Exam 14: Streams and Floods: the Geology of Running Water

In areas that have become urbanized,the percolation of rainwaters tends to decrease and the speed at which rainwaters flow into streams and rivers tends to increase.Which of the following would be good ways to counteract this effect?

All flooding events occur so rapidly that there is no time to alert people in harm's way.

All else being equal,water will flow faster in a stream with ____________.

Look at river Deltas A and B and choose the correct statement about the river sediment loads and coastal processes that might be destroying the deltas.

Braided streams ____________.

The distinction between a valley and a canyon is ____________.

Flood recurrence and probability graphs like the one shown below rely on historic records.The predictions for severe floods on graphs like this one are supported by few data points because data for such graphs have generally not been collected longer than a century.What effect would urbanization have on the reliability of using this kind of graph to calculate the frequency and severity of major floods?

All flowing water on the continents' surfaces is confined to stream channels.

With time,a river may erode terrain to produce a low-lying plain termed a(n)____________.

The shape of a delta is primarily determined by ____________.

Which sediment load carries electrically charged ions?

If a 50-year flood occurs on the Mississippi River in 2010,what is the probability that a flood of the same magnitude will occur in 2011?

The discharge of a river traveling through a humid region will typically ____________ downstream; the discharge of a river traveling through an arid region will typically ____________ downstream.

The potential abrupt change of primary discharge of water from the Mississippi River to the Atchafalaya River would be an example of__________?

At a waterfall,where two sedimentary lithologies are juxtaposed,which lithology is generally more likely to form a cliff over which the water falls?

In a region characterized by a parallel series of ridges and valleys,a ____________ drainage network is expected.

Although the Nile River is longer,the Amazon River has the greatest discharge of any stream on Earth.

If the tributaries of the Mississippi River were to erode northeastward and reach Lake Michigan (which happened in the past),what would be the effect on the size of the Atlantic Ocean drainage basin shown in the figure below?

Moving downstream,the flow of a stream or river usually becomes less ____________.

The flat-lying area surrounding a river channel is termed the ____________.