Deck 15: Glaciers and Glaciation

Question 1

A drumlin is a .

A)bowl- shaped depression eroded largely by frost action and glacial plucking
B)smooth, tapering ridge of till; formed and shaped beneath a continental ice sheet
C)smooth, striated, bedrock ridge shaped and polished by a glacier
D)till mound of outwash deposited by meltwater streams at the snout of a glacier

Answer 1

B

Question 2

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

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

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following glacial features would typically be found in close proximity to each other?

A)outwash plain and horn
B)cirque and terminal moraine
C)drumlin and fiord
D)hanging valley and truncated spur

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Where are the only present- day continental ice sheets?

A)Antarctica and Northern Canada
B)Greenland and Antarctica
C)Iceland and Antarctica
D)Greenland and Iceland

Question 5

The of the geologic time scale represents the time of the most recent "Ice Age."

A)Pleistocene era
B)Pleistocene epoch
C)Pliocene epoch
D)Pliocene era

Question 6

Which process occurs where a glacier enters the sea?

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

Question 7

Which one of the following statements concerning glacial deposits is NOT true?

A)Till is deposited directly from the ice; outwash is deposited by meltwater streams.
B)Tills are poorly sorted and the fragments are mostly angular.
C)Glacial erratics are blocks of rock that are too large for the glacier to move.
D)Outwash is mainly stratified sand and gravel.

Question 8

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

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

Question 9

Who performed the extensive fieldwork that supported the 1821 hypothesis put forth by I. Venetz?

A)M. Milankovitch
B)L. Agassiz
C)J. D. Hays
D)I Venetz

Question 10

Which type of glacial drift is deposited by glacial meltwater?

A)stratified drift
B)unsorted sediment
C)till
D)basaltic flows

Question 11

How do icebergs in the North Atlantic Ocean originate?

A)as masses of sea ice that float southward from the Arctic Ocean
B)as large masses of sea ice that float northward from Antarctica
C)as calved blocks of glacial ice that float northward from Antarctica
D)by calving of large piedmont glaciers in Greenland

Question 12

Which is the only continent without glaciers?

A)South America
B)Australia
C)Europe
D)Africa

Question 13

Which one of the following prominent landforms, located from the Wasatch Range, Utah, westward to the Sierra Nevada, California, formed during the Pleistocene glacial episodes?

A)old shorelines of large, pluvial lakes
B)terminal moraines of continental ice sheets that moved south from Canada
C)erosional features produced by continental glaciation
D)subaerial deltas submerged by the post- glacial rise in sea level

Question 14

What type of moraine is formed by the merging of two lateral moraines at a junction of two valley glaciers?

A)ground
B)medial
C)recessional
D)kettle

Question 15

are erosional features produced by valley/alpine glaciers.

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

Question 16

A fiord is .

A)a large, kettle- pocked moraine left as an island when sea level rises following melting of the ice
B)a glacier- cut valley that is dammed by an end moraine and a large lake is formed
C)a stream valley, deepened by glacial erosion, that floods as sea level rises
D)a glacier- cut valley which sinks below sea level due to glacial rebound after the ice melts

Question 17

All of the following descriptions apply to stratified drift (not glacial till)EXCEPT for .

A)depositions of streamlined asymmetrical hills
B)deposited by glacial meltwater streams
C)deposits of sand and gravel
D)deposits are often layered and well- sorted

Question 18

A(n)is a depositional feature composed of till and only associated with continental glaciation, not with alpine glaciers.

A)outwash deposit
B)moraine
C)drumlin
D)cirque

Question 19

Abrasion and plucking generally involve what part of a glacier?

A)the basal, sliding zone
B)the internal, flowage zone
C)the snout zone
D)the surface, brittle zone

Question 20

Which of the following factors did not contribute to climate change?

A)variations in the chemical composition of the atmosphere
B)variations of the Earth's orbit
C)circulation of ocean currents
D)changes in solar flares

Question 21

is the best explanation for a glacial surge.

A)Crevasses opening suddenly near the snout of a glacier
B)Heavy snowfalls resulting in avalanches in the zone of accumulation
C)Melting at the base of the glacier resulting in increased rates of basal slip
D)The climate cools suddenly and a retreating glacier begins to advance

Question 22

The bottom or downward tip of a crevasse marks the .

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

Question 23

first developed the theory that small variations in the Earth- Sun distance were responsible for short- term, climatic oscillations (1000 to 100,000 years).

A)G. Zukhov
B)M. Milankovitch
C)H. Goering
D)H. Marcee

Question 24

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

A)Accumulation and wastage are about equal.
B)Accumulation exceeds wastage.
C)Wastage exceeds accumulation.

Question 25

A(n)would logically be situated next to a large end moraine or terminal moraine.

A)pluvial lake
B)cirque
C)fiord
D)outwash plain

Question 26

Where is the world's second largest continental ice sheet?

A)Greenland
B)Antarctica
C)Siberian Russia
D)Iceland

Question 27

Which of the following is often associated with a cirque basin in high, mountainous terrain?

A)kettle pond
B)tarn lake
C)loon lake
D)arête pond

Question 28

is an irregular, usually thin till layer laid down by a retreating glacier.

A)Kame sheet
B)Terminal moraine
C)Ground moraine
D)Outwash blanket

Question 29

All of the following are thought to possibly contribute to the formation of glaciers EXCEPT for .

A)comets
B)eccentricity
C)precession
D)plate tectonics

Question 30

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

A)Frost heaving
B)Crevassal slip
C)Morainal sliding
D)Basal slip

Question 31

The great, Southern Hemisphere glaciation that affected parts of Africa, South America, India, Australia, and Antarctica occurred .

A)in late Proterozoic time
B)in early Cenozoic time
C)in late Paleozoic time
D)in middle Mesozoic time

Question 32

Which one of the following statements concerning glaciers is NOT true?

A)Piedmont glaciers form on lowlands at the base of mountainous terrain.
B)Ice sheets are larger than ice caps.
C)Long, extended, alpine glaciers occupied valleys in most high, mountainous areas in the United States, Canada, and Europe at one or more times during the past two million years.
D)The volume of water tied up in the Antarctic ice sheet is about the same as the total discharge of the Amazon River in one year.

Question 33

A(n)is similar in appearance to a sinkhole of a karst area.

A)cirque
B)moraine
C)esker
D)kettle

Question 34

are both deposited by meltwater streams.

A)Recessional kettles and erratics
B)Valley moraines and ice sheet trains
C)Terminal moraines and cirques
D)Outwash plains and valley trains

Question 35

The was the most recent Pleistocene glacial episode in North America.

A)Wisconsinan
B)Dakotan
C)Kansan
D)Indianan

Question 36

Where are the largest kettles located?

A)Michigan
B)Iowa
C)Massachusetts
D)Minnesota

Question 37

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

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

Question 38

Which of the following best describes the term glacial drift?

A)the sedimentary materials outwash and till
B)floating of icebergs southward from the north polar seas
C)slow, plastic flow movement in the brittle zone of a glacier
D)the slow, southward advance of the continental ice sheets over Canada and North America during the Pleistocene

Question 39

was a very large, pluvial lake in Utah during the Pleistocene Epoch.

A)Lake Mead
B)Lake Bonneville
C)Lake Caspian
D)Lake Aral

Question 40

A _ forms when stagnant, glacial ice melts after being buried by drift.

A)drumlin
B)pluvial delta
C)kettle
D)tarn

Question 41

Valleys deeply eroded by alpine glaciers have what characteristic, cross- valley profile?

Question 42

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

Question 43

Unusually rapid, forward movements of glaciers are called .

Question 44

What is the oldest, Pleistocene, glacial stage in North America?

Question 45

Would most features of alpine glaciation be preserved in the geologic record? Why or why not? What about continental glaciation?

Question 46

A is an erosional feature specifically produced by alpine glaciation.

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

Question 47

Bridal Veil Falls in Yosemite National Park is an example of a(n)_.

Question 48

The upper 40 meters or so of a glacier is known as the zone of .

Question 49

What general term denotes wastage of a glacier?

Question 50

The wobbling motion of a spinning object is known as .

Question 51

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

Question 52

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

Question 53

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

Question 54

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

Question 55

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

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

Question 56

What term denotes a glacial valley that was partly flooded as sea level rose?

Question 57

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

Question 58

List the two, major mechanisms of glacial flow.

Question 59

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