Final Review Material – Physical Geology

 

Material:  Mass wasting, Deserts, Glaciers (Ice Ages), Coastal Processes (chapters 9, 12, 13, 14 ), general material over semester

alluvial fans

bajada

barchan

crossbeds

deflation

desert

longitudinal due

parabolic dune

playa

playa lake

rain shadow

ventifact
mud flow

Basin and Range topography

barrier island

baymouth bar

beach

estuary

longshore current

longshore drift

marine terrace

rip current

spit

surf
earth flow
rock fall

tombolo

trough (of wave)

wave-cut platform

wave height

wavelength

wave refraction

aręte

alpine glaciation

cirque

continental glaciation

crevasse
solifluction
slump

drumlin

moraines

                end

                ground

                lateral

                medial

esker

horn

ice sheet

kettle

till

U-shaped valley
creep

  1. What are the three types of rocks?  Examples of each?
  2. What are some terms about texture and composition that are associated w/ these types of rocks?
  3. What are the three general layers of the Earth?
  4. Geologists generally agree that Earth is how old?
  5. What is the difference between relative and absolute ages?
  6. Briefly describe techniques that are used for each.
  7. What are some causes of earthquake damage?
  8. What is plate tectonics?
  9. What are the three basic plate margins and what are examples?
  10. What causes plate tectonics?
  11. What are some features of plate tectonics and plate tectonic boundaries? (volcanic arcs, hot spots, deep ocean trenches)
  12. What is the water cycle?  How do rivers and ground water fit in the water cycle?
  13. What are five agents of erosion, and with which geologic processes do we associate these agents?
  14. Explain some basic sedimentary features that might form in some of these environments
  16. What are glaciers?
  17. How do glaciers grow and shrink?
  18. How does ice in a glacier behave like a river?  How does it behave like rock?
  19. What are the two main types of glaciation?
  20. Where can you see examples of each?
  21. What are the erosional and depositional features of mountain glaciation?
  22. What are the erosional and depostional features of continental glaciation?
  23. What are Milankovitch cycles?
  24. What causes ice ages?
  25. What can cause global warming?
  26. What is the Greenhouse effect?
  27. How can scientists determine the composition of Earth’s atmosphere in the recent past?
  28. How does sand migrate along a coastline?
  29. What is the source of beach sediment?
  30. Describe coastal features produced by longshore currents.
  31. What are examples of emergent and submergent coastlines?
  32. What are features associated with each type of coastline?
  33. What are some artificial structures that can preserve coastlines?
  34. Label a wave diagram.
  35. What are features of summer beaches?  Winter beaches?
  36. What are factors that  tend to affect mass wasting?
  37. What are some of the different types of mass wasting, and how do they differ in the amount of water present, and in speed of movement?
  38. How do mountains create a rainshadow desert?
  39. How are sand dunes oriented with respect to the prevailing wind direction?
  40. How do crossbeds form?
  41. What different shapes do sand dunes take w/ respect to the number of prevailing wind directions?
  42. How does desertification occur?  Where are a couple of places that it has occurred?
  43. What are deserts?
  44. At which latitude are most deserts situated?  Why?
  45. What geographic conditions can lead to the formation of deserts?
  46. What are some erosional desert features shaped by water? (alluvial fans, playas, etc.)
  47. What are some erosional desert features shaped by wind? (desert pavement, ventifacts, etc.)
  48. How specifically do these features form?