Study guide for final exam

Format:  33 multiple choice questions, 8 matching

Terms to know:  angle of repose, gradient, soil, litter, humus, regolith, porosity, permeability, eskers, cirques, aquifer, artesian system, braided streams (requires a high sediment load), incised meanders (require lateral erosion followed by uplift and downcutting), sea stack, headland, baymouth bar, fjord, sea arch, berm, recurved spit, tombolo, ventifact, desert pavement, bajada, pediment. playa, wadi, yardang, truncated spur, hanging valley, horn, arete, rouche moutonee, barrier islands, wave-cut platforms, estuary, pothole, glacial polish and striation, cut bank

Mass wasting:  creep is the slowest and produces "trees with knees", a rockfall is the fastest and produces talus (and forms often as the result of frost action); the fundamental cause of mass wasting is gravity overcoming a slope's resisting force

Dunes:  barchan (requires a limited supply of sand and one predominant wind direction); transverse (requires abundant sand and one predominant wind direction), parabolic (requires anchoring vegetation and one predominant wind direction--common along coasts); longitudinal (requires two predominant directions of wind that are not directly opposing each other); star (requires 3 or more wind directions)

Most ocean waves are produced by wind
Most erosion in deserts is caused by water
Mechanical weathering increases the rate of chemical weathering by breaking rocks into smaller fragments and exposing more surface area.
For all of the "features" you should know if they are erosional or depositional, what is causing the erosion and deposition (wind, water, ice), and how they form

Weathering:  abrasion, frost action, pressure relief, crystal growth (such as salt cracking), thermal expansion and contraction, activity of orgaisms - you should understand how these relate to features we've discussed (such as abrasion causing glacial polish and striations, pressure release causing the shape of the granite domes in Yosemite, frost action causing a talus slope in Canada).