Landforms
Geology Fundamentals
Natural Hazards
Geomorphology in our Lives
Related Fields
100
These v-shaped geomorphic features are created by the erosion of rivers flowing down mountain slopes
What are valleys?
100
The building blocks of rocks-- inorganic, solid substances with specific chemical composition and characteristic crystalline structure.
What are minerals?
100
This sign warns motorists that the hillside above them is ____________ 
What is "unstable"?
100
Hazards are generally lumped into "man-made hazards" or this type of hazard, or a combination of the two...
What is "a naturally-occurring (or natural) hazard"?
100
The sun is the source of energy for Earth's weather and climate. The moon's gravity affects these physical forces that can reshape shorelines.
What are "tides"?
200
This flat area of land on either side of a river often "floods" and creates a wide "plain" of fertile soil
What is a floodplain?
200
This is the thinnest layer of solid Earth (at only 5-100 km) thick contains tectonic plates that shift around as driven by convection currents in the mantle
What is the crust?
200
These are caused by earthquakes that happen out in the ocean and can create killer waves
What is a "tsunami"?
200
These sandy deposits are great places to lie about in the sun or frolic in the surf
What are "beaches"?
200
Thick masses of ice that accumulate over centuries and flow downhill under their own weight. The two types are "continental" and "alpine".
What are "glaciers"?
300
This depositional landform is created where a river dumps its sediment load into an open body of water, like the ocean
What is a delta?
300
When you need to be positively sure of the age of a rock layer, igneous rock containing radioactive isotopes allow this type of dating
What is "absolute dating" ?
300
Often, after heavy rains, the ground becomes "supersaturated" with water. This hazard is a rapid, downslope, mass movement of unstable, supersaturated earth and debris
What is a "mudslide" (type of landslide)?
300
Many events are considered to be of anthropogenic origin, meaning this...
What is "caused by (or originated by) man"?
300
Seeing the "BIG PICTURE" -- this type of "system" is an interacting community of plants and animals and their environment.
What is an ecosystem?
400
Another term for "wandering", this word describes a type of river that often loops back on itself.
What is "meandering"?
400
The upward movement of the land surface causes river gradients (slopes) to become steeper, thus causing greater "downcutting" and this
What is erosion?
400
Earthquakes are usually caused by rapid movement along a fault. This kind of fault is formed when the headwall moves down relative to the footwall
What is a "normal fault"?
400
Barrier islands are massive, elongated "bars" of deposited and reworked sand that parallel the shoreline and are SHAPED by this process
What is "wave action"?
400
The specific geologic study of flowing surface waters
What is "hydrology"?
500
Similar to delta deposits into water, this fan-like depositional landform occurs where a mountain river empties its sediment load onto a valley floor.
What is an alluvial fan?
500
The process of alteration and breakdown of rocks and/or soils, often into smaller pieces.
What is weathering?
500
This violent volcanic hazard is no laughing matter--it is the very rapid, downslope movement of superheated water, ash, pyroclastic material and debris
What is a lahar?
500
This area in the central U.S. (formed from severe dust storms in the 1930s) resulted from a combination of prolonged drought (by nature) and poor farming practices (by man).
What is "The Dust Bowl"?
500
The study of the physical, biological, and cultural features of the Earth's surface.
What is geography?