Earth’s Changing Surface
HONORS Study Guide Answers
1. What action causes the deposition of sand at a delta?
as it enters the ocean
The river water slows
2. What is mainly responsible for transporting the sand that forms a dune at the
beach?
wind
3. Over a long period of time, igneous rock can change into sedimentary rock. What
must happen to igneous rock before it can change into sedimentary rock? It must
weather and turn into sediment first
4. Mountain ranges can be produced when tectonic plates collide and push areas of
Earth’s crust to higher elevations. What is the correct term for this process?
uplift
5. How does chemical weathering differ from physical weathering? chemical
weathering breaks the chemical bonds as it breaks down rock while physical
weathering will only change the size and shape of the rock through physical
processes
6. What process turns rock into a metamorphic rock? Extreme heat and pressure
7. What is the role of subsidence in the rock cycle? Rock and sediment need to be
buried in order to be exposed to significant pressure to change form
8. Basalt forms when lava cools on Earth’s surface. Granite forms when magma cools
within the Earth. How could basalt and granite be classified?
Both granite
and basalt are igneous rocks but basalt is extrusive and granite is intrusive
9. What factor/s is responsible for mountains becoming rounder and smaller over
time?
weathering and erosion of the peaks
10. What must happen to a rock before it can change into igneous rock?
melt and become either magma or lava
It must
11. How do sinkhole lakes form? the roof of an underground cavern collapses, the
bottom plugs with sediment and then it is filled with water
12. What type of rock can become metamorphic rock? any type (igneous,
metamorphic, or igneous) if it is exposed to the enough heat and pressure
13. What happens to the rate of erosion when the slope of a river increases?
of erosion would increase
The rate
14. How does sediment from the mountains in Georgia reach Florida? the sediment
travels in the rivers and streams
15. What type of rock would erode faster?
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Gentle waves hitting hard rock
Rough waves hitting hard rock
Gentle waves hitting soft rock
Rough waves hitting soft rock
16. How does the mass, roundness, and shape of a sediment particle change as it is
transported in a river over a long distance? Abrasion causes the sediment particle
to become smaller, rounder, and smoother as it crashes into other rocks as it moves
downstream
17. After a storm, why might there be larger rocks and pebbles in a river that is normally
full of fine sediment? The storm would have increased the rate of erosion washing
larger sediment downstream
18. What usually happens to river sediments when there has been little rain and the
water level of the river is low?
There is little movement of sediment because
the rate of erosion decreases
19. Leaves release acids into the soil as they decay. How could the decaying leaves
affect the rocks in the soil underneath them?
The acids from the decaying
leaves break down the chemical bonds in the rock (chemical weathering)
20. Describe how a river can cause a canyon to form.
over a significant period of
time, water running across the surface slowly erodes the surface building a deep
canyon or valley
21. How have glaciers impacted Florida? as ancient glaciers melted, it caused the sea
level to rise covering land masses at lower elevations. Florida might have been
much larger millions of years ago
22. Why are floodplains so fertile?
Nutrient-rich sediment from the river bed run
on the plains when the river floods giving the plants plenty of the nutrients that they
need to grow