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Earth Science
Q:
The water in the majority of wells cannot rise above the level of the water table on its own.
Q:
A geyser is a type of artesian well.
Q:
Wells are drilled into the subsurface to remove water from the unsaturated zone.
Q:
Aquitards are made of high-conductivity materials such as clay.
Q:
Groundwater migrates from areas of low pressure to areas of high pressure.
Q:
Clay's porosity is high, but its permeability is low, which means that it has a low specific yield.
Q:
Lakes and streams are surface expressions of the water table.
Q:
The water table undulates with the ground surface. It is low where the ground surface is high and high where the ground surface is low.
Q:
The water table is the uppermost 3 feet of the zone of saturation.
Q:
When precipitation occurs over a forest, only 25% of the water will make it through the canopy to the forest floor, where other factors may affect how much will infiltrate.
Q:
Groundwater is important as an erosional agent.
Q:
The majority of groundwater occurs as underground rivers.
Q:
Which of the following is an example of a speleothem?
A) Stalagmite
B) Sinkhole
C) Spring
D) Hot spring
Q:
While on vacation, you visit a local Imax theater and see a movie about cave diving in the Yucatan Peninsula. In one of the caves, which is currently filled with water, you notice the divers swimming past some stalactites and stalagmites. If the water table is now above the level of the ceiling of the cave, what does the presence of the cave decorations indicate about past water table levels?
A) The water table was much higher, and the increased water brought in extra material to form the decorations.
B) The water table was much lower, and the features were formed by water dripping from the ceiling into an air-filled chamber.
C) The water table has always been at that level and the cave decorations formed through the fracturing of the ceiling.
D) The water table has always been high, but molten material was able to extrude underwater.
Q:
The general term used to describe cave deposits is ________.
A) cave pearls
B) dripstone
C) bicarbonate
D) dissolution features
Q:
Which acid, found in most groundwater, is responsible for most karst topography worldwide?
A) Hydrochloric
B) Nitric
C) Sulfuric
D) Carbonic
Q:
What feature develops if a well is withdrawing more groundwater than an aquifer can naturally replace, resulting in a dimple in the water table?
A) Cone of depression
B) Subsidence
C) Contamination
D) Saltwater encroachment
Q:
California's Central Valley is an important agricultural area for U.S. fruit and vegetable production. Because of the semiarid climate there, farmers must irrigate their crops. Which environmental problem do you anticipate as a result?
A) Saltwater contamination
B) Fluvial erosion
C) Land subsidence
D) Water acidification
Q:
Which of the following materials would be the best natural filter, removing contaminants from groundwater over a long period of time?
A) Fractured granite
B) Slightly clayey sand
C) Conglomerate
D) Mica schist
Q:
Which environmental issue most commonly affects groundwater aquifers in coastal or island areas?
A) Subsidence
B) Dissolution
C) Chemical contamination
D) Saltwater contamination
Q:
Which of the following accounts for the largest usage of groundwater in the United States?
A) Domestic and municipal water
B) Agriculture and irrigation
C) Cooling reactors at nuclear power plants
D) Manufacturing and industry
Q:
What is the source of much of water in geothermal features such as geysers and hot springs?
A) Precipitation
B) Water vapor from magma
C) Melting glaciers
D) Subterranean lakes
Q:
What mineral substance makes up most geyser deposits?
A) Travertine
B) Sandstone
C) Sinter
D) Obsidian
Q:
What geologic process is responsible for warming the water at nonvolcanic locations such as Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas, and Warm Springs, Georgia?
A) Radioactive minerals near the surface
B) Friction from moving rocks
C) Abnormal volumes of rain
D) Normal geothermal gradient as groundwater circulates at depth
Q:
Which countries/regions outside the United States are famous for their geothermal activity?
A) Brazil, South Africa, and Ukraine
B) Cuba, Italy, and the Philippines
C) Japan, China, and North Korea
D) Iceland, New Zealand, Japan, and Siberia
Q:
What geologic process is responsible for the geothermal features in Yellowstone National Park?
A) Radioactive minerals near the surface
B) Volcanic activity
C) Abnormal volumes of rain
D) Normal geothermal gradient
Q:
What groundwater feature forms where the water table intersects with the Earth's surface, creating a natural outflow of groundwater?
A) Fumarole
B) Sinkhole
C) Lake
D) Spring
Q:
Which of the following regions is famous for its artesian wells?
A) Central Illinois
B) Florida
C) Western South Dakota
D) Coastal Maine
Q:
What is the term used to describe the hypothetical line the water in a confined aquifer would rise to if it weren't trapped?
A) Potentiometric surface
B) Hydraulic gradient
C) Darcy's law
D) Discharge
Q:
________ is a term used to describe how the water table around a well becomes lower as water is taken from the subsurface.
A) Depression
B) Saturation
C) Perching
D) Drawdown
Q:
________ is when groundwater is being replenished. ________ is when groundwater is flowing back toward the surface.
A) Recharge; Discharge
B) Drainage; Discharge
C) Dissolution; Recharge
D) Retention; Capacity
Q:
A typical rate of groundwater flow for many aquifers is approximately ________.
A) 1 cm/day
B) 4 cm/day
C) 0.5 m/day
D) 2 m/day
Q:
Which 19th-century scientist developed the following equation that determines the discharge of an aquifer? A) Charles Lyell
B) Alfred Wegener
C) Louis Agassiz
D) Henri Darcy
Q:
What force pushes groundwater from pore space to pore space when below the water table?
A) Gravity
B) Hydraulic gradient
C) Hydraulic conductivity
D) Artesian pressure
Q:
Karst features like caves and sinkholes are an example of ________ porosity.
A) primary
B) secondary
C) superior
D) restricted
Q:
In order for an aquifer to be useful for reliable water extraction, what kind of porosity and permeability should it have?
A) Low porosity, low permeability
B) High porosity, high permeability
C) Low porosity, high permeability
D) High porosity, low permeability
Q:
Which of the following materials would make the best aquitard?
A) Gravel
B) Sandstone
C) Clay
D) Conglomerate
Q:
________ is the portion of groundwater that is retained as a film on particle and rock surfaces and in tiny openings in the subsurface.
A) Surface tension
B) Infiltration
C) Specific retention
D) Capacity
Q:
What is permeability?
A) Volume of pore space in a material
B) Ability to transmit water
C) When ice crystals deform and slide past each other
D) Dissolution of carbonate rock due to acid
Q:
What is porosity?
A) Volume of pore space in a material
B) Ability to transmit water
C) When ice crystals deform and slide past each other
D) Dissolution of carbonate rock due to acid
Q:
To be a gaining stream, the elevation of the water table must be ________ than that of the surface of the stream.
A) lower
B) higher
C) heavier
D) lighter
Q:
How will the water table respond when there is a drought?
A) Water table will rise.
B) Water table will fall.
C) Water table will remain the same.
Q:
How will the water table respond if it is a wet spring?
A) Water table will rise.
B) Water table will fall.
C) Water table will remain the same.
Q:
The ________ is the point in the subsurface where 100% of the pore spaces are filled with water.
A) Vadose Zone
B) Zone of Saturation
C) Zone of Accumulation
D) Capillary Fringe
Q:
If gravity pulls infiltrating water downward, what force allows water to be pulled upward at the capillary fringe?
A) Static electricity
B) Friction
C) Surface tension
D) Compression
Q:
Which of the following is not a factor that will influence infiltration of groundwater?
A) Acidity of precipitation
B) Steepness of the slope
C) Nature of surface material
D) Intensity of rainfall
Q:
Which of the following characteristics is not true of groundwater?
A) Has a constant temperature year round.
B) Rarely contains suspended sediment.
C) Short droughts do not affect the supply.
D) Only occurs underground as large lakes.
Q:
Which of the following materials is most readily dissolved by water?
A) Clay minerals
B) Silica
C) Feldspars
D) Calcite
Q:
In what spaces or voids does most groundwater reside?
A) Caves
B) Pore spaces
C) Fractures
D) Pore space and fractures
Q:
Which household function has the highest daily water consumption?
A) Dishwashers
B) Showers and baths
C) Clothes washers
D) Toilets
Q:
Which of the following uses the largest percentage of the Earth's groundwater?
A) Mining
B) Hydroelectric power
C) Irrigation
D) Public consumption
Q:
What percentage of Earth's liquid freshwater is in the form of groundwater?
A) 97.2%
B) 96%
C) 0.62%
D) 0.03%
Q:
What percentage of the Earth's total freshwater is in the form of groundwater?
A) 97.2%
B) 94%
C) 30.1%
D) 0.03%
Q:
What depositional feature is visible here?
A) Braided channel
B) Terrace
C) Incised meanders
D) Delta
Q:
What is the name for the stream feature in this image?
A) Cutbank
B) Oxbow lake
C) Point bar
D) Incised meander
Q:
Which location marks the cutbank on this image?
A) Location A
B) Location B
C) Location C
D) Location D
Q:
What kind of stream channel is visible here?
A) Laminar channel
B) Braided channel
C) Meandering channel
D) Overflow channel
Q:
What kind of stream channel is visible here?
A) Laminar channel
B) Braided channel
C) Meandering channel
D) Overflow channel
Q:
A stream is transporting Particle A. The velocity of stream is decreasing, but for the moment, Particle A is still moving. However, when the water drops below 50 cm/sec, Particle A falls below its fall velocity and is deposited. Based on this information, what is the likely particle size for this object?
A) 0.01 mm
B) 0.1 mm
C) 5 mm
D) 10 mm
Q:
At approximately what velocity will a 0.1 mm sediment particle begin moving in the stream?
A) 5 cm/sec
B) 1 cm/sec
C) 0.6 cm/sec
D) 0.001 cm/sec
Q:
What is the minimum velocity needed for a 0.8 mm sand particle transition from a state of deposition to transportation?
A) 5 cm/sec
B) 1 cm/sec
C) 15 cm/sec
D) 23 cm/sec
Q:
Using the information provided above, describe what changes will happen to the stream and its streamflow as the water moves from the head to the mouth.
A) The channel roughness and slope decrease while the discharge, channel size, and flow velocity increase
B) The channel size increases, which forces the flow velocity and discharge to decrease
C) The channel roughness and slope increases while the discharge, channel size, and flow velocity decrease
D) As the flow and channel size increase, so, too do the slope and roughness
Q:
Match the appropriate terms to their correct locations next to the stream in this image: A) Delta
B) Headwaters
C) Meandering Channel
1. A
2. B
3. C
Q:
How will the flow in this image affect erosion of the stream channel?
A) Water is moving so smoothly that the sediments are carried in the center of the water current
B) Turbulent flow contributes to erosion because it lifts particles from the streambed
C) Water flow is not strong enough to lift sediments, so erosion is minimal
D) Erosion will occur near the head of the stream, but nowhere else
Q:
What kind of streamflow is present in this image?
A) Braided flow
B) Laminar flow
C) Turbulent flow
D) Overland flow
Q:
What kind of streamflow is present in this image?
A) Braided flow
B) Laminar flow
C) Turbulent flow
D) Overland flow
Q:
X marks the site of oil drums that were illegally buried by the Shay-Dee Oil Corporation. These oil drums have begun leaking and the leaking oil has flowed downslope to the stream below, contaminating the stream. Which stream drainage basins would be affected by this oil?
A) B alone
B) C and A
C) D, C, and A
D) All drainage basins
Q:
After the arrival of European settlers on the Lower Mississippi, residents constructed levees along the river to protect their homes and farmlands from periodic flooding as well as to keep the channel open to navigation. Now, residents have problems with land subsidence, wave erosion, land fertility, and increased severity of floods and hurricanes, particularly in the Delta area of southern Louisiana. Why would the construction of artificial levees result in these problems?
Q:
When Europeans moved into the region along the Lower Mississippi River around three hundred years ago, they often settled on the floodplains of the river and set up farms. Geologically, what aspect of the floodplain impacted their choice to settle there?
Q:
Explain the processes necessary to form a bird's-foot delta such as that on the Mississippi River.
Q:
A dam is constructed on the Crymea River. Explain how this will affect the river and the work that the river performs both upstream as well as downstream.
Q:
The Upper Mississippi River and the Lower Mississippi River have very different stream morphologies due in part because of the geology of the two regions. What is the basic geology of each region (What material is the river flowing over?), how does the geology control the river, and what is the morphology of the river as a result?
Q:
In the late spring and summer of 2012, the majority of the United States experienced a severe drought, which damaged crops and affected barge traffic on major rivers. How did the drought reduce barge traffic? How did the drought affect the factors that determine streamflow? What are three ways that rivers lost water to the drought? (Hint: Where did the water go?)
Q:
Compare and contrast the water velocity and type of streamflow in a rocky mountain stream versus a silt-bottomed stream along the Gulf Coast.
Q:
What are the four factors that affect stream velocity and how will they affect the flow?
Q:
Explain how precipitation run-off will eventually become a stream.
Q:
What factors determine whether precipitation will become running water or infiltrate?
Q:
Match the type of flood with the correct definition.
A) Seasonal Floods
B) Artificial containment structures fail
C) Floods with high precipitation in a short time
D) Frozen material creates a temporary dam on a thawing river
1. Ice-Jam Floods
2. Dam-Failure Floods
3. Regional Floods
4. Flash Floods
Q:
Identify the stream drainage pattern with the correct name: Radial, Rectangular, Trellis, or Dendritic. Also, in the space provided, describe what this drainage pattern indicates about the underlying geology.
A) Drainage Pattern: Trellis
Underlying Geology: Alternating resistant and less resistant materials that have been tilted or folded
B) Drainage Pattern: Radial
Underlying Geology: Topographic high in center of drainage pattern
C) Drainage Pattern: Dendritic
Underlying Geology: Underlying rock is relatively uniform
D) Drainage Pattern: Rectangular
Underlying Geology: Fractured bedrock
1. 2. 3. 4.
Q:
Match the landform with the correct description.
A) Small deposits that form in the stream channel
B) Form where streams enter large lakes or oceans
C) Formed by mountain streams emerging onto a flat plain
D) Formed by floodwaters on either side of a stream
1. Delta
2. Levee
3. Alluvial Fan
4. Bar