SO286, Physical Geography

Exam 2, Spring 2008

 Quality of your answers is important.   For full credit you should use correct terminology, and show that you understand the concepts involved.

Definitions:  define 10 of the 12 terms with a concise sentence that clearly shows your understanding of the term, and why it is relevant in physical geography:  Each is worth 3 points. 

1. Active continental margin: a continental margin is not a plate boundary.

2. Barrier island

3. Creep

4. Cut bank:

5. Erosion

6. Graded stream:

7. Loess

8. Mercalli intensity:

9. Sinkhole

10. Strike slip fault

11. Subduction zone

12. Suspended load

Answer 5 of the next 6 questions, for 10 points each:

1.  What can you learn from the stream pattern below?  What kind of a region do you think this map covers?

(Actually in the Chinese Loess Plateau)

 2. The map below has two features with similar shapes and sizes (one is just SW of Badwater, and the other is SW of the -132).  You are looking at the curved pattern of contour lines, about 1 km across.  What is the name of this feature, and what processes cause it to form?

Death Valley, CA

3.  What is the N-S coastal feature on the eastern side of this map?  How does it form, and what challenges does it provide for the people who live near here?

4.  What type of plate boundary carries the most dangers for people?  Sketch a cross section to show what happens at this boundary, and discuss three different natural  problems.

5.  This profile goes across a valley in Arizona (note the scale, which is the same both horizontally and vertically; the steeper segments on either side are about 75º).  What causes the changes in slope at various locations, and what processes do you think will be taking place in this region?

6.  The three climographs below come from three different categories of the Koppen classification system.  For each give the letter, briefly describe the major characteristics of that climate category, and state where in the world the climograph might come from.

Insure that you answered 5 of the previous 6 question.  You must answer this final question.

These four climographs come from the same latitude in the same continent.

·         Looking at the temperature, discuss three characteristics that you can examine to determine where the climograph comes from.

1.

2.

3.

·         Discuss what you see in the temperatures to place the four stations at their locations within the continent.  Remember that all at the same latitude.

A.

B.

C.

D.

·         How do the precipitation patterns match your placement of the stations?

·         Which continent is this?  Why?

Answers, Spring 2008