TEST #3

Question 1

If you were to examine the longitudinal profile of a typical river, you would probably find that the gradient is

Answer 1

steepest near the head

Question 2

What is the longitudinal profile of a stream?

Answer 2

The cross-sectional area from the headwaters to the mouth

Question 3

___ is the maximum load of solid particles a stream can transport per unit time

Answer 3

Capacity

Question 4

Streams will tend to lengthen thanks to ____ erosion

Answer 4

Headward

Question 5

What is the mouth of a stream?

Answer 5

The location where one stream flows into another body of water

Question 6

The percentage of the total volume of rock or sediment that consists of pore space is:

Answer 6

Porosity

Question 7

Which of the following uses the largest percentage of the Earth’s groundwater?

Answer 7

Irrigation

Question 8

___ is a term used to describe how the water table around a pumping well becomes lowered and roughly conical in shape as water is take from the subsurface.

Answer 8

Cone of Depression

Question 9

Which of the following is not an example of groundwater erosion?

Answer 9

Karst topography

Question 10

A typical rate of groundwater flow for many aquifers is approximately ____.

Answer 10

4 cm/day

Question 11

Where is the larges mass of ice on earth today located?

Answer 11

Antartica

Question 12

Although we know that the total amount of ice is shrinking, at the present time what percentage of the earth’s land surface is currently covered by glacial ice?

Answer 12

10%

Question 13

How does an alpine glacier modify the valley through which it moves?

Answer 13

All of these (deepens it, widens it, straightens it)

Question 14

A ___ forms when a block of ice is buried in drift and subsequently melts, creating a pit

Answer 14

Kettle lakes

Question 15

The tilt of Earth’s rotational axis is ____.

Answer 15

varying between 22 and 24.5 from the vertical over the course of 41, 000 years

Question 16

Which of the following deposition/erosion scenarios will develop when a groin is constructed on the beach?

Answer 16

Deposition on up current side and erosion on down current side

Question 17

The vertical distance between trough and crest is called the wave ____

Answer 17

height

Question 18

When are waves affected by the seafloor, that is, when do waves begin to “feel bottom”?

Answer 18

When water depth is equal to one-half the wave length

Question 19

When waves reach shallow water, they are often bent and tend to become parallel to the shore. This process is termed:

Answer 19

refraction

Question 20

What generated tides on the earth?

Answer 20

Gravitational attraction of the moon

Question 21

It is an exceptionally cold winter’s day and one of your classmates makes a comment writing-off the idea of global warming. What is the scientifically correct analysis of that?

Answer 21

Your classmate is incorrect. Weather is a short-term phenomenon and we cannot make conclusions about the climate based on a single-day temperature readings

Question 22

Sea level rise is a combination of _____ and _____ as the climate becomes warmer.

Answer 22

Melting ice and thermal expansion

Question 23

_____ is the study and reconstruction of past climates through the use of proxy data.

Answer 23

Paleoclimatology

Question 24

How will explosive volcanic eruptions affect global temperatures?

Answer 24

Temperatures will lower

Question 25

Which process has been largely responsible for increasing the amount of CO2 in the last 200 years?

Answer 25

Burning of fossil fuels

Question 26

What was the approximate increase in global temperature during the 20th century?

Answer 26

0.8 degrees celcius

Question 27

____ are often the best-preserved, most easily identifiable plant remains in sediments and can be used to interpret the paleoclimate

Answer 27

Pollen

Question 28

Which coastline will be more significantly impacted by sea level change, the Pacific Coast or the Atlantic Coast and why?

Answer 28

The Atlantic Coast, as it has a gently sloping shoreline

Question 29

What is produced when carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater?

Answer 29

Carbonic Acid

Question 30

Which two gases make up the majority of the atmosphere?

Answer 30

Nitrogen and Oxygen