1) How do
the strength and cohesion of soil or sediment change with the addition of
water?
A) Water does not affect the cohesion but lowers the
strength of the soil.
B) Water reduces the cohesion and has a lubricating effect
on the soil.
C) Water increases the strength and cohesion.
D) None of the above.
2)
__________ involves movement on a zone of compressed air.
A) A slump
B) A mudflow
C) A rock avalanche
D)
Soil creep
3) Which one
of the following operates primarily in areas of permafrost?
A) rock avalanche
B) solifluction
C) soil creep
D)
mudflow
4) Which of
the following was a major factor leading to the Gros Ventre, WY slide?
A) Erosion by the river cut through tilted sandstone into
water-saturated clay.
B) Soils and shallow bedrock were very dry and fragile from
a recent drought.
C) A strong earthquake caused the unstable rock layers to
move.
D)
Freezing weather caused the overlying sandstone to slide on the icy clay bed.
5) What
caused the mudflows (lahars) on the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in 1985?
A) The eruption of the mountain caused ice and snow near
the top to melt.
B) A crater lake was broken during an eruption.
C) Warm weather caused rapid melting of snow and ice near
the summit.
D)
All of the above.
6) Which
statement best describes slumping, a mass wasting process?
A) A mass of soil fractured rock becomes saturated with
water and suddenly flows downhill.
B) Blocks of hard bedrock rapidly slide downhill along
fracture surfaces.
C) The soil and regolith move downhill very slowly.
D)
A block or blocks of rock or soil slide downhill along a curved slip surface.
7) The most
rapid type of mass movement is a __________, while the slowest type is a
__________. (Choose the answer with
the correct pair of terms to fill in the blanks.)
A) slump;
lahar
B) lahar;
debris flow
C) rock avalanche; creep
D)
debris flow; solifluction
8) Which of
the following mass movements is most likely to occur in a geologic setting
where the rock strata are inclined?
A) debris flow
B) slump
C) creep
D)
rockslide
9) Which of
the following statements concerning mudflows is NOT correct?
A) Mudflows may be caused by heavy rains or melting snow.
B) In hilly areas, mudflows move down the canyons and
stream valleys.
C) Mudflows deposit talus slopes.
D)
Mudflows can move and carry very large boulders and other coarse debris.
10) How do
freezing, thawing, wetting, and drying contribute to soil creep?
A) The soil becomes much weaker when dry and frozen.
B) Gravity exerts a much stronger force when the soil is
wet and thawed.
C) The soil expands and contracts, lifting particles and
dropping them a slight distance downslope.
D)
Eventually, these cause the soil and regolith to suddenly slide down the slope.
11) Which of
the following would cause streams to cut downward into the land surface?
A) sea level falls or the land subsides
B) sea level falls or the land rises
C) sea level rises or the land subsides
D)
sea level rises or the land rises
12) The
small streams that come together to form a larger stream high in a drainage
basin are called ___________, whereas where the stream ends at a delta, the
main channel splits into many smaller channels called __________.
A) cotributaries; levees
B) endotributaries; exotributaries
C) tributaries; distributaries
D)
distributaries; cotributaries
13)
__________ in a delta are essentially cross strata inclined toward
deeper water.
A) Backset beds
B) Topset beds
C) Foreset beds
D)
Bottomset beds
14) Where is
does the most erosion occur along a meandering stream?
A) on the straight channel segments that connect the
meander loops
B) on the outer parts of the meander loops or bends
C) at the unconsolidated point bars
D)
on the inner banks of the meander loops
15)
__________ are characteristics of downcutting streams and a youthful
stage of valley evolution.
A) Rapids, lots of whitewater, and narrow V-shaped eroded valleys
B) Wide floodplains
C) A U-shaped, cross-valley profiles
D)
Meandering channels and natural levees
16) Many
larger rivers in the Colorado Plateau region meander in deep, narrow canyons
and have no floodplains. How could this happen?
A) Original, youthful streams continued to downcut as the
land rose.
B) Original, old age streams downcut as the land gradually
rose.
C) As sea level dropped, the original youthful streams
matured into old-age streams.
D)
As sea level rose, the original, old age streams were rejuvenated.
17) What is
the drop in water surface elevation divided by the distance the water flows?
A) stream discharge
B) hydraulic capacity
C) hydrologic resistance
D)
stream gradient
18) Which
one of the following statements is true concerning natural levees?
A) Depositional features formed at times of low discharge.
B) They form during floods.
C) Erosional features left behind when meander cutoff
occurs.
D)
Form the high, steep banks of a downcutting stream.
19) Which of
the following features would probably NOT be common along a stream which was
experiencing a fall in base level?
A) natural levees; broad floodplains
B) rapids; channel bed potholes
C) waterfalls; entrenched meanders
D)
V-shaped valleys
20) How does
urbanization (paving, etc.) affect runoff and infiltration in a small,
previously forested, drainage basin?
A) both runoff and infiltration decrease
B) runoff decreases; infiltration increases
C) both runoff and infiltration increase
D)
infiltration decreases; runoff increases
21) The
__________ was the most recent Pleistocene glacial episode in North America.
A) Dakotan
B) Kansan
C) Indianan
D)
Wisconsinan
22)
__________ is one of the two main ways that glaciers flow.
A) Basal slip
B) Crevassal slip
C) Frost heaving
D)
Morainal sliding
23) Which
one of the following applies to a valley glacier that lengthens (extends its
terminus downslope) over a period of many years?
A) Wastage exceeds accumulation.
B) Accumulation exceeds wastage.
C) Accumulation and wastage are about equal.
D)
none of the above
24) Which of
the following glacial features would most likely be found the closest to each
other?
A) horn and terminal moraine
B) cirque and horn
C) hanging valley and outwash plain
D)
drumlin and fiord
25) Which
one of the following samples and experimental measurements would provide the
most information about the Earth's climate over the last 100,000 years or so?
A) cores from sea ice in the Arctic Ocean; NaCl content
B) sediment cores from a terminal moraine in Ohio sand to
clay ratio
C) sediment cores from a Pleistocene loess deposit in the
state of Mississippi; SiO2 content
D)
cores from the Greenland ice sheet; ratios of the oxygen isotopes (0-18/0-16)
26)
__________ is the best explanation for a glacial surge.
A) The climate cools suddenly and a retreating glacier
begins to advance
B) Heavy snowfalls resulting in avalanches in the zone of
accumulation
C) Melting at the base of the glacier resulting in
increased rates of basal slip
D)
Crevasses opening suddenly near the snout of a glacier
27) Which
one of the following prominent landforms in the Basin & Range region
(stretching from the Wasatch Range in Utah westward to the Sierra Nevada, in
California) formed during the Pleistocene glacial episodes?
A) terminal moraines of continental ice sheets that moved
south from Canada
B) old shorelines of large, pluvial lakes
C) erosional features produced by continental glaciation
D)
subaerial deltas submerged by the post-glacial rise in sea level
28) A fiord
is __________.
A) a glacier-cut valley that floods with ocean water as sea
level rises
B) a glacier-cut valley that is dammed by an end moraine to
form a large lake
C) a glacier-cut valley which sinks below sea level due to
glacial rebound after the ice melts
D)
a large, kettle-pocked moraine left as an island when sea level rises following
melting of the ice
29) Where do
most icebergs in the North Atlantic Ocean come from?
A) by calving of glaciers in Greenland
B) as large masses of sea ice that float eastward from Nova
Scotia
C) as masses of sea ice that float southward from the
Arctic Ocean
D) by
calving of glaciers in
Norway
30) Which
one of the following would NOT have been important for determining the advances
and retreats of ice sheets during the Pleistocene epoch? (Hint: the answer relates to the name Milankovitch.)
A) movements of Earth's tectonic plates
B) variations in the Sun's energy output
C) precession of Earth's orbit
D)
wobbling of Earth's rotational axis
31) Which
one of the following statements is true?
A) Desert landscapes are monotonous, relatively flat areas
covered to various depths with sand.
B) Deserts and dry lands are concentrated in areas of
ascending air masses and relatively low atmospheric pressures.
C) Despite infrequent rainfalls, erosion and deposition by
running water are important for creating desert landscapes.
D)
Rainshadow deserts occur on the sides of mountains that face the direction the
wind is coming from.
32) Most desert
regions occur at about _____ degrees latitude north and south of the equator
because this an area of ____________________.
A) 60;
rising air masses and low atmospheric pressure
B) 30;
sinking air masses and high atmospheric pressure
C) 10;
rising air masses and low atmospheric pressure
D)
0; sinking air masses and high atmospheric pressure
33) Which
one of the following relates most closely to why deflation might eventually
stop in a desert area?
A) rising sea level
B) development of a desert pavement
C) an increase speed of prevailing wind
D)
an increase in rainfall and flash flooding
34) Where in a desert region would you likely find the smallest sized
sediment particles (mostly silt and clay)?
A) playa
B) sand dune
C) bajada
D)
alluvial fan
35) Which
one of the following statements about sand dunes is correct?
A) A dune migrates in the direction of inclination of the
slip face.
B) The more gently sloping surface is the leeward slope of
the dune.
C) Sand is blown up the slip face and rolls down the more
gently sloping flank of the dune.
D)
None of the above are correct.
36) Assume
that the slip face of a dune slopes downhill toward the east. What is the
direction of the prevailing wind?
A) east to west
B) north to south
C) south to north
D)
west to east
37) Loess
deposits in the central United States __________.
A) blew in from the dry areas in the Great Plains and
southwestern desert areas
B) originated as rock flour in Pleistocene glacial streams
and rivers
C) accumulated from flooding of the Mississippi River
D)
were originally deposited as barchanoid dunes and later redeposited by glaciers
38) Of the
regions listed, where has the greatest amount of desertification been occurring
during the last 50 or so years?
A) the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Peninsula
B) the Sahel along the southern margin of the Sahara Desert
C) the Dust Bowl states of the Great Plains in the U.S.A.
D)
the steppe lands of southern Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan
39) A
__________ is caused by wind erosion, whereas ___________ is an example of wind
deposition.
A) bajada; barcanoid
B) inselbergs; deflation
C) desert pavement; bajada
D)
ventifact; loess
40) Desert
and steppe lands cover about what percentage of Earth's land area?
A) 10%
B) 66%
C) 30%
D)
3%
41) Water
movement and sand transport parallel to the beach are caused by __________.
A) strong, offshore winds creating a pileup of water along
the beach front
B) deep-water waves breaking offshore
C) waves hitting the beach at an angle
D)
a long fetch parallel to the beach
42) The
Saffir-Simpson scale measures
A) the size of waves hitting a beach
B) the speed and erosional power of tidal currents
C) the rate of beach drift and volume of sand moved by
beach drift
D)
the strength of hurricanes
43) A
__________ is the broad dome of water that comes on shore with a hurricane.
A) Cyclonic mound
B) Storm surge
C) Eyewall ridge
D)
Sea dome
44) Sea
level around the world is slowly rising.
Which of the following is the MOST important factor causing present-day
sea level rise?
A) Increasing power of hurricanes.
B) Warming and expansion of ocean water.
C) Melting of glacial ice.
D)
Erosional retreat of shorelines.
45) A
wave-cut platform will grow wider as a __________ retreats due to wave
erosion.
A) wave-cut cliff
B) barrier beach
C) tombolo
D)
sea stack
46) What do
spits, baymouth bars and tombolos have in common?
A) They form as headlands erode and the sand is deposited
in offshore bars.
B) They form wherever wave erosion makes a wave-cut
platform.
C) They are formed by beach drift and longshore
currents.
D)
They all form on the inland (lagoon) sides of barrier islands.
47) Which of
the following methods of stabilizing shorelines is the most unlike the other
three?
A) groin
B) beach nourishment
C) jetty
D)
sea wall
48) A
natural sand ridge that connects an island to the mainland is called a __________.
A) sand groin
B) spit
C) jetty barrier
D)
tombolo
49)
__________ are the maximum-amplitude tides produced when the Sun, Earth,
and Moon are aligned.
A) Rip tides
B) Spring tides
C) Surf tides
D)
Neap tides
50) Which
one of the following is most closely related to TIDES, not to waves?
A) beach drift
B) marine terrace
C) sea stack
D)
ebb current