Term
| what processes occur along shorelines |
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Definition
High and low tide
Waves: generated from wind, move sediment, and erode and deposit material.
Dunes: created by wind |
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Term
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Definition
Cyclic change in height of sea surface. High tide floods more shoreline, low tide exposes more land.
They occur because of the gravitational pulls of Earth, Sun, and Moon (most important) interacting. Imagine moon directly above Earth. The 2 poles both have high tide b/c the water is being stretched out, but the sides of the earth have low tide because the water is stretched out in a sense. |
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Term
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Definition
Wave base: below a certain depth water does not move. depth of wavebase= wavelength/2
Wavelength: distance between crests of wave
Height: distance between trough and crest
Water moves much less than a wave.
Water moves in a circular motion.
When waves hit the beach at an angle the sediment moves laterally along the coast.
When waves reach water shallower than its base, they slow down, crowd together, and get higher. Increase in height; decrease in wavelength. Waves crash into shore at an angle because of longshore currents. This process results in longshore drift along the coastline, which causes sediment to move laterally. |
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Term
| Talk about wave propagation |
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Definition
| A set of waves can move a very long distance, but the water that the waves are passing through don't move hardly at all. The water particles are spinning in circles. Deeper within the wave, water particles travel smaller circular paths, meaning they move less than the ones on the surface. Really deep down, below the wave base, the water doesn't move at all as the wave passes. |
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Term
| Talk about shoreline deposits. |
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Definition
| sediment budget affects whether a shoreline gains or loses sand with time. the wave breaks then flows downslope carrying sediment back toward the sea. page 420 |
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Term
| Landforms that occur along shorelines |
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Definition
Sea cliffs
Wave cut platforms
Caves and sea arches:
Pinnacles and sea stacks: start as promontory, then sea cave, then when the top of the sea cave breaks it becomes a sea stack |
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Term
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Definition
baymouth bar: spit long enough to cut off a bay. present on cape cod
spit: waves and longshore current transport beach sediment along the coast
barrier island: if sea level rises, just a series of spits. when sea level is low, it is a baymouth bar. present on cape cod |
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Term
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Definition
Moving masses of ice that can contain rocks and finer sediment as well. Glaciers form by the accumulation of snow and ice.
Ice sheets: largest accumulation of ice sheets, regionally continuous masses of ice like Antarctica and Greenland.
valley glaciers: glaciers that flow down valleys
piedmont glaciers: valley glaciers or ice sheets flow out of the mountain into broader, less confined topography and spread out forming a piedmont. |
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Term
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Definition
| Glacier moves by melting and slipping. Can float and become icebergs |
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Term
| Features formed by glacial sediment |
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Definition
Moraine: sediment carried by and deposited by a glacier
Medial moraine: sediment rich belt in center of glacier where 2 glaciers join
Lateral moraine: along the side of a glacier; form low ridges along what were the edges of a glacier
Terminal moraine: forms at the termination of a glacier, marking the farthest downhill
Moraines are classified based on where they form. |
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Term
| Earth's water distribution: both total, salt and freshwater |
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Definition
total: saline oceans (96.5%), freshwater (3.5%)
Freshwater: ice caps and glaciers (68.7% ice caps and glaciers, groundwater (30.1%), surface water (.3%)
surface water: lakes (87%), swamps (11%), rivers (2%) |
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Term
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Definition
| Hydrologic cycle: evaporation, runoff, precipitation, infiltration, groundwater flows, air currents, transpiration from plants |
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Term
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Definition
| mostly found in pore spaces in the ground. lower part of zone is water table which is saturated. upper part is unsaturated. |
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Term
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Definition
permeability:easiness for fluids to flow. high permeability: easier for water to flow
porosity: proportion of open space
high porosity: lots of open space
both control the rate of groundwater flow |
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Term
| what are the main ways we use freshwater |
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Definition
| irrigation, thermoelectric power, public and domestic use |
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Term
| unconfined, confined aquifer and artesian aquifer |
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Definition
unconfined: water bearing unit is open to earth's surface and atmosphere
confined: separated from earth's surface by rocks w/ low permeability
artesian: confined aquifer that holds the water and releases it into a well |
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Term
| problems associated with groundwater pumping |
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Definition
| cone of depression, earth fissures, lost permeability |
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Term
| how do we treat groundwater |
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Definition
| pumping wells and stopping the water flow and treating it. |
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Term
| Talk about oil and natural gas |
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Definition
| think 'drilling for oil and gas.' that's because they're found in solid rock. oil+natural gas= petroleum. petroleum is an organic substance, made up mainly of carbon bonded w/ hydrogen. |
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Term
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Definition
| los angeles. oil seeps onto the surface and the thick stuff (tar) stays behind. more than one million bones of ice age animals have been recovered who have gotten stuck in the tar. |
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Term
| how do oil and gas get trapped |
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Definition
| certain types of rock that are impermeable. faults can trap them too. |
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Term
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Definition
| from buried and compacted plants. commonly occurs below wetlands and swamps. forms peat which can be used for fuel. |
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Term
| know the 4 types of coal from lowest to highest quality |
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Definition
lignite: pressure squeezes water and other impurities out and the decomposing plants form lignite
bituminous coals: goes thru more maturation (coal changes as it's buried and heated) than lignite.
anthracite: coal continues to mature and become more compacted. black, dense and shiny. highest quality coal. energy content of coal= calories.
coal bed methane: colorless and odorless hydrocarbon gas that releases from coal as it matures. comes from bituminous coal |
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Term
| how is coal mined from strip mines |
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Definition
| removing one long strip of coal at a time. |
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Term
| other sources of hydrocarbons |
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Definition
coal bed methane:
gas hydrate: ice like solid mixture of water and a natural gas. if it's methane that's worse for the environment than carbon dioxide.
oil shale: accumulates as clay rich sediment that trapped
tar sands |
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