Which of the following is an example of a volcanic island arc?
A) Cascade Volcanoes
B) Andean Volcanoes
C) Hawaiian Volcanoes
D) Aleutian Volcanoes
A ________ is a part of the craton that is covered by a thin covering of sedimentary
rocks.
A) shield
B) continental shelf
C) platform
D) plateau
What is the name of the supercontinent that preceded Pangaea?
A) Amasia
B) Rodinia
C) Challenger
D) Africana
Where is the deepest place on Earth?
A) Peru-Chile Trench
B) Challenger Deep
C) Kuril Trench
D) Mid-Continent Rift
Which of the following rocks will be most resistant to weathering?
A) Solid bedrock
B) Jointed bedrock
C) Bedrock with solution weathering
D) Bedrock with sheeting
Which of the following statements best characterizes the geology of western North
America, starting in California and extending through British Columbia and up into
Alaska?
A) Divergent rifting creating deep, wide valleys with grabens
B) Collision of a massive subcontinent of old igneous and metamorphic rocks, resulting
in fold-and-thrust mountains that are still growing
C) Geologically distinct, microcontinent-sized fragments and terraces accreted to the
continent
D) Metamorphosed accretionary wedges
Which is denser: a 100-million-year-old oceanic lithosphere near a convergent
boundary, a 15-million-year-old oceanic lithosphere near a rift, or the upper part of the
asthenosphere?
A) A 15-million-year-old oceanic lithosphere
B) 100-million-year-old oceanic lithosphere
C) Upper asthenosphere
D) They all have the same density.
A(n) ________ is a silicate structure where no silica tetrahedra share any oxygen ions.
A) single chain
B) double chain
C) framework
D) independent
Why does the rainshadow desert form on the downwind side of the mountains?
A) The air mass has absorbed all the moisture on that side as it descended.
B) The mountains block wind from that region, making it hot.
C) The sediments on the downwind side are porous.
D) The moisture was precipitated from the air mass on the upwind side.
What is the texture of this rock?
A) Schistosity
B) Nonfoliated
C) Slaty cleavage
D) Gneissic banding
Which of the following is not a geologic hazard?
A) Use of poor construction materials resulting in a cracked foundation
B) Volcanic eruptions sending lava flows toward a city
C) Deforestation on a floodplain increasing the severity of river floods
D) Climate change leading to sea-level rise
A ________ is an economically important material that cannot be replenished in a
reasonable time frame, so once it has been consumed, there will not be any more.
A) recycled material
B) renewable resource
C) nonrenewable resource
D) plastic
What was the approximate concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere in 1965? Use the
smoothed curve for seasonally corrected data to make the determination.
A) 400 ppm
B) 380 ppm
C) 340 ppm
D) 320 ppm
As the island of Hawaii continues to move away from the mantle plume, a new
submarine volcano will be created. Off which coast would you expect the new
submarine volcano to be forming?
A) North coast
B) Southwest coast
C) Northeast coast
D) Southeast coast
What are the three categories of damage caused by hurricanes?
A) Eye, eye wall, and clouds
B) Wavelength, wave crest, and wave height
C) Storm surge, wind damage, and inland flooding
D) Shoreline erosion, flooding, and barometric pressure
Match the lettered blanks to their location in the Geologic Time Scale in this image.
A) Neogene
B) Cambrian
C) Mesozoic
D) Holocene
1. A
2. B
3. C
4. D
A typical rate of groundwater flow for many aquifers is approximately ________.
A) 1 cm/day
B) 4 cm/day
C) 0.5 m/day
D) 2 m/day
When eccentricity, obliquity, and precession are all overlapping to have the most
significant impact on the Earth’s climate, what is happening to the climate?
A) Climate is cooling
B) Climate is warming
C) Climate is stagnant
________ weathering is when there is a chemical transformation of rock into other
compounds.
A) Mechanical
B) Chemical
C) Spheroidal
D) Differential
What is the longitudinal profile?
A) The cross-sectional area perpendicular to the direction of flow
B) The cross-sectional area from the headwaters to the mouth
C) The slope of the stream channel from headwaters to the mouth
D) The probability of a specific stream discharge occurring in a given year
________ is the maximum load of solid particles a stream can transport per unit time.
A) Corrosion
B) Capacity
C) Competence
D) Carbonate
The majority of water in the hydrosphere is found in which feature?
A) Rivers
B) Oceans
C) Water vapor
D) Glaciers
Which energy use in this image requires the largest percentage of coal?
A) Transportation
B) Electric power
C) Residential and commercial
D) Industrial
Which of the following is not one of the three paths taken by incoming solar radiation?
A) Radiation passes through the atmosphere and is absorbed by the surface.
B) Radiation is deflected by the magnetic field.
C) Radiation is reflected back into space by clouds, atmosphere, snow, and ice.
D) Radiation is absorbed by clouds and atmospheric gases.
Which of the following can be a parent rock for gneiss?
A) Shale
B) Granite
C) Schist and phyllite
D) Marble and shale
E) Shale, granite, schist, and phyllite
How can GPS receivers and satellites be used to monitor plate motion?
A) GPS receivers are placed on landmasses to track their locations.
B) Satellites send lasers to measure the distance to continents.
C) GPS receivers send signals to each other to see if the units are getting closer
together.
D) Satellites track seafloor spreading.
Match the rock type with the correct definition.
1. Igneous
2. Sedimentary
3. Metamorphic
A) Rocks that form from the crystallization of molten material
B) Rocks that form when a pre-existing rock is altered due to heat and pressure
C) Rocks that form from pre-existing materials going through lithification
At what temperature and pressure would kyanite, sillimanite, and andalusite form
simultaneously?
A) 600C and 2 kilobars
B) 700C and 1 kilobar
C) 800C and 6 kilobars
D) 500C and 4 kilobars
What desert landform is visible here?
A) Inselberg
B) Normal fault
C) Playa lake
D) Bajada
Where are the majority of transform faults located?
A) Southern California
B) On the ocean floor offsetting segments of oceanic ridge
C) Radiating from convergent boundaries as stress fractures
D) Along mountain ranges that have been thrust up due to collision
Why do mantle plumes tend to concentrate beneath supercontinents such as Pangaea?
A) Concentrations of radioactive materials build up as continents assemble.
B) Partial melting from subduction concentrates large volumes of magma.
C) A large landmass acts as an insulating blanket to trap heat in the mantle.
D) Friction from converging landmasses heats up the mantle.
What kind of force will create foliation in metamorphic rocks?
A) Tension
B) Compression
C) Shear
D) Brittle
The amount of solar radiation coming in at ________ helps to determine whether or not
a planet is going into an Ice Age.
A) 10 S
B) 45 N
C) 76 S
D) 65 N
In what era is the Jurassic period?
A) Precambrian
B) Paleozoic
C) Mesozoic
D) Cenozoic
An isotope of oxygen has 8 protons, 10 neutrons, and 8 electrons. What is the atomic
mass of this isotope?
A) 16
B) 18
C) 21
D) 26