Erosion and Running Water

Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay
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The vertical drop of a stream in a given horizontal distance is its:
1. discharge
2. base level
3. gradient
4. drainage pattern
5. velocity
The _____ drainage pattern resembles the branching of a tree.
1. rectangular
2. deranged
3. trellis
4. radial
5. dendritic
Sediment transport by intermittent bouncing and skipping along a stream bed is:
1. saltation
2. suspended load
3. dissolved load
4. alluvium
5. capacity
Trellis drainage is most likely to develop on:
1. natural levees
2. tilted sedimentary rock layers
3. granite
4. horizontal layers of volcanic rocks
5. fractured basalt
Ridges of sediment deposited on the margin of a stream are called:
1. natural levees
2. incised meanders
3. oxbow lakes
4. alluvial fans
5. bottomset beds
The direct impact of running water is called:
1. bed load
2. meander cutoff
3. saltation
4. base level
5. hydraulic action
The capacity of a stream is a measure of its:
1. volume of water
2. discharge
3. velocity
4. ability to erode
5. total load of sediment
A meandering stream is one having:
1. numerous sand and gravel bars in its channel
2. a single, sinuous channel
3. a broad shallow channel
4. a deep, narrow valley
5. long, straight reaches and waterfalls
In which of the following do foreset beds occur?
1. alluvial fans
2. deltas
3. point bars
4. natural levees
5. deltas
Which of the following controls flow velocity in streams?
1. channel shape
2. gradient
3. depth
4. channel roughness
5. all of these
The feature separating one drainage basin from another is a(an):
1. divide
2. valley
3. natural levee
4. point bar
5. alluvial fan
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
The primary process by which bed load is transported is:
1. suspension
2. precipitation
3. abrasion
4. answers (a) and (c)
5. saltation
Which of the following is a local base level?
1. lake
2. point bar
3. ocean
4. alluvial fan
5. floodplain
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
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
The dry lake beds in many deserts are:
1. playas
2. pediments
3. bajadas
4. mesas
5. inselbergs
A stream can lengthen its channel by:
1. runoff
2. hydraulic action
3. headward erosion
4. downcutting
5. vertical accretion
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
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.
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
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
In uniform flat rocks, drainage patterns tend to be
1. dendritic
2. radial
3. trellis
4. braided
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
The gently sloping rock surface that forms at the base of mountains in arid regions
1. playa
2. graben
3. pediment
4. stratum
Landscapes can be rejuvenated
1. at any time
2. any time except old age
3. only during maturity
4. only during old age
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
Not a major factor in arid erosion
1. lack of vegetation
2. intense chemical weathering
3. thin soil cover
4. episodic rainfall
This kind of drainage suggests stream piracy
1. dendritic
2. barbed
3. braided
4. trellis
This kind of drainage suggests strong variations in erosional resistance of the bedrock:
1. dendritic
2. meandering
3. trellis
4. deranged
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
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
Why do rivers meander?
1. The land is flat
2. The landscape is millions of years old
3. The river suddenly slows down
4. The river suddenly speeds up
5. The gradient of the river increases
When two third-order streams join, the result is a _________ order stream
1. First
2. Second
3. Third
4. Fourth
5. Fifth
River deltas on coastlines where wave action is important tend to
1. Build far offshore
2. Be spread along the coastline
3. Have many parallel islands and channels
4. Have a smoothly curved front
River deltas on coastlines where tides are dominant tend to
1. Build far offshore
2. Be spread along the coastline
3. Have many parallel islands and channels
4. Have a smoothly curved front
River deltas on coastlines where deposition is most important tend to
1. Build far offshore
2. Be spread along the coastline
3. Have many parallel islands and channels
4. Have a smoothly curved front
River deltas on coastlines where wave action and deposition are about equally important tend to
1. Build far offshore
2. Be spread along the coastline
3. Have many parallel islands and channels
4. Have a smoothly curved front

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Page Created 31 December 1996, Last Update 13 December 2004