Introduction to Earth Science

Introduction to Earth Science

Quiz 13 - Glaciers & Glaciation


1. What is an extensive dome-shaped or plate-like perennial cover of ice and snow that spreads out from a center and covers a large area, especially of land.
a. ice cap
b. piedmont glacier
c. continental ice sheet
d. ice shelf

2.What is the name of the most recent glaciation period of North America?
a. Illinoisan
b. Nebraskan
c. Kansan
d. Wisconsin

3. Early in the 20th century an geophysicist/astronomer named Milutin Milankovitch studied orbital forcing cycles including axial precession, precession of equinoxes, and orbital eccentricity. Which of the orbital forcing cycles is related to the wobble in tilt of Earth's axis?
a. axial precession.
b. eccentricity in earth's orbit.
c. precession of the equinoxes.
d. All choices are correct.

4. The area of a glacier in which new ice is forming is called the:
a. snowline.
b. zone of wastage.
c. zone of ablation.
d. zone of calving.
e. zone of accumulation.

5. If ablation is equal to accumulation, then:
a. calving occurs.
b. the glacier stops flowing.
c. the glacial front stops moving.
d. surging occurs.
e. avalanches occur.

6. The boundary between forests and unforested or barren ground on a mountainside is called:
a. snow line.
b. permafrost line.
c. timberline.
d. tundra.

7. A bowl-shaped, steep sided hollow at the head of a valley or on a mountainside, formed by glacial erosion is called:
a. an arete.
b. a col.
c. a cirque.
d. a tarn.

8. A U-shaped canyon (carved by a mountain glacier) that intersects with a larger, deeper U-shaped valley and is a typical location where large waterfalls occur is called:
a. a horn.
b. a cirque.
c. a hanging valley.
d. a roche moutonnee.

9. Submerged, steep-walled troughs along coastlines that formerly held glaciers are called:
a. cirques.
b. cols.
c. tarns.
d. fjords.

10. Unusual large boulders that were deposited by glaciers are called:
a. erratics.
b. moraines.
c. drifts.
d. tills.
e. drumlins.

11. During the previous warm period (during the Sangamonian interglacial period, about 125,000 years ago):
a. sea level was lower than it is today.
b. sea level was the same as it is today.
c. sea level rose about 18 feet (about 6 meters) higher than the current level.
d. c. sea level rose about 165 feet (about 50 meters) higher than the current level.

12. The 400 foot rise in sea level cause by the melting of the last continental glaciers is called:
a. The Spokane Flood.
b. The Great Flood.
c. The Flandrian Transgression.
d. The Holocene Epoch.
e. Laurentide Glacier.

13. At the peak of the last ice age, California did NOT have:
a. shorelines located as much of 10 to 70 miles west (offshore) of its present location.
b. alpine glaciers and ice caps covering most of the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade volcanoes.
c. great lakes filling large portions of Death Valley and lower Mojave Desert regions.
d. glaciers covering much of San Francisco Bay.

14. The breakout of an ancient glacial ice-dammed lake (called Lake Missoula) in north-central Washington, resulted the Spokane Floods and in the formation of:
a. the Channeled Scablands.
b. the Great Lakes.
c. the Missouri River.
d. the Mississippi River.

15. According to a 2009 report released by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), how much is sea level estimated to rise by the year 2100 due to the ongoing effects of climate change?
a. sea level is not rising
b. an estimated 0.5 to 1 meters
c. an estimated 2.6 meters
d. an estimated 4 meters.

https://gotbooks.miracosta.edu/earth_science/quiz/quiz13.html 6/6/2018