Introduction to Geology

Introduction to Geology

Quiz 12 - Glaciers and Glaciation

1. Very large glaciers that spread out over extensive land regions are called:
a. ice caps.
b. piedmont glaciers.
c. continental ice sheets.
d. ice shelves.

2. A glacier that meets the ocean and its mouth is influenced by the daily rise and fall of tides, shedding sediment-laden ice into coastal waters, providing nutrients to the local ecosystem is called:
a. an alpine glacier.
b. a valley glacier.
c. a piedmont glacier.
d. a tidewater glacier.

3. Which of these was the most recent glacial stage of North America?
a. Illinoisan glaciation
b. Nebraskan glaciation
c. Kansan glaciation
d. Wisconsin glaciation

4. The name of the time period following the last glaciation that began about 11,000 years ago is called:
a. The Pliocene Epoch.
b. The Quaternary Period.
c. the Holocene Epoch.
d. The Pleistocene Epoch.

5. 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.

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

7. The process of blocks of ice falling off the face of a parent glacier, ice shelf, or iceberg is called:
a. ablation.
b. accumulation.
c. crevassing.
d. calving.

8. The boundary between forests and barren ground on a mountainside is called:
a. snow line.
b. permafrost line.
c. timberline.
d. grassline.
e. moraine.

9. Landscapes with permafrost in high elevation and-or high latitude regions (such as north of the Arctic Circle) is called:
a. tundra.
b. desert.
c. rainshadow.
d. scablands.
e. ice shelf.

10. Submerged, steep-walled troughs that formerly held glaciers that now are flooded with seawater are called:
a. aretes.
b. cirques.
c. cols.
d. tarns.
e. fjords.

11. Unusual large boulders that were deposited by glaciers that are typically different in composition than the local bedrocks are called:
a. erratics.
b. moraines.
c. drifts.
d. tills.
e. drumlins.

12. The roughly 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 in north central Washington, Lake Missoula, resulted in the formation of:
a. the Channeled Scablands.
b. the Great Lakes.
c. the Missouri River.
d. the Ohio River.
e. the Mississippi River.

15. Studies of shoreline features such as exposed reefs and marine terraces show that at the peak of the last interglacial period about 125,000 years ago suggest that :
a. the Earth's average temperature was 1° to 2° C warmer than the present.
b. sea level ranged from 6 to 10 meters higher than current sea level.
c. higher sea level varied because of geographic and oceanographic factors in different regions.
d. all of the above.

16. According to studies reported by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), estimates for sea level rise by the year 2100 are to be in the range of:
a. zero change.
b. 0.5 to 1.0 meters.
c. 4 meters.
d. 15 meters.

https://gotbooks.miracosta.edu/geology/quiz/quiz12.html
12/10/2017