Numerical dates based on radioactivity are very important for studying Precambrian
geologic history because fossils are rare or absent.
Thunderstorms are usually associated with nimbostratus clouds.
Shorter wavelengths correspond to more energetic photons.
More water is evaporated from the ocean than is returned to the ocean by precipitation.
A poleward-moving ocean current is considered a warm current.
When an occluded front passes, the temperature drops dramatically.
A tropical depression has stronger winds than a tropical storm.
When the differential stress exceeds the strength of the material, the material will begin
to undergo elastic strain.
Carbon dioxide is the major gas in the atmosphere of Venus.
The pressure gradient force is the driving force behind wind.
The outermost portion of the solar atmosphere is called the photosphere.
As the South Atlantic basin widens by seafloor spreading, Africa and South America are
moving closer together.
Surface cyclones are accompanied by divergence aloft.
Internally, the earth consists of spherical shells with different compositions and
densities.
Although the Sun influences the tides, its effect is considerably less than the effect of
the Moon.
Igneous rocks are composed primarily of sulfate-type minerals.
The deepest point in the ocean is in the Indonesian trench, off Sumatra, where the 2004
Earthquake occurred.
For a well to be characterized as being artesian, water must flow freely at the surface.
Chemical compounds retain most of the characteristics of their constituent elements.
Moraines are the only glacial deposits composed of till.
Thousands of people have been killed by pyroclastic flows erupted from cinder cones.
The Coriolis effect is strongest at the equator and diminishes in strength poleward.
Most of the people living in the United States are under the influence of the wind belt
known as the westerlies.
Most substances are electrically neutral.
The steeper, leeward slope of a sand dune is called the slip face.
The eruptions of the Hawaiian volcanoes may be described as explosive in comparison
to the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption.
Most sedimentary rocks are readily dated by radiometric methods.
Lahars are essentially mudflows associated with volcanoes and volcanism.
Chemical weathering in bedrock below the land surface often begins along joints and
sheeting fractures.
During the Mesozoic era, the earth developed its modern landscape and life forms.
Lightning never occurs in the tropics.
Due to differentiation, the lighter, gaseous materials escaped Earth’s interior and
became the primitive atmosphere.
In an open system both energy and matter flow into and out of the system.
Kppen believed that the distribution of solar radiation was an excellent expression of
the totality of climate.
The four largest moons of Jupiter are comets and asteroids captured by the intense
gravity of Jupiter.
As its name implies, the water table is always very level (flat).
Iceland is a good example of an island arc, formed from an oceanic-oceanic plate
collision.
The turbulent water created by breaking waves is called surf.
The Sun is considered an “average star.”
Intense tropical cyclones with winds above 109 kph are called hurricanes, typhoons, or
cyclones, depending on the part of the world where they form.
Several of the moons of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune display evidence of volcanic
activity. What is the most common type of volcano on these moons?
A) basalt shield volcanos
B) sulfur volcanos
C) ice volcanos
D) pyroclastic eruptions of rhyolitic silicate material
Earth’s primitive atmosphere evolved from gases ________.
A) produced by radioactive decay
B) collected from the nebula
C) escaping from water
D) from the Sun
E) expelled from within the earth
Pluto is now classified as a ________ in our solar system.
A) terrestrial planet
B) Jovian planet
C) dwarf planet
D) comet
The Amargosa Valley in eastern California desert often experiences a cold evening wind
that blows downvalley. Which of the following might explain this phenomenon?
A) Daytime heating causes a local low pressure that causes air to rush in by evening.
B) Moist Pacific air rising over the Sierra Nevada Mountains produces mountain
precipitation, and as this air spills off the eastern escarpment, it forms the valley wind.
C) Night time cooling upvalley produces a cold, unstable air mass that is funneled down
the valley to produce a valley wind.
D) It is a nighttime land breeze and there should be an accompanying daytime
seabreeze up valley.
Deep soils are characteristic of tropical regions whereas thin rocky soils are
characteristic of high latitudes. This is a natural demonstration that ________.
A) chemical wreathing rates are much higher in the tropics than high latitudes
B) physical weathering and erosion rates are higher at high latitude, removing soil
faster than it can form
C) all of the high latitude regions lost their soil in recent times
D) humans living at high latitudes have destroyed the soils by bad farming practices
The latent heat of melting is 80 calories for 1 gram of ice. If 1 gram of ice absorbs 60
calories what do I get?
A) 1 gram of ice
B) 1 gram of water at a temperature of 20oC
C) 1 gram of water at a temperature of -20oC
D) a mixture of ice and water at a temperature of 20oC
E) a mixture of ice and water at a temperature of 0oC
Why is wind less effective than moving water at picking up and moving materials?
A) Air is less dense than water
B) Air moves slower than water
C) Air moves faster than water
D) Air does not move very far
Paleontology is the study of ________.
A) paleo meaning old, and ontology referring to philosophical study of nature, so
paleontology is the study of old nature
B) ancient life
C) prehistoric human history
D) none of the above
Which statement best describes slumping, a mass wasting process?
A) A block or blocks of unconsolidated regolith slide downhill along a curved slip
surface.
B) Blocks of hard bedrock rapidly slide downhill along fracture surfaces.
C) The soil and regolith move downhill very slowly.
D) A mass of soil or regolith becomes saturated with water and suddenly flows
downhill to the base of the slope.
Classic Newtonian reflector telescopes use a mirror shaped like ________.
A) a parabola
B) a concave spherical surface
C) a convex spherical surface
D) a hyperbola
How do aerosols influence climate?
A) They produce acid rain.
B) They increase the albedo.
C) They reflect solar radiation back into space.
D) They absorb long wavelength earth radiation.
E) All of the above
Dolomite is a magnesium-rich member of the ________ group.
A) silicate
B) carbonate
C) halide
D) sulfate
Dissolved gases may comprise up to a few percent by weight of a magma.
When an area is experiencing several consecutive days of rather constant weather, it is
probably ________.
A) warm-front weather
B) cold-front weather
C) air-mass weather
D) occluded front weather
Because lenses act like a prism to separate the colors of the spectrum, they produce a
troublesome effect known as ________.
A) focal distortion
B) the atmospheric effect
C) chromatic aberration
D) poor seeing
E) light dispersion
Sediment is neither stored nor produced ________. It is primarily a zone of transport in
a river system.
A) in the head waters
B) in the drainage divide
C) in the trunk stream
D) near the outlet
E) in the flood plain
The very large crystals of quartz, feldspar, and muscovite found in pegmatites form
from ________.
A) the early crystallizing parts of a magma
B) the final crystallizing parts of a magma
C) the middle crystallizing parts of a magma
D) all of the above
A comet is visible because ________.
A) it is a very large object that get stretched out by interaction with the Sun’s gravity
B) it is a small object, but it ejects gas and dust that at is dispersed by the solar wind to
form a tail thousands of km long
C) it is composed of white material, mostly ice
D) it boils off steam that streams outward along the comet’s path
Large circular downwarped structures are called ________.
A) anticlines
B) synclines
C) basins
D) domes
________ has atmospheric pressures at its surface that are roughly comparable to those
at Earth’s surface.
A) Jupiter’s moon Io
B) Saturn’s moon Titan
C) Neptune’s moon Cassini
D) Uranus’s moon Miranda
When viewed through an optical telescope, planetary nebula ________.
A) look like giant planets such as Jupiter
B) have visible planets within their cloud of debris
C) show the explosive form of the dead sun
D) still have planets orbiting the cloud
E) are spherical in form and often have “rings” like Saturn
Detrital sedimentary rocks are typically classified on the basis of their ________.
A) lithology
B) texture
C) provenance
D) particle size
Which of the following is not a discovery made by the Hubble Space Telescope?
A) distinction of the various rings of Saturn
B) demonstration that disk shaped dust clouds are common around young stars
C) evidence for massive black holes in the center of our galaxy
D) deep space images never seen before
Sea level change is ________.
A) steady
B) accelerating
C) decelerating
D) not occurring
A good example of a present-day, passive continental margin is the ________.
A) north flank of the East Pacific Rise
B) west coast of South America
C) east coast of the Japanese Islands
D) east coast of North America
What are the basic differences between the disciplines of physical and historical
geology?
A) Physical geology is the study of fossils and sequences of rock strata; historical
geology is the study of how rocks and minerals were used in the past.
B) Historical geology involves the study of rock strata, fossils, and geologic events,
utilizing the geologic time scale as a reference; physical geology includes the study of
how rocks form and of how erosion shapes the land surface.
C) Physical geology involves the study of rock strata, fossils, and deposition in relation
to plate movements in the geologic past; historical geology charts how and where the
plates were moving in the past.
D) none of the abovephysical geology and historical geology are essentially the same.
The most abundant salt in seawater is ________.
A) KCl
B) MgCl2
C) NaCl
D) SiO2
Which one of the following concerning artesian wells is not true?
A) The well penetrates an aquifer overlain by an aquitard.
B) The well penetrates an aquifer underlain by an impermeable bed.
C) The aquifer is generally inclined, and it is saturated to an elevation above the point
where the well penetrates the aquifer.
D) When the well penetrates the aquifer, the water rises to the bottom of the aquitard
above the aquifer.
Clay is an example of ________.
A) a carbonate that forms from weathering of other carbonates
B) a silicate that forms from weathering of other silicates
C) a sulfate that forms from weathering of other sulfates
D) a halide that forms from weathering of other halides
Use the Periodic table below to answer the following questions:
Be is to Mg as ________.
A) K is to Mg
B) Ti is to V
C) K is to Rb
D) Ti is to F
The change of state from a gas to a liquid is called ________.
Warm winds that move down the leeward side of mountains are known as ________.
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.
________ climates are those in which the average temperature of the coldest month is
below -3oC and the warmest monthly mean exceeds 10oC.
The lunar maria are large impact craters filled with ________.
If a packet of cool air were forced to rise and became cooler than the surrounding air is
the packet considered to be stable or unstable?
Considering the theory of plate tectonics and the movement of landmasses over
geologic time, would you expect atmospheric circulation of the past to be the same as
we see today? Why or why not? Consider the factors that determine global wind
patterns and whether they have changed over time.
Why is it so difficult to interpret the geology of the Precambrian? How are these
difficulties or limitations different in the younger eras of the Phanerozoic Eon? Finally,
are there unique rocks or events in the Precambrian that are not present in younger
rocks?
What term refers to removal of soluble inorganic components from soils?
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.
Use one of the following five terms to fill in the blanks for the questions below:
Continental crust, Asthenosphere, Mantle, Lithosphere, Oceanic crust
________ is the rigid, cool outer approximately 100 km of the earth.
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.
Compare Earth’s surface processes to the surface processes on Saturn’s moon Titan.
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.
In the figure below, which occurred first, the folding or the faulting? Briefly explain
your answer.
Explain why Wegner’s use of shorelines to match continents in his reconstruction of
Pangaea was criticized by other geoscientists and how that issue was subsequently
resolved in Plate Tectonic Theory.
Currents within the surf zone that flow parallel to the shore are known as ________
currents.
The lowest point on earth is in the ________ Ocean.