Practice Questions. 

 

1. Approximately how much of the earth’s water is in the ocean?

            a) 20 %         b) 50%                    c) 80%                       d) 97%

(Hydrologic Cycle; Soil-Water Budget Equation: where does runoff come from?)

 

 

2. Darcy’s law expresses the rate of water flow as a function of:

            a) hydraulic gradient, H/L                              d) a & b

            b) Hydraulic conductivity, K                          e) a, b, & c

            c) precipitation intensity, P

 

3. Which of the following is/are associated with artesian springs?

            a) unconfined aquifer                          b) subsidence

            c) potentiometric surface                    d) cone of depression

            e) none of the above

 

(Groundwater: confined vs. unconfined aquifers; what makes for a good aquifer? Regional examples of aquifer systems)

 

4. The High Plains (or Ogallala) and Denver Basin Aquifers occur in the same sedimentary rock unit. (T/F)

 

5. The infiltration rate of water into a soil and the type and intensity of precipitation are important determinants in generating runoff to streams.  Of the following scenarios, which would produce the most “flashy” hydrograph?

            a) summer snowmelt from granite bedrock

            b) a long duration rainfall on an area which is half urban and half forest

            c) a thunderstorm in a forested region

            d) a thunderstorm in the desert

            e) long duration rainfall over a large area of farmland

 

6. The initiation of channels in the landscape requires sufficient upstream drainage area to form.  The small beginnings of channels are known as ____________.  We would expect more channels for the same area if the soil were composed of  _____________.

            a) tributaries…………sand

            b) distributaries……..silt

            c) rills………………..clay

            d) tributaries…………clay

            e) rills………………..sand

 

(Types of runoff generation – infiltration/saturation; Influence of soil composition on runoff intensity, channel initiation, and hydrograph shape)

 

7.  The 1993 Mississippi River floods were concentrated in a small portion of Minnesota  due to a huge storm that dumped rain for 6 days. (T/F)

 

8.  Rivers and streams will adjust their characteristics (i.e. width, depth, velocity) in order to convey the water, or discharge, supplied to the channel.  Which of the following factors does NOT effect channel form:

            a) the type of sediment supplied to the channel

            b) the amount of sediment supplied to the channel

            c) the local base level of the stream or river

            d) the amount of dissolved sediment load

            e) the amount of bed load

 

9.  Which of the following features are not associated with meandering streams?

            a) pools

            b) steps

            c) point bar

            d) oxbow

            e) cut bank

 

10. Consider a standard longitudinal profile, such that slope is decreasing downstream; what would be the most likely progression of channels in the mountains to a local base level, such as created by glaciation:

            a) step-pool, pool-riffle, plane bed

            b) braided, plane bed, step-pool

            c) pool-riffle, step-pool, plane bed

            d) plane bed, meandering, braided

            e) step-pool, plane bed, pool-riffle

 

(Characteristic measures of stream form and discharge - width, depth, slope, velocity; What factors effect channel form? Straight, Braided, Meandering/type of sediment load; sediment transport=shear stress; longitudinal profile; floodplains/terraces)

 

11.  The Mississippi River Delta complex makes up much of the Louisiana coast, and is composed of many lobes that ____________over time.

            a) straighten

            b) stay stationary

            c) erode

            d) migrate

            e) none of the above

 

(Deltas: eventually the sediment from rivers is deposited in deltas at oceans or lakes)