The primary goal of Earth Science is ________.
A) to develop things that will benefit mankind
B) to identify the patterns in nature and use that information to predict the future
C) to locate resources
D) to protect the environment
Which one of the following is not true of glaciers?
A) originate on land
B) exist only in the Northern Hemisphere
C) show evidence of past or present flow
D) form from the recrystallization of snow
Major fisheries are concentrated in the neritic zone (above the continental shelf)
because of all of the following except ________.
A) there is an abundance of sunlight to support photosynthesis
B) there are rapid changes in oxygen concentrations, temperature, and salinity that
encourage diversity
C) nutrients wash in from land
D) the sea bottom provides shelter and habitat
Why is the Santa Ana wind a danger signal in southern California?
A) It is a cold, dry winter wind that brings danger of hypothermia to people like the
homeless living on the streets.
B) It drives people crazy with the howling winds, so crime goes up.
C) It is a warm, humid wind from Mexico that signals El Nio conditions and high
potential for flooding.
D) It is a warm, dry wind that can quickly dry out brushlands and spread fires.
Which of the following is not part of the climate system?
A) cryosphere
B) biosphere
C) hydrosphere
D) gyrosphere
E) geosphere
The continental shelf is located ________.
A) between the continental slope and continental rise
B) between the continental rise and the abyssal plains
C) seaward of the continental slope
D) landward of the continental slope
Which of the following did not exist prior to the Quaternary Ice ages?
A) the Mississippi River
B) the Colorado River
C) Antarctica
D) the Great Lakes
E) the arctic ocean
What was Hubble’s major contribution to Cosmology?
A) He identified Cepheid Variable stars.
B) He measured the size of the universe.
C) He identified numerous new galaxies outside the Milky Way.
D) He developed a new method for measuring the absolute magnitude of stars.
E) He proved the Big Bang Theory.
Why isn’t manganese mined on the seabed when there are abundant manganese nodules
in some parts of the ocean floor?
A) The manganese is too difficult to extract from the nodules; a new technology is
needed.
B) It is not economical to mine manganese nodules at present-day world prices for
manganese and associated metals in nodules.
C) The manganese market is held by a global cartel who prevent the material from
being mined.
D) It is impossible to extract the nodules from the seafloor with present-day technology.
The main source of the dissolved load in a stream is ________.
A) material along the sides of the stream channel
B) material along the bottom of the stream channel
C) groundwater
D) salt flats
E) cut bank soil
Which of the following is not a common rock forming mineral?
A) potassium
B) iron
C) carbon
D) magnesium
What atmospheric gas is common in the outer planets but rare in the inner planets?
A) Carbon Dioxide
B) Nitrogen
C) Hydrogen
D) Argon
You are walking along a rugged coastline in British Columbia, Canada. As the tide goes
out you realize there is a beautiful flat surface that is nearly as smooth as a highway and
underlain by 1-2cm of gravel sitting on solid rock. The tide has exposed a ________.
A) sea stack
B) tombolo
C) wave-cut platform
D) spit
The total amount of solid material dissolved in water is known as ________.
A) load
B) salinity
C) solute
D) insoluble residue
Saturn is famous for its rings. Which of the following Jovian planets does not have
rings?
A) Jupiter
B) Uranus
C) Neptune
D) None, all of the Jovian planets have rings
Desert streams are characterized by ________.
A) increasing discharge downstream
B) decreasing discharge downstream
C) short, frequent tributaries
D) long, frequent tributaries
E) well-sorted, rounded clasts of sediment
Which one of the following statements is correct?
A) Sea level drops when water is stored in expanding ice sheets and continental
glaciers.
B) Sea level rises when water is added to the oceans through increased rainfall and
increased inflow from rivers.
C) Sea level drops when evaporation rates increase over the oceans and when this extra
atmospheric moisture falls on land as rain.
D) Sea level rises when water is stored in expanding ice sheets and continental glaciers.
Which of the following events is not part of the history associated with the Big Bang
Theory?
A) Just before Big Bang occurred, there was only energy and disassociated electrons
and protons.
B) About 13.7 billion years ago, our universe started with a huge explosion.
C) The first matter formed 380,000 years after the formation of the universe.
D) Our Sun formed approximately 9 billion years after the universe formed.
Orographic lifting is related to mountain barriers, and it is often associated with
________.
A) desert conditions on the leeward side of the mountains and excessive rainfall on the
windward side
B) desert conditions on both sides of the mountains
C) excessive rainfall on both sides of the mountains
D) desert conditions on the windward side of the mountains and excessive rainfall on
the leeward side.
The Himalayas formed as a result of ________.
A) an ocean-ocean convergence
B) an ocean-continent convergence
C) a continent-continent convergence
D) a hot spot
The figure above is an oblique Google earth image from southwestern North America
looking approximately north. The view is approximately 50km across. The area is a
classic area of normal faulting.
What is the modern theory for orogenesis?
A) geosynclinal theory
B) shrinking earth model
C) expanding earth theory
D) plate tectonics theory
Oceanic crust is composed primarily of ________.
A) granite
B) basalt
C) sandstone
D) andesite
Which observation supports the theory that the planets formed from a disk shaped
nebula?
A) Pluto and comets follow elliptical orbits that pass inside the orbit of Neptune.
B) The Sun is the center of the solar system.
C) The rocky planets are close to the Sun.
D) The planets revolve around the Sun in approximately the same plane of the ecliptic.
Interstellar matter is composed primarily of ________.
A) ions
B) dust
C) oxygen
D) hydrogen
E) helium
How is the earth’s rotation axis oriented relative to the revolution orbit?
A) It changes with time so that it is perpendicular in June and December.
B) It is fixed and always points toward the North Star regardless of season.
C) It varies somewhat randomly over small angles, less than 23.5 degrees.
D) We don’t really know how much it varies because we have not been able to make
observations from space for more than about 60 years.
The daily mean temperature is determined by ________.
A) summing the temperature measured every hour and dividing by 24
B) measuring the temperature at noon
C) summing the maximum and minimum temperatures daily and dividing by 2
D) summing the digital samples of temperature in several places at different times of
day and averaging those samples
E) none of the above
The study of Earth’s atmosphere is known as ________.
A) astronomy
B) oceanography
C) meteorology
D) cosmology
Which one of the following would most likely be covered with thick turbidite layers?
A) axial rift zone of an active mid-ocean spreading center
B) upper part of a steep, narrow, submarine canyon
C) deep-sea fan at the base of a continental slope
D) ocean floor around a conical-shaped seamount
Midlatitude anticyclones are typically centered on ________.
A) a continental tropical air mass
B) a continental polar air mass
C) a maritime polar air mass
D) a maritime tropical air mass
The supercontinent of Pangaea formed during the late Mesozoic era.
Most stream valleys have a V shaped cross section because ________.
A) water washing down the slope makes straight channels.
B) vegetation on the slopes forces this profile.
C) mass wasting of weathered rocks on the slope maintain an angle of repose slope.
D) none of the above
________ are erosional features produced by valley/alpine glaciers.
A) Moraines
B) Cirques
C) Eskers
D) Drumlins
________ refers to the bright head of a comet.
A) Lima
B) Toma
C) Coma
D) Lira
The lowest layer of the atmosphere is the ________.
A) troposphere
B) mesosphere
C) stratosphere
D) ionosphere
When are upper air winds fastest?
A) in summer
B) in winter
C) whenever the temperature gradient is weak
D) These winds maintain roughly the same speeds throughout the year.