Erosion and Running Water

Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay
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  1. The feature separating one drainage basin from another is a(an):
    1. divide
    2. valley
    3. natural levee
    4. point bar
    5. alluvial fan
  2. A drainage pattern in which streams flow in and out of lakes with irregular flow directions is:
    1. radial
    2. rectangular
    3. longitudinal
    4. graded
    5. deranged
  3. The primary process by which bed load is transported is:
    1. suspension
    2. precipitation
    3. abrasion
    4. answers (a) and (c)
    5. saltation
  4. Which of the following is a local base level?
    1. lake
    2. point bar
    3. ocean
    4. alluvial fan
    5. floodplain
  5. Erosional remnants of floodplains that are higher than the current level of a stream are:
    1. oxbow lakes
    2. incised meanders
    3. cut banks
    4. natural bridges
    5. stream terraces
  6. All of the sediment carried by saltation and rolling and sliding along a stream bed is the:
    1. suspended load
    2. bed load
    3. drainage capacity
    4. channel pattern
    5. stream profile
  7. The dry lake beds in many deserts are:
    1. playas
    2. pediments
    3. bajadas
    4. mesas
    5. inselbergs
  8. A stream can lengthen its channel by:
    1. runoff
    2. hydraulic action
    3. headward erosion
    4. downcutting
    5. vertical accretion
  9. The removal of thin layers of soil by water over a more or less continuous surface is
    1. gullying
    2. leaching
    3. sheet erosion
    4. exfoliation
    5. weathering
  10. Why are the Rockies high?
    1. They get little rain and are not eroded.
    2. They are still young and have not been eroded away.
    3. They are not subject to chemical weathering.
    4. They get little acid rain.
  11. A dam will most likely:
    1. accelerate erosion upstream
    2. not affect the river downstream
    3. cause the reservoirs to fill with sediment eventually
    4. accelerate erosion above the reservoir
  12. All of these can result in a canyon cutting through a ridge. Which one is least likely to be the correct explanation?
    1. the crust is uplifted across the course of the stream
    2. the stream erodes down into a buried ridge and the overlying cover is stripped away
    3. a huge flood carves a canyon
    4. a peneplain is uplifted and resistant rocks form ridges
  13. In uniform flat rocks, drainage patterns tend to be
    1. dendritic
    2. radial
    3. trellis
    4. braided
  14. Which factor does not directly influence the shape of a delta?
    1. intensity of wave action on the shore
    2. strength and height of tides
    3. width of the continental shelf
    4. volume of sediment carried by the river
    5. none of the above
  15. The principal reason rivers do not fit the idealized erosion cycles of youth-maturity-old age:
    1. they flow across rocks of varying hardness
    2. climate is not constant over large river basins
    3. global sea levels have changed markedly in the last few thousand years
  16. The process by which one stream loses a major portion of its headwaters to another stream is called:
    1. stream larceny
    2. stream theft
    3. stream piracy
    4. perifluvial capture
    5. none of these
  17. River channels which were abandoned by a captured stream are now sometimes seen as:
    1. water gaps
    2. hanging valleys
    3. nick points
    4. wind gaps
    5. none of these
  18. An old-age stream
    1. is at least 10,000 years old
    2. is at least 1,000,000 years old
    3. has a straight course with few bends
    4. is of no definite age but flows across a low landscape and has many meanders
  19. A stream that has more sediment to move than it can carry at one time is likely to be
    1. mature
    2. meandering
    3. braided
    4. youthful
  20. How levees form along rivers
    1. built by Army Corps of Engineers
    2. built up by deposits laid down when the stream floods
    3. form when clay along the river bank dries out and swells up
    4. are piled up by aquatic organisms
  21. The gently sloping rock surface that forms at the base of mountains in arid regions
    1. playa
    2. graben
    3. pediment
    4. stratum
  22. Landscapes can be rejuvenated
    1. at any time
    2. any time except old age
    3. only during maturity
    4. only during old age
  23. These are all names for hills or mountains that form when erosion leaves remnants behind, except one. Which is not?
    1. plateau
    2. mesa
    3. inselberg
    4. monadnock
  24. Not a major factor in arid erosion
    1. lack of vegetation
    2. intense chemical weathering
    3. thin soil cover
    4. episodic rainfall
  25. This kind of drainage suggests stream piracy
    1. dendritic
    2. barbed
    3. braided
    4. trellis
  26. This kind of drainage suggests strong variations in erosional resistance of the bedrock:
    1. dendritic
    2. meandering
    3. trellis
    4. deranged
  27. You see a stream cutting right through a ridge. This landscape is called:
    1. old-age landscape
    2. rift valley
    3. antecedent or superposed drainage
    4. rejuvenated landscape
    5. peneplain
  28. A stream cutting right through a ridge implies:
    1. the ridge was split open by some kind of upheaval
    2. a huge flood carved a canyon through the ridge
    3. the stream predates the ridge
    4. the landscape is very young
    5. the rocks in the ridge are highly weathered

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Last Update 12/31/1996