Surface Processes vocab

Question 1

Abrasion

Answer 1

Physical wearing down of rocks as they rub against each other

Question 2

Alluvial Fan

Answer 2

Deposit of sediment formed where the velocity of a river slows as it flows out of mountains and onto dry land

Question 3

Capillarity

Answer 3

Ability of water to rise in small openings

Question 4

Chemical wearhering

Answer 4

Action resulting in changing chemical composition of a rock

Question 5

Deposition

Answer 5

Release of sediments from an erosional system; also called sedimentation

Question 6

Erosion

Answer 6

Carrying away/transporting of weathered rock materials by agents such as water/glacial ice/gravity

Question 7

Evaporation

Answer 7

Liquid-gas

Question 8

Flood Plain

Answer 8

Land between a stream and steep walls of a valley usually covered by stream during flood

Question 9

Gradient

Answer 9

Rate of change location to location in a field

Question 10

Hydraulic cycle

Answer 10

See water cycle

Question 11

Infiltration

Answer 11

Water into regolith turns into groundwater

Question 12

Mass movement

Answer 12

Earth materials moving down a slope due to gravity

Question 13

Meander

Answer 13

Bend in a river

Question 14

Permeability

Answer 14

Ability of regolith to allow water to pass through

Question 15

Physical weathering

Answer 15

Rocks are cracked/split/broken into smaller pieces

Question 16

Porosity

Answer 16

Amount pf pore space between particles of a material

Question 17

Precipitation

Answer 17

Falling of liquid from the sky

Question 18

Runoff

Answer 18

Moving liquid water on earth’s surface

Question 19

Soil

Answer 19

Part of regolith that supports plants w/ roots

Question 20

Sorted sediment

Answer 20

Separated by size

Question 21

Transpiration

Answer 21

Plants release water vapor

Question 22

U-shaped valley

Answer 22

Valleys caused by glaciers

Question 23

Unsorted sediment

Answer 23

Particles of different sizes

Question 24

V-shaped valley

Answer 24

Valley carved by streams

Question 25

Water table

Answer 25

Upper surface of a zone of saturation of ground water

Question 26

Weathering

Answer 26

Chemical and physical breakdown of rocks at/near earth’s surface by weathering agents

Question 27

Zone of saturation

Answer 27

Earth’s surfaces filled with ground water