Geomorphology, Surficial Processes, and Quaternary Geology

Question 1

What qualifies a snow or ice field to be considered a glacier?

Answer 1

• Large mass of ice
• Formed, at least in part, on land by the compaction and recrystallization of snow
• Moving slowly, by creep, downslope or outward in all directions due to the stress of its own weight
• Surviving from year to year

Question 2

What are the characteristics of continental glaciers?

Answer 2

Advance along a wide front and cover large areas

Question 3

What are the general characteristics of dunes?

Answer 3

Dunes are large, wind derived accumulations of sand that are located anywhere there is a source and a mode of a placement, such beach or desert environments

Question 4

What is a parabolic dune?

Answer 4

• U-shaped mounds of sand
• Convex noses and elongated arms
• Well known in coastal deserts
• Crests point upwind
• Fixed by vegetation

Question 5

What is a transverse or barchan dune?

Answer 5

• Crescent shaped mounds
• Wider than they are long
• Slip face is on the dunes concave side
• Form under winds that blow from one direction

Question 6

What is a longitudinal dune?

Answer 6

• Elongate parallel to the prevailing wind
• Sharp crested
• Common in the Sahara

Question 7

What is a arête? (Common pointed feature of a glacier)

Answer 7

A knife edged rock divide between two glacial cirques

Question 8

What is a col? (Common pointed feature of a glacier)

Answer 8

A connection across the rock arête dividing two cirques

Question 9

What is a horn? (Common pointed glacier feature)

Answer 9

A peek or pinnacle send an eroded by three or more glacial cirques.

Question 10

What is a monument? (Common pointed glacier feature)

Answer 10

A horn that has been separated by itself by intersecting cirques

Question 11

What is a truncated or faceted spurs? (Common pointed feature of glaciers)

Answer 11

Triangular, hillside features due to glacial erosion of the headlands between two former streams

Question 12

How are natural bridges formed in karst terrain?

Answer 12

Formed by water that dissolves rock underneath karst terrain

Question 13

How is a hum formed in karst terrain?

Answer 13

Individual remains of hills left behind after the dissolution of rock

Question 14

How are caverns formed in karst terrain?

Answer 14

Interconnected caves with many levels, and extending in all directions

Question 15

How is travertine formed in karst terrain?

Answer 15

Dense, finely crystalline limestone frequently, massive and concretionary. Typically white, tan or cream and commonly displaying a fibrous or concentric banded structure. Formed by a chemical precipitation of calcium carbonate from solution in surface and ground waters

Question 16

How is dripstone formed in karst terrain?

Answer 16

Any cave deposits of calcite or other minerals formed by dripping water, including stalactites and stalagmites

Question 17

How is helictite formed in karst terrain?

Answer 17

A small, thin structure formed by persistent, but small quantities of water trickling out of a hole, forming a distorted twig, like lateral projection of calcium carbonate

Question 18

What is a sinkhole? (Depression on karst terrain)

Answer 18

Round or roughly elliptical depressions ranging in diameter from a few feet to hundreds of feet, created by bedrock collapse or the dissolution of bedrock by groundwater

Question 19

What is a sinkhole pond? (Depression on karst terrain)

Answer 19

The result of clay clogging a developing or existing sinkhole, resulting in the formation of a localized perched water table

Question 20

What is a swallow hole? (Depression on karst terrain)

Answer 20

The opening at the bottom of a sinkhole, through which water can flow into a space below the surface

Question 21

What is a polje? (Depression on karst terrain)

Answer 21

A karst field or plain.