Name: Date:

Surface Process Practice

1. Base your answer to the following question on the graph below, which shows the effect that average yearly precipitation and
temperature have on the type of weathering that will occur in a particular region.

Which type of weathering is most common where the average yearly temperature is 5°C and the average yearly precipitation
is 45 cm?
A) moderate chemical weathering B) very slight weathering
C) moderate chemical weathering with frost action D) slight frost action
2. Which agent of erosion is most likely responsible for the 4. Impact craters are more obvious on the Moon and Mercury than
deposition of sandbars along ocean shorelines? on Earth because
A) glaciers B) mass movement A) meteorites have not struck Earth
C) wave action D) wind action B) weathering processes on Earth have removed most craters
3. Which type of climate has the greatest amount of rock weathering C) Earth is younger than Mercury or the Moon
caused by frost action? D) all meteorites burn up in Earth's atmosphere

A) a wet climate in which temperatures remain below freezing 5. Which rock weathers most rapidly when exposed to acid rain?
B) a wet climate in which temperatures alternate from below A) quartzite B) granite
freezing to above freezing C) basalt D) limestone
C) a dry climate in which temperatures remain below freezing
6. Landscapes will undergo the most chemical weathering if the
D) a dry climate in which temperatures alternate from below climate is
freezing to above freezing
A) cool and dry B) cool and wet
C) warm and dry D) warm and wet

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7. The diagram below represents a naturally occurring geologic process.

Which process is best illustrated by the diagram?

A) cementation B) erosion C) metamorphism D) weathering
8. The block diagram below represents a landscape where caverns 10. Base your answer to the following question on the diagram
and sinkholes have gradually developed over a long period of below which represents a sedimentary rock outcrop.
time.

Why did these caverns and sinkholes form?

A) The bedrock chemically reacted with acidic groundwater.
B) This type of bedrock contained large amounts of oxygen
and silicon.
C) Glacial deposits altered the shape of the bedrock. Which rock layer is the most resistant to weathering?
D) Crustal uplift formed gaps in the bedrock.
A) 1 B) 2 C) 3 D) 4
9. The cross section below shows rock layers that underwent crustal
11. As a particle of sediment in a stream breaks into several smaller
movement during an igneous intrusion in the Cretaceous Period.
pieces, the rate of weathering of the sediment will
A) decrease due to a decrease in surface area
B) decrease due to an increase in surface area
C) increase due to a decrease in surface area
D) increase due to an increase in surface area
12. Soil horizons develop as a result of
A) evaporation and transpiration
B) compacting and cementing
C) weathering and biological activity
D) faulting and folding
Which statement best describes the cause of the ridges shown? 13. Which particles will be transported by a stream moving at a
velocity of 5 cm/s?
A) The rock layers were evenly weathered.
B) Some rock layers were more resistant to weathering and A) pebbles, sand, silt, and clay, only
erosion. B) sand, silt, and clay, only
C) The igneous intrusion flowed over the surface. C) silt and clay, only
D) More deposition occurred at the ridge sites after uplift. D) clay, only

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14. The cross section below shows soil layer X, which was formed 18. Pieces of bedrock material that are broken from a cliff and
from underlying bedrock. deposited by a landslide at the base of the cliff are best
described as
A) rounded and sorted B) rounded and unsorted
C) angular and sorted D) angular and unsorted
19. A landslide is an example of
A) river deposition B) glacial scouring
C) mass movement D) chemical weathering
20. Which quartz sample has probably undergone abrasion in a
stream for the longest period of time?
A) B)

C) D)

21. The diagram below shows the sequence of events leading to the
deposition of landslide debris.

Which change would most likely cause soil layer to increase in

thickness?
A) a decrease in slope
B) a decrease in rainfall
What was the primary force that caused this landslide?
C) an increase in biologic activity
D) an increase in air pressure A) gravity B) moving ice
15. Sediments found in glacial moraines are best described as C) prevailing winds D) stream discharge
22. The greater the time that stream sediment is transported, the
A) sorted and layered
greater the probability that the sediment will become more
B) sorted and not layered
C) unsorted and layered A) angular and smaller B) angular and larger
D) unsorted and not layered C) rounded and smaller D) rounded and larger
16. Large igneous boulders have been found on surface sedimentary 23. Which agent of erosion most likely moves sediments in a sand
bedrock in North Carolina. Which statement best explains the dune?
presence of these boulders? A) wind B) glaciers
A) Sedimentary bedrock is composed of igneous boulders. C) wave action D) running water
B) Boulders were transported to the area by ice. 24. The natural sandblasting (abrasion) of surface bedrock in a
C) The area has had recent volcanic activity. desert region is the result of
D) The area was once part of a large mountain range.
A) wind erosion B) wave erosion
17. The composition of sediments on the Earth's surface usually is C) mass movement D) chemical precipitation
quite different from the composition of the underlying bedrock.
25. Which change is most likely to occur in a landscape if its
This observation suggests that most
climate changes from humid to arid?
A) bedrock is formed from sediments
A) Wind will become a more important agent of erosion.
B) bedrock is resistant to weathering
B) Surface features will become more rounded.
C) sediments are residual
C) Chemical weathering will increase.
D) sediments are transported
D) Vegetation will increase.

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26. The map below shows the bend of a large meandering stream. The arrows show the direction of stream flow, Letters A, B,
and C are positions on the streambed where erosion and deposition data were collected.

Which table best represents the locations where erosion and deposition are dominant and where an equilibrium exists
between the two processes? [A check mark represents the dominant process for each lettered location.]
A)

B)

C)

D)

27. Long, sandy islands are composed mostly of sand and rounded 28. How are dissolved materials carried in a river?
pebbles arranged in sorted layers. Which agent of erosion most
A) in solution
likely shaped and sorted the sand and pebbles while transporting
them to their island location? B) in suspension
C) by precipitation
A) glaciers B) landslides D) by bouncing and rolling
C) wind D) ocean waves

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29. The map below shows a meandering river. A–A' is the location 31. The map below represents a meandering stream flowing into a
of a cross section. The arrows show the direction of the river lake. A student measured water depths in the stream at three
flow. locations: A–A', B–B', and C–C'.

Which set of cross sections best represents the stream bed at the
three locations?
A)

B)

Which cross section best represents the shape of the river C)

bottom at A–A'?
A)

D)

B) 32. The photograph below shows a valley.

C)

D)

Which agent of erosion most likely produced this valley's

shape?
30. What is the minimum water velocity necessary to maintain
movement of 0.1-centimeter-diameter particles in a stream? A) blowing wind B) ocean waves
C) moving ice D) running water
A) 0.02 cm/s B) 0.5 cm/s
C) 5.0 cm/s D) 20.0 cm/s

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33. The topographic map below shows three drumlins located in 35. A stream is transporting the particles W, X, Y, and Z, shown
New York State. below.

Which particle will most likely settle to the bottom first as the
velocity of this stream decreases?
A) W B) X C) Y D) Z

What was the direction of the advancing ice movement that

created these drumlins, and what is the most likely arrangement
of sediments in the drumlins?
A) north to south ice movement, and unsorted sediments
B) north to south ice movement, and sorted sediments
C) south to north ice movement, and unsorted sediments
D) south to north ice movement, and sorted sediments
34. A stream's velocity decreases from 100 cm/s to 5cm/s. Which
size sediment particles will still be transported by the stream?
A) pebbles, sand, silt, and clay
B) sand, silt, and clay, only
C) silt and clay, only
D) clay, only

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36. The cross section below represents two types of sorted-sand depositional features found at a coastal location.

Which table correctly pairs these depositional features with the agents of erosion that formed them?
A) B)

C) D)

37. The map below shows Rockaway Peninsula, part of Long Island's south shore, and the location of several stone barriers, A,
B, C, and D, that were built to trap sand being transported along the coast by wave action.

On which map do the arrows best show the direction of wave movement that created the beaches in this area?
A) B)

C) D)

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38. Base your answer to the following question on the diagram below, which shows a coastal region in which the land slopes
toward the ocean. Point X is near the top of the hill, point Y is at the base of the hill, and point Z is a location at sea level.
The same type of surface bedrock underlies this entire region. A stream flows from point X through point Y to point Z. This
stream is not shown in the diagram.

1. D
2. C
3. B
4. B
5. D
6. D
7. D
8. A
9. B
10. C
11. D
Which cross section best shows the pattern of sediments deposited by the stream as it enters the ocean near point Z?
12. C
A)
13. B
14. C
15. D
16. B
17. D

B) 18. D
19. C
20. A
21. A
22. C
23. A
C) 24. A
25. A
26. D
27. D
28. A
29. C
D) 30. C
31. A
32. C
33. A
34. B
35. A
36. D
37. A
38. C

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