Deck 15: Weathering and Mass Wasting

Question 1

The single most important mechanism of transport for weathered overburden in the subarctic zones is _ _.

A) mass wasting
B) oxidation
C) frost wedging
D) exfoliation
E) none of the above

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Typically, solifluction lobes move a few per year.

A) meters (feet)
B) tens of meters (tens of feet)
C) centimeters (inches)
D) tens of kilometers (tens of miles)
E) kilometers (miles)

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The single most important weathering agent is

A) liquid water.
B) oxygen.
C) water vapor.
D) nitrogen.
E) carbon dioxide.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which of the following is NOT closely related to jointing?

A) horizontal and vertical orientation
B) contraction of sediments after they dry out
C) Zion Canyon National Park, Utah
D) vesicles
E) ease of percolation of water into rock

Question 5

The main downslope movement of subarctic and arctic landscapes is .

A) mud slide
B) mass wasting
C) rock glacier
D) solifluction
E) permafrost

Question 6

Salt wedging is most closely associated with .

A) freeze/thaw cycles
B) chemical weathering
C) capillary action
D) humid climates
E) plant roots

Question 7

Which of the following is NOT associated with biological weathering?

A) leaching of nutrient minerals from rocks
B) expansion of rock cracks by tree roots
C) formation of rock joints
D) flaking of rock particles because of lichens present
E) disintegration of rock by burrowing animals

Question 8

Gravity is the main force impelling movement in all of the following except .

A) creep
B) hydrolysis
C) solifluction
D) slide
E) fall

Question 9

In freeze/thaw or wet/dry conditions in soil creep, an individual soil particle tends to .

A) be lifted vertically and placed at the same spot
B) be lifted vertically
C) slide downhill
D) be lifted vertically from the ground surface and placed slightly downhill
E) slide downhill and then be lifted vertically

Question 10

Lava develop when gas is unable to escape as the lava solidifies.

A) vesicles
B) joints
C) cavities
D) tubes
E) holes

Question 11

Clay is a facilitator for mass wasting because clay .

A) absorbs water
B) dissolves when wet
C) particles are so small
D) has solution cavities
E) is described by all of the above

Question 12

Clays which change to a near- liquid state as a result of sudden disturbance are clays.

A) scree
B) mudflow
C) talus
D) quick
E) none of the above

Question 13

Landslides are often responsible for the formation of _.

A) jointing
B) basins
C) lakes
D) reverse faults
E) hydrolysis

Question 14

In percolating rainwater, dissolved gases and the decay products of local vegetation increases the water's capacity to _.

A) evaporate
B) condense
C) undergo mechanical weathering
D) freeze
E) drive chemical reactions

Question 15

"The angle of repose" is a term most closely associated with .

A) exfoliation
B) mechanical weathering
C) chemical weathering
D) talus
E) mudflows

Question 16

Chemical weathering is speeded because mechanical weathering tends to .

A) greatly increase the surface area to be weathered
B) prevent moisture from washing away the chemicals
C) stop when chemical weathering starts
D) deliver rocks to where chemical processes are dominant
E) make coarse- grained materials decompose more rapidly than fine- grained materials

Question 17

Which of the following form of mass wasting is relatively fast and wet compared to the others?

A) rock glacier
B) slump
C) solifluction
D) creep
E) mudflow

Question 18

From a chemical standpoint, the three reacting agents of greatest importance to weathering are .

A) carbon dioxide, oxygen, and water vapor
B) oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide
C) hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen
D) water vapor, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide
E) none of the above

Question 19

Frost shattering is also called frost _.

A) creep
B) weathering
C) slump
D) wedging
E) exfoliation

Question 20

Calcareous rock is closely associated with .

A) hydration
B) solution cavities
C) exfoliation
D) vesicles
E) granular disintegration

Question 21

Salt wedging is of slight consequence in .

A) arid regions
B) regions above the treeline
C) humid regions
D) marshes
E) volcanic regions

Question 22

In mountain areas, when large amounts of rock fragments move downslope of their own weight, they are called .

A) slumps
B) veins
C) rock glaciers
D) laccolith
E) dikes

Question 23

Frost wedging is a significant agent in producing _ .

A) large boulders
B) mechanical weathering effects
C) dust
D) sand
E) all of the above

Question 24

In rock, is another term for pressure release.

A) rusting
B) creep
C) slumping
D) oxidation
E) unloading

Question 25

Mass wasting is associated with which speed of movement?

A) a few meters per year
B) 100 kilometers per hour
C) a few centimeters per day
D) imperceptibly slow
E) all of the above

Question 26

Undercutting of a bank by its stream may trigger .

A) movement of a rock glacier
B) an earthquake
C) a landslide
D) solifluction
E) soil creep

Question 27

In frost wedging, the principal force is exerted against the of the confining rock.

A) microscopic openings
B) outside
C) walls
D) top
E) bottom

Question 28

Jointing is most regularly patterned in .

A) soil
B) fine- grained rocks
C) exfoliated rocks
D) faulted rocks
E) coarse- grained rocks

Question 29

One sub- surface material which intensifies the process of earthquakes and mass movement is .

A) batholiths
B) boulders
C) clay
D) calcium carbonate
E) scree

Question 30

is a facilitator of mass wasting.

A) Talus
B) Calcium carbonate
C) Clay
D) Gravel
E) Friction

Question 31

An earthflow is most conspicuous in where a bulging lobe of material pushes out onto a valley floor.

A) its upper reaches
B) landslide zones
C) its center
D) rock glacier zones
E) its lower reaches

Question 32

The slowest and least perceptible form of mass wasting is _ .

A) landslide
B) creep
C) exfoliation
D) mudflow
E) solifluction

Question 33

Which of the following is most effective in weathering rock?

A) plant roots
B) fire
C) salt wedging
D) freeze/thaw cycles
E) daily heating and cooling

Question 34

The process of creep works .

A) only in deserts
B) universally
C) only in the tropics
D) only in the mountains
E) only in the tundra

Question 35

Which material is most resistant to chemical weathering?

A) iron- bearing rocks
B) quartz
C) dolomite
D) gypsum
E) limestone

Question 36

The term "exfoliation dome" is best applied to .

A) Bryce National Park, Utah
B) unweathered parent material
C) Yosemite National Park
D) subarctic hillslopes
E) Bunker Hill, Massachusetts

Question 37

Where is the daily temperature change the most significant in rock weathering?

A) the subtropical deserts
B) the Arctic region
C) midlatitude valleys
D) the humid tropics
E) mountain summits

Question 38

Creep associated with animals and resembling a faint network of trails is called .

A) hydrolysis
B) solifluction
C) a terracette
D) oxidation
E) a seiche

Question 39

Invariably, hydrolysis makes a mineral _ .

A) more beautiful
B) redder
C) take up more volume
D) more acidic
E) denser

Question 40

Water is a major agent of weathering because of its property that, when it freezes, it decreases in density and _ .

A) turns acidic
B) expands in volume
C) turns white
D) evaporates
E) stays in liquid form below 0° Celsius

Question 41

and amount of moisture present can be used to classify types of mass wasting.

A) Speed of movement
B) Amount of mechanical weathering
C) Amount of chemical weathering
D) Gravity
E) Temperature

Question 42

Which sort of rocks are most susceptible to hydrolysis?

A) metamorphic
B) igneous
C) unjointed
D) sedimentary
E) plutonic

Question 43

The most common oxidation effect in the lithosphere is .

A) talus
B) rusting
C) scree
D) exfoliation
E) hydrolysis

Question 44

If no water is involved, rocks can mechanically weather if they undergo _ temperature change cycles.

A) two
B) millions of
C) a dozen
D) hundreds of
E) thousands of

Question 45

The location of features, such as cliffs and valleys might be strongly influenced by the position of .

A) rocks which can be exfoliated
B) scree
C) systems of microspaces
D) master joints
E) talus slopes

Question 46

Caverns are most closely associated with

A) faults.
B) solution cavities.
C) microscopic open spaces.
D) lava vesicles.
E) joints.

Question 47

move downslope as much as 160 kilometers per hour.

A) Rock glaciers
B) Solifluction lobes
C) Landslides
D) Debris flows
E) All of the above

Question 48

The mass- wasting type characterized by a crescent- shaped scarp face is the .

A) rock glacier
B) debris flow
C) solifluction
D) slump
E) none of the above

Question 49

A massive pile of highly irregular debris in the form of a low- lying ridge or cone on a valley bottom is a topographic result of a _ .

A) joint
B) rock fall
C) landslide
D) fault
E) rock glacier

Question 50

The slight displacement of human- built structures such as fence posts and telephone poles is subtle evidence that _ has(have) occurred.

A) landslides
B) rockfalls
C) rock glaciers
D) soil creep
E) mudflows

Question 51

A lava is a small hole which develops in cooling lava when gas is unable to escape as the lava solidifies.

A) cavity
B) vesicle
C) pore space
D) cavern
E) chamber

Question 52

Frost wedging is associated with in coarse- grained rocks.

A) granular disintegration
B) faults
C) hydrolysis
D) solution cavities
E) slumping

Question 53

Denudation is NOT closely related to .

A) erosion
B) mass wasting
C) atmospheric weathering
D) internal processes
E) biologic weathering

Question 54

Large extend for considerable distances and depths through rock. Below the surface, there is minimal separation between the blocks on either side.

A) solution cavities
B) master joints
C) vesicles
D) faults
E) glory holes

Question 55

The major end product of chemical weathering is(are) .

A) silts
B) airborne dust
C) sands
D) talus
E) clays

Question 56

A slope collapse with a backward rotation is a .

A) talus slope
B) slump
C) debris flow
D) rock slide
E) rock glacier

Question 57

Which of the following mass movements involves the greatest amount of water?

A) slide
B) flow
C) slump
D) rockfall
E) solifluction

Question 58

Exfoliation is probably the result of unloading and .

A) mechanical weathering
B) glaciation
C) jointing
D) salt wedging
E) hydration

Question 59

Which of the following is thought to transfer materials WITHOUT the lubricating effect of water?

A) rock glaciers
B) mudflow
C) solifluction
D) landslides
E) debris flows

Question 60

As water freezes it expands almost percent and is able to mechanically weather rock.

A) 100
B) 1
C) 10
D) 75
E) 50

Question 61

Which of the following is associated with large landslides?

A) Earthquakes
B) Large joints
C) Fault zones
D) Heavy rains
E) all of the above

Question 62

Like faults, a is a separation in a rock body.

A) dike
B) joint
C) sill
D) slump
E) graben

Question 63

The best example of a product of mass wasting is .

A) faults
B) scree
C) sandstone monoliths
D) limestone
E) exfoliation domes

Question 64

Water penetrating into soil promotes chemical weathering by acting as a weak .

A) neutral agent
B) saline solution
C) acid
D) base
E) catalyst

Question 65

Calcium bicarbonate produced in the chemical weathering process of carbonation is .

A) very resistant to erosion
B) rare
C) difficult to remove from the spot where it was formed
D) very soluble
E) not described by any of the above

Question 66

Oxidation of aluminum causes which of the following colors on the surfaces of rocks?

A) reddish brown
B) lime green
C) grayish- blue
D) light purple
E) black

Question 67

A joint can be distinguished from a fault in that _ .

A) joints are not found in metamorphic rocks
B) joints are a feature of cold climates exclusively
C) there is wider separation between two sides
D) there is no movement along joints
E) there is no difference between joints and faults

Question 68

often initiates mass wasting in subarctic and high latitudes.

A) Greater gravity nearer the poles
B) Heavy snow
C) The heaving of frozen groundwater
D) Short day lengths
E) Cold temperatures

Question 69

Which of the following landscapes is most closely associated with jointing?

A) Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
B) Chief Mountain in Glacier National Park, Montana
C) Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park
D) the Front Range of the Rockies
E) the folded Appalachian Mountains

Question 70

Which of the following is NOT a type of opening along which weathering agents attack bedrock?

A) joints
B) batholiths
C) solution cavities
D) lava vesicles
E) faults

Question 71

Granular disintegration is most closely associated with .

A) biological weathering
B) hydrolysis
C) frost wedging
D) mass wasting
E) landslides

Question 72

Weathering is deepest _ .

A) on ocean floors
B) in the middle latitudes
C) at high altitudes
D) in the humid tropics
E) at high latitudes

Question 73

Which of the following is the slowest of all types of mass movement?

A) slump
B) landslide
C) earthflow
D) rockfall
E) solifluction

Question 74

The main chemical weathering processes all take place more or less simultaneously because they all require the presence of .

A) salt crystal growth
B) air
C) water
D) plants
E) hydrogen

Question 75

are the most common structural features of rocks.

A) Lava vesicles
B) Joints
C) Faults
D) Fractures
E) Solution cavities

Question 76

Soil creep is unimportant in arid regions since lack of water removes the primary .

A) binder
B) catalyst
C) lubricant
D) cement
E) none of the above

Question 77

Which of the following is important in the weathering processes?

A) faults
B) joints
C) microscopic open spaces
D) lava vesicles
E) all of the above

Question 78

The process of solifluction works _.

A) mainly in the tundra
B) underwater
C) mainly in the tropical rainforest
D) mainly in the midlatitudes
E) universally

Question 79

Where the land is flat, exerts a minimal influence on topographic development.

A) gravity
B) water
C) chemical weathering
D) biological weathering
E) mechanical weathering

Question 80

Which of the following biological processes is also effective in weathering the landscape?

A) ion exchange by lichens
B) the burrowing of animals
C) wedging by roots
D) all of the above
E) none of the above