UNIT #5 EXAM -- SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDSCAPES NAME:______________________
BLOCK____ DATE____________
1. Which set of surface soil conditions on a hillside would
result in the most infiltration of rainfall?
4. Which surface soil type has the slowest permeability rate
and is most likely to produce flooding?
A) gentle slope, saturated soil, no vegetation
A) pebbles
B) sand
B) gentle slope, unsaturated soil, vegetation
C) silt
D) clay
C) steep slope, saturated soil, vegetation
5. Rainfall is most likely to infiltrate into soil that is
D) steep slope, unsaturated soil, no vegetation
A) permeable and saturated
2. Base your answer to the following question on The
diagram below is a cross-sectional view of rain falling on
a farm field and then moving to the water table.
B) permeable and unsaturated
C) impermeable and saturated
D) impermeable and unsaturated
6. The graph below represents soil permeability.
As particle size increases, permeability
A) decreases
Which word best describes the movement of the
rainwater through zone A?
A) runoff
B) saturation
C) infiltration
D) precipitation
C) remains the same
3. Why does water move very slowly downward through
clay soil?
A) Clay soil is composed of low-density minerals.
B) Clay soil is composed of very hard particles.
C) Clay soil has large pore spaces.
D) Clay soil has very small particles.
Page 1
B) increases
7. The diagram below represents three identical beakers
filled to the same level with spherical beads.
A)
B)
If the packing of the beads within each beaker is the
same, which graph best represents the porosity within
each beaker?
C)
D)
8. Which soil characteristic allows greater amounts of
water retention?
A) large-size particles
B) small-size particles
C) high-density particles
D) low-density particles
Page 2
9. Soil with the greatest porosity has particles that are
A) poorly sorted and densely packed
B) poorly sorted and loosely packed
C) well sorted and densely packed
D) well sorted and loosely packed
10. Soil composed of which particle size usually has the
greatest capillarity?
A) silt
B) fine sand
C) coarse sand
D) pebbles
11. Which conditions produce the most surface water
runoff?
A) steep slope, heavy rain, and frozen ground
B) steep slope, gentle rain, and unfrozen ground
C) gentle slope, heavy rain, and frozen ground
D) gentle slope, gentle rain, and unfrozen ground
Page 3
12. Base your answer to the following question on The cross section below shows the movement of
wind-driven sand particles that strike a partly exposed basalt cobble located at the surface of a windy
desert.
Which cross section best represents the appearance of this cobble after many years of exposure to the
wind-driven sand?
A)
B)
C)
D)
Page 4
13. Base your answer to the following question on The
diagram below shows granite bedrock with cracks.
Water has seeped into the cracks and frozen. The
arrows represent the directions in which the cracks have
widened due to weathering.
15. At high elevations, which is the most common form of
physical weathering?
A) abrasion of rocks by the wind
B) alternate freezing and melting of water
C) dissolving of minerals into solution
D) oxidation by oxygen in the atmosphere
16. Which event is an example of chemical weathering?
A) rocks falling off the face of a steep cliff
B) feldspar in granite being crushed into clay-sized
particles
C) water freezing in cracks in a roadside outcrop
Which statement best describes the physical weathering
shown by the diagram?
A) Enlargement of the cracks occurs because water
expands when it freezes.
D) acid rain reacting with limestone bedrock
17. Landscapes will undergo the most chemical weathering
if the climate is
B) This type of weathering occurs only in bedrock
composed of granite.
A) cool and dry
B) cool and wet
C) warm and dry
D) warm and wet
18. Which geologic feature is caused primarily by chemical
weathering?
C) The cracks become wider because of chemical
reactions between water and the rock.
D) This type of weathering is common in regions of
primarily warm and humid climates.
A) large caves in limestone bedrock
14. Which type of climate has the greatest amount of rock
weathering caused by frost action?
A) a wet climate in which temperatures remain below
freezing
B) a wet climate in which temperatures alternate
from below freezing to above freezing
C) a dry climate in which temperatures remain below
freezing
D) a dry climate in which temperatures alternate from
below freezing to above freezing
Page 5
B) a pattern of parallel cracks in a granite mountain
C) blocks of basalt at the base of a steep slope
D) the smooth, polished surface of a rock in a dry,
sandy area
19. Water is a major agent of chemical weathering because
water
21. The diagram below represents a geologic cross section.
A) cools the surroundings when it evaporates
B) dissolves many of the minerals that make up
rocks
C) has a density of about one gram per cubic
centimeter
D) has the highest specific heat of all common earth
materials
20. Base your answer to the following question on The
generalized cross section below shows the sedimentary
rock layers at Niagara Falls in western New York State.
Which rock layer appears to be most resistant to
weathering and erosion?
A) Lockport dolostone
B) Rochester shale
C) Grimsby sandstone
D) Queenston shale
Page 6
Which rock type appears to have weathered and eroded
the most?
A)
B)
C)
D)
Base your answers to questions 22 and 23 on the graph below, which shows the effect that average yearly
precipitation and temperature have on the type of weathering that will occur in a particular region.
22. Which type of weathering is most common where the average yearly temperature is 5°C and the average
yearly precipitation is 45 cm?
A) moderate chemical weathering
B) very slight weathering
C) moderate chemical weathering with frost action
D) slight frost action
23. The amount of chemical weathering will increase if
A) air temperature decreases and precipitation decreases
B) air temperature decreases and precipitation increases
C) air temperature increases and precipitation decreases
D) air temperature increases and precipitation increases
Page 7
24. As a particle of sediment in a stream breaks into several
smaller pieces, the rate of weathering of the sediment
will
28. What change will a pebble usually undergo when it is
transported a great distance by streams?
A) It will become jagged and its mass will decrease.
A) decrease due to a decrease in surface area
B) It will become jagged and its volume will increase.
B) decrease due to an increase in surface area
C) It will become rounded and its mass will increase.
C) increase due to a decrease in surface area
D) It will become rounded and its volume will
decrease.
D) increase due to an increase in surface area
25. A rock will weather faster after it has been crushed
because its
A) volume has been increased
B) surface area has been increased
C) density has been decreased
D) molecular structure has been altered
26. The formation of soil is primarily the result of
A) stream erosion and mass movement
B) stream deposition and runoff
C) precipitation and wind erosion
D) weathering and biological activity
27. Sediments found in glacial moraines are best described
as
A) sorted and layered
B) sorted and not layered
C) unsorted and layered
D) unsorted and not layered
Page 8
29. The diagram below shows the sequence of events leading to the deposition of landslide debris.
What was the primary force that caused this landslide?
A) gravity
B) moving ice
C) prevailing winds
D) stream discharge
30. The diagram below shows a glacial landscape feature forming over time from a melting block of ice.
This glacial landscape feature is best identified as
A) a kettle lake
B) an outwash plain
C) a finger lake
D) a moraine
Page 9
31. Base your answer to the following question on The
diagram below shows a section of a meander in a
stream. The arrows show the direction of stream flow.
32. The map below represents a meandering stream flowing
into a lake. A student measured water depths in the
stream at three locations: A–A', B–B', and C–C'.
Which set of cross sections best represents the
streambed at the three locations?
The streambank on the outside of this meander is
steeper than the streambank on the inside of this
meander because the water on the outside of this
meander is moving
A)
B)
A) slower, causing deposition
B) faster, causing deposition
C)
C) slower, causing erosion
D)
D) faster, causing erosion
Page 10
33. The diagram below represents a cross section of a stream. Points A, B, C, D, and E are locations within the
stream channel.
Which graph best represents stream velocity at locations A through E?
A)
B)
C)
Page 11
D)
34. Base your answer to the following question on
the map and cross section below. The map shows the shapes and locations of New York State's 11 Finger
Lakes and the locations of some major glacial deposits (moraines) left behind by the last ice age. The cross
section shows surface elevations, valley depths, and water depths of the Finger Lakes.
In which New York State landscape region are the Finger Lakes located?
A) Hudson-Mohawk Lowlands
B) Erie-Ontario Lowlands
C) Allegheny Plateau
D) the Catskills
Page 12
35. Base your answer to the following question on the map
below. Arrows on the map show the location and
orientation of glacial striations on the surface bedrock.
Dark shading shows the location of large moraines
(glacial deposits).
How were the striations made?
A) Frost action cracked the bedrock during the ice
age.
B) Rocks at the bottom of the glaciers were
dragged over the bedrock.
C) Particles carried by winds scratched the bedrock
during the ice age.
D) Particles carried by glacial meltwater eroded the
bedrock.
36. Which erosional agent typically deposits hills of
unsorted sediments?
A) glaciers
B) streams
C) winds
D) ocean waves
37. Which natural agent of erosion is mainly responsible
for the formation of the barrier islands along the
southern coast of Long Island, New York?
A) mass movement
B) running water
C) prevailing winds
D) ocean waves
Page 13
38. The map below shows some features along an ocean shoreline.
In which general direction is the sand being moved along this shoreline by ocean (long–shore) currents?
A) northeast
B) southeast
C) northwest
D) southwest
39. The diagrams below represent landscape features found 40. Clay, silt, and sand are added to a jar of water. The jar is
along the seacoast. The arrows show ocean-wave
shaken and then allowed to stand quietly for a number
direction. Which shoreline has been shaped more by
of hours. The result of this demonstration could be best
deposition than by erosion?
used as a model to show that
A)
B)
C)
D)
A) particles with the lowest density settle the fastest
B) particles with the largest diameter settle the
fastest
C) water has a higher specific gravity than clay, silt,
and sand
D) the bottom layer of a series of sediments is the
youngest
Page 14
41. Four quartz samples of equal size and shape were
placed in a stream. Which of the four quartz samples
below has most likely been transported farthest in the
stream?
A)
44. The diagram below represents a landscape region and
its underlying bedrock structure.
B)
Which stream pattern is most likely present in this area?
C)
D)
42. A stream with a velocity of 100 centimeters per second
flows into a lake. Which sediment-size particles would
the stream most likely deposit first as it enters the lake?
A) boulders
B) cobbles
C) pebbles
D) sand
A)
B)
C)
D)
45. New York State's generalized landscape regions are
identified primarily on the basis of elevation and
A) bedrock structure B) climate zones
43. A stream is entering the calm waters of a large lake.
Which diagram best illustrates the pattern of sediments
being deposited in the lake from the stream flow?
C) geologic age
D) latitude
46. In which New York State landscape region is Niagara
Falls located?
A)
A) Tug Hill Plateau
B) St. Lawrence Lowlands
C) Allegheny Plateau
D) Erie-Ontario Lowlands
B)
47. The particles in a sand dune deposit are small and very
well-sorted and have surface pits that give them a
frosted appearance. This deposit most likely was
transported by
C)
D)
A) ocean currents
B) glacial ice
C) gravity
D) wind
48. A paved blacktop parking lot was built on what was
once a soil-covered field. This area will now experience
increased runoff when rain occurs because the paved
parking lot has
Page 15
A) less capillarity
B) less permeability
C) greater infiltration
D) greater porosity
Base your answers to questions 49 and 50 on the
diagram below, which shows several different landscape
features. Points X and Y indicate locations on the
streambank.
49. Explain why the stream meanders on the floodplain, but
not in the mountains.
50. Explain why the upper valley in the mountains is
U-shaped and the lower valley is V-shaped.
Page 16
Answer Key
UNIT #5: SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDSCAPES
1.
B
37.
D
2.
C
38.
B
3.
D
39.
B
4.
D
40.
B
5.
B
41.
D
6.
B
42.
C
7.
D
43.
C
8.
B
44.
B
9.
D
45.
A
10.
A
46.
D
11.
A
47.
D
12.
B
48.
B
13.
A
49.
14.
B
15.
B
16.
D
17.
D
18.
A
19.
B
20.
A
21.
C
22.
D
23.
D
— The stream began
to flow over a nearly
flat landscape. —
Stream velocity
decreased. —
Gradient decreases
from the mountains to
the floodplain. — The
stream flows more
slowly on the
floodplain.— The
floodplain is
composed of loose
sediment.
24.
D
50.
25.
B
26.
D
27.
D
28.
D
29.
A
30.
A
U-shaped: — It was
eroded by glaciers. —
A glacier formed the
valley. — formed by
glacial ice
V-shaped: —
Running water cut the
V-shaped valley. — A
stream formed the
valley.
31.
D
32.
A
33.
A
34.
C
35.
B
36.
A
Page 17