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Earth Science Test 3
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Drainage Basin | The specific land area that contributes water to a river system |
| Stream flow | Begins as water is added to the surface |
| Stream Longitudinal Profile | A cross-section view of a stream across the landscape, from the head (source) of a stream to the mouth |
| Thalweg | On the outside curve of a bend (the cut bank) |
| Dissolved Load | Lons from the weathering of minerals |
| Suspended Load | Fine particles (silt or clay) in the flow |
| Bed Load | Larger particles roll, slide, bounce along the stream bed |
| Alluvium | Unconsolidated sediment deposited by a stream |
| Deltas | Exist where the mouth of a stream enters a lake or ocean |
| Natural Levees | Form parallel to the stream channel due to flooding along stream bank |
| Potholes | Carved out by the rotational motion of swirling pebbles/cobbles in the bed of a stream |
| Stream Load | Amount of transported material carried by the stream |
| Ultimate Base Level | The sea level |
| Local Base Level | A lake, rive, etc. This stream base level is temporary |
| Characteristics of Narrow Valleys | -v-shaped -down cutting toward base level -rapids/waterfalls |
| Characteristics of Wide Valleys | -downward erosion is less dominant -stream energy directed side to side -floodplain is present |
| Point Bar | Where sediment is deposited along a stream channel; located on the inside of a meander |
| Cut Bank | The zone of active erosion; located on the outside of a meander of a stream |
| Causes of Floods | -weather -human interference -ground too dry to adsorb precipitation |
| Artificial Levees | Earthen mounds built on the banks of rivers to increase the volume of water the channel can hold |
| Flood-Control Dams | Build to store floodwater and then let it out slowly |
| Channelization | Altering a stream channel in order to spread the flow of water to prevent it from reaching flood height |
| Dendritic Pattern | Develops on relatively uniform bedrock and forms resembles a branching tree |
| Radial Pattern | Develops on isolates volcanic cones or domes. |
| Rectangular Pattern | Develops on highly jointed bedrock |
| Trellis Pattern | Develops in areas of altering weak and resistant bedrock |
| Zone of Aeration | Unsaturated Zone -pore spaces are filled with mainly air |
| Zone of Saturation | All pore spaces in the sediment are filled with water |
| Water Table | The upper limit of the zone of saturation; the boundary between the saturated and unsaturated zones |
| Porosity | -percentage of pore spaces in a sediment -determines storage of groundwater |
| Permeability | -ability to transmit water through connected pore spaces |
| Aquirtard | An impermeable layer of material |
| Aquifer | A permeable layer of material that water can move through (often sand and gravel) |
| Cone of Depression | When groundwater is removed too quickly before it can be recharged |
| Artesian Wells | Water in the well rises higher than the initial groundwater level so it will flow out freely |
| Caverns | -formed by dissolving bedrock beneath Earth's surface |
| Sinkhole | A void underground, usually created from the dissolution of bedrock, causes surface to sink |
| Stalactites | Hang down from the ceiling of a cave |
| Stalagmites | Grow upward from the floor |
| Columns | A stalactite and stalagmite that have grown together |
| Glacier | A thick mass of ice that forms over land from the compaction and re-crystallization of snow, and shows evidence of past or present flow |
| Valley or Alpine Glacier | Form in mountainous areas; relatively small |
| Ice Sheets or Continental Glaciers | Large scale, can be miles thick. ex-Greenland and Antarctica |
| How much glacial ice covers Earth's surface? | 10% |
| Piedmont Glaciers | From when alpine or valley glacier emerges from the confining wall of a valley. Ice spreads out in a sheet onto the lowlands |
| Types of Glacier Movements | -plastic flow -slipping along the ground surface |
| Crevasses | Large, open cracks form brittle ice, exposing more deeply buried older ice below |
| Zone of Accumulation | The area where a glacier forms |
| Zone of Wastage | The area where there is a net loss due to melting |
| The Glacial Budget | Accumulation has to exceed wastage if glacier is to lengthen; must equal wastage to be maintained |
| Retreating Glacial Ice | More melting than accumulation |
| Glacial Saturation's in Bedrock | Shows direction of ice movement |
| Glacial Trough | This v-shaped valley (created from streams) eroded into a u-shaped valley by ice |
| Hanging Valley | Valley of tributary glaciers left hanging above main trunk glacier |
| Cirque | Bowl-shaped depression with walls on 3 sides |
| Arête | Sinuous, sharp-edged ridges formed form creation of several cirques on either side of a valley |
| Horn | A pyramid-like peak formed from creation of several cirques close together |
| Fjord | A deep, steep-sided ocean-flooded glacial valley |
| Moraines | Layers or ridges of glacial till |
| Lateral | Left as ridges as glacier wastes/melts away |
| Medial | Line of rock on sides of lacier formed when two valley glaciers coalesce |
| End | Forms at the terminus (end) of a glacier |
| Sheild | Large, relatively flat ancient metamorphic rock with stable continental interior |
| Platform | Shields that are cover by sedimentary rock Craton= shield + platform |
| Pangaea | The most recent super continent, but and even larger one, Rodina, preceded it |
| Paleozoic Era | Dominated by continental collisions as Pangaea began to be assembled. Mississippian and Pennsylvanian period. Lasted from 540 to 248 mya |
| Mesozoic era | Breakup of Pangaea began. Consists of Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods 248-65 mya age of reptiles |
| Cenozoic Era | Uplift of Appalachians and mammals began to replace reptiles Consists of Tertiary and Quaternary periods 65 mya to present Age of flowering plants |
| Prokaryotes | Single celled bacteria, lacked nucleus |
| Megafuna | Extinction of ice age |
| Cyanobacteria | Group of prokaryotes, that uses solar energy to synthesize organic compounds, thus producing their own food |
| Stromatolites | Layered fossilized mounds of these bacteria |
| The Cambrian Explosion | Paleozoic marks the first appearance of life forms with hard parts such as shells |
| Lobe-Finned Fishes | Adapted to land and became the first amphibians |
| Carboniferous Periods | Pennsylvanian and Mississippian Periods |
| Mass Extinction | At the close of the Paleozoic era destroyed 70% of all vertebrate species on land and 90% of all marine organisms |
| Permian-Triassic Boundary | Called great Permian extinction |
| Angiosperms | Flowering plants are seed-plants with flowers and fruits and includes grasses |
| Mammoths | Existed during the last ice age, related to modern elephants |
| Weathering | The disintegration and decomposition of material at or near the surface |
| Erosion | the transportation or material by a mobile agent (usually water, wind or ice) |
| Mass Wasting | the transfer of rock material down-slope under the influence of gravity |
| Mechanical Weathering | Physical breakdown of rocks into smaller pieces |
| Talus | Angular rock debris fragments on slope |
| Biological Activity | Helps to mechanically weather rocks |
| Physical Weathering | Creates more surface area, which aids the process of chemical weathering |
| Chemical Weathering | Alters the internal structure of minerals by removing or adding elements |
| Differential Weathering | Caused by variations in rock composition Created unusual and spectacular rock formations and land-forms |
| Soil | Combination of organic matter, mineral matter, water, air |
| Controls of Soil Formation | Climate, organisms, parent material, time, slope |
| Residual Soil | Parent material is the bedrock |
| Transported Soil | Parent material has been carried from elsewhere and deposited |
| Topography | Influences soil properties, including soil depth |
| Soil Profile | A vertical section through the soil horizons |
| Types of Mass Wasting | Slides, slumps, falls, flows, creep |
| Triggering Factors | Saturation of material with water Removal of anchoring vegetation Ground shaking from earthquakes Removal of supporting material Over-steeping of slopes |
| Fall | Vertical free-fall of rocks/sediment |
| Slide | Material moves down-slope along well-defined surface |
| Flow | Material moves as a viscous fluid indicated water |
| Slump | Rapid movement along a curved surface Occurs along over-steepened slopes Known as a rotational landslide |
| Engineered Structures | Safety structures can be built to improve slope stability or to reduce movement hazards |
| Rock Staples | Rods drilled into rocks to hold loose facing |
| Avalanche Shields | Structures that shunt avalanche snow |
| Controlled Blasting | Intentional removal of dangerous rock |
| Landslide Scars | Evidence of previous mass wasting at the same site |
| Earth Flow | Occurs when water saturates the soil Typically occurs on hillsides in humid regions during times of heavy rain or snow melt |
| Liquefaction | A special type o f earthflow associated with earthquakes |
| Creep | Slow down-slope movement of soil and regolith |
| Solifluction | Slow movement in areas underlain by permafrost (permanently frozen ground) |
| Desert Rainfall | Often occurs as heavy showers and can cause flash floods |
| Ephemeral Stream | A dry stream channel in the desert |
| Basin and Range | The evolution of a desert landscape |
| Alluvial Fans | A fan-shaped pile of debris that forms at eh mouth of a canyon |
| Bajadas | When several alluvial fans coalesce to form a large apron of sediment at bottom of mountains |
| Playas | Dry, flat lake bed formed from internal drainage collecting after rain or melting snow |
| Inselburgs | Mountains are reduced to a few large bedrock knobs |
| Wind Erosion | A very prevalent force in the desert |
| Deflation of Landscape | The lifting and removal of loose sediment |
| Blowout | A depression created by deflation of landscape |
| Frost Wedging | The expansion to break rocks apart when water gets into the cracks and then freezes, wedging the ricks apart |
| Transpiration | The release of water vapor to the atmosphere by plants |
| Oxbow Lake | A curved lake produced when a stream cuts off a meander |
| Karst Topography | Caverns and Sinkholes |
| Process in Hydro Cycle | Precipitation Evaporation Infiltration Runoff Transpiration |
| What is the most powerful erosion agent? | Water |
Created by:
kmeseke
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