Quiz 14: Waves, Beaches, and Coasts
Geology/Geography/Oceanography/Atmospheric Sciences
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Q 4Q 4
A particle of water in a wave moves in a circular orbit as the wave passes; the particle returns to its original position after the wave has passed.
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Q 13Q 13
An irregular coast with bays separated by headlands can be straightened by plate tectonic forces.
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Q 16Q 16
Winter beaches build up underwater sandbars that serve as a storage facility for next summer's sand supply.
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Q 21Q 21
Ordinary ocean waves are created by the interaction of the ____ and ____.
A) hydrosphere, atmosphere
B) geosphere, biosphere
C) hydrosphere, biosphere
D) atmosphere, geosphere
E) biosphere, atmosphere
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Multiple Choice
Q 22Q 22
Waves breaking along the shore are known as ____.
A) swells
B) surf
C) spits
D) longshore drift
E) tsunami
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Multiple Choice
Q 23Q 23
You can get out of a rip current easily by swimming ____ to the beach instead of struggling against the current.
A) perpendicular
B) on your back
C) diagonally
D) parallel
E) There is no easy way out of a rip current.
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Multiple Choice
Q 24Q 24
Vast amounts of sand are moved by ____.
A) surf
B) breakers
C) longshore currents
D) longitudinal currents
E) Army Corps of Engineers
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Multiple Choice
Q 25Q 25
A _____ is a structure built to absorb the force of large, offshore breaking waves and provide quiet water near shore.
A) rock wall
B) sea wall
C) groin
D) jetty
E) breakwater
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Multiple Choice
Q 26Q 26
____ are rock walls designed to protect the entrance of a harbor from sediment deposition and storm waves.
A) Groins
B) Tombolos
C) Barrier islands
D) Jetties
E) Breakwaters
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Multiple Choice
Q 27Q 27
A ___ encompasses all land near the sea, including the beach and a strip of land inland from it.
A) coast
B) shoreline
C) shore
D) high tide
E) tidal range
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Multiple Choice
Q 28Q 28
Wave erosion of headlands produces ____, steep slopes that retreat inland by mass wasting as wave erosion undercuts them.
A) barrier islands
B) sea cliffs
C) baymouth bars
D) coastal straightening
E) sea caves
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Multiple Choice
Q 29Q 29
During what season can you find the best beaches?
A) summer
B) winter
C) spring
D) fall
E) any season
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Multiple Choice
Q 30Q 30
The vertical distance between the crest and the trough of a wave is called the ____.
A) wave length
B) period
C) wave height
D) swell
E) tombolo
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Multiple Choice
Q 31Q 31
Wave orbits decrease in size with depth, and motion is essentially gone at a depth of _____
A) one half wavelength
B) 2 to 3 times wave height
C) 200 meters
D) one wave length
E) 600 feet
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Multiple Choice
Q 32Q 32
Waves break because:
A) height decreases while length increases
B) height increases while length decreases
C) both height and length increase
D) both height and length decrease
E) water particle orbits change from circular to oval
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Multiple Choice
Q 33Q 33
The upper part of a beach landward of the high tide line is the _____.
A) beach face
B) marine terrace
C) berm
D) surf zone
E) spit
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Multiple Choice
Q 34Q 34
Sediment may build up off a point of land to form a ____.
A) fiord
B) cliffed headland
C) stack
D) spit
E) groin
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Multiple Choice
Q 35Q 35
Drowned coasts may be marked by ___, glacially cut valleys flooded by rising sea level.
A) deltas
B) arches
C) straits
D) fiords
E) estuaries
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Multiple Choice
Q 36Q 36
_____ are wave cut platforms formed by erosion of rock associated with cliff retreat.
A) Uplifted marine terraces
B) Arches
C) Stacks
D) Spits
E) Barrier islands
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Multiple Choice
Q 37Q 37
The bending of waves as they enter shallow water is called _____.
A) wave speed up
B) wave refraction
C) wave run up
D) wave diffraction
E) wave dispersion
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Multiple Choice
Q 38Q 38
The diameter of the orbital path of a water particle near the surface is equal to _____.
A) wave length
B) water depth
C) wave height
D) 1 meter
E) wave speed
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Multiple Choice
Q 39Q 39
______ are narrow currents that flow straight out to sea in the surf zone.
A) Swash currents
B) Tidal currents
C) Body currents
D) Rip currents
E) Longshore currents
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Multiple Choice
Q 40Q 40
Some _____ beaches are made up of sand-sized particles of basalt.
A) California
B) Great Lakes
C) Carolina
D) Florida
E) Hawaiian
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Multiple Choice
Q 41Q 41
U.S. coasts with gently sloping plains, such as those along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, are ____.
A) depositional
B) emergent
C) erosional
D) tectonic
E) shaped by organisms
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Multiple Choice
Q 42Q 42
Tidal deltas are usually associated with _________.
A) earthquakes along coastlines
B) gaps in barrier island systems
C) major rivers entering the sea
D) emergent erosional coastlines
E) longshore drift connecting offshore bodies
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Multiple Choice
Q 43Q 43
_______ are sometimes built perpendicular to shore in an attempt to protect beaches that are losing sand from longshore drift.
A) Breakwaters
B) Inlets
C) Groins
D) Tombolos
E) Headlands
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Multiple Choice
Q 44Q 44
Coastal straightening occurs because of ____.
A) longshore drift
B) rip currents
C) barrier island deposition
D) wave erosion of headlands and deposition in bays
E) uplifted marine terraces
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Multiple Choice
Q 45Q 45
The steepest part of a beach is the ____.
A) berm
B) marine terrace
C) estuary
D) lagoon
E) beach face
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Multiple Choice
Q 46Q 46
A _____ is a ridge of sediment that cuts a bay off from the ocean.
A) spit
B) tombolo
C) barrier island
D) berm
E) beach
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Multiple Choice
Q 47Q 47
____ coasts are common because sea level has been rising for the past 15,000 years.
A) Deltaic
B) Submergent
C) Emergent and erosional
D) Emergent and depositional
E) Organism dominated
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Multiple Choice
Q 48Q 48
For the past 3000 years sea level has been rising at a rate of _______.
A) 1 inch per year
B) 1 meter per century
C) 4 cm per century
D) an unknown amount
E) 1 km per century
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Multiple Choice
Q 49Q 49
The greater part of the sand from most beaches comes from ____.
A) mass wasting
B) glaciers
C) igneous activity
D) rivers
E) wind
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Multiple Choice
Q 50Q 50
_____ is the movement of sand parallel to the shore.
A) Longshore drift
B) Swash
C) Turbidity flow
D) Refraction
E) Wash
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Multiple Choice
Q 51Q 51
The net effect of wave ____ is to move sand in a series of arcs along the beach face.
A) backswash
B) rip currents
C) oscillation
D) refraction
E) run up and return
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Multiple Choice
Q 52Q 52
The energy that moves sand along a beach ultimately comes from ____.
A) the Earth's rotation
B) changing climates
C) temperature variations throughout the ocean
D) underwater earthquakes
E) the wind
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Multiple Choice
Q 53Q 53
The horizontal distance between two wave crests is called the ______.
A) wave period
B) wave amplitude
C) wave height
D) wave distance
E) wave length
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Multiple Choice
Q 54Q 54
Water in _____ has lost its orbital motion and moves back and forth.
A) a wave crest
B) a wave trough
C) a deep-water wave
D) the surf zone
E) the beach zone
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Multiple Choice
Q 55Q 55
The height and length of a wave is a function of _____.
A) wind strength
B) wind duration
C) distance over which the wind blows
D) All of the answers are correct.
E) None of the answers are correct.
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Multiple Choice
Q 56Q 56
A wave begins to "feel the bottom" at a water depth equal to ____.
A) wave length
B) 2 to 3 times wave height
C) the edge of the continental shelf
D) half a wave length
E) wave amplitude
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Multiple Choice
Q 57Q 57
Waves arriving at an angle to the shore push water parallel to the shore in a ______.
A) surf current
B) breaker current
C) refraction flow
D) longshore current
E) rip current
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Multiple Choice
Q 58Q 58
A _____ is a bar of sediment that connects a former island to the mainland.
A) baymouth bar
B) jetty
C) groin
D) breakwater
E) tombolo
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Multiple Choice
Q 59Q 59
_____ carry fine-grained sediments out of the surf zone into deeper water.
A) Longshore drift currents
B) Swash currents
C) Backswash currents
D) Rip currents
E) Coriolis currents
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Multiple Choice
Q 60Q 60
The sea level rise in the past 15,000 years is due to ____.
A) melting glaciers
B) global land mass subsidence
C) thermal expansion of the ocean's water
D) increased precipitation
E) variations to Earth's rotational spin
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Multiple Choice