Test 2 Flashcards

1
Q

The most common trigger for setting off avalanches resulting in loss of life is?

A

People on the snowpack.

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2
Q

True or False: The five closest planets to the sun are called the terrestrial planets.

A

False.

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3
Q

True or False: All living things make up the earth’s subsystem we call the lithosphere.

A

False.

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4
Q

Weak layers in a snowpack can promote slab avalanches. What atmospheric conditions create surface crystals (hoar), which when buried become weak layers?

A

Cold, calm and humid.

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5
Q

If a companion is caught in an avalanche, what should you do?

A

You should begin looking for them directly downslope from the point last seen.

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6
Q

If you are caught in an avalanche, what should you do?

A

Clear an air space as things come to a stop.

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7
Q

The phrase “rain shadow” is associated with which type of precipitation?

A

Orographic.

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8
Q

True or False: In general, gulleys and drainages are safer places to be than ridges in avalanches.

A

False.

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9
Q

As the temperature of a parcel of air increases, its ability to hold water vapor _____.

A

Increases.

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10
Q

If our Earth did not have an atmosphere, temperature extremes between day and night would?

A

Increase.

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11
Q

True or False: Generally the windward side of a mountain slope is more dangerous than leeward with respect to the avalanche.

A

False.

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12
Q

What is the order of wavelength arrangements from shorter to longer?

A

Violet, blue, green, orange, red.

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13
Q
Clouds form at?
A. At 100% relative humidity.
B. At lifting condensation level.
C. At dew point temperatures.
D. With condensation, forming water droplets.
E. All of the above.
A

E. All of the above.

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14
Q

Topographic contour maps?

A

Show elevations of land surface.

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15
Q

The type of clouds most associated with rain are?

A

Cumulonimbus.

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16
Q
Ways to get warm moist air to move vertically upward do NOT include?
A. Convective Cells.
B. Orographic Effects.
C. Corriolis Effects.
D. Frontal Systems.
A

C. Corriolis Effect.

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17
Q

If a parcel of air is capable of holding 36 grams per cubic meter but it only contains 9 grams per cubic meter, then its relative humidity would be _____ percent.

A

25.

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18
Q

The process by which plants give up moisture to the air is?

A

Transpiration.

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19
Q

Sleet is?

A

Frozen or semi-frozen rain.

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20
Q

Strong updrafts can blow heavy, falling particles back up into clouds where they accumulate layers and become heavier. These particles are called?

A

Hail.

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21
Q

Safer avalanche terrain includes?

A

A place with plenty of anchors.

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22
Q

Squall lines form most often ahead of a?

A

Cold front.

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23
Q

Which of the following characteristics is NOT shared by hurricanes and mid-latitude cyclones?
A. Convergent air flow.
B. An inward directed pressure gradient force.
C. Frontal precipitation.

A

Frontal precipitation.

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24
Q

Which of the following is NOT true about lightning?
A. It moves with a speed of over 6,000 miles per second.
B. Negative charges from a cloud make connection with positive ground charges.
C. Connection between negative electrons in the clouds and positive charges on land is typically made at ground surface.
D. Takes about 0.02 seconds to connect cloud to ground.
E. There is a return stroke of positive charges.

A

C. Connection between negative electrons in the clouds and positive charges on land is typically made at ground surface.

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25
Q

True or False: The air immediately around a discharge of lightning is momentarily heated up to temperatures in excess of 45,000 degrees F (hotter than the surface of the sun).

A

True.

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26
Q

“Tornado Alley” seems to be centered on?

A

Kansas and Oklahoma.

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27
Q

True or False: Most tornadoes are fairly weak and have wind speeds of 100 miles per hour or less.

A

True.

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28
Q

Tornadoes?
A. Are often found on the trailing portion of a supercell because of low pressure conditions.
B. Are usually restricted in height to about 1,000 ft. because of Coriolis momentum.
C. Are usually slow enough to easily outrun on foot even if they are traveling directly to you.
D. Often travel from southeast to northwest in America’s “tornado alley”.
E. All of the above.

A

A. Are often found on the trailing portion of a supercell because of low pressure conditions.

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29
Q

Tornadoes in the early part of the season (January, February, March) are more likely to be?

A

In the souther part of the US (Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia).

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30
Q

True or False: Doppler radar has the ability to detect tornadoes which often exhibit a characteristic “hook” shape.

A

True.

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31
Q

Hurricanes?
A. Spin clockwise in the northern hemisphere, when viewed from above.
B. Spin the same was as adjacent high pressure areas.
C. Come from tropical storms at the point when wind speeds exceed 65 mph.
D. None of the above.

A

D. None of the above.

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32
Q

Hurricanes?
A. Form at the equator.
B. Are not as large as tornadoes.
C. Intensify over warm ocean areas.
D. Tend to intensity when they move over land surfaces.
E. Often form and “eye”, which is a region of intense low pressure inside the hurricane.

A

C. Intensify over warm ocean areas.

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33
Q

“Storm surge” from a hurricane occurs?

A

In part from wind-driven waves.

34
Q

More people die from cyclones in Bangladesh compared to hurricanes that hit the US because?

A

The median household income in Bangladesh is about 1/75th than of income in the US and therefore house is less affordable and sturdy than in the US.

35
Q

True or False: The effective wind speed on either side (right and left of the center or eye) of a hurricane, moving on-shore, is about the same.

A

False.

36
Q

A climograph?

A

Shows monthly temperature and rainfall variation.

37
Q

Many of the great deserts of the world coincide with the?

A

Subtropical highs.

38
Q
The main six divisions of the Koppen system of climate include all EXCEPT the following?
A. Arid.
B. Highland.
C. Lowland.
D. Microthermal.
E. Tropical.
A

C. Lowland.

39
Q

True or False: In general, the polar regions have low precipitation.

A

True.

40
Q

Mesothermal climactic zones have?

A

Mild winters, warm summers.

41
Q

True or False: Differences in climate from one place to another at the microclimate level are almost always a result of human activity and have little to do with natural factors.

A

False.

42
Q

Typical Savanna climates?

A

Have variations of grassland and trees, scrub and thornbushes.

43
Q

Adaptation of desert plants to arid conditions include?
A. Plants that only bloom for a short time, often following rains.
B. Chlorophyll in the bark of some plants.
C. Small, waxy leaves or needles.
D. Leaves that, when they fall, make the soil less optimal for other plants.
E. All of the above.

A

E. All of the above.

44
Q

Permafrost?

A

Is a permanently frozen layer of soil.

45
Q

Mediterranean climates?
A. Much of the natural vegetation is sclerophyllous.
B. Include the Redwood forest in northern California.
C. Have crops that typically include grapes and olives.
D. Have rainy winter seasons.
E. All of the above.

A

E. All of the above.

46
Q

The ice-sheet climate?
A. Often has severe and persistent winds.
B. Has a large net annual radiation loss.
C. Is the most severe and restrictive climate on earth.
D. Is a type of polar climate.
E. All of the above.

A

E. All of the above.

47
Q

The climate in which precipitation is less than the potential evapotranspiration, but is greater than 1/2 the potential evapotranspiration is?

A

Steppe

48
Q

Mosses, lichens, and short grasses are the common, dominant types of natural vegetation in a?

A

Tundra

49
Q

The Boreal Forests are also known as?

A

Taiga

50
Q

True or False: In highland climates, the greatest precipitation is typically found along the windward slopes.

A

True.

51
Q

The coldest climatic region in the world is the?

A

Ice cap.

52
Q

The hottest climate in the world is?

A

Desert.

53
Q

The most biological diversity in the world is found in the _____ climate.

A

Tropical rainforest.

54
Q

The measured increase in night-time low temperatures in Las Vegas over the last few decades are associated with?

A

The “heat island” effect.

55
Q

Milankovitch theory indicates that?
A. The Holocene interglacial will continue indefinitely.
B. Glaciers will cover much of North American in a few hundred years.
C. The Holocene interglacial will end and Earth will experience major glaciation in about 23,000 years.
D. Climate will continue to get warmer and nearly all of the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps will disappear within 3,000 years.

A

C. The Holocene interglacial will end and Earth will experience major glaciation in about 23,000 years.

56
Q

Which of the following best describes the Pleistocene Epoch?
A. Warm, humid period of swamps and forests when dinosaurs roamed Earth.
B. Most recent climate interval characterized by warm, stable conditions.
C. Two major glacial cycles slowly followed by shorter, warmer interglacials.
D. Complex record of climate changes characterized by cycles of rapid advance and retreat of glaciers.

A

D. Complex record of climate changes characterized by cycles of rapid advance and retreat of glaciers.

57
Q

The 41,000 year variation in the tile of Earth’s axis is called the?

A

Obliquity cycle.

58
Q

Ocean floor core samples enriched in oxygen-18 isotopes (as opposed to oxygen-16)?
A. Show past times of global warming.
B. Show past times when oxygen-18 was tied up in glaciers.
C. Show oxygen-18 preferentially evaporates.
D. Show ocean water was depleted in oxygen-16, relative to 18, during time of global glacial advance.
E. None of the above.

A

D. Show ocean water was depleted in oxygen-16, relative to 18, during time of global glacial advance.

59
Q
Past climate change can be measured by?
A. Oxygen isotopes in sea cores.
B. Dendrochronology.
C. Palynology.
D. Evidence of sea level changes.
E. All of the above.
A

E. All of the above.

60
Q

Changes in climate are measured by?
A. Variations in insolation.
B. Changes in the atmospheric composition.
C. Changes in the ocean temperature and salinity.
D. Changes in landmasses.
E. All of the above.

A

E. All of the above.

61
Q

True or False: Ocean currents have a fairly small impact on climate.

A

False.

62
Q

True or False: Carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have not gone above 300 parts per million (ppm) in the last 400,000 years, until the last half-century.

A

True.

63
Q

True or False: Sea level lowered 6.7 inches in the 1900’s (twentieth century).

A

False.

64
Q

True or False: Volcanic activity generally warms the earth in the years after the eruptions.

A

False.

65
Q
Herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and detrivores are subclasses of which one of the four components of a typical ecosystem?
A. Abiotics.
B. Autotrophs.
C. Decomposers.
D. Heterotrophs.
E. None of the above.
A

D. Heterotrophs.

66
Q
Which of the following is an example of an autotroph?
A. Reptiles.
B. Plants
C. Minerals.
D. Mammals.
E. None of the above.
A

B. Plants.

67
Q

The process by which natural vegetation at a particular location develops in a sequence of states involving different plant communities is known as?

A

Succession.

68
Q

What happens to tropical soils when the rainforest is cleared?

A

Clearing interrupts the critical nutrient cycle and leads to soil leaching and erosion.

69
Q

The overlapping area between two major plant dominated ecosystems is?

A

An ecotone where elements of both systems intermingle.

70
Q

Xerophytic vegetation is most likely in which climatic region?

A

Desert.

71
Q

Why does the Viceroy butterfly look like a Monarch butterfly?

A

It is an example of mimicry and because the Viceroy tastes good to birds and the Monarch tastes bad.

72
Q

True or False: An advantage of a vegetarian diet is that more people can be supplied with food than one that includes domesticated meat.

A

True.

73
Q

True or False: An example of nekton are clams that live in bottom muds.

A

False.

74
Q

Classic sedimentary rocks?
A. Are derived undersea organisms forming limestone and chalk.
B. Include fossil fuels.
C. Can be foliated.
D. Can have undergone compaction and/or cementation.
E. All of the above.

A

D. Can have undergone compaction and/or cementation.

75
Q

True or False: Primary waves (P-waves) are faster than secondary waves (s-waves).

A

True.

76
Q

True or False: Weathering and erosion mean the same thing.

A

False.

77
Q

Which of the following is true?
A. The outer core of the earth is thought to be liquid.
B. The center of the earth is called the mantle.
C. The thinnest layer of the earth is the outer core.
D. The athenosphere is considered rigid and part of the lithosphere.

A

A. The outer core of the earth is thought to be liquid.

78
Q

Which of the following is true?
A. The inner core is liquid.
B. The Mohorovicic discontinuity separates the outer core from the crust.
C. Continental crust is less dense than oceanic crust.
D. The Mohorovicic discontinuity separates the lithosphere from the mantle.

A

C. Continental crust is less dense than oceanic crust.

79
Q
Intrusive igneous rocks?
A. Cool slowly.
B. Form big crystals.
C. Are plutonic.
D. Can form granite.
E. All of the above.
A

E. All of the above.

80
Q

An unconformity?
A. Is a zone of missing geologic history.
B. Can be formed by intense erosion, followed by deposition.
C. Spanning approximately 1.2 billion years is found in the Grand Canyon and at the base of Frenchman Mountain near Las Vegas.
D. All of the above.
E. A and B only.

A

D. All of the above.

81
Q

In the rock cycle?
A. Heating/pressure can turn metamorphic rock into sedimentary rock.
B. Magma cools to metamorphic rock.
C. Weathering and erosion of igneous rock is the first step turning it into sedimentary rock.
D. Heating/pressure can turn magma into sedimentary rock.
E. The Rolling Stones are not yet clastic.

A

C. Weathering and erosion of igneous rock is the first step turning it into sedimentary rock.