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New York State Earth Science June 2005 - Question 69 PDF Print E-mail
Written by The Earth Science Wizard   
Sunday, 29 November 2009 04:24

Glacial sediment is extremely heterogeneous. It typically displays great lateral and vertical variations in thickness, composition, texture, sedimentary structures, and mode of origin. Glacial sediment can be divided in two general categories: till and stratified sediment.

Till is defined as " a sediment that has been transported and is subsequently deposited by or from glacier ice, with little or no sorting by water". It is material that was released from glacier ice usually by melting and was deposited without significant transportation or sorting due to water or gravity movements.

Several general observations may be given about the occurrence of till

  • Deposition of till must postdate erosion or deformation of the underlying substratum; most till was probably deposited late in the glacial cycle; the law of superposition applies to till as well as to other glacial sediment.
  • Till is a mixture of anything and everything over which the ice moved, including: bedrock, older till and sediment, weathered material, soil, plant fragments, and animal remains. Till is dominated at any spot by material of local origin; the content of local material generally decreases upward in a till sequence
  • Multiple till layers are common in the outer zones of glaciation. However, owing to different mechanisms of till deposition and changing ice movements, separate tills do not always indicate separate glaciations. Periods of glacier withdrawal are shown by buried soil, peat, weathered zones, fossils, permafrost features, etc
 
New York State Earth Science June 2005 - Question 07 PDF Print E-mail
Written by The Earth Science Wizard   
Saturday, 28 November 2009 06:13
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Correct Answer: Option 2 – Receive less total yearly hours of daylight

Polar region receive less intensive solar radiation because the sun's energy arrives at an oblique angle, spreading over a larger area, and also travels a longer distance through the Earth's atmosphere in which it may be absorbed, scattered or reflected, which is the same thing that causes winters to be colder than the rest of the year in temperate areas.

The axial tilt of the Earth has major effects on climate of the polar regions. Since the Polar Regions are the farthest from the equator, they receive the least amount of sunlight and are therefore frigid. The large amount of ice and snow also reflects a large part of what little sunlight the polar regions receive, contributing to the cold. Polar regions are characterized by the polar climate, extremely cold temperatures, heavy glaciations wherever there is sufficient precipitation to form permanent ice, and extreme variations in daylight hours, with twenty-four hours of daylight in summer (the midnight sun), and complete darkness at mid winter .

Based on these arguments, the rest of the options are incorrect

 


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