Geology Final Part 2
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96 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Physical disintegration of rocks into smaller pieces is called | mechanical weathering |
| The decomposition of rock from exposure to water and atmospheric gases is known a | chemical weathering |
| A mechanical weathering process caused by pressure release (or unloading) is | exfoliation |
| Where do sediments come from? | Rock weathering |
| In which environment is frost wedging likely to be prevalent? | a high mountain |
| Silt is a product of: | mechanical weathering |
| Hydrolysis occurs when | feldspars are chemically altered to clay |
| frost wedging, unloading and root wedging | type of chemical weathering |
| Exfoliation is a natural process which results from | unloading of deeply buried rocks |
| The common end product when feldspar chemically weathers is: | clay |
| Soil with approximately equal proportions of sand, silt, and clay along with generous amounts of organic matter is called | loam |
| What is characterized by: boundaries between soil horizons usually transitional rather than sharp, classified by assigned letters, distinguished by appearance and chemical composition. | soil horizons |
| Soil that forms in arid climates, with little organic material & usually includes hardpans of salt, gypsum or calcite | Aridisols |
| The soil horizon rich in clay is the | B Horizon |
| Tropical soils are typically | deeply leached and infertile |
| The single most effective agent of chemical weathering at the Earth's surface is | carbonic acid. |
| Which of the following minerals would weather away the fastest at the Earth's surface | olivine |
| Where do aluminum cans come from | laterite soil |
| parent material of all soils | rock |
| fastest type of mass wasting process | rock avalanche |
| Any unconsolidated material at the Earth's surface of any size | debris |
| An unconsolidated mass moving downslope as a viscous fluid | flow |
| driving force behind all mass wasting processes | gravity |
| resistance of a mass of debris to movement or deformation | shear strength |
| Flow of water-saturated soil over an impermeable material that is associated with permafrost | solifluction |
| An apron of rocks and boulders that accumulates at the base of a cliff | talus |
| Reason for installing rock bolts that "stitch" the rocks together | prevents rock from falling on a roadway |
| Slopes that have been stable for many years may sometimes fail catastrophically because of this | removal of vegetative cover |
| occurs when a block of bedrock breaks off and falls freely from a cliff | a rockfall |
| For mass wasting to occur, what forces must become unbalanced? | shear force and friction |
| Mass wasting processes are not classified according to these | total volume of material, area over which movement occurs or location on the slope. |
| One method of stabilizing slopes to prevent mass wasting | build appropriately engineered retaining structures |
| The rate of creep movement in soils | a centimeter or less per year |
| Mass wasting events may be triggered by | melting of permafrost, earthquakes, and torrential rain. |
| a landslide, a rock avalanche and a mudflow | form of mass wasting |
| steep topography where large earthquakes are possible | where rock avalanches are most common |
| the downslope movement of material under the influence of gravity | mass wasting |
| mass wasting phenomenon that moves faster than a person can run | mudflow, debris flow and rock avalanche |
| can be produced from weathered products of pre-existing rocks. | sedimentary rock |
| range from conglomerates to shales, form at the Earth's surface and form from mechanical weathering of other rocks.detrital sedimentary rocks all | detrital sedimentary rocks |
| sediments come from | Rock weathering |
| environment that will produce sediments with cross-bedding | a stream, a nearshore marine environment and a desert |
| Particles of sediment from 4 mm to 2 mm diameter | gravel |
| the grinding away of sharp edges and corners of rock fragments during transportation | rounding |
| Compaction and cementation are two common processes associated with this process | lithification |
| limestone, rock salt and rock gypsum | chemical sedimentary rocks |
| major difference between sandstone and conglomerate | grain size |
| type of sandstone | arkose |
| Shale differs from siltstone because of this | shale has smaller grains than siltstone |
| chemical element found in dolomite that is not found in limestone | magnesium |
| A body of sedimentary rock of considerable thickness and with features that distinguish it from adjacent rocks | a formation |
| What happens when sea level rises or the land sinks | a transgression |
| The process whereby rocks are changed to sediment | weathering |
| A sedimentary rock composed of rounded particles of gravel | conglomerate |
| Sedimentary particles with a size range smaller than 1/256 mm | clay |
| A layer in which the grain size becomes smaller vertically within the layer | graded bedding |
| Cross-bedding observed in sand dunes can be used to determine this | direction the wind was blowing |
| depositional environments, the plate tectonic setting when the sediment was deposited and where the sediments originally came from | What sedimentary rocks provide clues about |
| the alignment of minerals or grains due to differential stress | Foliation |
| Foliated metamorphic rocks commonly contain this | mica |
| Shearing is a response to | differential stress |
| Metamorphic rocks in which minerals are NOT aligned within the rock are called this | non-foliated |
| What metamorphic rocks are classified primarily according to | foliated or non-foliated |
| foliated metamorphic rock | phyllite, slate and gneiss |
| major difference between metamorphism and metasomatism | metasomatism is metamorphism with the introduction of additional ions from an external source |
| Ore bodies at divergent plate margins are commonly formed by this | hydrothermal processes |
| Metamorphic minerals that form under a limited range of temperature and pressure are called | index minerals |
| metamorphic rock that has undergone partial melting to produce a hybrid metamorphic-igneous rock | migmatite |
| order from lowest to highest grade of metamorphic rock | slate, phyllite, schist, gneiss |
| Regional metamorphism is associated with this plate boundary | convergent |
| The generally accepted temperature limits for metamorphism | from about 200 degrees Celsius to the melting point of rock |
| principal agents of metamorphism | temperature, pressure and fluids |
| When rocks are metamorphosed, the mineral components of the rock do this | changed in the solid state |
| contact metamorphism is the result of this | a body of magma comes in contact with solid rock |
| when reading this, produces foliated metamorphic rocks and produces metamorphic rocks over large areas | regional metamorphism |
| Gneiss is a metamorphic rock type associated with this | high pressure, high temperature conditions |
| Shale is | not a metamorphic rock |
| The percentage of a rock's volume that is open space is called | porosity |
| The capacity of a rock to transmit fluids | permeability |
| the zone where all pores are filled with water | the saturated zone |
| a body of saturated rock or sediment through which water can move easily | aquifier |
| rock most likely to form an aquifer and possess the highest permeability. | sandstone |
| Why gneiss, siltstone or granite make a good aquifer | poor permeability |
| rock likely to possess the lowest porosity | granite |
| determines how quickly groundwater flows | water pressure, permeability and elevation |
| How artesian aquifers flow | from areas of high hydraulic head to areas of low hydraulic head |
| What the decline in the level of the water table around a pumping well is known as | the cone of depression |
| Springs can be found in areas with igneous rocks due to the presence of this | fractures |
| The largest reservoir of water on Earth | the ocean |
| The top of the water saturated zone | water table |
| Percentage of total precipitation that ends up as ground water | 1-20% |
| A well that flows to the surface without pumping | Artesian well |
| caused by groundwater being geothermally heated | Geysers and hot springs |
| groundwater dissolving limestone and dolomite form | Caves and cavern systems |
| proportion of Earth's water resources that occur as ground water | less than 1% |
| When water from the saturated zone flows into the stream | gaining streams |
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