Deck 10: Glaciers, Deserts, and Wind

Question 1

What condition is most necessary to build a glacier?

A) More snow must fall in the winter than melts in the summer.
B) The snow must be able to move downhill slowly.
C) The elevation of the area must be high enough to allow snow to fall regularly.
D) The temperature must be cold enough to cause snow to fall regularly.

Answer 1

More snow must fall in the winter than melts in the summer.

Question 2

Glacial ice sheets are the largest of the types of glaciers and currently cover ______.

A) The Arctic Sea, the Alps, Greenland, Antarctica, and Alaska
B) Alaska, Antarctica, and Greenland
C) Antarctica, Greenland, Alaska, the Andes Mountains, the Arctic Sea, and the Alps
D) Greenland and Antarctica
E) only Antarctica

Answer 2

Greenland and Antarctica

Question 3

Valley or alpine glaciers are normally found in______ .

A) mountain summits
B) places that were not glaciated during the last ice age
C) former stream beds
D) flat areas of continents

Answer 3

former stream beds

Question 4

Which of the following statements about of glacial ice and sea ice is correct?

A) Sea ice is thicker than glacial ice, and sea ice floats while glacial ice does not float.
B) Sea ice is thinner than glacial ice, and both sea ice and glacial ice can float.
C) Sea ice is thinner than glacial ice, and sea ice floats while glacial ice does not float.
D) Sea ice is thicker than glacial ice, and both sea ice and glacial ice can float.

Question 5

Which one of the following applies to a valley glacier that lengthens extends the position of its terminus downslope over a period of many years?

A) wastage exceeds accumulation
B) accumulation and wastage are about equal
C) accumulation exceeds wastage
D) none of the above

Question 6

Crevasses deep fractures or cracks. form in glaciers because______ .

A) as the glacier moves over irregular topography, the brittle upper layer or zone of fracture is subject to tension and cracks above the ductile layer
B) as the glacier moves over irregular topography, cracks can form anywhere in the glacier but they are called "crevasses" only if they are near the surface
C) not all of the ice in a glacier moves downhill at the same rate in the glacier
D) as the glacier moves over irregular topography the bottom of the glacier known as the zone of fracture. cracks and the cracks propagate upward to the surface of the glacier
E) there is not always the same amount of ice available in all areas so cracks form when the ice tries to move and fill in empty parts of the glacier

Question 7

Abrasion and plucking generally involve what part of a glacier?

A) the internal flowage zone
B) the surface brittle zone
C) the snout zone
D) the bottom or base

Question 8

If you fall into a crevasse, what is the maximum depth you are likely to fall?

A) 50 meters
B) 25 meters
C) 100 meters
D) 10 meters

Question 9

Which one of the following is not true of glaciers?

A) They originate on land.
B) They form from recrystallization of snow.
C) They exist only in the Northern Hemisphere.
D) They show evidence of past or present flow.

Question 10

Ice sheets can be up______ .

A) several centimeters thick
B) tens of kilometers thick
C) several meters thick
D) several kilometers thick

Question 11

The above figure shows a classic case where Swiss geologists placed stakes into a glacier and measu outcomes a few years later. What did they conclude from the experiment?

A) The glacier's ice moved downslope the whole time.
B) The glacier grew larger between 1878 and 1886.
C) The glacier's terminus remained stationary throughout most of the time span.
D) The glacier flowed upward sometimes, and downward other times.

Question 12

At the base of a glacier, the ice moves by______ .

A) sliding and ductile flow
B) ductile flow and fracturing
C) fracturing
D) fracturing and sliding

Question 13

Note the two images below from the same location in Greenland in 1935 on the left. and 2013 on the right.. What can you conclude about how this landscape has changed during that time period?

A) Sea level dropped between 1935 and 2013.
B) The glacier retreated greatly between 1935 and 2013.
C) The landscape has not changed significantly.
D) The glacier was smaller in 1935.

Question 14

Today, glaciers cover approximately ______percent of the earth's surface.

A) 10
B) 1
C) 30
D) 50

Question 15

If the glacial budget is balanced accumulation equals wastage., then ______.

A) the terminus of the glacier is stationary
B) the ice front will retreat
C) the ice front will advance
D) the glacier will not flow downhill

Question 16

Most of an iceberg is under water but the top of the iceberg sticks out because______ .

A) ice is more dense than seawater so ice sinks in water
B) most icebergs are so large they rest on the ocean floor
C) seawater is more dense than ice so ice floats in water
D) the mass of an iceberg is concentrated in the zone of accumulation

Question 17

The picture below is a view of earth from the North Pole above. and one from the South Pole below.. It shows ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica. Why are ice sheets primarily found in these regions?

A) These are places that have not yet been developed. In other locations, the ice has been cleared.
B) They are the coldest regions of the globe.
C) When the ice age ended, the ice did not melt back so much as migrated to these locations on ocean currents.
D) They have numerous mountains, and the alpine glaciers coalesce.

Question 18

An ice skater's blade pushes down onto the ice very hard, creating water as a result of the pressure from the weight of the skater. How is her skate acting like a glacier?

A) Glaciers glide along the ground on only a small, thin blade of ice.
B) The weight of the ice in the top part of the glacier melts some of the ice at the bottom of the glacier, allowing for of plastic flow.
C) Glaciers always move over smooth ground, and the skating rink is smooth.
D) When the skater produces water at the bottom of the skate, that water impedes her motion. In a similar way, the partially melted ice at the bottom of a glacier impedes its flow.

Question 19

How do glaciers acquire their load of sediment?

A) Sediments and rocks fall off the cliffs surrounding the glacier and move through crevasses to the base of the glacier.
B) Sediments and rocks form on top of the glaciers through lithification.
C) Sediments and rocks are plucked off the ground surface at the base and sides of the glacier.
D) Sediments and rocks are deposited on glaciers by streams that flow into the glaciers.
E) All of the answers describe major contributors to the glacial load.

Question 20

______are erosional features produced by valley/alpine glaciers.

A) Drumlins
B) Cirques
C) Moraines
D) Eskers

Question 21

An______ is likely to host a waterfall or steep rapids today.

A) hanging valley
B) striated drumlin
C) outwash plain
D) horn peak

Question 22

An______ is a deposit created by a former meltwater channel or tunnel in glacial ice that was filled with sand and gravel.

A) yazoo ridge
B) kettle
C) valley plain
D) esker

Question 23

Which of the following did not exist prior to the Quaternary Ice ages?

A) the Colorado River
B) the Great Lakes
C) the Arctic Ocean
D) the Mississippi River
E) Antarctica

Question 24

Our detailed knowledge of the glacial cycles and their duration is based primarily on______ .

A) climate records
B) seafloor sediments
C) landscape features
D) land sediments
E) all of the above

Question 25

Milankovitch cycles refer to ______.

A) variations in the earth's orbit about the sun and precession of the earth's axis
B) plate tectonics and sea level rise
C) evolution of plants and animals and human impact
D) solar flares and variations in the moon's orbit over time

Question 26

Which of the following countries was almost entirely covered by ice during the last ice age?

A) Russia
B) United States
C) Canada
D) Mexico

Question 27

Ice Age glaciers had many indirect effects. Which one of the following was not such an effect?

A) extinction of some organisms
B) changes in some river courses
C) sea level fluctuations
D) formation of mountains

Question 28

Note the map below of the western United States. The dark lake is the Great Salt Lake and is the only lake still existing today. During the last ice ago a lighter blue areas were there too. Why are they no longer there?

A) The weather today is warmer and dryer.
B) The glaciers were sitting just below the surface of the rock under the lakes, and have now sunk to depths of 100 km.
C) The ocean used to flow into the continent's interior and now no longer does so.
D) There was a large ice dam during the ice age that broke and released the water.

Question 29

Desert and steppe lands cover about what percentage of Earth's land area?

A) 10%
B) 3%
C) 30%
D) 66%

Question 30

Desert streams are characterized by ______.

A) long, frequent tributaries
B) short, frequent tributaries
C) increasing discharge downstream
D) decreasing discharge downstream
E) well- sorted, rounded clasts of sediment

Question 31

Which of the following is not a major factor controlling glacial erosion?

A) character of the surface beneath the glacier
B) ice thickness
C) rate of glacial ice movement
D) altitude of the glacial ice

Question 32

Please note the rock in the picture below It is out of place from the surrounding terrane and is known as an "erratic". Knowing that glaciers p through this area, how did it get here?

A) It was exposed by glacial erosion.
B) It was deposited by a meltwater stream.
C) It was carried in glacial ice from far away.
D) It used to be a mountain but is all that is left after glacial erosion.

Question 33

Which of the following is a knife edge ridge that forms from glaciers cutting on either side of a mountain?

A) tarn
B) horn
C) esker
D) arête

Question 34

Which of the following is considered to be the most likely cause of the Quaternary Ice ages?

A) plate tectonics moving continents to polar regions
B) variations in the earth's orbit Milankovitch cycles.
C) sunspots
D) human activity releasing "greenhouse" gases

Question 35

Permanent streams in desert regions are rare, and when they do occur,______ .

A) they have numerous tributaries to keep them supplied with water as they cross the desert
B) they originate outside of the desert region and have few tributaries in the desert
C) they get their water from wadis and arroyos
D) they originate in a glacier region

Question 36

Glacial sediments or tills are characterized by______.

A) cirques, arêtes, and hanging valleys
B) very fine- grained, highly polished clasts
C) striations
D) wide variations in sizes of clasts
E) moraines and glacial flour

Question 37

A ______ lake forms when a block of ice is buried in drift and subsequently melts, creating a pit.

A) cirque
B) tarn
C) kettle
D) kame

Question 38

Which of the following is a lake that forms in a cirque?

A) oxbow
B) tarn
C) kettle
D) pater noster

Question 39

The term drift______ .

A) means any sediments of glacial origin
B) is synonymous with the term till
C) refers only to moraines
D) refers only to alpine glaciers

Question 40

If all of the ice now stored in Antarctica's glaciers melted, what would happen?

A) Sea water would become fresh enough to drink because glaciers are made of fresh water.
B) Sea level would rise flooding many coastal cities.
C) Icebergs would float to the equatorial regions of the earth where they would lower the temperature and cause the climate to become cooler.
D) Because glacial melt water is less dense than sea water, the glacial melt will float on top of the ocean and not affect the land areas.

Question 41

The major difference between floods in humid regions and in dry regions is______ .

A) in dry regions, flooding lasts much longer than in humid regions because the water cannot soak into the baked desert soil
B) in dry regions, flooding is a very fast process because there are fewer plants
C) in dry regions, flooding does not really occur because there is almost no water
D) in dry regions, flooding is a very slow process because there is less water

Question 42

Examine the words and/or phrases below and determine the relationship among the majority of words/phrases. Choose the option which does not fit the pattern.

A) zone of wastage
B) Melting
C) Calving
D) Cirque

Question 43

See the image below. It is a dry desert stream bed. What would be good advice for someone who wants to go camping in the area shown in the photog

A) You do not need a tent as it stays warm in deserts all night long.
B) You would not want to camp there because of the possibility of a sudden flood.
C) The dry sand would not be a good place to put a tent, because it would be better to be wet.
D) If you were camping that would make a good place to camp because it is dry and soft.

Question 44

Inselbergs are______ .

A) lithified rock formed by cementation of wind- deposited dune sands
B) bedrock hills in a highly eroded desert landscape
C) blowouts cut from bedrock in mountainous areas
D) insulated icebergs floating in a playa lake

Question 45

Which of the following is not a typical stage in the evolution of a Basin and Range type region?

A) Sediment moves downhill to the sea.
B) Salt flats or playas and occasional playa lakes form.
C) Water erodes the mountains and deposits sediment in the adjacent basins.
D) Alluvial fans and bajadas form along the mountain fronts.

Question 46

Which of the following statements is true of desert landscapes, like the one pictured?

A) The fact that it does not receive much rainfall likely means that there is very little water- produced erosion here.
B) The vegetation in the photograph likely has adaptations to help it survive long periods without rainfall.
C) Deserts are always sandy, so this photograph is a typical desert.
D) There is no life visible.

Question 47

Examine the words and/or phrases below and determine the relationship among the majority of words/phrases. Choose the option which does not fit the pattern.

A) esker
B) moraine
C) hanging valley
D) drumlin

Question 48

Note the picture below from a desert setting: What is illustrated in the photograph?

A) How effective wind is at purposely avoiding grasses.
B) How effective vegetation is at anchoring sediment.
C) The role of water erosion in deserts.
D) This cannot be a desert as there are no life forms in a desert.

Question 49

Examine the words and/or phrases below and determine the relationship among the majority of words/phrases. Choose the option which does not fit the pattern.

A) arête
B) horn
C) lateral moraine
D) drumlin

Question 50

Note the diagram below, which depicts a dune setting Based on the diagram, which of the following statements is true?

A) The right side of the dune has a gentler slope.
B) The wind direction will likely always remain the same.
C) Sand is moved up the left side of the dune and slips down the right side.
D) The leeward side is the left side of each dune.

Question 51

On the diagram below, which letter refers to a horn?

A) A
B) B
C) C
D) D
E) E

Question 52

Desert pavement is the result of______.

A) intense chemical weathering
B) erosion by running water
C) deflation by wind
D) abrasion by windblown sand

Question 53

Examine the words and/or phrases below and determine the relationship among the majority of words/phrases. Choose the option which does not fit the pattern.

A) nullah
B) arroyo
C) wadi
D) inselberg

Question 54

Why is wind less effective than moving water at picking up and moving materials?

A) Air moves slower than water.
B) Air does not move very far.
C) Air is less dense than water.
D) Air moves faster than water.

Question 55

The loess deposited in many parts of the Midwest ______ .

A) was once glacial outwash deposits
B) is uniformly thick
C) is in the form of transverse dunes
D) had its source in desert regions

Question 56

Deserts occur primarily in the Africa, Arabia, and Australia because of ______.

A) descending air currents
B) mountains that block the moisture and long distances from the oceans
C) rising air currents
D) high temperatures

Question 57

In a dry climate, weathering is significantly less than in a humid climate because______ .

A) there is less moisture than in a humid region
B) sand covers much of the rock surface and protects them from weathering in a desert
C) rivers are ephemeral and do not cause weathering in the desert
D) wind is not a significant weathering agent

Question 58

Climatologists define a "dry climate" as a climate in which______ .

A) precipitation is blocked by high mountains
B) precipitation is less than expected evaporation
C) less than 25 cm 10 in. of rain falls in a year
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 59

Most of the deserts and steppes that occur at middle latitudes do so because of ______ .

A) mountains that block the moisture and long distances from the oceans
B) subsiding air currents
C) high temperatures
D) rising air currents

Question 60

Which American state is entirely made up of Basin and Range desert?

A) Nevada
B) Arizona
C) California
D) Utah

Question 61

The North Pole is covered by______ .

A) mountains
B) sea ice
C) desert
D) glaciers

Question 62

Deserts are correctly characterized by being______ .

A) mostly shaped by water
B) lifeless
C) sandy
D) hot

Question 63

Examine the words and/or phrases below and determine the relationship among the majority of words/phrases. Choose the option which does not fit the pattern.

A) playa
B) loess
C) alluvial fan
D) inselberg

Question 64

Bajadas develop from______ .

A) deposition of playa lakes
B) erosion of inselbergs
C) deflation of blowouts
D) coalescence of alluvial fans

Question 65

As an erosional agent, running water in arid regions is______ .

A) not very important because desert sands do not easily get moved
B) not very important because it does not rain often
C) important because there is almost no wind in deserts so water erosion is all there is
D) important because there is relatively little vegetation to anchor the sediment

Question 66

Glaciers can form______ .

A) only at locations that are both high in altitude and at high latitudes, because that is the only place cold enough
B) only at high latitudes because that is the only place cold enough
C) only at high altitudes, because that is the only place cold enough
D) at high latitudes and/or high latitudes,, provided it is cold enough

Question 67

Examine the words and/or phrases below and determine the relationship among the majority of words/phrases. Choose the option which does not fit the pattern.

A) deflation
B) desert pavement
C) blowout
D) sand dune

Question 68

A playa is an______.

A) dry shallow depression formed by deflation
B) mound or ridge of sand
C) stony veneer that forms as deflation lowers the surface by removing sand and silt
D) intermittent lake on the floor of a desert valley

Question 69

Glaciation has been recorded______ .

A) only during times when earth has moved farther away from the sun
B) only millions of years ago. The Ice Ages are nothing we have seen during human history
C) only during the Quaternary period
D) at multiple times throughout Earth's history

Question 70

The Basin and Range region of the western United States is an excellent example of a______ desert landscape.

A) flat
B) tectonically quiet
C) mountainous
D) featureless

Question 71

During the Ice Age, the climate was______ .

A) mostly much colder than today
B) always slightly colder than today
C) mostly slightly colder than today
D) always much colder than today

Question 72

Arid and semiarid climates cover about______ percent of Earth's land surface.

A) 30
B) 50
C) 10
D) 60

Question 73

Melting and ______are two forms of ablation.

A) plastic flow
B) calving
C) deflation
D) striations

Question 74

Moraines are glacial deposits composed of______ .

A) loess
B) ice
C) till
D) stratified drift

Question 75

When a glacier is retreating, the upstream ice is ______.

A) moving forward toward the downstream terminus of the glacier
B) moving backward towards the head of the glacier
C) moving underground
D) not moving at all. Glacial ice does not move

Question 76

Till is ______ glacial sediment.

A) sorted
B) windblown
C) unsorted
D) meltwater deposited

Question 77

A cirque represents an erosional feature formed______ .

A) at the terminus of a glacier
B) inside a glacier
C) underneath a glacier
D) at the head of a glacier

Question 78

Fiords______ .

A) lakes that form when blocks of stagnant ice become buried in drift and eventually melt, leaving pits in the glacial sediment
B) deposits made by streams flowing in tunnels beneath the ice
C) glacier- cut valleys that flooded as sea level rose in post- glacial times
D) elongate parallel hills made of till

Question 79

The Colorado River still has water after it leaves the desert southwest region and enters the Gulf of California because______ .

A) the desert is dry because it saps water out of the Colorado River, but that water ends up precipitating downstream the desert
B) the river began outside the desert, which is normally the only way streams that leave the desert will still have water in them
C) the river began in the desert and desert streams usually still have water in them when they leave
D) desert streams tend to increase in size as they pass through a desert

Question 80

Arêtes, horns, and U- shaped valleys are______ features of ______glaciers.

A) depositional; continental
B) erosional; alpine
C) depositional; alpine
D) erosional; continental