Warm fronts generally have steeper slopes than cold fronts.
In a hurricane, the greatest wind speeds and heaviest rainfall occur in the region called
the eye.
The asthenosphere is a relatively cool and rigid shell that overlies the lithosphere.
Shield volcanos have extensive deposits of pyroclastic rocks.
The earth is continuously receiving heat from the atmosphere as well as from the Sun.
The ultimate cause of a sea breeze is the unequal heating of land and water.
After three half-lives, one-ninth of an original radioactive parent isotope remains, and
eight-ninths has decayed into the daughter isotope.
Of the terrestrial planets, Mercury exhibits the greatest lateral variations in surface
temperatures.
Orogenesis refers to the formation of mineral deposits.
Strata above an angular unconformity were tilted before the older strata were eroded.
The mass of an atom comes from its electrons.
The largest daily tidal range occurs in association with spring tides.
The Coriolis effect causes ocean currents in the Southern Hemisphere to be deflected to
the right of their path of motion.
Submarine canyons form the deepest parts of the ocean basins.
One method to obtain the absolute age of a sedimentary rock is to obtain a radiometric
date on an interbedded volcanic rock.
Bedding planes and fractures can both act as slip surfaces for rockslides.
Cool stars evolve much more quickly than do hot stars.
Relative humidity is usually expressed as a percent.
An atom with 30 protons always has 30 neutrons and 30 electrons.
Low pressure systems are usually associated with clear weather.
Creating artificial cutoffs increases stream velocity.
Of the various elements of weather, changes in air pressure are probably the most
obvious.
Marine terraces are old, uplifted wave-cut platforms.
Terrane accretion generally occurs along a divergent boundary between a continental
plate and an oceanic plate.
Rays in the rings of Saturn are bright, radial streaks that converge inward toward the
planet’s surface.
Olivine and quartz are commonly found together in the same igneous rock.
The Mississippi is only slightly smaller than the Amazon river.
The hydrologic cycle is not balanced right now and, as a result, sea level is rising.
The Milky Way is classified as an irregular galaxy.
When Earth’s primitive surface cooled below water’s boiling point, torrential rains
slowly filled low areas, forming oceans.
The distance from Earth to the Sun is used to measure distances in the solar system and
is called a light year.
The major risk to humans from the depletion of ozone is the increase in ________.
A) deaths due to skin cancer
B) chlorine in the atmosphere, which is poisonous to most humans
C) deaths due to lung cancer
D) CO2 from plant production
E) cataracts and damage to the immune systems
Centuries ago quarrymen learned that when quarrying granite it was usually easiest to
break the rock along a nearly horizontal surface. We now know this arises because
________.
A) uplift and exhumation of granites produces an unloading, which produces sheeting
joints like the quarrymen used
B) frost wedging for hundreds of thousands to millions of years have produced cracks
parallel to the ground surface
C) chemical weathering of granite makes the material expand, pulling it away from the
underlying rock
D) it was a false observation; the quarrymen in those days couldn’t measure resistance,
and it just seemed easier to wedge blocks of this type
What fuel is the source of energy from the Sun?
A) helium
B) lithium
C) oxygen
D) hydrogen
In an area where the temperature increase with depth averages 20oC per kilometer, the
temperature at a depth of 5 kilometers would be ________.
A) 100oC
B) 200oC
C) 50oC
D) 20oC
What is the difference between a gas and a liquid?
A) A gas is composed of individual atoms that have no bonds, while a liquid is made up
of molecules with bonds between atoms.
B) A liquid is composed of individual atoms that have no bonds, while a gas is made up
of molecules with bonds between atoms.
C) A liquid has a fixed volume but a gas does not.
D) A gas has a fixed volume but a liquid does not.
E) A liquid is “wet,” meaning it will attach to things, while a gas does not do this.
Deforestation of rain forests exposes tropical soils that are famous for their low fertility,
despite the fact that they had previously hosted a lush tropical forest. Which soil type
would describe these soils?
A) Andisolsyoung soils formed on volcanic ash and volcanogenic sediment
B) VertisolsSoils containing large amounts of clay, which shrink upon drying and swell
with the addition of water. Found in subhumid to arid climates
C) HistosolsOrganic soils with little or no climatic implications. Can be found in any
climate where organic debris can accumulate to form a bog soil. Dark, partially
decomposed organic material commonly referred to as peat
D) OxisolsSoils that occur on old land surfaces unless parent materials were strongly
weathered before they were deposited. Rich in iron and aluminum oxides, Oxisols are
heavily leached, hence are poor soils for agricultural activity
Digging downward through a soil profile, how deep would you have to go before you
found recognizable fragments of the parent rock for the soil?
A) A
B) B
C) C
D) E
Who is credited with formulating the doctrine of uniformitarianism?
A) Aristotle
B) Lyell
C) Hutton
D) Playfair
A major event of the Mesozoic era was the breakup of the supercontinent called
Pangaea.
Different periods of the geologic time scale are different in length. Why?
A) Early geologists made mistakes, but it was easier to retain the terminology in the
time scale.
B) The time scale was developed ad hoc, as a relative time scale based on rocks and
fossil succession with no reference to absolute time when it was developed.
C) The geologists who developed the time scale did not care about absolute ages.
D) None of the above
Silts and clays are commonly deposited in lakes, lagoons, swamps and marine
environments because ________.
A) those settings are more acidic
B) those settings are more basic
C) those settings have relatively still water
D) those settings have highly varied activities and multiple inlets for water
What kind of time span is required to produce most mineral deposits?
A) 1-100 years, or about a human life span
B) tens of thousands to millions of years
C) billions of years
D) We have no way of knowing this, but most were formed at the same time as the
Earth.
Most of our table salt comes from ________.
A) salt taken from mines
B) salt obtained by evaporating seawater in dry climates
C) combining the metal sodium and the nonmetal chlorine gas in a chemical reaction
vessel to make pure NaCl
D) China
Seasonal variations in CO2 recorded at Mauna Loa Observatory are related to
________.
A) temperature
B) vegetation
C) winds
D) storms
E) humidity
Which of the following is nota significant factor contributing to the damage caused by
an earthquake?
A) the construction techniques and materials used in the region
B) the proximity to a plate boundary
C) the duration of the vibrations
D) the types of ground materials that are built on in the region
Where is the top of the atmosphere?
A) 21 km above sea level
B) 32 km above sea level
C) 100 km above sea level
D) There is no defined upper limit to the atmosphere.
A transform fault is ________.
A) a strike-slip fault that forms the boundary between tectonic plates
B) a dip-slip fault connecting an anticline with a syncline
C) a reverse fault that steepens into a thrust fault
D) the rift bounding fault on a mid-ocean ridge
Which of the following is a reasonable approximation of the rate that plates move?
A) the rate of growth of human hair or fingernails
B) the speed a turtle walks
C) the speed of a mountain glacier
D) the speed of deep ocean currents
Which of the following best describes Shiprock, a famous volcanic feature in New
Mexico?
A) a very recently active, basaltic cinder cone
B) an extinct, highly symmetrical, composite volcanic cone
C) the eroded remains of a volcanic pipe and radiating dikes
D) an extinct, massive, rhyolitic shield volcano
The Platte River crosses the Nebraska sandhills and carries little silt and clay, but
moves large amounts of sand. What kind of stream would you predict from this
characteristic?
A) meandering stream
B) braided stream
C) bedrock stream
D) none of the above
What is a popular theory for the difference in atmospheres of the Jovian planets versus
terrestrial planets?
A) High temperatures and solar wind in the inner planets allowed most of the volatiles
to be driven off the terrestrial planets, but not the Jovian planets.
B) The Jovian planets are just bigger, so they trap more gases.
C) The Jovian planets trapped most of the comets which carried the gases.
D) The terrestrial planets are too cold to retain anything but heavy gases.
The frequency of sunspots and related solar activity is ________.
A) a 22 year cycle
B) a 7 year cycle
C) an 11 year cycle
D) not a regular cycle
The type and amount of material carried in the suspended load of a stream depends on
________.
A) turbulence and viscosity
B) source accessibility and slope
C) ground cover and channel shape
D) flow velocity and discharge
E) settling and flow velocities
A ________ is a near surface, intrusive igneous rock body that results from local
inflation of a horizontal sill.
A) batholith
B) dike
C) laccolith
D) volcanic neck
The Oort cloud is ________.
A) an unusual type of cloud formed when meteorites strike the earth
B) another name for the inner solar system, just before the Sun became hot enough for
nuclear fusion
C) the outer solar system where planetesimals, rocky debris and comets orbit outside
beyond the outer planets but cross into the inner solar system at times
D) the asteroid belt
The minerals gold, silver and mercury are often found in ________.
A) hydrothermal veins
B) the lower parts of an intrusion
C) disseminated deposits
D) alteration of limestone
Why has Doppler radar been very valuable in preventing loss of life by tornadoes?
A) It can detect development of thunderstorm rotation and mesocyclone formation
associated with tornadoes.
B) It can detect the speed of a thunderstorm to allow accurate forecasting of arrival time
of a tornado and its track.
C) It can detect hail moving through the thunderstorm, allowing hail forecasts and its
association with tornadoes.
D) It can “see through” heavy rain and directly image tornadoes embedded in
thunderstorms with heavy rain.
A geologist observes abundant fossils of a distinctive trilobite species in a shale, but this
trilobite disappears as she walks through the shale. In younger rocks, just above the
horizon where the fossil disappears another species of trilobite becomes the prominent
fossil in similar shales. Which conclusion is most logical for this observation?
A) The organisms whose remains form the first fossil moved from the area for unknown
reasons.
B) A hurricane or other catastrophe killed all of the early species so the other species
could move in.
C) The second, trilobite group in the upper section went extinct where the change in
fossils is seen.
D) The first trilobite species went extinct and its ecological niche was occupied by
another species, which may have evolved from the first.
Most active faults pose a risk to society because they can potentially produce
________.
A) landslides
B) tsunamis
C) earthquakes
D) disruptions in groundwater flow
The oceans cover approximately ________ percent of Earth’s surface.
A) 40
B) 50
C) 60
D) 70
Although it is relatively common, limestone is an economically important rock type
because its major constituent mineral, ________, is used in the production of ________.
A) halite, salt
B) calcite, calcium
C) calcite, cement
D) halite, halogen
Sediment deposition occurs primarily in what part of a river system?
A) the head waters
B) the drainage divide
C) the trunk stream
D) near the outlet
E) the flood plain
All of the earth’s ocean basins are ________.
A) less than 2 million years old
B) less than 20 million years old
C) less than 200 million years old
D) less than 2000 million years old
Alpha Centauri is a famous star because it is one of the closest stars to earth (other than
the sun of course). Where would you look in the night sky for Alpha Centauri?
A) RA 15hr 30min; D 56 degrees
B) Look for the second brightest star in the constellation Alpha.
C) Look for Hydra, then to the right for Hercules, and it will be half way between.
D) Look for the brightest star in the constellation Centaurus.
The diagram below illustrates the relationship of the Moon and the Earth during a lunar
eclipse. Based on the illustration, would you expect lunar eclipses to occur more or less
frequently than solar eclipses? Also, which type of eclipse would be seen by a larger
portion of the Earth (and therefore potentially more people)?
Give the term of ocean floor sediment for each phrase.
abyssal plain clay
Label the Giant and Supergiant stars, the Main Sequence stars, and the White dwarf
stars on the H-R diagram below.
If all of the olivine crystallized in a typical magma and then settled to the floor of the
magma chamber, would there still be enough elements present in the magma to form
quartz?
Strike-slip faults are common along ________ plate boundaries.
The surface wind zones that flow from the subtropics toward the equator are called the
________ winds.
Examine the words and/or phrases for each question below and determine the
relationship among the majority of words/phrases. Choose the option which does not fit
the pattern.
For a radioactive isotope like Uranium-235, what does the 235 indicate?
What is the relationship of marine life zones to the distance from a given shoreline?
Briefly discuss the factors that control or cause these different zones. Where are these
factors on Figure 14.12 below and is one factor more important than the others?
Marine organisms are influenced by a variety of physical oceanographic factors
including ________, ________, and ________.
The ________ zone refers to the area where the land and ocean meet and overlap.
Discuss the phases of the moon and how they relate to the motions of the Earth and
Moon. Also, how are eclipses of the Moon and Sun related to these motions?
Briefly discuss the various motions of Earth. What motion is often mistakenly credited
for causing seasons here on Earth? How are these motions related (if at all) to the
modern calendar that we use today?
Why does the central United States from Texas to the Ohio Valley experience the
greatest frequency of tornadoes on Earth? What time of year do they occur and why?
Lava flow
Examine the words and/or phrases for each question below and determine the
relationship among the majority of words/phrases. Choose the option which does not fit
the pattern.
The most conspicuous features on the surface of the Sun are dark areas called
________.
When Earth is farthest from the Sun, its location is referred to as the ________ position.