Which convection model suggests “sluggish flow” in the lower mantle?
A) slab pull
B) layer cake
C) whole mantle
D) ridge push
Inches of mercury is something that would only be used in America. Elsewhere in the
world, the mercury height would be in millimeters, or about 760mm (76cm). Mercury
has a density of about 13.56 g/cm3, or in other words, each cm of mercury weighs about
13,300 dynes. So 760mm of mercury weighs 1,013,000 dynes. 1 mb is 1 dyne/cm2, so
what is the air pressure in mb?
A) 760 mb
B) 1,000,000 mb
C) 1013 mb
D) 1.013 mb
The earth’s major layers formed because ________.
A) the chemical composition of the solar nebula changed over time
B) the earth was heated after its formation resulting in melting and redistribution of
major chemical compositions
C) radioactive decay caused materials to change over time and resulted in the layering
D) the earth’s mantle grew like a crystal forming around the earth’s core but the crust
was exposed to space and stayed more like the original material
If you observe a disconformity, you would infer that the region had experienced
________.
A) deposition in shallow water, uplift or lowering of sea level enough to expose the
rocks to erosion and non-deposition for a period of time, and subsequent resubmergence
of the remaining sedimentary units where they experience new deposition
B) uplift and tilting of sedimentary units that exposes them to erosion over a period of
time with subsequent renewed deposition
C) intrusion of igneous rocks into a depositional setting, forcing the sedimentary layers
upward and possibly deforming them, followed by subsidence of the remaining
sedimentary layers and renewed deposition
D) deposition of sedimentary layers on crystalline igneous or metamorphic rocks that
are exposed at the surface of the earth.
A ________ is a well-tested and widely accepted view that best explains certain
scientific observations.
A) hypothesis
B) generalization
C) law
D) theory
Ocean spreading centers are highlands on the ocean floor, sometimes referred to as
submarine mountains. Oceanic crust worldwide is about the same thickness so isostasy
would suggest the ocean floor should be as flat as Kansas. Which of the following
statements best describes the origin of these submarine mountains?
A) The ridges are sites of young volcanos that produce high topography on the sea
floor, like Hawaii.
B) The ridges represent upwelling zones from the core which produces a bulge at the
earth’s surface.
C) Compression at the ridges produce local uplift along the ridge axis.
D) The mantle beneath the ridges remains hot for millions of years producing an
elevated region along the ridge axis because hot rocks are lower density than cold
rocks.
Why is the mass of the earth important to maintain life as we know it?
A) If we had more or less mass, the earth would not have plate tectonics and would be
covered entirely by water.
B) If it had more or less mass, the atmosphere would be very different with either too
much ammonia and methane or too little oxygen and water.
C) If the earth’s mass were significantly different, we would be bombarded by cosmic
rays that would strip away our atmosphere.
D) If the earth’s mass were greater, we would be bombarded by meteorites and if it were
smaller, we would not be able to hold the moon in orbit.
This cloud sometimes produces “mare’s tails.”
A) cirrostratus
B) cumulonimbus
C) altostratus
D) cirrus
Light colored silicates have a specific gravity of about 2.7 grams/cm3 are composed
primarily of the silica tetrahedra and ________.
A) iron, magnesium, calcium, and sodium
B) aluminum, magnesium, calcium, and iron
C) magnesium, aluminum, sodium, and calcium
D) potassium, calcium, sodium, and aluminum
E) potassium, aluminum, magnesium, and sodium
What happens when fresh water flows into seawater?
A) They mix completely.
B) The sea water covers the fresh water.
C) The fresh water covers the sea water.
D) There is a continuous gradation from fresh water on top to sea water on the bottom.
E) There is a continuous gradation from seawater on top to fresh water on the bottom.
Which of the following is not true of first generation stars?
A) They are very dense.
B) They are massive.
C) They are composed primarily of hydrogen.
D) They are short-lived.
E) They have violent, explosive deaths.
The combustion of ________ has added great quantities of carbon dioxide to the
atmosphere.
A) fossil fuels
B) wood
C) paper
D) oxygen
E) none of the above
Which two elements combine to make most of the common rock forming minerals in
the crust?
A) carbon and oxygen
B) nitrogen and oxygen
C) silicon and oxygen
D) silicon and nitrogen
E) carbon and nitrogen
A ________ stream pattern is developed only on growing mountains like volcanoes or
where the land surface is tectonically doming upward.
A) radial
B) dendritic
C) boreal
D) trellis
Use the figure below to answer the following questions.
In the figure, which of the deformations appears most similar to what might be expected
along a transform plate boundary?
A) original
B) X
C) Y
D) Z
In correct order from the center outward, Earth includes which units?
A) core, inner mantle, outer mantle, crust
B) inner core, outer core, mantle, crust
C) inner core, crust, mantle, hydrosphere
D) core, crust, mantle, hydrosphere
Which of the following is not a process that removes dissolved components from
seawater?
A) evaporation
B) chemical precipitation
C) organisms building hard parts
D) hydrothermal activity
E) All of the above remove components from seawater.
A rancher overgrazes his land in an area underlain by heavy clay soils and regolith
developed from weathering of claystone. After a series of heavy rains small creeks
develop deep gullies along their length. A light steady rain develops and continues for
several days. What should the rancher be concerned about on his overgrazed lands?
A) rock avalanche
B) slumps along the creeks
C) lahars filling cascading down his creeks, wiping out his cattle
D) increasing gully development because of the rain
The most luxuriant vegetation found in any climatic realm is the ________.
A) tundra
B) mid-latitude forest
C) taiga
D) tropical rain forest
E) savannah
You might wonder why a millibar isn’t exactly 1/1000th of an atmosphere. The unit is
actually related to the old CGS units because atmospheric pressure is close to this unit.
In CGS units 1 bar = 1000 dynes/cm2. Pressure is often incorrectly reported as kg/cm2,
which is neither a legitimate pressure unit nor a standard SI unit (pressure is force/unit
area, and kg are a mass unit, and SI units never mix kg and cm). So let’s straighten out
your friends on these units. Standard air pressure in this incorrect unit is 1.034 kg/cm2.
The weight of a kg at the earth’s surface is 980,000 dynes. So what is standard air
pressure in millibars?
A) 750 mb
B) 890 mb
C) 1013 mb
D) 1143 mb
When water vapor condenses to form clouds, ________.
A) the air gets colder
B) the air gets warmer
C) the air temperature stays the same
D) the air temperature can change in either direction depending on other conditions
Which one of the following is a landform created by wave erosion?
A) spit
B) estuary
C) tombolo
D) sea arch
Midlatitude deserts and steppes form because ________.
A) subsiding air masses are associated with high pressure
B) rising air masses are associated with low pressure
C) they form at middle latitudes everywhere
D) they are in the interiors of continents
E) they are in high mountains
The first step in turning a rock into a sediment is ________.
A) gravity and erosional agents (wind, water, etc.) remove material from the parent rock
B) rock is broken into small pieces during the transportation phase
C) weathering alters the rock
D) compaction
The latent heat of melting is 80 calories for 1 gram of ice. If 1 gram of ice absorbs 120
calories, what do I get?
A) 1 gram of water at a temperature of 120oC
B) 1 gram of water at a temperature of 20oC
C) 1 gram of water at a temperature of 40oC
D) a mixture of water and steam at a temperature of 120oC
E) a mixture of ice and water at a temperature of 0oC
Jupiter contains a number of small moons that are thought to be captured comets or
material ejected by collisions with larger objects. What is the evidence for this theory?
A) Spacecraft have sampled them, and they are known to be comets.
B) Their orbits are highly elliptical, off the plane of the ecliptic, and many are
retrograde, which is unlikely for satellite formed during planetary accretion.
C) They are too big to have been formed during planetary accretion.
D) Analyses from spacecraft show they have compositions completely different than
Jupiter or its moons.
The true shape of the planetary orbits was discovered by ________.
A) Sir Isaac Newton
B) Galileo
C) Tycho Brahe
D) Nicolaus Copernicus
E) Johannes Kepler
Where was the El Nio phenomena first recognized?
A) the Caribbean region
B) California
C) Central America
D) Peru and Ecuador
Hydrothermal vents provide a unique deep sea environment that supports abundant life
because ________.
A) the hydrothermal vents support photosynthesis so there is abundant food
B) the density of the seawater is less and this allows organisms more mobility
C) the heat from the hydrothermal vents provides a more hospitable environment to
support life
D) food carried in the hydrothermal fluids provides a hospitable environment to support
abundant life
The common source of pressure during compaction of sediments is ________.
A) the weight of the sediments deposited above the compacting sediments
B) the pressure of the sediments pushing the compacting sediments out of the way
during deposition
C) the weight of the compacting sediments causing internal pressure
D) the weight of water above the sediments after they are deposited