Geology Exam #4 Questions With Answers
Hydrologic Cycle
The continuous recycling of water from the oceans, through the atmosphere, to the continents, and
back to the oceans
Gradient
The downhill slope of a river measured as vertical drop/horizontal
Velocity
The measure of the downstream distance water travels in a given time measure as ft/sec or m/sec
Discharge
The volume of water in a stream, measured as volume of water that passes a particular point in a
given period of time.
Bed Load
Sediment particles transported by a river which are too large to be suspended in the water column
Suspended Load
The smaller sedimentary particles transported by a stream which are continuously kept suspended.
Zone of Aeration
The portion the soil or bedrock where the pore spaces are mostly filled with air.
Zone of Saturation
The portion of the soil or bedrock where the pore spaces are mostly filled with water.
Water Table
The surface which separates the son of aeration from the zone of saturation.
Aquifer
A permeable layer of rock or sediment transporting groundwater.
Porosity
The percentage of a material's total volume that is a pore table.
Shoreline
The area between low tide and the highest level on land affected by storm waves.
Longshore Current
Water between the breaker zone and the beach which flows parallel to the shoreline.
Spit
, A finger-like projection of a beach into a body of water such as a bay. (parallel to the shoreline)
Tombolo
A projection of the beach from the beach to an offshore island. (perpendicular to the shoreline)
Sea Cliff
Steep or vertical slopes formed by erosion in the shoreline are.
Glacier
A mass of ice on land consisting of compacted, recrystallized snow that flows under its own weight.
Glacial Drift
A general for all deposits that result from glacial activity.
Cirque
A steep-walled, bowl-shaped depression formed by erosion of valley glaciers
Moraine
A mound-like or linear deposit of glacial till
Kettle
A circular to oval depressions left in a glacial outwash plain, often filled with water.
Saltation
The bouncing or skipping movement of sand particles
Desert Pavement
The mosaic of packed together pebbles left behind by the removal by wind of all the fine-grained
particles.
Barchan Dune
Crescent shaped dunes which form in areas of limited sand supply. tips of dunes point downwind.
Parabolic Dune
Dunes common in coastal areas which are crescent shaped with their tips pointing upwind
Types of flowing water
Turbulence, gradient, velocity, discharge
Types of Loads
Dissolved, solid, suspended, bed
most of the geological work in rivers and streams takes place during...
Hydrologic Cycle
The continuous recycling of water from the oceans, through the atmosphere, to the continents, and
back to the oceans
Gradient
The downhill slope of a river measured as vertical drop/horizontal
Velocity
The measure of the downstream distance water travels in a given time measure as ft/sec or m/sec
Discharge
The volume of water in a stream, measured as volume of water that passes a particular point in a
given period of time.
Bed Load
Sediment particles transported by a river which are too large to be suspended in the water column
Suspended Load
The smaller sedimentary particles transported by a stream which are continuously kept suspended.
Zone of Aeration
The portion the soil or bedrock where the pore spaces are mostly filled with air.
Zone of Saturation
The portion of the soil or bedrock where the pore spaces are mostly filled with water.
Water Table
The surface which separates the son of aeration from the zone of saturation.
Aquifer
A permeable layer of rock or sediment transporting groundwater.
Porosity
The percentage of a material's total volume that is a pore table.
Shoreline
The area between low tide and the highest level on land affected by storm waves.
Longshore Current
Water between the breaker zone and the beach which flows parallel to the shoreline.
Spit
, A finger-like projection of a beach into a body of water such as a bay. (parallel to the shoreline)
Tombolo
A projection of the beach from the beach to an offshore island. (perpendicular to the shoreline)
Sea Cliff
Steep or vertical slopes formed by erosion in the shoreline are.
Glacier
A mass of ice on land consisting of compacted, recrystallized snow that flows under its own weight.
Glacial Drift
A general for all deposits that result from glacial activity.
Cirque
A steep-walled, bowl-shaped depression formed by erosion of valley glaciers
Moraine
A mound-like or linear deposit of glacial till
Kettle
A circular to oval depressions left in a glacial outwash plain, often filled with water.
Saltation
The bouncing or skipping movement of sand particles
Desert Pavement
The mosaic of packed together pebbles left behind by the removal by wind of all the fine-grained
particles.
Barchan Dune
Crescent shaped dunes which form in areas of limited sand supply. tips of dunes point downwind.
Parabolic Dune
Dunes common in coastal areas which are crescent shaped with their tips pointing upwind
Types of flowing water
Turbulence, gradient, velocity, discharge
Types of Loads
Dissolved, solid, suspended, bed
most of the geological work in rivers and streams takes place during...
