Final Exam Review
Be sure to study questions from exams 1, 2, and 3, pay
special attention to ones that you missed. You do not
want to get them wrong again.
The following questions are a review only with example
questions. Understand that I will change these if I use
them on your exam.
1. Histosols are
a. Soils that are rich and that make up the
“breadbaskets” of the world
b. Soils that are composed of recent volcanic
ash and lava
c. Soils that shrink as organic matter in them
decomposes when exposed to air
d. Soils that form in deserts and are rich in
mineral nutrients
Extra credit opportunity: go to the following link, do the
survey, print the certificate, turn it in on exam day for 3
points extra on the final exam.
http://ccwebsrv.usouthal.edu/classclimate/online.php?p=
UCFAK
EF
2. What two climate types
have seasonal precipitation
changes that are directly
related to the seasonal
migration of the global
pressure belts?
a. Af and Aw
ET
Df
Cs
B
Aw
b. Aw and B
Af
c. Af and B
Aw
d. Aw and Cs
e. Cs and ET
3. The “A” soil horizon is the zone of
a. Accumulation
b. Unaltered parent material
c. Leaching
d. Altered parent material
B
Cs
Df
ET
EF
4. How is this water being held in the soil?
a. Electrical charges
b. Capillary action
c. Gravitational forces
5.
Which of the following statements
about needleleaf deciduous trees
is FALSE.
a. They have needlelike
leaves that are cheap to
produce
b. They can photosynthesize
all year
c. They can shed their leaves
and go dormant during
hardest times
d. They need some water
during growing season
e. They pay for their leaves
“cash up front”
1
6.
Laterization is associated with all the following
EXCEPT
a. Warm, wet climates
b. Needleleaf evergreen forests
c. Oxisols
d. High levels of iron and aluminum in the
soil
8. Which of the following factors in soil formation is NOT
affected by climate?
a. The amount of rain that falls and then moves
through the soil
b. The type of vegetation that grows in an area
c. The decay rate of organic matter in the soil
d. The production rate of organic matter added to
the soil
e. The porosity of the soil
Latitudinal variation in precipitation
10. Why is rainfall
higher at 30°N than it
is at 90°N?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Convergent lifting
Frontal lifting
Warmer at 30°
Descending air
7. If you look around
and see nothing but
grass, what major
climate type are you in?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
A
B
C
D
E
Latitudinal variation in precipitation
9. What is the lifting
mechanism close to
60° N and S?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Convective lifting
Frontal lifting
Orographic lifting
No lifting,
descending air
11. What are the four components of soil?
a. Organic material, inorganic material, water, and
dirt
b. Plants, organic material, water, air
c. Water, air, inorganic material, and organic
material
d. Organic material, inorganic material, dirt, air
2
13. On the following map, the area with 90 metric tons of
organic matter per hectare is low for all the following
reasons EXCEPT
a. laterization is the dominant soil forming regime
b. precipitation is high and leaches things away
c. needleleaf deciduous vegetation dominates
d. temperature is high so decay rates are high
12. Why do “A” climates
have a greater latitudinal
range on the eastern
side of continents than
on the western side?
a. Warm ocean currents
on eastern side
b. Westerlies bring mT
airmass ashore on
eastern side
c. Warm ocean currents
om western side
d. Westerlies bring mP
airmass onshore on
western side
15. The podzolization soil forming process yields a
soil with what type of “A” horizon if it takes place
under a needleleaf evergreen forest?
a. Red with only oxidized iron and aluminum
b. White with only silicon (quartz) remaining
c. Black and rich in organic matter
d. Basic because of the needles that are
deposited on the surface
14. The Sonoran desert
in Baja California is
located near the
subtropical high
pressure belt. Arid
conditions there are
also driven by ____
a. High elevations
30°
b. Cold ocean currents
c. Mountain barriers
d. Warm ocean currents
Great basin
Mojave
Sonoran
Chihuahuan
16. A hurricane is wandering around in the Gulf of Mexico.
It finally heads due east towards Florida. Use the map to
right to determine what quadrant of the storm will do the
most damage to Florida’s western coast.
a.Northeast quadrant
b.Northwest quadrant
c.Southeast quadrant
d.Southwest quadrant
17. When a pedologist describes soil texture, he is
looking at
a. how the clumps of soil particles are arranged
b. the percentage of different size particles in the
soil
c. how the color of the soil changes with age
d. how much organic material is in the soil
3
18. The terms sand,
silt, and clay refer to
the ______ of the
inorganic particles in
the soil.
19. Why have the tornadoes been so bad this week??????
Clay
Silt
?
a. Mineral
composition
b. Organic content
c. Porosity
d. Size
Sand
Pin head
4