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QUESTION 1

1. 1) In textbook section 19.1, you learned that there are multiple reasons for land to be dry. Examine the first stop on the Google Earth tour, the Patagonian desert, and assess which of the following causes is likely to the the reason that southern Argentina is so dry.

   		This is a subtropical desert near the Tropic of Cancer, where descending dry air precludes rainfall.
   		This is a subtropical desert near the Tropic of Capricorn, where descending dry air precludes rainfall.
   		This is a rainshadow desert, where moist air from the Atlantic moves westward, and has all the moisture extracted by coastal cities such as Buenos Aires.
   		This is a rainshadow desert, where moist air from the Pacific moves eastward, and has all the moisture extracted by the coastal mountain ranges of the Andes.
   		This is a west coast subtropical desert, caused by cold upwelling ocean currents (air chilled by contact with these cold waters is more dense and thus resists rising and triggering precipitation).

5 points

QUESTION 2

1. 2) Same sort of question as #1: It’s time to assess another desert and determine its reason for existing. Examine the second stop on the Google Earth tour, the Sahara desert, and assess which of the following causes is likely to the the reason that northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula are so dry.

   		This is a subtropical desert near the Tropic of Cancer, where descending dry air precludes rainfall.
   		This is a subtropical desert near the Tropic of Capricorn, where descending dry air precludes rainfall.
   		This is a rainshadow desert, where moist air from the Atlantic moves westward, and has all the moisture extracted by coastal cities such as Buenos Aires.
   		This is a rainshadow desert, where moist air from the Pacific moves eastward, and has all the moisture extracted by the coastal mountain ranges of the Andes.
   		This is a west coast subtropical desert, caused by cold upwelling ocean currents (air chilled by contact with these cold waters is more dense and thus resists rising and triggering precipitation).

5 points

QUESTION 3

1. 3) Click the next stop on the tour – “Badwater, Death Valley.” Hover your cursor over various points in the area, and find the lowest elevation. Elevation at the point of the cursor is shown in the data bar on the bottom of the Google Earth screen, toward the right side. What is the elevation of Badwater? Express your answer in feet.

   		About 2270 feet above sea level
   		About 270 feet above sea level
   		0 (sea level, exactly)
   		About 270 feet below sea level
   		About 2270 feet below sea level

5 points

QUESTION 4

1. 4) Examine Landform “A” (three examples are provided in Death Valley, each outlined in yellow). What landform is this?

   		delta
   		alluvial fan
   		bajada
   		yardang
   		inselberg

5 points

QUESTION 5

1. 5) Examine Landform “B” (it is outlined in orange). What landform is this?

   		delta
   		alluvial fan
   		bajada
   		yardang
   		inselberg

5 points

QUESTION 6

1. 6) Considering that the mountains flanking Death Valley to the east and west are about the same size as each other, how to you explain the difference in landforms (your answers to the previous two questions) on either side of Death Valley?

   		There must be less sedimentation happening in eastern Death Valley than in the west.
   		The east side of Death Valley must be dropping (subsiding) more rapidly than the west side.
   		The west side of Death Valley must be dropping (subsiding) more rapidly than the east side.
   		The mountains to the west of Death Valley get more precipitation than the mountains to the east of Death Valley, resulting in more weathering of the bedrock, and therefore more sediment production.

5 points

QUESTION 7

1. 7) Examine the next two stops on the Google Earth tour: The “barchan dunes” and the “parabolic dunes” in White Sands National Monument, in New Mexico. Which way is the wind blowing in this region?

   		east to west
   		west to east
   		north to south
   		south to north

5 points

QUESTION 8

1. 8) Measure the distance between the two placemarks for “barchan dunes” and “parabolic dunes” in the White Sands National Monument region. (The measurement tool in Google Earth is at the top – it looks like a small ruler icon.) How far apart are they?

   		20 feet
   		2 miles
   		20 miles
   		200 miles

5 points

QUESTION 9

1. 9) Considering this distance (i.e., your answer to #8 above), what variable is most likely responsible for the change in dune type over such a short distance?

   		sediment supply increasing to the east
   		sediment supply decreasing to the east
   		change in wind direction
   		more moisture, and therefore more vegetation to the east

5 points

QUESTION 10

1. 10) Enter the GigaPan that’s the next item on the Google Earth tour. Explore it – it’s full resolution. What’s the name given to the flat white landform on the right side of the image?

   		alluvial fan
   		inselberg
   		playa
   		yardang
   		star dune

5 points

QUESTION 11

1. 11) Compare the two alluvial fans outlined in purple in the northern Owens Valley (11A and 11B). They are different colors. Why?

   		One is an alluvial fan; the other is a delta.
   		One is made of dark-colored sediment derived from dark-colored source rocks; the other is dominated by light-colored sediment derived from light-colored source rocks.
   		One is colonized by people; the other one is pristine.
   		One was deposited by wind; the other deposited by water.

5 points

QUESTION 12

1. 12 part I) Explore the GigaPan at site 12 (Zion Canyon, Utah) and identify the sedimentary structures in the cliffs at the right. The sedimentary structures seen there are ____________.

   		graded beds
   		cross beds
   		ripple marks
   		mudcracks

5 points

QUESTION 13

1. 12 part II) Examine each of the placemarks following the sedimentary structure GigaPan. Which of these four settings is most likely the sort of environment where the sedimentary structure you identified in the previous question would have formed?

   		A) a river flowing into the sea
   		B) a delta distributary
   		C) a glacial moraine
   		D) a field of sand dunes

5 points

QUESTION 14

1. 13) What kind of dune is seen at the next stop on the tour?

   		barchan
   		barchanoid
   		transverse
   		longitudinal
   		parabolic
   		star

5 points

QUESTION 15

1. 14) Examine Landform “C” (outlined in yellow). What landform is this?

   		delta
   		alluvial fan
   		bajada
   		yardang
   		inselberg

5 points

QUESTION 16

1. 15) Compare and contrast the tectonics of the Zagros Mountains of Iran and the Basin and Range province of Utah. Representative samples of the landscape of both sites are outlined in blue as the next two stops on the tour. How did they form?

   		Both the Zagros Mountains and the Basin & Range are compressional, as indicated by anticlines and synclines at each site.
   		Both the Zagros Mountains and the Basin & Range are extensional, as indicated by fault-block mountains at each site.
   		The Zagros Mountains are compressional, as indicated by anticlines and synclines. The Basin & Range, on the other hand, is caused by extensional tectonics, as indicated by the fault-block mountains there.
   		The Zagros Mountains are caused by extensional tectonics, as indicated by the fault-block mountains there. The Basin & Range, on the other hand, is compressional, as indicated by anticlines and synclines.

5 points

QUESTION 17

1. 16) Examine the Aral Sea using the “history” slider at the top. Click the icon/button that looks like a clock with an arrow draped over it. Slide the bar all the way to the left, and then to various positions in time, going to the right. What happens to the size of the Aral Sea over the past 40 years?

   		It stays about the same size.
   		It gets much smaller.
   		It gets much larger.
   		It grows and shrinks, grows and shrinks, on a regular basis, expanding and contracting every ten years or so.

5 points

QUESTION 18

1. 17) Visit the Dead Sea next. This is the last stop on our Desert Tour. What is the elevation of the Dead Sea?

   		1363 feet above sea level.
   		13.63 feet above sea level.
   		13.63 feet below sea level.
   		1363 feet below sea level.

5 points

QUESTION 19

1. 18) Explore the world’s deserts on your own in Google Earth now. Identify a feature, landscape, structure, or scene that you learned to recognize from this lab. Do not pick one of the sites we have already visited, but DO pick a similar phenomenon at a new site. Take a screen shot of the site and save it to your computer as an image. Feel free to add any explanatory annotations to highlight the feature you’re focusing on. Rename that image with the name of the feature (e.g. “inselberg” or “fault block mountains”) and upload it here as your “answer” to this question. 5 points for uploading the image; 5 points for identifying it correctly.

   1. Attach File

10 points

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