GEOG 104: FINAL EXAM
107 Cards in this Set
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Plate tectonics theory
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Large scale motions of the lithosphere (outer solid ridge of earth)
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Evidence of Pangea
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-fit of continents
-rock type & mountains found on North America and Europe
-fossils of same plants and animals found on Africa, South America, and Antarctica.
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Lithosphere
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The rigid outer part of the Earth.
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layers of earth
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1. inner core
2. outer core
3. mantle
4. asthenosphere (part of the mantle)
5. crust
6. lithosphere
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Mafic
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-have high density
-are dark in color
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What is the inner core composed of?
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solid iron and nickel crystals
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What is the liquid outer core composed of?
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Molten iron and nickel.
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What is mantle composed of?
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Solid iron, magnesium and silicone oxides.
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Asthenosphere
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Soft layer of mantle under the lithosphere made of radioactive decay and molten rock.
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How does molten rock on the asthenosphere move?
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Very slowly by convection.
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Transform boundary
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The boundary at which two tectonic plates slide past each other horizontaly.
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Where do transform boundary's occur most often
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Mid ocean ridges
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continental drift
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The hypothesis that continents have broken up and slowly moved to their current locations.
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Sea- floor spreading
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The process by which new oceanic crust forms as magma rises towards the surface and solidifies
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Plate tectonics
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The theory that explains how the tectonic plates move and change shape
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Convergent boundary
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The boundary formed by the collision of two lithospheric plates
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Divergent boundary
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The boundary between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other
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Rift Valley
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long, narrow depression formed at divergent boundaries
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Subduction
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process in which two plates collide and the denser plate descends below the other
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Where does subduction occur mostly?
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Oceanic vs. Continental
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Ocean trench
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the process of subduction creates this at an oceanic oceanic convergent boundary
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What are mountains created by?
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contiential vs contiental convergent boundar.
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What creates volcanic mountain ranges?
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Oceanic- Continental convergent boundary's.
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What type of boundary is created by long faults?
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Transform
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Convection current
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this type of energy transfer is believed to drive plate movement
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Hot spot
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unusually hot area in Earth's mantel where high temperature plumes of mantle rise towards the surface
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What are the hawaiian islands formed by?
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Hot spots.
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Air mass
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large body of air that has distinctive characteristics and forms in specific geographic regions
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Fonts
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boundaries to air masses
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Stationary front
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where contrasting air masses are flowing parallel to each other
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Warm front
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where warm air is advancing into cool air and slowly slides over the top of it
-causes slow and steady rain
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Cold front
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where cold air is advancing into warm air and is forced to go on top of the cool air
-rain is intense and short
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Midlatitude cyclone
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spins counterclockwise in Northern Hemisphere
-where warm and cold fronts develop
form when undulations (up and down movement like a wave) form in the polar jet stream
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Continental polar
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Dry, cold climate zone above 60 degree latitude
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Continential tropical
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Warm, moist climate zone near the equator
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Cyclone
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A severe storm, tropical strom, etc. Has winds that are in areas of low atmospheric pressure.
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Occluded front
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Cut off, as the warm air mass at an occluded front is cut off from the ground by cooler air beneath it.
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Anticyclone
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A high-pressure center of dry air.
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Isobars
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a line drawn to connect points of equal atmospheric pressure
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Maritime tropical
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air of a mass originating over tropical oceans and characterized by high temperature and humidity.
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Maritime polar
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air coming originally from polar regions but having humidity and temperature properties modified by passing over relatively warm oceans.
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Mountain winds
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Valley winds that cool in the evening due to a loss of surface energy to space; the wind then moves down slope
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Valley wind
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During the day, the air above the mountains warm causing it to rise; this; that is a valley wind
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Polar easterlies
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winds that blow from the Pole to 60 degrees
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Prevailing westerlies
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winds that blow from 60 degrees to 30 degrees
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Trade winds
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winds that blow from 30 degrees to 0 degrees
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Chinook winds
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warm dry wind that blows on the leeward side of the mountain; as it descends the mountain it is heated and causes large meltings of ice
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Santa ana winds
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warm dry winds; high pressures pushes them
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How does water trigger mass wasting events?
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Heavy rains, period of snow
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How do oversteepened slopes trigger mass wasting events?
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Undercutts valley walls and angle of repose is readjusted.
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Angle of repose
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the steepest angle which material remains stable
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How do you find the angle of repose?
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rise(vertical)/run(horizontal)
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How does removal of vegetation trigger mass wasting?
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Plants protect against erosion because of their root system.
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What natural distastes can trigger mass wasting?
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Earthquakes
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Thawleg
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Deepest and fastest channel at any given stream.
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Drainage basin
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Where all flowing water, rainfall or snowmelt included will flow.
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Fluvial erosion
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breakdown and removal of rock fragments and sediments by moving water
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Entrainment
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when sediment is picked up and suspended into flowing water
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Abrasion (streams)
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sediment scratches at the bottom of the stream and loosens more sediment
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Saltation (sterams)
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speed of water increases and even larger sediments, or rocks, are picked up and suspended by water.
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Traction (stream)
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Water transports sediment and rocks when particles are too big or heavy to be picked up, so it rolls or tumbles.
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Cut bank
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water moves fastest, erosional side.
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Point bar
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inside of curve, moves slower, depositional.
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River deepening
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results from gravity pulling downward on water as it flows.
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Delta formation
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water with lots of sediment entrained upon entering a lake or ocean and will slow it down.
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Floodplain
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land area covered by water during flood of nearby river or stream
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Bluffs
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higher ground on either side of the river floodplain, marks outer limit of flood plain.
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Ox bow lake
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horseshoe shaped lake that is a former meander in the river but cutoff by change in river course, usually due to flooding.
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Meander scar
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dry curved horseshoe shaped river that was abandoned by river when it changed course. same as ox bow
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What are the landforms that separate braided streams?
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Sandbars.
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Glaciers
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large masses that form on land areas that are cold enough and sustain enough snowfall.
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Ablation
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loss of a glacier.
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Accumulation
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growing of a glacier.
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Zone of accumulation
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snow and ice collect in this zone and become compacted and recrystallize.
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Zone of ablation
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Zone of accumulation goes downhill and melts faster than new ice can form.
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Glacial retreat
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Glaciers melt and retreat up valley from where it flowed.
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Glacial drift
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Accumulation of deposits or rocky gravel, silt or clay from melting.
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Till
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sediment accumulated by retreating ice
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Cirque
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Bowl like depression in glacier.
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What are 2 examples of ice sheets?
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Antarctica and greenland.
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What are some erosional glacial features?
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Paternoster lakes, arete, horn, fjord, cirque, roche mountanee.
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What are glacial depositional features?
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kames, lateral moraines, medial moraines, terminal moraines, crevasses, outwash plaines, kettles, drumlines, eskers.
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Which way is ice moving in a rouche mountee?
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Towards the jagged end.
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What are the 2 types of glaciers
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alpine and Continental
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What created a u-shaped valley?
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When glaciation occuers, a glacier moves through a valley.
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Salation (sand)
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when sand bounces across the ground.
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Backslope
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windward side of the dune.
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Slipface
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leeward side of the dune.
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Loess
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windblown silt.
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Discharge
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velocity x height x width. or Q/velocity X width. algebra.
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DAR
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1 degree/100meters
10 degrees/1000meters
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WAR
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0.5/100m or 5degrees/1000m
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why do you get volcanos with divergent plate movement?
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because plate stretches and magma comes out.
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frost wedging
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water and
Ice expands and forces the rock apart
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When do you use DAR in lapse rate
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When you go downhill
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How do you find slope and gradient of a stream
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rise/run
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Energy equation
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ex. 1370 wpm 3x3 = 9m2
1370/9
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Humidity
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relative/specific.
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Tornado spatial patterns
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both tornadoes and agriculture require moisture so tornadoes often occur where there is a lot of agriculture
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Temporal Tornado Frequency
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Tornadoes are reported most frequently in Spring.
-They occur most frequently in late afternoon.
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salt crystal growth
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water evaporates and leaves salt behind, salt heats and expands and wears away rock.
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Exfoliation
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The peeling of surface layers from exposed bedrock.
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Oxidation
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rusting of rock, makes it a brown, white or green color. oxygen and metal required
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Hydrolysis
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silica rocks break down at edges in reaction to water.
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Dissolution
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limestone worn away by carbon. Formed in places that used to be underwater
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Biomechanical
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force in nature breaks down a rock.
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Biochemical
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living organism releases gases that wear down rock.
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GEOG 104: EXAM 1