Question 1: what is?
Playa lake- is a depression within the interior of desert basins and it forms adjacent to coasts in semiarid as well as arid areas. The depression is covered by water which filtrates into the ground or evaporates periodically to leave salts, sand or mud deposit in the depression.
Pluvial Lake- this is a lake formed due to glaciation process when large ice sheet create a bigger depression as it melts. This depression is filled with water to for this lake.
Ventifact- this is a rock blasted due to sand blowing effect. It is characteristically faceted and has a parallel groove on its surface. It is commonly found in desert regions (Kelly 11824).
Anastomosis stream- this is a sub-stream of a braided river channel pattern consisting of interconnected, synchronized channels which are separated by terraces.
Question 2: factors that control desert expansions are:
Human activities such as deforestation, poor farming practicing and overgrazing
Distance from the large body of water such as oceans
Change in climate
Increase in population
Question 3: types of glaciers
Cirque glacier
Ice caps glacier
Alpine valley glacier
Continental glacier
Piedmont Glacier
Valley blows glacier
Question 4: Rain shadow effect
This effect is experienced on the leeward side of a mountain due to blockage of moist air by a mountain. Moist air is forced to rise the mountain and later fall as relief rain leaving the leeward side dry.
Question 6: types of stream loads
Suspended loads
Dissolved load
Bed loads
Question 7: river runoff is controlled by
Slope or gradient
Amount or types of vegetation
Loads carried by the stream
Volume of water in the stream
Porosity of the stream bed rocks
Question 8: Factors controlling mass wasting
Slope- gravity generates energy to move the materials downward
Vegetation
Structure of the rock
Water- Rainwater do act as lubricant
Vibrations- for example, earthquake
Question 9: sand dune types
Barchans dune
Wind
Transverse dunes
Wind
Blowout dunes
Wind
Linear dune
Wind
Star dome
Wind
Question 10: stream drainage patterns
Dendritic pattern- is where the tributaries joins at acute angles as well as branching randomly. It is formed on planar surface which is rough.
Radial pattern- the tributaries flows outwardly from a central defined point. Common in volcanoes surface.
Trellis pattern- very small tributaries meet main stream at 90˚. Is found in folded sedimentary ground with dissimilar hardness.
Rectangular pattern- fairly straight tributaries joins main rivers as they bend at nearly right-angle. Mostly found in faulted bedrocks.
Question 11: River profile and segments
Youth stage (A)
Stream water moves at very high velocity
There is high river corrosion process
Cataracts, as well as waterfalls, are evidence
The channel is naturally straight
Mature stage (B)
Gradient becomes shallower
Broadening of the channel of the river
There decrease in the river velocity
Open valleys can be seen at this stage
Old Stage (C)
The gradient is gentle at this stage
More deposition features are created, for example, ox-bow lake
The river meanders continuously
Distributaries are formed
Question 12: Factors controlling formation continental glaciation
Ice thickness
Topography orientation
Ablation as well as accumulation of the ice
Global warming
It is important to know processes leading to change in climate so as to set various mechanisms to control factors that contribute to climate change such as global warming, pollution so that rate of glaciation can be minimized.
Question 13: why the earth in a global warming trend
There are a lot of human activities going on within the earth which release pollutant into the atmosphere. These pollutants cause depletion of the ozone layer as well as enhance formation of the atmospheric blanket which reflect radiated energy from the earth surface back. The reflected energy is responsible for global warming process on the earth.
Question 14: atmosphere layers
Ozone layer is slightly above the stratosphere and comprises about 24% of the atmosphere
Question 15: greenhouse gases
These are a collection of compounds that can trap heat or else long-wave radiation from the atmosphere and increase the warmth on the earth surface (Le Quéré et al., 570). These gases reflect radiations from the earth’s surface back thus causing the greenhouse effect on the earth’s atmosphere.
These gases increase in ppm in the troposphere because of increase in pollutants from various industries in the world. This has been happening since the industrial revolution started.
Work cited
Kelly, Anne E., and Michael L. Goulden. "Rapid shifts in plant distribution with recent climate change." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105.33 (2008): 11823-11826.
Le Quéré, Corinne, et al. "Response to Comments on “Saturation of the Southern ocean CO2 sink due to recent climate change”." science 319.5863 (2008): 570c-570c.
