Deck 16: Running Water

Question 1

________ is the maximum load of solid particles a stream can transport per unit time.

A)Corrosion
B)Capacity
C)Competence
D)Carbonate

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which part of a stream's sediment load moves the slowest?

A)Bed load
B)Dissolved load
C)Suspended load

Answer 2

A

Question 3

What is the mouth of a stream?

A)The location where one stream flows into another body of water
B)The location where streamflow begins
C)The location where streamflow evaporates
D)The location where streams diverge into distributary channels

Answer 3

A

Question 4

What is infiltration?

A)The transition from liquid to gas as a result of increases in temperature
B)Plants taking in water
C)Water soaking into the ground
D)Water running off the surface and entering a channel

Question 5

How will channel velocity change along the longitudinal profile of a stream?

A)Velocity will remain constant for the entire length of the stream
B)Velocity will start high and gradually decrease toward the mouth due to increasing discharge downstream
C)Velocity will start low and gradually increase toward the mouth due to increasing discharge downstream

Question 6

________ is the area at the headwaters of a stream where most of the sediment is derived.

A)Sediment Production
B)Sediment Transport
C)Sediment Deposition
D)Sediment Load

Question 7

Which of the following beds would be easiest for a stream to erode?

A)Lined with gravel and cobbles
B)Bedrock
C)Lined with sand and gravel
D)Lined with silt

Question 8

Which of the following is not one of the three zones of a river system?

A)Sediment Capacity Zone
B)Sediment Transport Zone
C)Sediment Deposition Zone
D)Sediment Production Zone

Question 9

In terms of competence, if the velocity of the stream triples, the impact force of the water will increase ________ times.

A)two
B)three
C)nine
D)eighteen

Question 10

What will happen to the water level in the stream if the water table is below the level of the stream channel?

A)The stream will lose water to the groundwater system.
B)The stream will gain water from the groundwater system.
C)The level of water in the stream will remain constant.

Question 11

________ is a measure of a stream's ability to transport particles based on size rather than quantity.

A)Corrosion
B)Capacity
C)Competence
D)Carbonate

Question 12

What is the longitudinal profile?

A)The cross-sectional area perpendicular to the direction of flow
B)The cross-sectional area from the headwaters to the mouth
C)The slope of the stream channel from headwaters to the mouth
D)The probability of a specific stream discharge occurring in a given year

Question 13

Which of the following particle sizes is most likely to make up a stream's suspended load?

A)Gravel
B)Clay
C)Sand
D)Silt

Question 14

What is the geologic definition of a stream?

A)A river of water that carries large volumes of water and has many tributaries
B)A stagnant body of water with little current and low oxygen content
C)A large lake system
D)A channelized body of water flowing down gradient

Question 15

________ occurs when a rock is gradually dissolved by flowing water.

A)Abrasion
B)Corrosion
C)Quarrying
D)Exfoliation

Question 16

Streams generally receive their water from two sources.What are those two sources?

A)Lakes and meteorites
B)Meteorites and comets
C)Overland flow and groundwater
D)Groundwater and evaporation

Question 17

The ________ is an elevational point that divides an entire continent into large drainage basins.

A)Appalachian Mountains
B)Continental Divide
C)Watershed
D)Sediment production zone

Question 18

The ________ describes the path water takes as it moves between the land, the ocean, and the atmosphere.

A)Hydrologic Cycle
B)Oxygen Cycle
C)Rock Cycle
D)Matter State Cycle

Question 19

What percentage of Earth's water is in the form of seawater?

A)2)15%
B)97.2%
C)0)62%
D)0)03%

Question 20

What is the wetted perimeter of a stream?

A)That part of a streambed that contains the strongest current
B)Where the stream is incising on the outside of a meander loop
C)Where deposition occurs in an abandoned stream channel
D)The amount of flow in contact with the banks and bed of the channel

Question 21

Why are urban areas susceptible to flash floods?

A)Oil, gasoline, and other auto fluids repel more water into the stream system
B)City sewers promote flooding of city streets and parking areas
C)A high percentage of the surface area is covered with cement, asphalt, and other impervious materials
D)Construction materials promote rapid absorption of precipitation, which puts excess water into the stream system

Question 22

How many subdeltas have been formed by the Mississippi River in the last 6,000 years?

A)6
B)2
C)5
D)7

Question 23

When precipitation falls, water may not immediately soak in, run off, or evaporate.

Question 24

The hydrologic cycle is off-balance because more liquid is brought in via comets and meteorites each year.

Question 25

What is base level?

A)The highest elevation streams can be found.
B)The downward limit of erosion.
C)The transition from a straight channel stream to a meandering stream.
D)The gradient line along the longitudinal profile of the stream.

Question 26

A(n)________ flood will occur when an engineered structure fails and releases large quantities of stored water.

A)ice-jam
B)regional
C)flash flood
D)dam-failure

Question 27

What is a flood?

A)When dry weather results in a high discharge
B)When discharge in a river exceeds the river's capacity
C)When a dam is constructed and forces sedimentation
D)When changes in gradient result in the abandonment of meander loops

Question 28

The Nile River in Africa is a stream.

Question 29

What is the term for sediment deposited by streams?

A)Fluvium
B)Colluvium
C)Alluvium
D)Talus

Question 30

Which of the following locations is a likely place to find a braided stream?

A)Flowing across a stream delta
B)Flowing across a desert
C)Flowing through a karst region
D)Flowing from the terminus of a glacier

Question 31

Which of the following is not one of the three basic stream channel morphologies?

A)Straight channel
B)Meandering stream
C)Braided stream
D)Bedrock channel

Question 32

Running water is the single most important erosional agent sculpting Earth's land surface.

Question 33

A(n)________ flood is most often associated with northward-flowing rivers in the Northern Hemisphere because the upstream stretches of the river will thaw before the downstream.

A)ice-jam
B)regional
C)flash flood
D)dam-failure

Question 34

In which part of a stream's course would one typically find bedrock channels?

A)Headwaters
B)At confluences
C)Mouth
D)In a delta

Question 35

________ are flat areas along streams that are created by the deposition of alluvium and is subject to periodic inundation.

A)Terraces
B)Floodplains
C)Riffles
D)Bars

Question 36

During what periods would streams see the greatest erosion and transportation of sediment?

A)Floods
B)Droughts
C)When frozen
D)When dammed

Question 37

A ________ stream consists of a complex network of converging and diverging channels that weave around channel bars.

A)straight channel
B)meandering stream
C)braided stream
D)bedrock channel

Question 38

What is the ultimate base level?

A)Continental Divide
B)A basalt flow beneath softer sedimentary rocks
C)Sea level
D)The bottom of a waterfall

Question 39

Which of the following scenarios represents the best nonstructural approach to flood control?

A)Building an artificial levee two feet taller than the highest recorded flood
B)Managing a floodplain to limit development in sensitive areas
C)Paving the floodplain to increase the velocity of floodwaters
D)Creating a series of dams and reservoirs to store floodwater and release it slowly over time

Question 40

A(n)________ stream is a stream that is in equilibrium and is neither eroding or depositing material, but simply transporting it.

A)graded stream
B)braided stream
C)alluvial stream
D)bedrock stream

Question 41

Streams carry most of their sediment load in the form of suspended load.

Question 42

What is the difference between a floodplain and a stream terrace?

Question 43

When discharge increases, the flow velocity will increase.However, the width and depth of the stream will decrease because the stream downcutting.

Question 44

What is saltation and why would a particle saltate?

Question 45

In the late spring and summer of 2012, the majority of the United States experienced a severe drought, which damaged crops and affected barge traffic on major rivers.How did the drought reduce barge traffic? How did the drought affect the factors that determine streamflow? What are three ways that rivers lost water to the drought? (Hint: Where did the water go?)

Question 46

Point bars are locations where erosion occurs whereas cutbanks are locations where deposition occurs.

Question 47

The Upper Mississippi River and the Lower Mississippi River have very different stream morphologies due in part because of the geology of the two regions.What is the basic geology of each region (What material is the river flowing over?), how does the geology control the river, and what is the morphology of the river as a result?

Question 48

A dam is constructed on the Crymea River.Explain how this will affect the river and the work that the river performs both upstream as well as downstream.

Question 49

Define evapotranspiration.

Question 50

What are three methods a stream can use to erode bedrock?

Question 51

As stream velocity slows, the smallest particles get deposited first.

Question 52

Which type of channel (bedrock or alluvial)will have meandering streams?

Question 53

Over oceans, rates of evaporation exceed those of precipitation.In spite of this, sea level does not drop.Explain why this is the case.

Question 54

In a series of stream terrace levels, the oldest terrace is the one that is lowest in elevation.

Question 55

When will the most runoff be generated: at the beginning of a series of storms or at the end?

Question 56

Maximum velocity occurs when the stream is at the bankful stage.

Question 57

If clay particles are smaller than silt particles, why is it harder for moving water to pick up clay?

Question 58

Levees are artificial, not natural formations.

Question 59

Compare and contrast the water velocity and type of streamflow in a rocky mountain stream versus a silt-bottomed stream along the Gulf Coast.

Question 60

Explain the processes necessary to form a bird's-foot delta such as that on the Mississippi River.

Question 61

What depositional feature is visible here?

A)Braided channel
B)Terrace
C)Incised meanders
D)Delta

Question 62

What kind of stream channel is visible here?

A)Laminar channel
B)Braided channel
C)Meandering channel
D)Overflow channel

Question 63

What is the minimum velocity needed for a 0.8 mm sand particle transition from a state of deposition to transportation?

A)5 cm/sec
B)1 cm/sec
C)15 cm/sec
D)23 cm/sec

Question 64

What kind of streamflow is present in this image?

A)Braided flow
B)Laminar flow
C)Turbulent flow
D)Overland flow

Question 65

After the arrival of European settlers on the Lower Mississippi, residents constructed levees along the river to protect their homes and farmlands from periodic flooding as well as to keep the channel open to navigation.Now, residents have problems with land subsidence, wave erosion, land fertility, and increased severity of floods and hurricanes, particularly in the Delta area of southern Louisiana.Why would the construction of artificial levees result in these problems?

Question 66

X marks the site of oil drums that were illegally buried by the Shay-Dee Oil Corporation.These oil drums have begun leaking and the leaking oil has flowed downslope to the stream below, contaminating the stream.Which stream drainage basins would be affected by this oil?

A)B alone
B)C and A
C)D, C, and A
D)All drainage basins

Question 67

What kind of stream channel is visible here?

A)Laminar channel
B)Braided channel
C)Meandering channel
D)Overflow channel

Question 68

What kind of streamflow is present in this image?

A)Braided flow
B)Laminar flow
C)Turbulent flow
D)Overland flow

Question 69

Which location marks the cutbank on this image?

A)Location A
B)Location B
C)Location C
D)Location D

Question 70

How will the flow in this image affect erosion of the stream channel?

A)Water is moving so smoothly that the sediments are carried in the center of the water current
B)Turbulent flow contributes to erosion because it lifts particles from the streambed
C)Water flow is not strong enough to lift sediments, so erosion is minimal
D)Erosion will occur near the head of the stream, but nowhere else

Question 71

A stream is transporting Particle A.The velocity of stream is decreasing, but for the moment, Particle A is still moving.However, when the water drops below 50 cm/sec, Particle A falls below its fall velocity and is deposited.Based on this information, what is the likely particle size for this object?

A)0)01 mm
B)0)1 mm
C)5 mm
D)10 mm

Question 72

Using the information provided above, describe what changes will happen to the stream and its streamflow as the water moves from the head to the mouth.

A)The channel roughness and slope decrease while the discharge, channel size, and flow velocity increase
B)The channel size increases, which forces the flow velocity and discharge to decrease
C)The channel roughness and slope increases while the discharge, channel size, and flow velocity decrease
D)As the flow and channel size increase, so, too do the slope and roughness

Question 73

When Europeans moved into the region along the Lower Mississippi River around three hundred years ago, they often settled on the floodplains of the river and set up farms.Geologically, what aspect of the floodplain impacted their choice to settle there?

Question 74

At approximately what velocity will a 0.1 mm sediment particle begin moving in the stream?

A)5 cm/sec
B)1 cm/sec
C)0)6 cm/sec
D)0)001 cm/sec

Question 75

What is the name for the stream feature in this image?

A)Cutbank
B)Oxbow lake
C)Point bar
D)Incised meander