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geomorphology the mechanics and chemistry of landscapes

Questions and Answers of Geomorphology The Mechanics And Chemistry Of Landscapes

Describe an every-day activity in which you employ an accounting procedure of the sort we list in this chapter.
How fast is the Earth moving in its orbit? (Note that this scales the speed at which a piece of debris would hit the Earth.) And Mars?
Estimate the sealevel rise we can expect from a warming of the ocean column by 1°C. Assume that the whole ocean column heats uniformly and that the thermal expansion coefficient is 1x10-5/°C.
How thick a column of rock is needed to exert a pressure of 1 bar (or 105 Pa) at the Earth’s surface. How thick a column of water is needed? How thick a column of air, given its density is that of
Given the present hypsometry of the Earth’s surface, what fraction of the surface would be terrestrial if sea level were to drop by 500 m.
Describe the conditions that would allow a protoplanet to retain a geometry that is well out-of-round.
Explain in words why the world has a bimodal hypsometry. Then discuss how this might differ on a planet that either lacks plate tectonics, or on which the density difference between its crust and
Calculate the fraction of an iceberg’s total thickness that is above the surface of the ocean. Assume the densities of ocean water and of ice are 1003 and 917 kg/m3, respectively. Please show a
Calculate the expected deflection of the lithosphere beneath a thick icesheet. Say the icesheet is 4000 m thick, and ice has a density of 917 kg/m3. (The Antarctican icesheet is roughly this thick at
How much does the exposed land area change 1) during a sea level drop of 150 m, and 2) during a sea level highstand of 500 m? Report your answers as fractions of the Earth’s surface area that are
We discussed the square root of age dependence of oceanic lithospheric thickness, and how this controls the bathymetric profile across an ocean basin. As we have seen, this collapses to a simple
Assuming a continental crustal thickness of 25 km, an oceanic crustal thickness of 5 km, and an ocean depth of 4 km, calculate the continental freeboard using reasonable assumed continental crustal,
Now consider what will happen to the maximum elevations of the land when V-shaped valleys are chopped throughout the landmass, extending down to sea level. Assume that the valleys take up the entire
In the Basin and Range province of the western US the heat flow at the Earth's surface is considerably enhanced. In a 300 m deep borehole in Owens Lake in the eastern California portion of the Basin
Consider a portion of the East Antarctican ice sheet that is 2 km thick (in places it is significantly more than this). The mean annual surface temperature is –55°C. The heat flux is 54 mW m-2,
Consider a hypothetical world of the same dimensions as Earth, in which plate speeds are steady at 10 cm/yr, and on which is at one time one mega-continent 6000 km across exists. At time=0 the
How would the world differ if the plate rates were 2x faster? Focus first at least on the shapes and depths of ocean basins. How much might sea level change due to such a speed-up?
Given the distance between the 1700 Cascadia site of earthquake rupture and Japan where the tsunami arrived (see Figure 4.16), and the mean ocean depth of the Pacific, how much time likely elapsed
Review the several means by which information from geomorphology has been used to evaluate the character of the mantle (for example, its viscosity).
Discuss why the sea level highstand of about 170–180 ka shown in Figure 4.24 is not recorded as a marine terrace on this coastline. Roughly, what rate of rock uplift would be required to record
If the elevation of the inner edge of a wave-cut platform is 35m above present sea level, and we date it to be roughly 120 ka, or marine isotope stage 5e, what is the rate of rock uplift at this site?
On the classic Huon Peninsula coral terraces depicted in Figure 4.28, consider the variation in uplift rate along reef VII. Report both the maximum and minimum rates of rock uplift.Figure 4.28
On a subsiding platform on which coral reefs are growing, calculate the rate of sea level rise that is required to drown the reef. The subsidence rate of the platform is 3 mm/yr. The growth rate of
Consider the isostatic rebound after removal of an ice load. Given the response time, t, of 4 ka (as we found for the Fennoscandian ice sheet), a time since unloading of 9 ka, an asymptotic maximum
If the maximum deflection of the Earth surface beneath the Laurentide Ice Sheet is 1 km, calculate the height of the forebulge we would expect to have existed around the perimeter of the ice sheet.
Starting with Equation 4.1, formally analyze the expected height of the forebulge relative to the depth of the deflection beneath a line load. Show all your steps in the analysis.Equation 4.1 ди
Given the plot of the predicted flexure associated with the load of the Amazon Fan in Figure 4.34b, assess the maximum outward (westward) tilt beyond the forebulge displayed on land west of the mouth
Given the chemical species in the atmosphere and their proportions in Table 5.1, what is the mean atomic weight of atmospheric gas, in kg/mole? Use only the three dominant species: nitrogen, oxygen,
What are two means of supporting mountain ranges? Name them, but then discuss why one or the other mechanism is used in particular cases.
How would the topography of a mountain range or of an orogen differ if the upper mantle of the Earth were significantly hotter (as it might well have been early in Earth history)?
How would the mean annual temperature of the Earth change if the average albedo of the Earth were 1) raised to 0.5 from its present value of about 0.3, and 2) lowered to 0.1?
Calculate the annual variation in solar radiation arriving at the Earth at aphelion (largest radius) vs perihelion (shortest radius) if the Earth’s orbit is 3% eccentric.
Determine the expected emission temperature of Venus, which is 0.72 AU from the Sun, and whose planetary albedo is 0.77. The observed temperature on the surface of Venus is about 750 K. Discuss why
Calculate the expected scale height of the atmosphere on Mars.
In calculating the distribution of pressure within the atmosphere, we assumed that the acceleration due to gravity was independent of height in the atmosphere. Evaluate this assumption over the
Australia has moved northward at a rate of several cm/year for many millions of years. Its climate is therefore likely to have changed as it entered the band of latitudes centered on 30°S. Determine
a. What is the residence time of water in the atmosphere? Two facts that are relevant: the annual total global precipitation, over both ocean and land, is 2.61 mm/day. The mass of water in the
You are asked to date a moraine in the Indian Peaks of the Front Range, Colorado, and choose to do so using 10Be concentrations in moraine boulders. One of the key calculations you have to make in
You are asked to date a shoreline that is found well above the margin of a present day lake. This is important paleoclimatic information for the basin, and we need to know how long ago the lake was
Dating of a terrace. Given the 10Be concentrations in table below, and assuming sediment bulk density r = 2100 kg/m3, characteristic attenuation length [fast neutrons] L = 1600 kg/m2, i) Determine
Using the Speel River pluton cooling history shown in Figure 6.33 (from Reiners, 2005), estimate at what depth the pluton was likely emplaced. Assume a geothermal gradient of 30°C/km. If the surface
Weathering rinds. The average weathering rind thickness on basalt clasts on an 8 ka flow is 1.2 mm. If the rind thickness grows as the square root of time, what is the age of a moraine on which
You are in Pakistan and do not have access to the web. You are sampling a strath terrace above the Indus in its Middle Gorge near Nanga Parbat, and need to know how large a sample to collect. You
Ratio clock. Quartz-rich sediment in a cave in the Sierras is measured to have a 26Al/10Be ratio of 2.8, and the 10Be concentration is 2.2x104 at/gm-qtz.i) What is the age of the deposit (and hence
Plot the expected profile of 10Be in the sandy cover deposits on a marine terrace. The production rate of 10Be is 6 at/gm quartz/year. The age of the deposit is 130 ka. Let’s assume that this
Estimate how many sand grains you can hold in your hand. This is how many presumably independent samples you have of erosion rates at spots in the landscape when you sample a handful of sand from a
You measure the 10Be of a sample from a granitic outcrop atop Mt Osborn in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming to be 9.2x105 atoms/gm-qtz. The elevation is 3500 m, and the sea level production rate
What is the effective “averaging time” implicit when you use 10Be concentrations to deduce erosion rates in a catchment. Assume that the relevant length scale for decay of production rate with
List and discuss the several means by which cosmogenic radionuclides have been employed in the last two decades. Contrast the state of the art of establishing timing in the landscape in the absence
Convert the axis of Figure 7.4 on river loads around the world to one of lowering rates. What is the mean lowering rate of the Nile River basin? The Mississippi?Figure 7.4 Huang
Compare the timescales over which we document average exhumation rates when using 10Be, apatite fission tracks, and U/Th-He methods. Let us say that the real exhumation rate is 10 m/My.
You are asked to assess the erosion rate of a catchment. The granitic rocks are essentially uniform within the catchment, which has a map area of 32 km2. The sediment transport rate, averaged over
Calculate the expected vertical profile of reaction progress in the case in which the variation is solely due to temperature (Arrhenius equation). Take the temperatures to be driven by sinusoidal
Perform a calculation of time scale analogous to the one shown in the saltiness of the sea box, this time for Ca ion. Its mean concentration in river water is 1.34x10-5 kg/kg in seawater, and
Perform the same calculation to estimate your age. Take your weight, estimate the rate at which you add weight on a daily basis by summing the weight of your meals. Divide the two to determine how
Calculate and plot the expected “frost cracking index” for the following conditions. Tbar = +2°C, ΔT=14°C, k = 1 mm2/s. Assume that frost cracking occurs in the window -8°C
If fire spall dominates the weathering and erosion of boulder surfaces on Sierran glacial moraines, and fire spalls are typically 1 cm thick, calculate the effect of fire spall on the CRN-based age
Halite dissolves congruently according to: Given the equilibrium constant at 25°C, Keq = 101.58, what is the solubility of halite in water at 25°C? (Hint: you will need to figure out the
For the same fire spall of 1 cm thickness, estimate the duration of the heating of the boulder surface. This is an instantaneous heating problem that is perfectly analogous to the instantaneous
The table below shows mass balance data collected in 2006–2007 at Hardangerjøkulen, the sixth largest glacier in Norway. Hardangerjøkulen is a small ice cap that drains in several directions
The activation energy (Ea) for augite (a pyroxene) is 79 kJ mol-1, and the activation energy for anorthite (a plagioclase) is 35 kJ mol-1. For each of these minerals, calculate the ratio of
Glacial water balance. We are interested in knowing when water is accumulating within a glacier, when it is steady, and when it is losing water. Kennicott Glacier is 40 km long and 4 km wide. The
Glacier thickness. We wish to estimate the local thickness of a glacier given only a topographic map of the glacier. Assume that the basal shear stress tb = 0.8 bars = 8x104 Pa, and that the walls
From the plot of GPS-derived horizontal speeds on the Bench Glacier in Figure 8.18a, estimate 1) the background speed of the glacier that is presumably attributable to internal deformation of the
Glacial terminus position. Given a simple glacial valley with a slope of 0.01, such that the elevation of the bed z = 3500 – 0.01x, a uniform valley width, and a mass balance profile b(z) =
Sea level rise. Given a recent estimate of the rate of loss of glacial ice to the ocean of 400 Gtonne/year, what rate of sea level rise would this produce?
Calculate the expected thickness of ice that can be melted from the base of a glacier due to geothermal heat flux. Assume that the glacier is temperate to its base (why is this important?), and that
Given the climate oscillations that have characterized the Quaternary, as summarized on the marine isotope record in Figure 8.53, discuss how the alpine landscape ought to respond. The answer should
Ponder the design of a means of measuring the flow speed within a subglacial conduit through which water enters from the glacier surface through a moulin and exits the glacier in an exit stream. For
Design a field experiment to measure the sliding history of a glacier over the course of a full annual cycle. Talk about the instrumentation that will be required, and where and how you will deploy
If the mean annual temperature is -12°C, the geothermal heat flux 40 mW/m2, and the thermal conductivity of the near-surface Earth materials 2.5 W/m-K, what is the depth to the base of the
Does the approximation 1 year = p x 107 seconds underestimate or overestimate the number of seconds in a year? What is the percentage error in using this approximation?
Write the equation for the envelope of annual maximum temperatures as a function of depth. How do you solve this expression for the active layer depth? Calculate the active layer depth for a region
Given the graph below of the envelope that encloses all temperatures measured over the course of many days in the summer, using thermistors at many depths into a borehole in a rock surface,(a)
Is the surface temperature of the earth warming? In the plot below we show a typical temperature profile from the north slope of Alaska. This kind of temperature profile has been used to infer the
Calculate the depth at which daily temperature fluctuations are negligible (defined as a few percent of surface), assuming that the thermal diffusivity, k, is 1 mm2/s.
Estimate the maximum depth to which frost penetrates the ground at a location where the temperature ranges between –15°C and 25°C. Assume the temperature history at the surface is sinusoidal,
Consider a peat (organic rich soil) with k = 0.12 mm2/s and a mineral soil with k = 0.98 mm2/s. a) Calculate z* for the annual temperature wave for each of these soils.b) Which soil will have the
You are in South Africa, and are employed by a mining company to mine gold in the famous deep vein systems of what was once Rhodesia (Cecil Rhodes got very very rich on this gold… yes, Rhodes of
Frost wedges in the Arctic can be several meters wide, but they are built incrementally. The annual cracks that fill in with water in the thaw, which subsequently freezes to grow the wedge, are much
How does one contraction crack affect the growth of subsequent cracks?i) Draw an example of the cracking pattern to be expected in a material experiencing uniform contraction, starting with a single
Discuss how the world would differ if snow were black instead of white.
List and briefly discuss several potential impacts of climate change (warming, changes in precipitation…) on periglacial landscapes.

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