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Physical Geology
Flashcards created from DSST Physical Geology Study Guide
68
Geology
Undergraduate 1
01/26/2013

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Cards

Term
Deserts
Definition
25% of land surgace
Term
Atacama Desert
Definition
South America - Dryest desert in the world
Term
Desert
Definition
No more that 15% vegetation
Less that 25 cm rain/year
No permanent streams
Term
Sahara Desert
Definition
Largest desert - North Africa
Term
Hot Deserts
Definition
Low latitude temperatures greater than 20 C
Term
Cold Deserts
Definition
High latitude or proximity to cold oceans. Temperatures lower than 20 C
Term
regolith
Definition
Any kind of unconsolidated debris that covers bedrock
Term
Rain shadow Desert
Definition
Air gives up moisture on coastal montains leading no moisture left on the far side of the mountain.
Term
Coastal Deserts
Definition
Cold ocean water sucks heat out of the atmosphere reducing its capacity to hold moisture. The air is so dry when it reaches the coast. Chili and Peru
Term
Desert Minerals
Definition
Little water = little chemical weathering. Minerals are not washed away. Precipitate to calcite.
Term
Desert Varnish
Definition
Coatings on rocks composed of Fe and Mg. Native Americans scraped away the coating to make Petroglyphs
Term
Painted Desert
Definition
Desert in arizona that has oxidized iron (Fe).
Term
Desert Erosion
Definition
water (ephermeral streas and supending sediment. Wind is the second cause of the erosion

wind
Term
Deflation
Definition
Lowering land surface by wind erosion. Finer particles are carried further. Abrasion.
Term
Blowout
Definition
Deep bowl-like depressing in the desert (caused by wind?)
Term
Sand Dunes
Definition
Rocks or bushes slow down wind-blown sand which is deposited on the obstruction. The dunes grow if the winds persist.
Term
Slip Face
Definition
Side of a dune opposite the wind direction
Term
Barcham Dune
Definition
Crescent shaped dune whose tips point downward
Term
Star-shaped dunes
Definition
Dunes formed when winds change directions.
Term
Ocean basins
Definition
Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian
Term
Loess
Definition
Fine particles of silt or sand that do not deposit in dunes. If these particles settle in a layer a fertile region may result
Term
Guyot
Definition
Seamount. Undersea folcoano that built up above sea level and was eroded by waves to producing a flat top.
Term
Moho
Definition
Mohorovicic Discontinuity. Boundary between Mantle and Crust
Term
Joint
Definition
Break in rock with no relative movement on either side
Term
Formations
Definition
Groups of rocks. Formation with one type of rock would carry the rock name (Kaibab Limestone). Otherwise a location is used with the name
Term
Pleistocene Ice Age
Definition
Larege mammals; humanoids' 2.6 million years ago; 20-30 glaciations occured.
Term
Most Recent Ice age
Definition
10,000 years ago
Term
Earliest Documented Ice age
Definition
Snowball earth (ice over entire globe). Proterozoic Perro: 850 630 million years ago
Term
Oldes ice age
Definition
Huron ice age during Paleogre Period. 2.7 -2.3 billion years ago.
Term
Evidence of ice age
Definition
Geological evidence: scouring and scratching, moraines, deposition of till and glacial erratic
Term
Coral reefs
Definition
Warm water. Live animal secrets equitol calcite shells. Only the surface is alive. Capture sediment.
Term
Composition of beach sand
Definition
most common: quartz and orthoclase; coral and basalt.
Atlantic coast - white sand quartz. Gulf of mexioc shells. Hawaii - black
Term
Rip Current
Definition
Seaward flow at right angle to the shoreline
Term
Sandbars
Definition
Long shore currents carry loose sediment which is deposited in open water as a sandbar
Term
Splits
Definition
Occur when waves strike headlands at angles other than 90 degrees
Term
Sea cave
Definition
Rock particles are eroded out of rocks at sealevel
Term
Sea stack
Definition
Ledges that have eroded in to liitle islands
Term
Wave cut notch
Definition
Hollow out rock creating a ledge above sea level
Term
Submerged shoreline
Definition
Sea has risen or land has sunk
Term
Emergent shoreline
Definition
Sea falls or land rise
Term
Neutral shoreline
Definition
Flat broad beach
Term
Guyot
Definition
Submerged flat-topped seamount
Term
Ooze
Definition
Sediment that contains 30% plant or animal shell materiald with CaCO3
Term
Seamount
Definition
Under sea volano peak
Term
Abyssal Plane
Definition
Horizontal suraface under ocean. 4.5 km deep
Term
Continental Slope
Definition
Continental shelf connects with the deep ocean floor (Abyssal plane) through the steep slope.
Term
Continental shelf
Definition
Sloping part of the continet that extends frome the shoreline to the continental slope. Debth less than 500 meters
Term
Isostasy Oceanic lithopshere is denser and thinner than continental lithospher
Definition
Oceanic lithopshere is denser and thinner than continental lithosphere so it lies with its surface lower. Oceanic light
Term
Bathymetry
Definition
Variation of debth of the ocean. Measured by sonar
Term
Waves
Definition
Most caused by winds blowing over the surace transfering frictin energy to the water creating waves.
Seismic activity also creats waves
Term
Ocean currents caused by?
Definition
Wind; Earth's rotation, moons gravitational pull, underwater earthquakes
Sun's heat (convection)
Term
Salt Water 3.5% dissolved sal and CuS)4
Definition
3.5% dissolved salt and CuSO4. Ocean water is denser than fresh water
Term
Ocean Currents
Definition
1) Coreolis effect due to rotation of earth. 2) Wind generated currents move clockwise in N. Hemisphere & counter clockwise in S. Hemisphere
Term
US Currents
Definition
Gulf Stream - warm current in Atlantic carries warm water north to Atlantic coast. Cool water sinks and new warmer water replaces it.

California current. Colc curren that flows south.
Term
Density Currents
Definition
Water flows from denser areas to less dense ares
Water flows from high salinity to lower salinity
Term
Subsurface currents
Definition
Flow in opposite direction of curace currents. Generated by density and temperature gradient. Density increases with debth and temperature decreases
Term
Currents and weather
Definition
Currents in upper layer of the ocean influence weather patterns. Currents are shallow rivers that continuously move along the ocean surface
Term
Modern Oceans
Definition
Pacific Basin, Atlantic Basin, Indian Basin, Southern and Arctic
Term
% Earth's surface covered by oceans
Definition
71% 99% of all water on earth comes from ice and sea water
Term
Rifting
Definition
Earth's crust being force apart
Term
Jupiter
Definition
Biggest Planet
No solid surface
60 moons
Term
Mercury
Definition
Closest planet to sun
Core is similar to earth
Eccentric orbit
Term
Pluto
Definition
No longer considered a planet because its inability to capture other objects in its orbital
Term
Neptune
Definition
Gaseous planet
Moon (Triton) has geyzers
Triton rotates oppositely
Term
Uranus
Definition
Gaseous planet. Spins differently than other planets. Rings are eliptical
Term
Planets without geology
Definition
Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, & Neptune
Term
Saturn
Definition
Gaseous planet with 35 moons
Term
Venus
Definition
Closest planet to earth with acid rain and volcanos. Atmosphere is CO2
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