Beruflich Dokumente
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Chapter 13
Deserts and Wind Action
1. A desert is any region which has a dry or arid climate with a low rainfall of less than 25 cm
per year.
TRUE
2. The world's best-known deserts lie in a belt 10-15 degrees centered at latitude of 30 degree
(North and South).
TRUE
3. Some of the world's deserts are the result of the rain shadow effect of mountain ranges.
TRUE
4. The Basin and Range province is characterized by rugged mountain ranges bounded by
faults.
TRUE
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Chapter 13 - Deserts and Wind Action
5. Thin rocky soil and slow rates of creep make desert topography steep and angular.
TRUE
6. In passing over a dune, wind scours sand from the downwind or slip face.
FALSE
7. Because sand-sized grains are heavier than silt or clay-sized grains, sand moves close to the
ground in a series of short hops called saltation.
TRUE
8. Dune sand throughout the world is composed of the stable mineral quartz.
FALSE
9. Most sand dunes are asymmetric in cross section with a gentle slope facing the wind and a
steeper slope on the downwind side.
TRUE
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Chapter 13 - Deserts and Wind Action
10. A butte is a narrow valley with a narrow bottom and flat sides.
FALSE
11. Rapid down cutting of desert stream channels produces narrow canyons with vertical
walls and flat gravel-strewn floors.
TRUE
12. A mesa is capped by sedimentary rocks while a butte is capped by a lava flow.
FALSE
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Chapter 13 - Deserts and Wind Action
15. Since many desert regions have internal drainage, runoff collects on the valley floors as
bajadas.
FALSE
16. A transverse dune is a relatively straight, elongated dune oriented parallel to wind
direction.
FALSE
17. A pediment is an erosional surface underlain by solid rock, while a bajada is depositional
and is underlain by sediment.
TRUE
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Chapter 13 - Deserts and Wind Action
20. Loess is a deposit of wind-blown silt primarily composed of unweathered angular grains
of quartz and feldspar.
TRUE
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Chapter 13 - Deserts and Wind Action
23. Because of their low rainfall, intermittent stream flow, and dry stream beds, desert lack
____.
A. through-flowing streams
B. vegetation
C. mammals
D. runoff
E. transverse dunes
24. Not all deserts are hot. Descending air near the North and South poles creates ____
deserts.
A. rain shadow
B. cold ocean current
C. sparse
D. polar
E. All deserts are hot.
25. Desert stream channels called ____ are characterized by narrow canyons with vertical
walls and flat, gravel-strewn floors.
A. dry streams
B. intermittent channels
C. desert streams
D. stream beds
E. arroyos
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Chapter 13 - Deserts and Wind Action
26. This area of the desert southwest is characterized by mostly flat-lying beds of sedimentary
rock over 1,500 meters above sea level.
A. Colorado Plateau
B. Basin and Range
C. Great Salt Lake
D. Interior Desert
E. Butte province
27. High-speed winds can cause ____, clouds of sand moving rapidly near the land surface.
A. dust clouds
B. sand storms
C. dust devils
D. bajadas
E. deflation
28. A _____ is a depression on the land surface caused by wind erosion which may have a
pillar left at the center.
A. mesa
B. loess
C. blowout
D. plateau
E. deflation basin
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Chapter 13 - Deserts and Wind Action
29. This agent of erosion and deposition is most effective on fine sediment that is dry.
A. flash floods
B. wind
C. frost action
D. desertification
E. dry wash
30. The Colorado Plateau is marked by peculiar, step-like bends in rock layers called ____.
A. hogbacks
B. mesas
C. monoclines
D. cuestas
E. buttes
31. ____ is a hard shiny coating of dark iron and manganese oxides and clay minerals that
form on rock surfaces in arid environments.
A. Deflation coating
B. Desert armor
C. Ventifact
D. Desert varnish
E. Corona
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Chapter 13 - Deserts and Wind Action
32. A(n) _____ is a broad gently sloping surface formed by the coalescing of alluvial fans.
A. bajada
B. pediment
C. playa
D. cuesta
E. mesa
33. A(n) ____ is a gently sloping erosional surface, commonly covered with a veneer of
gravel, cut into the solid rock of a mountain.
A. bajada
B. pediment
C. cuesta
D. arroyo
E. playa
34. When the desert sun dries a lake, a very flat surface underlain by hard mud-cracked clay
called a _______ may form.
A. bajada
B. alluvial fan
C. playa
D. pediment
E. cuesta
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Chapter 13 - Deserts and Wind Action
35. The removal of clay, silt, and sand particles from a land surface by wind is called _____.
A. blowout
B. saltation
C. scour
D. deflation
E. depression
37. The steep downwind face of a sand dune is called the ______.
A. slip face
B. coarsest grains
C. longest dimension
D. gentle slope
E. upwind surface
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Chapter 13 - Deserts and Wind Action
38. Sand moving over a dune surface by saltation typically forms ___.
A. graded beds
B. ripple marks
C. mud cracks
D. desert pavement
E. tool marks
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Chapter 13 - Deserts and Wind Action
41. U.S. deserts in Nevada and northern Arizona are largely the result of the Sierra Nevada
Mountains ____.
A. combined with Coriolis Force
B. deflation
C. volcanism
D. south wind
E. rain shadow
43. The expansion of deserts into once populated areas is known as ___.
A. sahel formation
B. desertification
C. rain shadow effects
D. deflation
E. desert migration
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Chapter 13 - Deserts and Wind Action
44. A ______ is a narrow hill of resistant rock with a flat top and very steep sides found in
some deserts.
A. butte
B. horn
C. plateau
D. pediment
E. ridge
45. _______ dunes in the Sahara are as high as 200 m and as long as 120 km.
A. Barchans
B. Parabolic
C. Transverse
D. Longitudinal
E. Ventifact
46. Loess deposits in the U.S. Midwest are derived from ____.
A. the Ohio River valley
B. the Rocky Mountains
C. top soil loosened by agriculture
D. the Sahara Desert
E. glacial outwash of the Pleistocene age
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Chapter 13 - Deserts and Wind Action
48. Wind-blown sand may sculpt isolated pebbles, cobbles, or boulders into ____.
A. sand dunes
B. ventifacts
C. desert pavement
D. desert varnish
E. desert road
49. A ____ dune is deeply convex and its horns point upwind.
A. bajada
B. parabolic
C. barchan
D. longitudinal
E. transverse
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Chapter 13 - Deserts and Wind Action
50. Because sand grains are heavier than clay and silt particles, sand grains move close to the
ground in a leaping pattern called ______.
A. slipping
B. jumping
C. saltation
D. parabolas
E. blowouts
51. In the United States, large areas of _____ are blanketed with a cover of loess.
A. California
B. Arizona and New Mexico
C. the Rocky Mountains
D. the Midwest
E. Canada
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Chapter 13 - Deserts and Wind Action
53. A large dune type is the _______ (or seif) dune, which forms a ridge parallel to prevailing
wind direction.
A. barchan
B. transverse
C. parabolic
D. longitudinal
E. moon
54. _______ is a thin surface layer of closely packed pebbles found in deserts.
A. A pediment
B. Desert pavement
C. A barchan
D. Desert varnish
E. A mesa
55. The angle of repose of sand-sized particles falling from the air is _____ degrees.
A. 14
B. 24
C. 34
D. 44
E. 90
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Chapter 13 - Deserts and Wind Action
57. The high runoff following sporadic desert downpours can create sudden local floods
called ______.
A. ephemeral floods
B. flash floods
C. spring floods
D. storm surges
E. desert disasters
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Chapter 13 - Deserts and Wind Action
59. Dunes are not just desert features, they are commonly found near ____.
A. glaciers
B. beaches
C. rivers
D. folds
E. exposed rock
60. Rock debris picked up in flash floods is deposited at the base of mountains in ____.
A. an alluvial fan
B. a barchan dune
C. a playa
D. an arroyo
E. a meandering river
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