Deck 6: Glaciers, Deserts, and Winds

Question 1

________ are erosional features produced by valley/alpine glaciers.

A) Moraines
B) Cirques
C) Eskers
D) Drumlins

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Drumlins are ________.

A) composed of outwash
B) ridges formed on top of a glacier
C) formed in the zone of fracture
D) not found singly, but in clusters

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Matching. Match the feature with the appropriate material.
A. till B. outwash C. solid rock
drumlin

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Matching. Match the feature with the appropriate material.
A. till B. outwash C. solid rock
horn

Question 5

Which one of the following is NOT true of glaciers?

A) originate on land
B) exist only in the Northern Hemisphere
C) show evidence of past or present flow
D) form from the recrystallization of snow

Question 6

Matching. Match the feature with the appropriate material.
A. till B. outwash C. solid rock
glacial erratic

Question 7

During the most recent ice age, glaciers covered about ________ percent of Earth's land area.

A) 3
B) 10
C) 30
D) 50

Question 8

Matching. Match the feature with the appropriate material.
A. till B. outwash C. solid rock
moraine

Question 9

________ is one of the two major flow mechanisms in a glacier.

A) Slipping
B) Elastic pushing
C) Frost heaving
D) Glacial rebound

Question 10

Abrasion and plucking generally involve what part of a glacier?

A) the internal flowage zone
B) the snout zone
C) the surface brittle zone
D) the bottom or base

Question 11

A fiord is a ________.

A) lake in a cirque
B) valley before it was glaciated
C) drowned glacial trough
D) period of the Ice Age

Question 12

Which one of the moraines listed below is NOT characteristic of continental glaciation?

A) lateral moraine
B) terminal moraine
C) ground moraine
D) recessional moraine

Question 13

The bottom or downward tip of a crevasse marks the ________.

A) boundary between parts of the glacier moving by sliding and crevassal slip
B) boundary between the sliding and external flowage zones
C) bottom of the sliding zone
D) top of the internal deformation and flowage zone

Question 14

Where is the world's largest ice sheet located today?

A) Greenland
B) Russia, Siberia
C) Iceland
D) Antarctica

Question 15

A name commonly used as a synonym for the Ice Age is ________.

A) Pennsylvanian period
B) Miocene epoch
C) Mesozoic era
D) Pleistocene epoch

Question 16

A(n) ________ cross-valley profile is typical of canyons and valleys eroded and deepened by alpine or valley glaciers.

A) U
B) Y
C) V
D) S

Question 17

Matching. Match the feature with the appropriate material.
A. till B. outwash C. solid rock
cirque

Question 18

The term drift ________.

A) refers only to alpine glaciers
B) refers only to moraines
C) is synonymous with the term till
D) means any sediments of glacial origin

Question 19

Which one of the following applies to a valley glacier that lengthens (extends its terminus downslope) over a period of many years?

A) wastage exceeds accumulation
B) accumulation exceeds wastage
C) accumulation and wastage are about equal
D) none of the above

Question 20

Matching. Match the feature with the appropriate material.
A. till B. outwash C. solid rock
esker

Question 21

Which one of the following statements is true?

A) Desert landscapes are monotonous, relatively flat areas covered to various depths with sand.
B) Deserts and dry lands are concentrated in areas of ascending air masses and relatively low atmospheric pressures.
C) Despite infrequent rainfalls, erosional and depositional features of running water are important in desert landscapes.
D) Rainshadow deserts occur where air masses descend after having risen to cross a mountain range.

Question 22

What mature, desert landscape feature consists of coalesced alluvial fans?

A) balda
B) bajada
C) bahia
D) baja

Question 23

A ________ is an erosional feature specifically produced by alpine glaciation.

A) lateral moraine
B) drumlin
C) crevasse spur
D) U-shaped valley

Question 24

Which one of the following could NOT have significantly affected climatic variations and advances and retreats of ice sheets during the Pleistocene epoch?

A) movements of Earth's tectonic plates
B) variations in the Sun's energy output
C) precession of Earth's orbit
D) wobbling of Earth's rotational axis

Question 25

A(n) ________ is an irregular, usually thin till layer laid down by a retreating glacier.

A) terminal moraine
B) outwash blanket
C) kame sheet
D) ground moraine

Question 26

Word Analysis. Examine the words and/or phrases for each question below and determine the relationship among the majority of words/phrases. Choose the option which does not fit the pattern.
A. horn B. arête C. lateral moraine D. drumlin

Question 27

Which process occurs where a glacier enters the sea?

A) kaming
B) calving
C) surging
D) drowning

Question 28

A ________ is an intermittent stream channel in the dry land areas of the western United States.

A) rivulet
B) playa
C) rill
D) wash

Question 29

Ice Age glaciers had many indirect effects. Which one of the following was NOT such an effect?

A) formation of mountains
B) extinction of some organisms
C) changes in some river courses
D) sea level fluctuations

Question 30

Word Analysis. Examine the words and/or phrases for each question below and determine the relationship among the majority of words/phrases. Choose the option which does not fit the pattern.
A. drumlin B. cirque C. esker D. moraine

Question 31

Word Analysis. Examine the words and/or phrases for each question below and determine the relationship among the majority of words/phrases. Choose the option which does not fit the pattern.
A. calving B. zone of accumulation C. melting D. zone of wastage

Question 32

Desert pavement is the result of ________.

A) deflation
B) abrasion by windblown sand
C) erosion by running water
D) intense chemical weathering

Question 33

Word Analysis. Examine the words and/or phrases for each question below and determine the relationship among the majority of words/phrases. Choose the option which does not fit the pattern.
A. drumlin B. kame C. kettle D. esker

Question 34

A broad accumulation of stratified drift deposited adjacent to the downstream edge of an end moraine is a(n) ________.

A) kame terrace
B) esker
C) outwash plain
D) ground moraine

Question 35

A ________ forms when a block of ice is buried in drift and subsequently melts, creating a pit.

A) tarn
B) paternoster
C) kame
D) kettle

Question 36

The loess deposited in many parts of the Midwest ________.

A) was once glacial outwash deposits
B) is in the form of transverse dunes
C) is uniformly thick
D) had its source in desert regions

Question 37

A(n) ________ represents a former meltwater channel or tunnel in glacial ice that was filled with sand and gravel.

A) esker
B) yazoo ridge
C) valley plain
D) kettle

Question 38

Desert and steppe lands cover about what percentage of Earth's land area?

A) 10%
B) 66%
C) 30%
D) 3%

Question 39

Inselbergs are ________.

A) insulated icebergs floating in a hot spring
B) blowouts cut from bedrock in mountainous areas
C) lithified rock formed by cementation of wind-deposited, dune sands
D) bedrock hills in a highly eroded desert landscape

Question 40

A(n) ________ is likely to host a waterfall or steep rapids today.

A) outwash plain
B) hanging valley
C) striated drumlin
D) horn peak

Question 41

Fiords are found exclusively along the coast of Norway.

Question 42

Word Analysis. Examine the words and/or phrases for each question below and determine the relationship among the majority of words/phrases. Choose the option which does not fit the pattern.
A. arroyo B. wadi C. inselberg D. nullah

Question 43

Fiords are glacier-cut valleys that flooded as sea level rose in post-glacial times.

Question 44

Arêtes, horns, and U-shaped valleys are erosional features carved from bedrock by glaciers.

Question 45

Surges in glacial movement are probably related to unusually fast rates of basal sliding.

Question 46

The Basin and Range region of the western United States is an excellent example of a mountainous desert landscape.

Question 47

Melting and calving are two forms of ablation.

Question 48

Moraines are the only glacial deposits composed of till.

Question 49

Word Analysis. Examine the words and/or phrases for each question below and determine the relationship among the majority of words/phrases. Choose the option which does not fit the pattern.
A. loess B. alluvial fan C. playa D. inselberg

Question 50

Running water is an important erosional agent in many arid lands despite infrequent rainfalls.

Question 51

Crevasses are short, narrow cracks in the plastic flow zone of a glacier that alternately open and close as the ice flows along.

Question 52

Arid and semiarid climates cover nearly one-third of Earth's land surface.

Question 53

The Pleistocene epoch is the only glacial period for which evidence exists.

Question 54

Till is an unsorted sediment deposited directly from the melting glacial ice; stream action is not involved.

Question 55

When a glacier is retreating, the upstream ice is still moving forward toward the downstream terminus of the glacier.

Question 56

Word Analysis. Examine the words and/or phrases for each question below and determine the relationship among the majority of words/phrases. Choose the option which does not fit the pattern.
A. sand dune B. deflation C. blowout D. desert pavement

Question 57

Rapid surge movements of the Earth's tectonic plates offer a convincing explanation for the advances and retreats of the Pleistocene ice sheets.

Question 58

The downstream end or snout of a glacier advances over periods of time during which ablation exceeds accumulation.

Question 59

Eskers and kames are deposited by meltwater streams, and they are composed of stratified sand and gravel.

Question 60

A cirque represents an erosional feature formed in what was an important accumulation zone for snow and ice at the upstream head of a glacier.

Question 61

Blowouts are broad, shallow depressions excavated by deflation.

Question 62

Bowl-shaped depressions in bedrock at upstream ends of alpine glacial valleys are called ________.

Question 63

A(n) ________ is a closed depression formed by melting of an ice block buried in a moraine or outwash plain.

Question 64

List the two major mechanisms of glacial flow.

Question 65

Windblown loess, like sand, typically accumulates as mound-like dunes.

Question 66

________ are smoothly tapered, elongated hills of till shaped by an overriding continental ice sheet.

Question 67

What general term denotes wastage of a glacier?

Question 68

A(n) ________ is a narrow, winding ridge composed of outwash deposited in a tunnel or channel cut into stagnant, glacial ice.

Question 69

Bajadas develop from coalescence of alluvial fans along fronts of mountain ranges in arid lands.

Question 70

Steppes are the driest of the true desert lands.

Question 71

The Colorado River is an example of a large wash.

Question 72

Inselbergs and small, steep alluvial fans are characteristic of recently faulted basin and range terrain in dry lands.

Question 73

Loess consists mainly of silt-sized particles.

Question 74

The steeper, lee slope of a sand dune is called the slip face.

Question 75

What is the name for the very large pluvial lake that once existed in northwestern Utah?

Question 76

The upper 50 meters or so of a glacier is known as the zone of ________.

Question 77

What term describes open fissures in the brittle surface ice of a glacier?

Question 78

During the Pleistocene glacial epoch, pluvial lakes were common in valley regions of what part of the United States?

Question 79

A playa is an intermittent lake on the floor of a desert valley.

Question 80

Unusually rapid, forward movements of glaciers are called ________.