Exam 11: Running Water

What causes a delta to form?

What are incised meanders?

What are some of the techniques used to try to control floods?

Briefly explain how a stream might adjust toward an equilibrium state following a heavy rain.

In what ways can water be temporarily stored, from a few years to a few thousand years, on the land areas before returning to the oceans?

Most of a stream's kinetic energy is involved in eroding and transporting sediment.

Describe base level.

Provide an example of a continental divide for the United States?

A drainage pattern typical of high mountains is radial drainage.

The solid particles of a stream include:

What is the hydrologic cycle?

The renewal of erosion that results in formation of stream terraces is generally attributed to a change in ____________________ level, or a change in climate resulting in greater ____________________, and thus, discharge.

The crescent-shaped feature of meandering streams that is formed during a flooding event where the slender neck of land is cut off from the meander is called _____.

How do oxbow lakes form?

Streams or rivers possess two kinds of energy. Potential energy is the energy of:

A delta with long fingerlike sand bodies, each deposited in a distributary channel that progrades far seaward, such as the Mississippi River, is typically formed as in a(n) ____-dominated delta.

The average channel velocity increases downstream where the gradient is lower.

What are the three types of beds characteristically exhibited by a prograding delta?

In meandering streams, the water velocity tends to be greatest in the ____________________ portion of the meander.

Is it possible to change the velocity (speed) of a stream but have it maintain the same discharge? Explain.