Quiz prepared by Leslie J. Sonder, Dartmouth College.
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1 | |
Downslope movements of earth materials can be triggered by ________________. |
| | A) | earthquakes |
| | B) | sonic booms |
| | C) | heavy rainfall |
| | D) | volcanic eruptions |
| | E) | all of the above |
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2 | |
A friend of yours is a contractor who builds houses. He takes you to the site of a house he is building. The site lies on the edge of a 35° slope. Your friend explains that he intends to build a three-story brick house 10 feet from the edge of the slope. To gain access to the house he will have to construct a road at the base of the slope by cutting into 15 feet of sandy soil that overlies solid rock. Your friend also proposes to remove all the native vegetation and to landscape with new, nonnative plants and shrubs that will require much more water to grow. As a budding scientist, which of these actions do you interpret as having the potential of causing mass movement? |
| | A) | Adding mass to the top of the slope by building the house. |
| | B) | Oversteepening the slope by constructing the roadway. |
| | C) | Creating a situation for greater erosion by removing native vegetation and increasing the amount of irrigation water. |
| | D) | all of the above |
| | E) | answers A and B |
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3 | |
Creep is typically caused by _____________. |
| | A) | rapid movement of rock downslope |
| | B) | rapid movement of soil downslope |
| | C) | slow movement of solid rock downslope |
| | D) | slow movement of soil downslope by contraction and expansion of clay-rich soils |
| | E) | rapid movement of ice and snow downslope |
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4 | |
In Figure 9.6 the upper part of the landslide is a zone of _________ and the lower part is a zone of _________. |
| | A) | extension, compression |
| | B) | compression, extension |
| | C) | extension, normal faults |
| | D) | compression, normal faults |
| | E) | strike-slip motion, compression |
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5 | |
Water can weaken earth materials and cause subsurface erosion by _______________. |
| | A) | piping |
| | B) | dissolving the cement between grains |
| | C) | reducing the friction between grains |
| | D) | overpressure |
| | E) | answers A and B |
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6 | |
Which orientation of rock layers would be most unstable and present the greatest potential hazard for mass movement? |
| | A) | Layers dip at a steep angle to the west and the slope of the hill is gentle and to the east. |
| | B) | Layers dip in the same direction as the slope, but the dip of layers is less than the slope. |
| | C) | Layers dip at a steep angle to the west and the slope is nearly horizontal. |
| | D) | Layers dip vertically. |
| | E) | Layers dip horizontally. |
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7 | |
Which of the following clues would indicate that the site that you have selected to build a house is undergoing creep? |
| | A) | Trunks of trees are curved downslope. |
| | B) | Telephone poles are tilted downslope. |
| | C) | Fence lines form a U-shape that points downslope. |
| | D) | The surface of the ground is bumpy and resembles pudding. |
| | E) | all of the above |
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8 | |
Which of the following conditions is most unstable? |
| | A) | A steep ridge of granite with no fractures. |
| | B) | A steep ridge of granite with 5% fractures that have a random orientation. |
| | C) | A steep ridge of granite with 10% fractures all oriented parallel to each other and a large fault zone. |
| | D) | A steep ridge of granite with 10% fractures that have a random orientation. |
| | E) | A steep ridge of granite with 10% fractures all oriented parallel to each other. |
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9 | |
The rate of a mass movement will tend to _______ with an increase in water content. |
| | A) | decrease |
| | B) | remain the same |
| | C) | increase |
| | D) | vary |
| | E) | show no relationship |
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10 | |
The strength of a hillside or mass of material is enhanced by which of the following? |
| | A) | The cohesion of the mass and its weight. |
| | B) | High water content. |
| | C) | A high density of fracture planes. |
| | D) | High clay content. |
| | E) | Low shear resistance. |
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11 | |
According to Table 9.3, which country has had the highest number of recorded fatalities due to mass movements in the past 500 years? |
| | A) | Peru |
| | B) | Switzerland |
| | C) | China |
| | D) | United States |
| | E) | Japan |
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12 | |
Which of the following best describes a rockfall? |
| | A) | Slide on top of a basal slip surface as a semisolid mass. |
| | B) | Near vertical movement of material from a steep cliff or slope. |
| | C) | A viscous, turbulent flow over the landscape. |
| | D) | Vertical downward movement of separate blocks into a void. |
| | E) | A slow and gradual movement of material downslope. |
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13 | |
Which of the following best describes a flow? |
| | A) | Slide on top of a basal slip surface as a semisolid mass. |
| | B) | Near vertical free-fall of material. |
| | C) | A viscous, turbulent movement of material over the landscape. |
| | D) | Vertical downward movement of separate blocks into a void. |
| | E) | A slow and gradual movement of material downslope. |
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14 | |
Which of the following best describes a slide? |
| | A) | Movement on top of a basal slip surface as a semisolid mass. |
| | B) | Near vertical free-fall of material. |
| | C) | A viscous, turbulent flow over the landscape. |
| | D) | Vertical downward movement of separate blocks into a void. |
| | E) | A slow and gradual movement of material downslope. |
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15 | |
What are possible surfaces along which slides can move? |
| | A) | planes between layered rocks |
| | B) | fractures |
| | C) | soil separated from rock by a 2-meter-thick layer of clay |
| | D) | a water-saturated succession of rocks lying on granite |
| | E) | all of the above |
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16 | |
Massive rock falls that are transformed into long, fluidized flows of rock and debris are called __________________. |
| | A) | stirstorms |
| | B) | sturzstroms |
| | C) | seiches |
| | D) | startstreams |
| | E) | stairstops |
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17 | |
Large blocks of snow that behave like rock slides are known as ________________. |
| | A) | slab avalanches |
| | B) | powder avalanches |
| | C) | sugar avalanches |
| | D) | ice falls |
| | E) | break aways |
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18 | |
Which country has the highest reported number of deaths per year related to snow avalanches? |
| | A) | France |
| | B) | Canada |
| | C) | Austria |
| | D) | Switzerland |
| | E) | Italy |
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19 | |
Subsidence of earth can occur by which of the following mechanisms? |
| | A) | Dissolution of limestone by acidic groundwater. |
| | B) | Piping |
| | C) | Excessive pumping of groundwater causing collapse of overlying earth. |
| | D) | Dissolution of cement between grains and compaction from overburden. |
| | E) | all of the above |
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20 | |
The mass movements at Turnagain Heights, Alaska, which were triggered by the M9.2 earthquake in 1964, is a good example of ________________. |
| | A) | a translational slide |
| | B) | a sturzstrom |
| | C) | a snow avalanche |
| | D) | subsidence |
| | E) | rock fall |
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21 | |
The dissolution of limestone ___________________________. |
| | A) | is hindered by the presence of high quantities of dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) in ground water. |
| | B) | is aided by the presence of high quantities of dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) in ground water. |
| | C) | consumes atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). |
| | D) | is the main source of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). |
| | E) | None of the above |
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