Introductory Geosciences 1
Exam 4 Review Sheet
1. What is mass movement or mass wasting? Where and when do mass movements occur?
2. Explain the effects on slope stability of the various are the factors that affect it?
3. Explain how removing preexisting vegetation tend to affect most slopes in humid regions with respect to mass wasting.
4. Study the table on page 280. What are the major types of mass movements? You should be able to match the different types of mass movements based upon a description of them.
5. What information is necessary to produce a slope stability map?
6. Discuss at least three ways that slope stability can be maintained in order to reduce the likelihood of mass movements.
7. Given information about a particular situation, be able to predict whether it will be stable or unstable.
Chapter 12
8. What percentage of all water is in the oceans? In ice? Stored as groundwater?
9. Why is Earth the only terrestrial planet with abundant surface water?
10. Be able to describe the series of processes involved in the hydrologic cycle if precipitation occurs over land.
11. What is runoff? What two primary types of flow does runoff occur as?
12. Be able to define a stream’s gradient, velocity and discharge, and give the proper units for each.
13. A river with headwaters 2000 feet above sea level flows 500 miles to the sea. What is its gradient? Do you think that your calculated gradient is valid for all segments of the river? Explain.
14. How is discharge determined?
15. A stream’s velocity increases from the headwaters to its mouth. What are the four factors governing stream velocity? Which factors tend to increase velocity? Decrease?
16. What is the load of a stream? What are the different parts involved?
17. What are the competence and capacity of a stream? What factors (velocity, discharge or gradient) are each of these measures best related to?
18. What is a stream’s stage?
19. What is a floodplain? What kind of deposition occurs to form a floodplain?
20. What is a 100-year flood? How is it related to the “100-year floodplain”? Is it possible to have two 100-year floods in a one-year period? Why or why not?
21. Give five reasons why people choose to live on floodplains.
22. Define base level.
23. Describe and/or illustrate what happens along the course of a stream when a) sea level rises; b) sea level falls; or c) a dam is constructed on a stream.
24. Explain the differences between braided and meandering streams.
25. What are point bars, cut banks and oxbow lakes? How do they form? How are they related?
26. What are alluvial fans and deltas? How are they similar? Different?
27. You should understand what a drainage basin is, how its defined, and the drainage patterns described in your text.
28. What is a stream terrace and how do they form?
29. You should be able to define, draw and/or describe a graded stream. What factors have to be in balance in order that a stream be braided?
30. Be able to define the following: downcutting, lateral erosion, and headward erosion. How are these processes related to stream piracy? Incised meanders? Water and wind gaps?
Chapter 13
31. What percentage of all unfrozen freshwater is groundwater?
32. Explain why
wells in south Georgia produce more water than wells in the
33. Be able to define/describe the terms porosity, permeability, saturation and recharge and their relationship to each other.
34. What are the types of porosity?
35. What is an aquifer? What properties of the rock and soil are necessary for something to be a good aquifer? Why might joint or fracture systems be important?
36. What is an aquiclude? What properties of the rock and soil are necessary for something to be a good aquiclude?
37. What four factors govern the flow of groundwater?
38. What is the Zone of Saturation? The Zone of Aeration? How do these relate to the water table. Where is the capillary fringe in relation to the above?
39. What are the different types of aquifers? How are they similar? Different? How does a spring form, and how is this related to aquifers? You should be able to draw an illustration showing the different types of aquifer systems, and how springs might form.
40. What is a “cone of depression”. How and why does it form?
41. The chief threat to groundwater resources is overuse. What are three effects of overuse on an aquifer system? Be able to describe each effect and the consequences in detail.
42. What are some types of groundwater contamination? What has been done since 1970 to help solve these problems?
43. Karst topography is established in areas underlain by limestone as a result of solution weathering. What are some of the physical features of a karst area?
44. How is karst related to cave formation? What are some of the physical features of caves and caverns?
45. What are hot springs and geysers? How are they related to geothermal energy resources?
46. What happens at a geothermal energy plant? What type of energy is converted? What type of energy is generated? What percentage of our total energy use is generated using this resource currently? How much potential is there for the future?