Weathering

Multiple Choice Questions for Running Water - Chapter 10

Each chapter will include a few questions designed to test your knowledge of material covered in the chapter and in the Internet-based resources. Your answers are not being recorded. Try the following.

  1. A dendritic stream pattern will tend to develop in __________ .

    regions underlain by regularly-spaced joints or faults
    regions of folded strata
    along the flanks of isolated volcanoes
    regions of flay-lying sedimentary rocks

  2. Point bars are deposited _____________ .

    on the inside of a meander bend
    on the outside of a meander bend
    at the base of a waterfall
    by turbidity currents

  3. As a river overflows its banks during flood, it drops much of its coarser-grained load immediately, forming landforms called ___________ .

    deltas
    alluvial fans
    natural levees
    point bars

  4. A river flows into a quiet lake and begins to form a ____________ .

    deltas
    alluvial fans
    natural levees
    point bars

  5. Which one of the following generally decreases downstream along the length of a stream?

    channel width
    channel depth
    gradient
    velocity

  6. Which of the following statements about fluid flow is false?

    as the velocity of a stream increases, laminar flow may change to turbulent flow
    the viscosity of most fluids increases as temperature increases
    most streams and rivers are turbulent
    the more viscous the fluid, the more likely the flow is laminar

  7. What type of flow can transport gravel and cobbles?

    laminar
    turbulent
    both A and B
    neither A nor B

  8. Particles that roll and slide along the river bottom are called _________ .

    bed load
    suspended load
    dissolved load
    none of the above

  9. What type of material is most likely to be transported as suspended load?

    clay
    silt
    sand
    depends on the "energy" of the stream

  10. Suspended load includes material ___________ .

    rolling along on the bottom of the stream
    temporarily or permanently suspended in the flow
    deposited on the bottom of the stream
    rolling along the bottom and suspended in the flow

  11. The speed at which suspended particles become part of the bed load of a stream is called the ____________ .

    discharge velocity
    capacity
    settling velocity
    competence

  12. Running water erodes solid rock by _________ .

    abrasian
    chemical and physical weathering
    undercutting action of currents
    all of the above

  13. At a bend in a river, _________ occurs on the outside of the bend and ________ occurs on the inside of the bend.

    erosion ..... deposition
    deposition ...... erosion
    erosion .......erosion
    deposition ..... deposition

  14. Which of the following does not determine whether a stream is straight, braided, or meandering?

    flow volume
    sediment load
    riverbank erodibility
    length of river

  15. The volume of water flowing past a point in a given time is called the __________.

    comptence
    viscosity
    discharge
    capacity

  16. What is the probability of a 50-year flood occuring next year?

    2%
    10%
    50%
    cannot be determined from the information given

  17. The shape of the longitudinal profile of all streams is __________ .

    a horizontal line
    a straight line sloping downstream
    a concave upward curve
    a concave downward curve

  18. If sea level were to rise, the slope of the longitudinal profile of many rivers would _________ .

    increase
    decrease
    first increase, then decrease
    first decrease, then increase

  19. If a dam is built, sediment will ________ on the upstream side of the dam and sediment will ________ on the downstream side of the dam.

    accumulate ... accumulate
    accumulate ... erode
    erode ... accumulate
    erode ... erode

  20. Terraces are remnants of former ___________ .

    floodplains
    rivers
    floodplain deposits
    alluvial fans

  21. What type of drainage pattern would you expect to find on a volcano?

    dendritic
    rectangular
    radial
    radical

  22. What type of drainage pattern would you expect to find where rapid weathering along joints in bedrock controls the course of streams?

    dendritic
    rectangular
    radial
    radical

  23. A delta is made up of sediments ____________ .

    deposited at the mouth of a river
    deposited on the inside of a meander loop
    deposited at a mountain front
    deposited on the outside of a meander loop

  24. Which of the following processes is the most important erosional force?

    streams
    glaciers
    wind
    waves

  25. About how much dissolved materials do rivers transport each year?

    2-4 thousand tons
    2-4 million tons
    2-4 billion tons
    2-4 trillion tons

  26. Since humans began to actively affect their environment, how much has sediment transport by streams increased?

    10%
    50%
    100%
    200%

  27. Which of the following flows is most likely to be turbulent?

    slow flow in a shallow channel
    fast flow in a shallow channel
    slow flow in a deep channel
    fast flow in a deep channel

  28. Which of the following statements about fluid flow is false?

    as the velocity of a stream increases, laminat flow may change to turbulent flow
    the viscosity of most fluids increases as the temperature increases
    most streams and rivers are turbulent
    the more viscous the fluid, the more likely the flow is laminar

  29. What type of flow can transport gravel and cobbles?

    laminar
    turbulent
    both A and B
    neither A nor B

  30. What type of material is most likely to be transported as suspended load?

    clay particles
    sand particles
    gravel particles
    all of these are equally likely to be transported as suspended load

  31. Which of the following statements about streams is false?

    for the same discharge, laminar flows generally carry more sediment than turbulent flows
    faster currents can carry larger particles than slower currents
    smaller particles settle more slowly than larger particles
    the base level is the lowest level to which a stream can erods

  32. Gravel-sized particles are transported by rivers as ________.

    suspended load
    bed load
    dissolved load
    all of these

  33. The intermittent jumping motion of sand grains along a river bottom is called ______.

    saltation
    rippling
    suspension
    meandering

  34. During turbulen flow, smaller grains will not _________.

    be picked up more frequently than large grains
    jump higher than large grains
    settle more quickly than large grains
    travel further than large grains

  35. Which of the following stream velocities will lead to the largest sand dunes?

    low
    moderate
    high
    very high

  36. Potholes in river bottom bedrock are formed by _____.

    the impacy of a large rock moved by a strong current which makes a "crater"
    the grinding action of a pebble or cobble in a swirling eddy
    cascading water from a waterfall which wears away the rock
    none of the above

  37. Of the choices show belpw, the most common youthful cross-sectional river valley profile is _____? A
    B
    C
    D

  38. Of the choices show below, the most common mature cross-sectional river valley profile is _____? A
    B
    C
    D

  39. What is the term for a curved sandbar that forms on the inside curve of a stream?

    meander
    point bar
    dune
    oxbow

  40. In this figure the arrow is pointing to a(n) _________?

    meander
    point bar
    natural levee
    oxbow lake

  41. Natural levees are made up of ___________.

    silt and clay deposited during a flood
    sand and gravel deposited during a flood
    overlaping point bars
    isolated point bars

  42. Natural levees are built up by _________.

    beavers
    humans
    floods
    erosion

  43. For a given river, which of the following floods would have the largest discharge?

    a 5-year
    a 20-year flood
    a 100-year
    one cannot be determined from the informaiton given

  44. Which of the following statements regarding floods is true?

    a 50-year flood is generally of greater magnitude than a 100-year flood
    a 100-year flood has a 10% chance of occurring in any one year.
    if there is a 20% probability of a flood of a certain height occurring in any one year it is called a 5-year flood
    the recurrence interval of a flood of a certain height does not depend upon the width of the floodplain

  45. What is the primary reason sediment is deposited in large cone-shaped deposits at mountain fronts?

    because stream valleys widen abruptly at a mountain front
    because stream valleys nattrow abruptly at a mountain front
    because streat valleys get much steeptr a a mountain front
    because stream valeys get less steep at a mountain front

  46. River terraces are composed of ________ and form as a result of rapid _______

    bedrock .... subsidence
    bedrock ..... uplift
    flood plain deposits ..... subsidence
    flood plain deposits ..... uplift

  47. If a stream breaks through a divide and captures drainage from the competing stream it is called

    competitive capture
    competitive erosion
    stream piracy
    stream capture

  48. This pattern most closely resembles ________ drainage

    dendritic
    rectangular
    radial
    trellis

  49. In this map view, the stream is flowing _______

    from top to bottom
    from bottom to top
    from right to left
    from left to right

  50. A _________ drainage pattern develops where rapid weathering along joints in bedrock controls the course of streams

    dendritic
    rectangular
    radial
    trellis

  51. How far can large rivers, such as the Amazon, maintain a current out to sea?

    meters
    tens of meters
    hundreds of meters
    many kilometers

  52. A delta is made up of sediments _________

    deposited at the mouth of a river
    deposited on the inside of a meander loop
    deposited at a moutain front
    deposited on the outsideof a meander loop

  53. Which of the following beds in a lake-delta consists of thin horizontal layers of mud?

    topset
    foreset
    bottomset beds
    all of these

  54. Why is the Missippi delta so large?

    because the Mississippi RIver transports a huge amount of sediment
    because the tides in the GUlf of Mexico are not very strong
    because waves in the Gulf of Mexico are not very strong
    all of these

  55. The east coast of North America lacks deltas because ________

    waves and tides are too strong
    no rivers empty out along the east coast of North AMerica
    the Applachian Mountains are too erosion resistant
    rivers of the east coast have currents that are too weak to carry much sediment

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