chapter 2 review fire and ice washington’s geology

Chapter 2Review

Fire and IceWashington’s

Geology

A Changing Land

Explain the term Continental Drift

Continents were joined together then drifted apart creating a narrow Atlantic Ocean. It widens three inches a year.

QUESTION…

What causes landmasses to move and the earth to fold and crack?

Tectonic forces, strong forces in the earth that cause landmasses to move and land ridges are forced upward.

Explain the term deluge, and how it affected Washington state?

Deluge means heavy rain. For over 2,000 years, these floods came every 50 to 60 years creating the Columbia River to swell eroding the landscape.

COAL…

What is coal, and why is it burned?

Fossil fuel. Burned to provide heat to boil water making steam to run generators producing electricity.

Forming Our Mountains

What are the oldest mountains in the west?

Rocky Mountains

The youngest are the Olympic Mountains. Before they became a mountain range what were they?

They were once off-shore islands.

MOUNTAINS

Name 3 of the 5 mountains that are considered the “sleeping giants”, and why are they called that?

Mt. Baker, Glacier Peak, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, and Mt. St. Helens.

They are SLEEPNG GIANTS because they are dormant, temporarily inactive.

What is the ring of fire?

Volcanoes in Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, Alaska, and the west coast of North and South America.

Within our state they are the Cascade and Olympic Mountains.

Name the mountain that most currently erupted in our state and what were the mudflows called?

Mt. Saint Helens. Lahars: huge mud flows containing boulders,

volcanic debris, and water.

Geologists believe what mountain to be Washington states most threatening volcano?

Mt. Rainier

Forming the Columbia Plateau

Repeated lava flows coming from what created the Columbia Plateau?

Fissures: long cracks in the earth’s crust.

What is basalt and how is it formed?

Igneous rock. Formed of hardened lava.

ANOTHER LANDSCAPE CHANGING EFFECT…

Deposits of GLACIAL LOESS: these made rich soil; good for farming in Eastern Washington.

A mixture of volcanic ash and dust carried by the wind.

Ice Age Washington

During the last glacial period, the moving glaciers shaped the Puget Sound Lowlands.

What are the huge boulders that

were carried long distances by the glaciers called?

Erratics

What is another name for the Great Floods that is named after a geologist?

THE BRETZ FLOODS: named after J. Harlen Bretz. He argued the case of the Spokane

Flood.

THE GREAT FLOODS

Name three visible changes you can still see today that were caused by the great floods.

1. erratics 2. shape of the Puget Sound lowlands3. aquifers4. sculptured landscape of the Columbia

Plateau5. Grand Coulee6. Dry Falls7. cataracts

THE GREAT FLOODS…

Grand Coulee

Name three geologic features of Grand Coulee.

Many dry streambedsThe largest prehistoric dry waterfall called

DryFallsCataracts (large waterfalls)

A STATE FOSSIL??

What is Washington’s official fossil?

The Columbia Mammoth