Earth Science
Name_____________________________
Chapters 12, 15, & 16
Period_____________________________
Review
Date______________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
Weathering, Soils, Erosion, and Deposition
OBJECTIVES
Section 12.1 – Weathering Processes
1) Discuss the agents of mechanical weathering.
2) Discuss the chemical reactions that decompose rock.
Section 12.2 – Rates of Weathering
1) Explain how rock composition affects the rate of weathering.
2) Discuss how the amount of exposure determines the rate at which a rock weathers.
3) Describe the effects of climate on the rate of weathering.
Section 12.3 – Weathering and Soil
1) Explain how the composition of parent rock affects the soil composition.
2) Predict the type of soil produced in various environments.
Section 12.4 - Erosion
1) Define erosion and list four agents of erosion.
2) Identify various unwise farming methods that result in accelerated soil erosion and list four methods of
soil conservation that prevent this damage.
3) Discuss how mass movements contribute to erosion.
4) Describe the major landforms.
VOCABULARY
Abrasion
Chemical Weathering
Exfoliation
Hydrolysis
Landslide
Mass Movement
Monadnock
Peneplain
Sheet Erosion
Solifluction
Butte
Creep
Horizon
Ice Wedging
Laterite
Mechanical Weathering
Mudflow
Regolith
Slump
Talus
Carbonation
Erosion
Humus
Landform
Leaching
Mesa
Oxidation
Rockfall
Soil Profile
Weathering
OBJECTIVES
Section 15.1 – Glaciers : Moving Ice
1) Describe how glaciers form.
2) Compare two main kinds of glaciers.
3) Explain two processes by which glaciers move.
Section 15.2 – Landforms Created by Glaciers
1) Describe the landscape features that are produced by glacial erosion.
2) Name and describe five features formed by glacier deposition.
3) Explain how lakes are formed by glacial action.
Section 15.3 – Ice Ages
1) Describe the climatic cycles that exist during an ice age.
2) Identify and summarize the theory that best accounts for the ice ages.
VOCABULARY
Arete
Continental Ice Sheet
Erratic
Glacial Drift
Hanging Valley
Internal Plastic Flow
Medial Moraine
Outwash Plain
Snowline
Till
Basal Slip
Crevasse
Esker
Glacier
Horn
Kettle
Meltwater
Roche Mountonnee
Stratified Drift
Valley Glacier
Cirque
Drumlin
Firn
Ground Moraine
Ice Age
Lateral Moraine
Milankovitch Theory
Snowfield
Terminal Moraine
OBJECTIVES
Section 16.1 – Wind Erosion
1) Describe two ways that the wind erodes the land.
2) Compare the two types of wind deposits.
Section 16.2 – Wave Erosion
1) Compare the formation of six features produced by wave erosion.
2) Define a beach and discuss the way in which it is formed.
3) Describe the movement of the sand along the shore and the features it produces.
Section 16.3 – Costal Erosion and Deposition
1) Explain how changes in sea level relative to the land affect coastlines.
2) Describe the features of a barrier island.
3) Compare the types of coral reef.
4) Analyze the effect of human activity on coastal land.
VOCABULARY
Atoll
Beach
Deflation
Dune
Fiord
Lagoon
Shoreline
Tidal Flat
Wave-Built Terrace
Barrier Island
Berm
Deflation Hollow
Emergent Coastline
Fringing Reef
Loess
Spit
Tombolo
Wave-Cut Terrace
Barrier Reef
Coral Reef
Desert Pavement
Estuary
Headland
Sand Bar
Submergent Coastline
Ventifact
Weathering
1. What is weathering?
2. Why is water such an important agent of erosion?
3. How does mechanical weathering affect rock?
4. List, describe, and give an example of each type of mechanical weathering.
5. How does chemical weathering affect rock?
6. List, describe, and give an example of each type of chemical weathering.
Rates of Weathering
7. If a rock like granite that is rich in quartz, and a rock like limestone, that is rich in calcite are subjected to
intense chemical and mechanical weathering, which will weather away first, and why?
8. Will a rock weather faster in Brazil, or in northern Alaska? Explain your answer.
9. Which will weather faster, a rock in one piece, or a rock in ten pieces? Why?
10. Which will weather faster, a rock on a mountaintop, or a rock on a desert floor? Why?
11. Describe how a rock will weather on a steep slope.
Soil
12. Describe what is in dirt. Where does soil come from?
13. Compare and contrast clay, silt, and sand.
14. What determines a soil’s composition?
Soil Profiles
15. What is a soil profile? What is a soil horizon? How many horizons do we typically see in a soil profile?
16. List and describe the details of each horizon in a soil profile. Sketch an example soil profile below.
17. What is humus? What colors normally represent the different soil horizons?
Soil and Climate
18. Why is climate so important in soil formation?
19. Describe the attributes, and sketch a soil profile, for a
tropical climate.
…desert climate.
…arctic climate.
20. Why is soil thicker on flat ground than it is on steep slopes?
…temperate climate.
Soil Erosion and Conservation
21. List some reasons why soil erosion occurs.
22. What is soil conservation? List and briefly describe some ways to conserve soil.
Erosion and Deposition
23. Compare and contrast weathering, erosion, and deposition. Give an example of each to illustrate the
differences.
Major Agents of Erosion
24. Describe what is needed for an agent of erosion to move or set down sediment.
25. Describe how gravity erosion works. What term is used to describe all forms of erosion due to gravity?
List and briefly describe each type of gravity erosion.
26. Why is water considered the most active agent of erosion?
27. Describe how water carries and erodes sediment and pre-existing rock.
28. What does water abrasion do to rocks?
29. Compare and contrast deltas with alluvial fans. Make a short sketch of each. Give a common example of a
delta here in the U.S.
30. Do glaciers move? Describe what glaciers can do to rocks.
31. List and briefly describe the features made by glaciers?
32. List and briefly describe the deposits left behind by glaciers. Include how each is formed.
33. Describe how wind erodes sediment grains. What are rocks rounded out by wind erosion called?
34. Describe what happened during the Dust Bowl in the 1930’s. Why did the Dust Bowl take place in the first
place?