Unlock document.
This document is partially blurred.
Unlock all pages and 1 million more documents.
Get Access
Floods are the least destructive of all geologic hazards.
As the tide rises, water flows in toward the shore as the ebb tide.
Spits, baymouth bars and sea stacks are all features produced by longshore transport of
sediments.
Surface ocean circulation is also called thermohaline circulation.
Compaction is most significant as a lithification process for sedimentary rocks
composed of sand-sized particles.
Particle size is the primary basis for distinguishing among various detrital sedimentary
rocks.
The length of daylight on the Moon is about one month.
Jupiter is the largest and most massive planet in the solar system.
Lithospheric plates are the tops of convection cells and subduction zones are the
downgoing part of the convection cell.
The hottest main-sequence stars are also the most massive.
In the silicon-oxygen tetrahedron, there are more silicon atoms than oxygen atoms.
If the temperature rises and the amount of moisture in the air remains unchanged, the
relative humidity will increase.
The Octet rule states that atoms tend to gain, lose, or share electrons until they are
surrounded by six valence electrons.
Environmental science always involves a large component of Earth Science.
The hinge of a fold must lie within the axial plane of the fold.
Rock breakwaters will produce erosion of beaches on the lee side of the breakwater.
Flowing water experiences friction when it flows along the sides and bottom of its
channel.
The greatest number of galaxies belong to the type known as elliptical galaxies.
Galileo discovered that the Sun has "blemishes," which we call sunspots.
Eukaryotes are the earliest life forms identified on earth and they date back to nearly
3.5 billion years ago.
The measure of a star's brightness is called its magnitude.
A few days before a major earthquake in China, one village in the area reported the
streets were filled with migrating toads that might have indicated the impending event.
The angular distance north and south of the celestial equator is called right ascension.
A scarp is the exposed portion of the rupture surface beneath a slump block.
During metamorphism, the material undergoing deformation remains a solid.
The largest stretch of continuous forests on Earth coincides with a subarctic climate.
Standard sea level air pressure is 29.92 inches of mercury.
The salinity of the oceans is continuously increasing due to weathering of rocks and the
transport of the weathering products to the oceans.
The planet with the highest density is a terrestrial planet.
Large Blue whales that are up to 30 meters long live primarily on krill that is only about
6 cm long.
Seawater contains all of the natural occurring elements on earth.
Oceanic crust is less dense than continental crust.
Most minerals have a higher specific gravity than water.
The term Mesozoic refers to life forms intermediate in complexity between early and
much later, more modern-looking life forms.
Astronomers currently estimate the internal temperature of the Sun at 1500C.
Meteorites disintegrate and burn up as shooting stars; meteoroids survive an impact
event and a trip through Earth's atmosphere.
Science is based on the assumption that nature behaves in a consistent and predictable
manner.
The upper part of the ocean into which sunlight penetrates is called the photic zone.
The lowest base level for most streams is sea level.
The modern oceans are a major repository for the greenhouse gas ________, which
some organisms utilize to make their shells.
A) SiO2
B) Ammonia
C) Limestone
D) CO2
E) Iron oxide
In elastic rebound theory, what must occur to produce an earthquake?
A) Enough stress must build up over time on a fault to overcome friction.
B) Rocks must break in order to produce slip on a fault.
C) The ground needs to absorb enough water to lubricate the surface of the fault.
D) Tidal forces need to be at a maximum to increase the energy applied to the fault.
A north south oriented shoreline has land to the east and the major storm waves arrive
from the southwest. A headland abuts westward along the shoreline and exposes a
distinctive black basalt that is rapidly eroded by waves pounding the coast. Where
would you expect to find black sand derived from this headland?
A) on the beach to the north of the headland
B) on the beach to the south of the headland
C) immediately offshore of the headland
D) only in pocket beaches along the headland
Felt earthquakes usually last for ________.
A) less than 1 second (they are instantaneous)
B) 1 to 10 seconds
C) 10 to 60 seconds
D) 1 to 10 minutes
Construction of a breakwater produces the same effect as what kind of natural coastal
structure?
A) a sea cliff producing erosion at the base of the sea cliff (i.e. breakwater)
B) an island offshore breaking waves and trapping sand behind to form a tombolo
C) a barrier island, which forms an artificial beach at the front of the breakwater
D) a spit, formed by sand moving by longshore drift accumulating along the opening of
a tidal channel
The North Pole has a higher noon Sun angle than New York City on this date.
A) June 21
B) March 21
C) September 21
D) none of these
A neutron star theoretically will form from a supernovae collapse that ________.
A) fuses all of the atoms into super atoms with very high atomic numbers
B) compresses all atoms so that electrons are so close to the nucleus that all of the
protons are converted to neutrons
C) forms ions that bond electrostatically into very small volumes
D) converts the atomic nucleus to a small volume with high mass by expelling all
neutrons
At 25oC it takes 20 grams of water vapor to saturate 1 kilogram of dry air. If there are 5
grams of water vapor in 1 km of air at that temperature, what is the relative humidity?
A) 10%
B) 25%
C) 50%
D) 75%
E) 100%
Farmer Brown lives in a semi-arid part of the United States with numerous small lakes
associated with glacial deposits of sand and gravel. He decides he needs to irrigate part
of his land and drills a shallow well 100m from his property line with Farmer Smith
who has a small lake just across the property line, and he depends on this lake to water
his cattle. By late summer, Farmer Smith goes out to his lake and discovers it is dry.
What happened?
A) Farmer Brown's well produced a sinkhole that swallowed up Farmer Smith's lake.
B) There must have been a drought or Farmer Brown wouldn't have needed to irrigate,
so it must be natural.
C) Farmer Brown has been secretly pumping water from Farmer Smith's lake, and now
Farmer Smith is going to come out at night with a shotgun.
D) Farmer Browns well has dropped the water table in the well's cone of depression,
and the well has led to the lake drying up.
Granite and gabbro ________.
A) have a similar mineral composition
B) have a similar texture
C) are similar in both texture and mineral composition
D) are not similar in either texture or mineral composition
Island arcs and Andean type mountains are both examples of mountains formed by
________.
A) collisional tectonics
B) subduction
C) rifting/oceanic spreading
D) transform faults
The term drift ________.
A) refers only to alpine glaciers
B) refers only to moraines
C) is synonymous with the term till
D) means any sediments of glacial origin
The major difference between a wet tropical region and a tropical wet and dry region is
________.
A) temperature
B) pressure
C) precipitation
D) wind direction
E) elevation
Carbon dioxide is an important influence on climate because ________.
A) it passes incoming short wavelength solar radiation, but it absorbs some longer
wavelength outgoing earth radiation
B) it absorbs incoming short wavelength solar radiation, but it passes some longer
wavelength outgoing earth radiation
C) it passes incoming long wavelength solar radiation, but it absorbs short wavelength
outgoing earth radiation
D) it absorbs incoming long wavelength solar radiation, but it passes short wavelength
outgoing earth radiation
E) None of the above is correct.
As you go up in elevation, the atmospheric pressure ________.
A) decreases
B) increases
C) stays constant
D) none of the above
Rocks that contain high amounts of silica typically also contain ________.
A) iron, magnesium, potassium
B) aluminum, magnesium, and potassium
C) aluminum, sodium, and potassium
D) calcium, magnesium, and potassium
Long term earthquake prediction is based on ________.
A) observations of things like animal behavior, radon gas emissions, and changes in
topography
B) the assumption that large faults break in a cyclical manner
C) measurements of the plate motions and rate of stress accumulation
D) measurements of strain accumulation
Which of the following minerals is not a chemical compound?
A) quartz (SiO2)
B) halite (NaCl)
C) graphite (C)
D) pyrite (FeS)
A parcel of air has a temperature of 0oC as it crosses a mountain range at 3000 meters.
If it descends, what will its temperature be when it reaches sea level?
A) 15oC
B) 30oC
C) 0oC
D) 40oC
Mount St. Helens and the other Cascade volcanoes are ________.
A) young, active stratovolcanoes built on a continental margin above a sinking slab of
oceanic lithosphere
B) a row of young, active, shield volcanoes built as western North America moved over
a hot spot deep in the mantle
C) old, deeply eroded stratovolcanoes built before the Pacific Ocean existed
D) old, deeply eroded, basaltic shield volcanoes built when western North America was
over the present-day site of the Hawaiian hot spot
The ________ sides of mountains are often wet.
A) leeward
B) sunny
C) windward
D) steep
E) southern
Rayed craters on the Moon, such as Copernicus, formed during an intense, early period
of bombardment prior to the formation of the lunar maria.
Widely spaced isobars often indicate ________.
A) high winds
B) variable winds
C) light winds
D) cyclonic winds
The most common group of rock forming minerals is ________.
A) carbonate
B) the silicates
C) the sulfates
D) the halides
Anyone who has ever gone swimming in heavy surf will tell you that if a wave is about
to crash over you, the best thing to do is dive down, under the wave. Why does this
keep you from being swept up in the wave, like being in a washing machine?
A) You dive into the base of the zone of circular motion associated with the wave.
B) You dive below the shoreward moving part of the elliptical particle motion of the
wave.
C) You dive into the rip current, which will carry you out to sea.
D) You get carried sideways by a longshore current, which is better than being beaten
up by the breaking wave.
Which of the following statements concerning mudflows is not true?
A) Mudflows may be caused by heavy rains or melting snow.
B) In hilly areas, mudflows move down the canyons and stream valleys.
C) Mudflows deposit talus slopes.
D) Mudflows can move and carry very large boulders and other coarse debris.
In the Ptolemaic (Greek) model of the universe, the stars are attached to the ________.
A) celestial sphere
B) zodiac
C) plane of the ecliptic
D) deferent
E) stadia
The most precise instrument for measuring wind speed is a ________.
A) cup anemometer
B) wind vane
C) wind sock
D) wet bulb/dry bulb thermometer
The red color of emission nebulae comes from the ________.
A) conversion of infrared light to visible light
B) conversion of ultraviolet light to visible light
C) energy emission of hydrogen
D) energy emission of helium
E) energy emission of oxygen
Use the Periodic table below to answer the following questions:
The bond between two hydrogen atoms (a covalent bond) is based on the force of
attraction between ________.
A) two atoms
B) two nuclei
C) two ions
D) protons in the nuclei and electrons surrounding the nuclei
The figure above shows a popular area for North American tourists in winter, the
Caribbean region. Match the term to the letter on the Figure.
Forearc Basin
Which letter, S thru Z, corresponds to the object in the photo labeled "C"?
A ridge of sand that connects an island to the mainland or to another island is a(n)
________.
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.
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.
Refer to the figure below, captured from Google Earth, for the following questions.
Location A would be an area where you would expect ________ faulting
When winds blow parallel to the isobars, which is usually the case for winds aloft, they
are called ________ winds.
Explain briefly why a divergent plate boundary is also called a "constructive margin or
boundary."
The five parts of the climate system are the ________, ________, ________, ________,
and ________.
________ is the major gas in the atmosphere of Venus.
The remains or traces of prehistoric life are called ________.
Stars that are composed of matter in which electrons have combined with protons are
called ________ stars.
________ is the boundary line separating adjacent stream drainage basins.
What general term denotes a buried, erosional surface where rock layers are missing?
The Sun in the making is known as the ________.
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.
________ is the fan-shaped pile of broken rock fragments at the base of a steep,
bedrock slope or cliff.
When a hypothesis has survived extensive scrutiny and when competing ones have
been eliminated, a hypothesis may be elevated to the status of a(n) ________.
Briefly explain how deep trenches form.
A(n) ________ fault forms when the hanging wall moves down relative to the footwall .
