Lecture 5 Flashcards
Endogenic
Heat energy beneath the crust (formed or occurring beneath the surface)
Exogenic
Processes driven by energy external to the mantle
Relief
Differences in height in a specific location
Geological cycle
Natural cycle of recycling of Earth’s minerals over time
Mass wasting
Mass movement of eroded material due to gravity
Fluvial transport
Majority of sediment globally is transported by water
Glaciers
A large, thick mass of ice that stays frozen from one year to the next and has the ability to move
Tides and waves
Movement along sea coasts
Eolian transport
Movement by wind
Rain shadow effect
Result of a mountain casting a rain shadow on one side of the mountain
Drainage basin
A topographical region which concentrates water received as precipitation into a series of geographically isolated rivers
Meandering river systems
The shortest distance between two points in a straight line
V-shaped valleys
The river cuts down and deepens its valley, the river widens its valley as it depends, the river continues to widen its valley.
Estuaries
Places of transition from land to sea (where freshwater meets saltwater)
Deltas
freshwater landforms created when a fast-moving body of water, such as a river, flows into a comparatively still body of water, such as a lake or ocean
Alluvial fans
When deposition zones occur inland away from oceans
Drainage divide
Movement of water from an elevated region is isolated by regions of elevation
Dissolved load
Particle size groups: generally too small to see, dissolved into the water
Suspended load
Particle size groups: suspended in the water, large enough to be visible but still very small
Bed load
Particle size groups: largest size, rolling/sliding along the bed
Oxbow lakes
a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water
Meander scars
a geological feature formed by the remnants of a meandering water channel
U-shaped valley
Glacier movement leaves behind a characteristic shape in the environment
Glacial till
As the glacier melts, it leaves behind characteristic sediment deposits
Drop stones
Isolated stones dropped from floating glaciers as they melt (evidence for ancient glacier presence)
Erosional coasts
Wave energy erodes existing terrestrial landform (beaches formed from eroding land)
Depositional coasts
Deposition and reworking of existing sediments by wave action is the most important driver of beach shape (sediments can consist of former marine life)
Desert pavement
A surface layer of closely packed or cemented pebbles, rock fragments etc
Sand dune
A mound of sand formed by the wind, usually along the beach or in a desert
Bolide impact
The impact of an extraterrestrial body on the surface of the earth
Shocked quartz
When quartz is subject to intense pressure and temperature, crystal structure changes (forms stress lines)
Shatter cones
Geological features that are only naturally found in the bedrock beneath bolide impact sites
Forms when underlying bedrock is exposed to extreme temperature and pressure
