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Geosystems: An Introduction to Physical Geography, 9e (Christopherson)
Chapter 15 River Systems and Landforms
15.1 Multiple Choice Questions
1) Processes that are related expressly to streams and rivers are termed
A) fluvial.
B) geomorphic.
C) lemnetic.
D) lotic.
2) The general term for channelized water flow, regardless of size, is
A) river.
B) gully.
C) stream.
D) rill.
3) Steep slopes and some relief generally produce which drainage pattern?
A) dendritic
B) deranged
C) parallel
D) annular
4) A central peak,such as a volcanic mountain, generally produces a ________ drainage pattern.
A) radial
B) trellis
C) parallel
D) annular
5) The science of water and its global circulation, distribution, and properties is known as
A) geomorphology.
B) climatology.
C) lithology.
D) hydrology.
6) Of the world's largest rivers, which has the greatest discharge?
A) Zaire (Congo) River
B) Amazon River
C) Missouri-Ohio-Mississippi river system
D) Chang Chiang (Yangtze) of Asia
7) The area of land from which all water in it drains into the same place is known as a(n)
A) interfluve.
B) watershed.
C) drainage divide.
D) fluvial units.
8) Watersheds are defined by
A) continental divides.
B) drainage divides.
C) stream orders.
D) fluvial units.
9) Overland flow can concentrate in small grooves called ________, which can enlarge to form
________.
A) striations; potholes
B) potholes; striations
C) rills; gullies
D) gullies; rills
E) striations; gullies
10) A drainage divide that separates drainage basins that empty into different bodies of water
surrounding a continent are know as
A) catchments.
B) deltas.
C) continental divides.
D) interfluves.
11) Drainage basins are ________ systems.
A) open
B) closed
C) open in terms of energy, closed in terms of matter
D) closed in terms of energy, open in terms of matter
12) A basin in which water leaves via evapotranspiration or subsurface gravitational flow instead
of reaching the ocean is said to have
A) a disappearing stream.
B) sheetflow.
C) a closed system.
D) internal drainage.
13) Drainage density is determined by
A) dividing the number of streams in a basin by the basin area.
B) dividing the actual path length of a stream by the shortest path length of the stream.
C) averaging the discharge values across a drainage basin.
D) dividing the total length of all stream channels in the basin by the area of the basin.
14) Drainage density refers to
A) the thickness of the water in the stream.
B) the number of channels in an area.
C) a measure determined by dividing the length of all the the channels by the area of its drainage
basin.
D) the arrangement of channels in a given area.
15) What is the drainage density of a 100 drainage basin with 25 miles of stream, running
through three rivers?
A) 3
B) 33.333
C) 4 mi./mi2
D) 0.25 mi./mi2
16) Stream drainage patterns are determined by which of the following?
A) regional steepnees and relief
B) variations in rock resistance
C) climate
D) climate, regional steepness and relief, and variations in rock resistance
17) Rectangular drainage patterns form primarily as a result of
A) differential resistance to erosion.
B) domal uplift.
C) flow through anticlinal and synclinal topography.
D) flow through a faulted landscape.
18) A drainage system that maintains its original course and pattern as it erodes into underlying
horizontal beds of different structure than that in which the system evolved is called a
A) deranged pattern.
B) discordant streams.
C) annular patterns.
D) superposed stream.
19) The high ground that separates one valley from another and directs sheetflow is known as
A) the maximum contour elevation.
B) drainage divide.
C) an interfluve.
D) the continental divide.
20)
This tree-like drainage pattern efficiently moves water and sediment through its system due to
minimization of the total length of each branch.
A) dendritic
B) trellis
C) radial
D) deranged
21)
This drainage pattern is characteristic of dipping or folded topography.
A) annular
B) trellis
C) radial
D) rectangular
22)
This drainage pattern results when streams flow off a central peak or dome.
A) annular
B) trellis
C) radial
D) rectangular
23)
This drainage pattern is associated with steep slopes.
A) parallel
B) dendritic
C) trellis
D) deranged
24)
Faulted and jointed landscapes directs streams courses in patterns of right-angle turns forming
this drainage pattern.
A) radial
B) rectangular
C) trellis
D) dendritic
25)
Structural domes with concentric patterns of rock strata guide stream courses to form this
drainage pattern.
A) radial
B) parallel
C) annular
D) dendritic
26)
With no clear geometry and no true stream valley, this drainage pattern occurs in areas such as
glaciated shield regions.
A) deranged
B) radial
C) parallel
D) dendritic
27) Which of the following landforms is incorrectly matched with a drainage pattern?
A) volcano — radial
B) folded mountain belt — trellis
C) eroded dome — annular
D) topographically disrupted areas — parallel
28) The ultimate base level is
A) a drainage divide.
B) a dam.
C) sea level.
D) dependent on the geological substrate.
29) Which of the following may act as a local base level?
A) a lake that a river flows into
B) a drainage divide
C) the upper surface of a waterfall
D) an interfluve
30) The degradation of a landscape by weathering, erosion, and transportation will ultimately
reduce the landscape down to
A) base level.
B) continental shelf.
C) the mountain tops.
D) valley level.
31) The drop in stream elevation per unit distance is known as
A) discharge.
B) base level.
C) gradient.
D) aspect.
32) John Wesley Powell put forward the idea of base level, which refers to
A) the amount of discharge in a particular reach of a stream.
B) a level below which a stream cannot erode its valley.
C) an evolutionary cycle of landscape development from fluvial action.
D) the average height of a stream channel.
33) When a dam and reservoir are constructed, the natural response of the river and its channel
gradient come under the control of
A) the same base level that existed prior to construction.
B) a local, or temporary, base level.
C) the government.
D) an ultimate base level.
34) A mass of water above base level in a stream has ________ energy; as it flows downstream,
this energy becomes ________ energy.
A) kinetic; potential
B) potential; kinetic
C) kinetic; kinetic
D) potential; potential
35) A tributary that is physically unable to join the main channel on a floodplain due to natural
levees is called a
A) alluvial stream.
B) yazoo tributary.
C) levee tributary.
D) meandering tributary.
36) Which of the following is not factored when considering discharge?
A) channel length
B) channel width
C) channel depth
D) velocity
18
37)
The effect of urbanization on a typical stream hydrograph is to
A) create a base flow.
B) increase lag time between storm peak and peak stream discharge.
C) decrease runoff.
D) decrease lag time between storm peak and peak stream discharge.
38) Which of the following lists of processes are in the correct sequence as to their occurrence in
nature?
A) deposition, erosion, transport, weathering
B) weathering, erosion, deposition, transport
C) weathering, deposition, erosion, transport
D) weathering, erosion, transport, deposition
39) Which of the following is used to measure streamflow?
19
A) stilling well and staff gauge
B) barometer and sling psychrometer
C) statistical methods of probability
D) reservoirs
40) A squeeze-and-release action works to loosen and lift rocks in a stream channel. This is an
example of
A) deposition.
B) hydraulic action.
C) abrasion.
D) suspension.
41) Stream piracy refers to
A) the legal process by which a state secures rights to the waters of a river basin.
B) the merging of two streams flowing in the same valley.
C) the process by which one channel erodes through a drainage divide and captures the
headwater regions of another stream.
D) the illegal withdrawal of water from a river.
42) Stream transport involves all of the following except
A) saltation.
B) bed load.
C) traction.
D) sheet flow.
43) The sediment load that travels in solution is
A) bed load.
B) suspended load.
C) dissolved load.
D) flow load.
44) The main process contributing material in solution in sediment load is
A) physical weathering.
B) chemical weathering.
C) biological weathering.
D) erosion.
45) The sediment load consisting of fine-grained clastic particles held aloft in the stream is the
A) bed load.
B) suspended load.
C) dissolved load.
D) flow load.
46) The suspended load of a stream consists of particles that are
A) rolled and bounced along the stream bed.
B) held aloft in the stream flow.
C) dragged along the stream bed.
D) dissolved in solution.
47) The sediment load consisting of coarse material too large to remain in suspension, moving
along the channel bottom via traction and saltation is the
