WEATHERING
GEOGRAPHY 5 - REVISED FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE - FALL 2006
Physical Weathering (Mechanical)
Frost/Ice Action: Ice Shattering – Ice Heaving - Stone Rings
Salt Crystal Growth: salt-wedging - cave-dwellers
Unloading: Exfoliation – spalling – susceptible rocks
Bioturbation: Animal burrowing - tree roots
Chemical Weathering
Hydrolysis: adding water molecularly – (susceptible rocks)
Oxidation: adding oxygen molecularly - (susceptible rocks)
Carbonic Acid dissolution: limestone susceptibility - basalt
Factors: Climate - Organisms in soil - Time - Mineral composition
MASS WASTING - MASS MOVEMENT Causes/Factors: Gravity - friction - angle of slope - slope
composition - vegetation - water in/on slope
Triggers: Natural: - rains - earthquakes - volcanoes - gravity
Human: Mismanagement of soil/water - oversteepening/overburdening slopes – mining
consequences
Slow: Soil Creep solifluction
Fast: Rockfall
landslide earthflow slumps
Mudflows Lahars Debris flows
Catchment Basins
Debris basins
GROUNDWATER
Phreatic Zone (Saturation Zone)
Vadose Zone (Aeration Zone) Water Table
Aquifer - porosity
permeability confined aquifer
unconfined aquifer
artesian wells aquiclude
aquitard
perched water table
good rock material for aquifers
rock material for aquitard
Management Problems - Land Subsidence
Sources of Contamination
Salt Water Intrusion
Water Table
Wells: Cone of Depression and Drawdown
Overdrawing/overpumping
SURFACE WATER
Hydrologic Cycle
Runoff -
Slope Erosion - Rills
Stream Flow Channel
Gullies
Discharge
Overland Flow
Arroyos
Stream Gradient
Laminar Flow
Turbulent Flow
Stream Transportation of material:
Dissolved Load Suspended Load
Saltation
Traction
Stream Capacity
Stream Competence
Graded Stream - Base Level “Ages” of a Stream - Youth - Maturity - Old Age - Rejuvenation
Drainage Basin
Drainage Divides Watershed
Stream Meanders Development
Drainage Patterns - Dendritic
Radial Trellis
Terraces Deltas
Floodplain
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Parallel
CUMULATIVE: POSSIBLE SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS
FOUR OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS WILL BE INCLUDED IN THE FINAL EXAM FOR THE
CUMULATIVE PORTION OF THE EXAM. EACH QUESTION WILL BE WORTH 5 POINTS.
(1) Describe El Niño-Southern Oscillation Events (ENSO). Include in your discussion, changes in local
weather patterns, including rain/drought patterns, changes in air pressure systems, changes in local,
regional and global wind patterns, changes in ocean currents, upwelling, and other possible occurrences
during a major ENSO event. Also include any possible long-term economic consequences associated with
ENSO events.
(2) A city located near a large body of water will generally have a milder climate than a city located
inland. Describe the factors that account for this difference. Include in your discussion: heat
exchange processes, water-land interactions, mixing of solar energy and water, possible pressure system
interactions, and any other process(es) directly related to this climatic difference.
(3) Name and define the Greenhouse Gases. Include in your discussion: sources, both natural and
human-induced sources, which gases are increasing and why, and possible environmental consequences
relating to the increase in quantity of the gases in the atmosphere.
(4) Describe the atmospheric conditions that are favorable for the development of a hurricane. Include
in your discussion the source of energy for hurricanes, factors that tend to weaken hurricanes, and
typical values for the following hurricane characteristics: diameter, location and size of the eye,
direction of rotation and speed of winds, central pressure, direction and speed of movement and
duration. Additionally, describe why these types of storms produce so much rain.
(5) List and describe the different types of faults. Include in your discussion the forces working to
create each type of fault, examples and locations for the faults, as well as the development of faultblock mountains such as the Sierra Nevada and the Basin and Range Province in Western North America.
Give special attention to the San Andreas Fault in California!
(6) Briefly describe how plate tectonics explains mountain building. Include in your discussion all the
different types of mountains, including volcanic, faulted and folded; listing examples of each type, their
location and the tectonics involved.
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