping and horizontal strata? (Cuesta, Homoclinal/Strike Ridge, Hogback, Butte, Mesa, Plateau, Canyon)
Canyon
Also pericline; formed by tectonic warping, igneous intrusion, or diapir
Dome
A depositional landform produced by sedimentation at and around the mouth of a river; river-, tide-, wave-dominated
Delta
A large area of sand dunes
Erg
A long winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel that are frequently several km long and are somewhat like railroad embankments; probably former sites of sub-glacial streams and rivers
Esker
A steep slope coinciding with the line of a fault
Fault scarp
Associated with hogback ridges; triangular-shaped remnants of the bed between v-shaped notches; steeply stoping wedge-shaped landscape features created by differential erosion
Flatirons
German “sea of rock”; areas covered by large angular blocks (formed in situ), traditionally believed to have been created by freeze-thaw action
Felsenmeer or blockfield
Major splits into limestone pavement, formed by widening, deepening, and eventual merging of solution features that develop along linear weakness in the rock
Grike (Bogaz)
Small closed depressions on horizontal and gently inclined rock surfaces; similar to solution pits in carbonate rocks;
Gnamma (weathering pit or panhole)
A mountaintop that has been modified by the action of ice during glaciation and frost weathering; also pyramidal peak
Glacial horn
A tall, thin, spire of soft (sedimentary) rock topped by harder, more resistant stone that protects each column from erosion
Hoodoo (demoiselle/earth pyramid/fairy chimney/tent rock)
Large, perennial, conical, ice-cored mountains that are common in some low-lying permafrost areas dominated by fine-grained sediments, with the ice forming form injected water
Hydrolaccoliths (pingo)
Large, freestanding, residual masses of rock; most common and most well known in granitic rocks
Inselberg (tor/monadnock)
A narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water that otherwise separates them
Isthmus
Groups of residual, steep-sided conical-shaped hills produced by limestone solution
Kegelkarst (cone karst/cockpit karst)
An umbrella term which covers an elaborately diverse group of small-scale solutional features and sculpturing found on limestone and dolomite surfaces exposed at the ground surface or in caves
Karren
Lithalsas (stone rings)
Permafrost mounds formed by ice segregation within mineral soils that occur within the zone of discontinuous permafrost
An embankment, natural or man-made that confines flow during high-water periods
Levée
Occurs when a meandering river on alluvium eats down into the underlying bedrock
Incised meander
A prominent limestone hill in an are of tower karst
Mogote
An elongated cliff-base hollow cut out by abrasion, usually where breaking waves are armed with rock fragments
Abrasion notch
A point of land, usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends out into a body of water
Ness (headland/promontory/cape)
A horseshoe shaped length of stream channel which is an almost closed meander loop
Oxbow
Forms just under a boulder, form which the rate of surface lowering may be evaluated
Pedestal
A large karst depression that may sometimes be flooded with water, and which has been formed either by solution, or cavern collapse or for strutural reasons
Polje
A sheet-like surface of rock fragments that remains after wind and water have removed the fine particles; covered with closely packed, interlocking angular or rounded rock fragments of pebble and cobble
Reg (desert pavement/glober/hamada)
A long, narrow, often branching inlet formed by marine submergence of parts of a river valley that had previously been incised to a lower sea level
Ria
Accumulation of broken rock fragments that typically have a concave upwards form; maximum inclination corresponds to the angle of repose of mean debris size
Scree or talus
An isolated upstanding steep-sided rock pillar, column or pinnacle rising from the shore, a shore platform, or the sea floor close to a cliffed coast
Stack or stump
Cavernous weathering hollows produced in vertical or near-vertical rock faces; singular tafone
Tafoni in calcareous sandstone
A variety of limestone formed when carbonate minerals preicpitate out of ambient temperature water
Travertine or tufa
A depression or large hollow in limestone areas produced when several sinkholes or doline coalesce
Uvala
Created when magma hardens within vent on an active volcano; a distinctive upstanding landform produced when erosion removes the surrounding rock while the erosion-resistant plug remains
Volcanic neck/pipe
Corrosional notches at the cliff foot sometimes have protruding visors above them and plinths below them
Visor
Notch or abandoned former channel in resistant bedrock ridges that was formerly a water gap when there was insufficient stream power to complete the down cutting process
Wind gap
Also known as abandoned drainages, stream capture, or stream piracy
Wind gap
A tributary stream that is prevented form joining the main river because of the levees which flank the latter
Yazoo
A streamlined hill carved from bedrock or any consolidated or semi-consolidated material that resembles the hull of a boat
Yardang/zeugen
Isolated rocks between joints that result from downward erosion of less resistant layers
Rock fins
