Geography exam

Denotesrunning water; derived from Latin word for river.

Flat, low-lying ground adjacent to a stream channel built by successive floods as sediment is deposited as alluvium

: Lake formed when two adjacent meanders link up and one of the bends in the channel, shaped like a bow, is cut off.

• Dendridic
• Radial
• Rectangular

Tree-limblike stream pattern that is the most commonly observed; indicates surface ofrelatively uniform hardness or one of flat-lying sedimentary rocks.

Stream patterns that emanates outward in many directions from a central mountain.

Stream pattern dominated by right-angle contacts between rivers and tributaries, but not as pronounced as trellis drainage.

the condition of vertical equilibrium between the floating landmasses and the aethenosphere beneath them.  This situation of sustained adjustment is maintained despite the forces that constantly operate to change the landmasses.

Elevation level below which a stream cannot erode its bed.

Several channels into which a river subdivides when it reaches its delta; caused by the clogging of the river mouth by deposition of fine-grained sediment as the stream reaches base level and water velocity declines markedly.

Huge Late Cenozoic continental glacier that covered all of Canada east of the Rocky Mountains and expanded repeatedly to bury northern U.S areas as far south as the Ohio and Missouri Valleys.

Smooth elliptical mound created when an ice sheet overrides and reshapes preexisting glacial till.  The long axis lies parallel to the direction of ice movement.

Glacial outwash landform that appears as a long thin, ribbon like ridge in the landscape because it was formed by the clogging of a river course within the glacier, the debris from which remains after the ice melts.

Steep-sided depression formed in glacial till that is the result of the melting of a buried block of ice.

Ridge or mound of glacial debris deposited during the melting phase of a glacier.

Plain formed ahead of a receding ice sheet by the removal of material carried in the glacier by melt-water; exhibits both erosional and depositional features.

Amphitheater-like basin, high up on a mountain, that is the source area of a mountain glacier.

Knife-like, jagged ridge that separates two adjacent glaciers or glacial valleys.

Spurs of hillsides that have been cut off by a glacier, thereby straightening the glacial eroded valley.

Narrow, steep-sided, elongated estuary formed from a glacial trough inundated by seawater.

Found in the world’s semiarid climate zones; characterized by a thick, dark surface layer and high alkaline content.

Found in tropical areas with high rainfall; heavily leached and usually characterized by pronounced oxic horizon, red or orange in color.

Often major sedimentary deposit surrounding and extending beyond the mouth of  a river where it empties into the sea or a lake; frequently assumes a triangular configuration, hence its naming after the Greek letter of that shape.

Period of global cooling during which continental ice sheets and mountain glaciers expand.

A tributary that parallels the main channel for a considerable distance. Joining of these streams is normally blocked by a natural levee along the larger stream.

• Oi – bed of leaves and twigs
• Oa – decomposed organic material
• A – derived from the mineral parent material below but colored dark by the organic material above
• E – Lighter material, washed out, eluviation
• Bt – formed by illuviation of clay particles
• C1 – more advance weathering of soil material
• C2 – area less weathered than C1 still consisting of some bedrock
• R – solid rock

• Rock basics / parent material
• biological activity
• climate
• gradient
• time
• human activity

• Acidity to Alkalinity
• 0 to 7 is increasing acidity, 7 to 14 is increasing alkalinity.

• Velocity
• Stream loads  
• Depth of ocean
• Tides               
• Ocean currents

• Acurate – Nile - slow flow              
• Birds foot – Mississippi - fast flow               
• Cuspate – Ebro - fast flow