The Sea Floor

Running Water

  1. The channel of the Houston River is 20 meters wide and 5 meters deep. When the velocity is 10 meters/second the discharge is:

    1. 1000
    2. 1000 cubic meters per second
    3. 100 cubic meters per second

  2. If the discharge increases to 4000 cubic meters per second during a flood and the depth and width of the channel cannot change, the velocity will increase to:

    1. 400 cubic meters/second
    2. 40 meters/second
    3. 400 meters/second
    4. 40 cubic meters/second

  3. A dendritic stream pattern will tend to develop in:

    1. regions underlain by regularly-spaced joints or faults
    2. regions of fold mountain belts
    3. along the flanks of isolated volcanoes
    4. in regions of vertically-oriented or tilted sedimentary rocks
    5. in regions flat lying sedimentary rocks

  4. Point bars are deposited:

    1. on the inside of stream meanders
    2. on the outside of stream meanders
    3. on the bottom-center of stream channels
    4. at the base of watefalls
    5. in abrasion potholes

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

    1. deltas
    2. alluvial fans
    3. natural levees
    4. point bars
    5. backswamps

  6. As a river flows into a quiet lake and begins to form a:

    1. deltas
    2. alluvial fans
    3. natural levees
    4. point bars
    5. backswamps

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

    1. channel width
    2. channel depth
    3. gradient
    4. water velocity
    5. load

Deserts

  1. Wind transports fine-grained sediments by:

    1. saltation
    2. solution
    3. suspension
    4. surface creep

  2. Wind transports coarse sediments by:

    1. saltation
    2. solution
    3. suspension
    4. surface creep

  3. In a desert, wind erosion is usually ______ important than erosion by running water.

    1. less
    2. more
    3. about the same

  4. Ancient sand dunes now preserved as quartz arenites, would be characterizd by an abundance of _________

    1. mud cracks
    2. graded bedding
    3. cross-stratification
    4. phenocrysts

  5. Most of the world's deserts are found in belts:

    1. along the equator
    2. in middle to low latitudes
    3. in middle to high latitudes
    4. in polar regions

Glaciers

  1. Which of the following depositional features would you look for to assess whether an area had undergone glaciation?

    1. horns, aretes or cols
    2. hanging valleys
    3. terminal moraines
    4. waterfalls
    5. all of the above

  2. Which of the following erosional features would you look for to assess whether an area had undergone glaciation?

    1. horns, aretes or cols
    2. hanging valleys
    3. striated bedrock
    4. waterfalls
    5. all of the above

  3. Active continental glaciation may produce world-wide transgressions lasting several tens of millions of years?

    1. True
    2. False

  4. Which one of the following landforms could be formed by either alpine or continental glaciation?

    1. arete
    2. hanging valleys
    3. col
    4. end moraine
    5. a cirque

  5. An arete is a product of:

    1. stagnant ice processes
    2. till deposition
    3. subglacial streams
    4. headward erosion by alpine glaciers
    5. a deposition from meltwater

  6. Elongate ridges of drift on the ice surface at the middle of alpine glaciers are called:

    1. lateral moraines
    2. medial moraines
    3. end moraines
    4. terminal end moraines
    5. none of these

  7. The firn line separates the:

    1. zone of plastic flow from the zone of fracture
    2. zone of ablation from the zone of accumulation
    3. zone of accumulation from the zone of fracture
    4. ice terminus from the end moraine
    5. ice terminus from the terminal end moraine

Shoreline Processes

  1. The distance from crest to crest is the:

    1. wave period
    2. wave length
    3. wave height
    4. none of these

  2. The sequence of wave development is:

    1. sea, breaker, swell
    2. breaker, sea, swell
    3. sea, swell, breaker
    4. breaker, swell, sea

  3. The size of a wave is controlled by the:

    1. wind speed
    2. wind duration
    3. fetch
    4. all of the above

  4. During a transgression, barrier islands :

    1. migrate landward
    2. migrate seaward
    3. remain fixed
    4. enlarge rapidly

  5. Which of the following sedimentary rocks might you expect to find forming along a passive continental margin?

    1. arkose
    2. tillite
    3. litharenite
    4. quartz arenite

Geology of the Sea Floor
  1. The Gulf Coast of Texas is a

    1. active margin
    2. passive margin

  2. The west coast of Peru is

    1. active margin
    2. passive margin

  3. If there is a hot spot in the asthenosphere beneath Yellowstone, Wyoming, which way will the center of active volcanism appear to have moved in a million years?

    1. East
    2. West
    3. North
    4. South

  4. Melange deposits are associated with _______ plate margins?

    1. subduction
    2. continent/continent collision
    3. spreading centers
    4. transform faults

  5. Silica rich sediments characterize the deep sea floor. The silica could have come from

    1. volcanic debris
    2. life forms that live in the oceans
    3. neither of these is correct
    4. the first two are correct

  6. Turbedity currents can occur at both active and passive continental margins.

    1. True
    2. False

  7. The presence of "magnetic stripes" recorded in the oceanic crust reflects:

    1. reversals in polarity
    2. the rate of sea floor spreading
    3. variation in composition of the crust
    4. all of these

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