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CSS Geography Geomorphology Flashcards
55 question-and-answer cards covering Geomorphology as it is examined in CSS Geography. 24 of them are printed below, taken from across the deck — no signup, no paywall on the preview.
24 sample cards from the Geomorphology deck
Sampled from the end of the deck, so these are different cards from the ones shown on the syllabus page.
What is the Plate Tectonics Theory?
The theory (1960s) that the lithosphere is divided into rigid plates that move over the plastic asthenosphere, driven by mantle convection, and interact at their margins to produce earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountains.
What is believed to be the main driving force of plate movement?
Convection currents in the mantle (and forces such as ridge push and slab pull).
Name the three types of plate boundaries.
Divergent (constructive) boundaries, convergent (destructive) boundaries, and transform (conservative) boundaries.
What happens at a divergent (constructive) plate boundary?
Two plates move apart; magma wells up to form new crust, creating mid-oceanic ridges or continental rift valleys (e.g., Mid-Atlantic Ridge, East African Rift).
What happens at a convergent (destructive) plate boundary?
Two plates move toward each other; the denser plate subducts, destroying crust and producing trenches, volcanoes, and fold mountains (e.g., Andes, Himalayas).
What happens at a transform (conservative) plate boundary?
Two plates slide horizontally past each other; crust is neither created nor destroyed, but stresses cause earthquakes (e.g., San Andreas Fault).
Name the seven major lithospheric plates.
Pacific, North American, South American, Eurasian, African, Indo-Australian, and Antarctic plates.
What collision formed the Himalayas, and what type of boundary is it?
The collision of the Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate (continental-continental convergent boundary).
What is isostasy?
The state of gravitational balance (equilibrium) of the Earth's crust 'floating' on the denser, plastic mantle below, like blocks floating in a liquid.
What is the basic principle behind isostasy?
Lighter crustal blocks (continents/mountains) float higher and have deeper 'roots' in the denser substratum, achieving buoyant equilibrium, analogous to icebergs floating in water.
What is the difference between Airy's and Pratt's theories of isostasy?
Airy assumed uniform crustal density with varying thickness (mountains have deep roots); Pratt assumed uniform depth of compensation with varying density (higher mountains are less dense).
What is isostatic adjustment (rebound)?
The vertical readjustment of the crust to restore equilibrium when load is added or removed, e.g., crustal uplift after the melting of ice sheets (post-glacial rebound).
What is a geosyncline?
A large, elongated, subsiding trough or basin in the Earth's crust in which thick sequences of sediments accumulate over long periods, later folded into mountains.
According to the geosynclinal theory, how do mountains form from a geosyncline?
Sediments accumulate in the subsiding geosyncline, then horizontal compressive (orogenic) forces fold and uplift these sediments into fold mountains.
What is orogeny (mountain building)?
The process of mountain formation through intense folding, faulting, and uplift of the crust caused by horizontal compressive tectonic forces along plate margins.
What are the main types of mountains by mode of formation?
Fold mountains (e.g., Himalayas, Alps), block/fault mountains (e.g., Vosges, Black Forest), volcanic mountains (e.g., Kilimanjaro), and residual/relict mountains (e.g., Aravallis).
What is the difference between an anticline and a syncline in folding?
An anticline is an up-arched (convex-up) fold forming a ridge; a syncline is a down-warped (concave-up) fold forming a trough.
What are the three main types of volcanoes based on activity?
Active volcanoes (currently erupting/likely to), dormant volcanoes (temporarily inactive but may erupt again), and extinct (dead) volcanoes.
What is the difference between intrusive and extrusive volcanic landforms?
Intrusive (plutonic) landforms form when magma solidifies below the surface (e.g., batholith, laccolith, sill, dyke); extrusive landforms form when lava solidifies on the surface (e.g., lava plateaus, volcanic cones).
What is the focus and the epicentre of an earthquake?
The focus (hypocentre) is the point inside the Earth where the earthquake originates; the epicentre is the point on the surface directly above the focus.
What are the three main types of seismic waves and their key properties?
P-waves (primary, longitudinal, fastest, travel through solids and liquids), S-waves (secondary, transverse, slower, travel only through solids), and L-waves (surface waves, slowest, most destructive).
What is the difference between the Richter scale and the Mercalli scale?
The Richter scale measures the magnitude (energy released) of an earthquake on a logarithmic scale; the Modified Mercalli scale measures the intensity (observed damage and effects) using Roman numerals I-XII.
Why can the Earth's liquid outer core be detected using seismic waves?
Because S-waves cannot pass through liquids, they are blocked by the outer core, creating an 'S-wave shadow zone,' which reveals the liquid nature of the outer core.
What is the 'Pacific Ring of Fire'?
A horseshoe-shaped belt around the Pacific Ocean margins where most of the world's active volcanoes and earthquakes occur, due to intense plate subduction.
What this deck covers
The Geomorphology deck follows the CSS Geography Geomorphology syllabus — 4 chapters and 19 topics — so questions land on material that is genuinely examinable rather than trivia around it. That works out to roughly 13.8 cards per chapter.
Answers are written to be recallable, not just readable — averaging about 158 characters, which is long enough to carry the reasoning and short enough to say out loud.
A deck like this earns its keep on the second and third pass. Read the syllabus first so you know the shape of the subject, then use the cards to find the specific facts that have not stuck.
Geomorphology flashcards FAQ
How many Geomorphology flashcards are in this CSS Geography deck?
55 cards. This page previews 24 of them, sampled evenly across the deck so you can judge the difficulty before installing anything.
Are these CSS Geography flashcards free?
Yes. The preview here is free to read with no signup, and the full 55-card deck is free inside the Examius app.
What do the Geomorphology cards cover?
They follow the CSS Geography Geomorphology syllabus — 4 chapters and 19 topics — so the questions track what is actually examinable.
How should I use these flashcards?
Read the syllabus first so you know the shape of the subject, then drill the deck. Examius schedules each card with spaced repetition, so cards you keep missing come back sooner and ones you know drift further apart.