In the early 1700’s Kant suggested there were many galaxies visible from Earth but the
idea was not popular because ________.
A) at that time, people generally believed the earth was the center of the universe.
B) only modern satellite data supports that point of view
C) that hypothesis would require a significantly larger universe than was widely
accepted at that time
D) that hypothesis would require that objects travel faster than the speed of light
E) the “Big Bang” theory did not support that concept
________ make up the suspended loads of most rivers and streams.
A) Dissolved ions and sand
B) Dissolved salts
C) Silt and clay-sized, detrital grains
D) Sand and gravel that move during floods
Relative humidity is a measure of ________.
A) how much water vapor is in the air
B) the ratio of water vapor in air to the amount of air
C) the amount of water vapor in the air compared to some standard amount of water
vapor
D) the ratio of the water vapor in the air to the amount of water vapor that it would take
to saturate the air
E) none of the above
The Himalayas and Tibet are the archetypical example of a(n) ________ mountain belt.
A) Andean
B) continental rift
C) transform
D) collisional
Most insurance companies will not insure property with a known landslide hazard.
Why?
A) The risk is negligible on human time spans, but they are unwilling to take the risk
because of liability.
B) The risk is high on human life time scales, and the hazard is difficult to assess.
C) They are known to always occur during major disasters like earthquakes and
hurricanes, and they don’t want the exposure to a large disaster.
D) They are just being cheap.
Which ocean formed as a direct result of the breakup of Pangaea?
A) Pacific
B) Arctic
C) Mediterranean
D) Atlantic
On a weather map, ________ fronts are shown by a line with semicircles extending
from one side.
A) warm
B) cold
C) occluded
D) stationary
Big Bang Theory suggests that prior to the Big Bang, the universe was ________.
A) nothing
B) a giant neutron star
C) in a very hot and massive state
D) a collapsed supernova
People learned by trial and error years ago how to paddle a canoe upstream in
meandering rivers, knowing where the strongest currents were located. Assuming you
don’t want to go backwards, what is the best paddling route to maximize your speed
upstream?
A) Keep on the outside bends, near the cut banks, as much as possible.
B) Stay in midchannel.
C) Stay on the inside bend of meanders, crossing over whenever the meander turns so
you can stay on the inside bend.
D) Always stay close to one bank or the other, regardless of how the river bends.
As stream discharge increases ________.
A) velocity, width, and depth increase
B) only velocity increases
C) velocity, width, and depth decrease
D) only depth increases
Which term describes a soil formed by weathering of the underlying bedrock?
A) transformational
B) residual
C) relict
D) transported
Glacial sediments or tills are characterized by ________.
A) striations
B) cirques, artes, and hanging valleys
C) moraines and glacial flour
D) wide variations in sizes of clasts
E) very fine-grained, highly polished clasts
Which of the following is most resistant to both chemical and physical weathering?
A) clay minerals
B) quartz
C) a granite
D) a limestone
On the deep seafloor, organisms are widely distributed ________.
A) because there is little variation and no photosynthesis
B) to avoid predators
C) because they have eaten most of their near neighbors
D) because it is too cold to move and reproduction is slow
The 90o angle solar rays are striking the Tropic of Cancer on ________.
A) June 21
B) March 21
C) September 21
D) December 21
Which type of soil would typically be the richest soil?
A) transported
B) residual
C) upland slope
D) desert
Subduction of oceanic lithosphere at the trenches can act like a bulldozer to produce
________.
A) subduction erosion
B) an accretionary wedge
C) a subduction slope
D) a strike slip fault like the San Andreas
Salinity in the ocean is highest in regions where ________ is high and ________ is low.
A) evaporation; precipitation
B) precipitation; evaporation
C) temperature; evaporation
D) precipitation; temperature
You are walking on the beach along the south-coast of Alaska. You see rocks cut by
numerous faults that consist of basalt with evidence of eruption in the ocean,
deep-water chert, mudstone, and sandstones with abundant volcanic material. What
tectonic setting would you assign to these rocks?
A) passive continental margin sequence
B) forearc basin
C) continental interior basin
D) accretionary wedge
Refer to the figure below, captured from Google Earth, for the following questions.
This mountain belt would be called ________.
A) a collisional mountain belt
B) a terrane accretion mountain belt
C) an Andrean mountain belt
D) fault block mountains
Which radioactive decay used for radiometric dating is not an isotope that was
generated during nuclear synthesis in the star that went supernova and its products
became our solar system?
A) 238U
B) 147Sm
C) 40K
D) 14C
An important evolutionary step for reptiles was ________.
A) the development of shell-covered eggs
B) the growth of scales from armor plating
C) lungs that could hold air
D) the formation of a true spine
Most hot springs in the United States are located in the southeast, especially Georgia.
In the canyonlands of Utah and Arizona, canyon walls often support “hanging gardens”
in which plants cling to sandstone cliffs and these hanging gardens are typically along
shale beds in the sandstone. These areas are deserts, so what might explain these
features?
A) The shales hold the water better than the sandstone, so plants preferentially grow in
them.
B) The shales form better soils than the sand, so the plants grow there.
C) The shales form aquitards in the sandstone acquifer, trapping groundwater along the
shale horizons that helps aid plant growth.
D) The shales are more fractured than the sandstones so the plants have an easier time
starting in the shale.
The Appalachian Mountains may have once been as lofty as the Himalayan-Tibetan
Mountain belt is today. Why are they not this high now?
A) They developed a dense crustal root following collision, and isostasy forced them to
sink to their present elevation.
B) They formed long ago, and erosion has beveled them to their present low elevation.
C) The mountains cooled following the collision, which increased the density of the of
the rocks by cooling, and isostasy forced the mountains to sink.
D) Opening of the North Atlantic Ocean converted lithosphere to asthenosphere beneath
eastern North America, forcing eastern North America to sink to low elevations.
The proportion of dissolved substances in seawater is expressed as 0/00, which is the
same as ________.
A) parts per hundred
B) parts per thousand
C) parts per million
D) parts per billion
Southwestern North America contains a large area called the Basin and Range province.
What is the origin of this name?
A) Ranges are uplifted horst blocks adjacent to basins formed as graben.
B) The area is characterized by chains of volcanos forming ranges next to basins that
form valleys.
C) Thrust faulting along the San Andreas fault produces linear ridges, the ranges, with
intervening basinal valleys forming fault block mountains.
D) Folds have formed by compressional stresses along the plate margin forming ridges
(ranges) and valleys (the basins) of the basin and range province.
The Montreal Protocol is a UN agreement that is intended to ________.
A) reduce ozone in the atmosphere
B) reduce CFCs in the atmosphere
C) reduce CO2 in the atmosphere
D) make everyone feel good about the environment without really fixing anything
E) reduce air pollution globally
Which one of the following is an important, mechanical weathering process for
enlarging fractures and extending them deeper into large boulders and bedrock?
A) oxidation
B) eluviation
C) hydrologic cycling
D) frost wedging
Coastal California is famous for fog and smog (fog mixed with smoke). Why is the
California coast foggy/smoggy, whereas Houston, Texas, which is at similar latitude,
might get occasional smog from too many cars, but fog is relatively rare?
A) Cold currents along the Texas coast inhibit fog, whereas the ocean is warm off
California.
B) The ocean is warm off the Texas coast, but a cold current running offshore California
generates fog when the cold, moist air is drawn ashore by a sea breeze.
C) There isn’t really any fog; it is all just smog from too many cars in California.
D) Warm air in Texas rises to make clouds and not fog, whereas in California cold
water from the ocean mixes with warm water from the land to generate fog.
Irregular heating of the air can produce thermals, which are ________.
A) pockets of cold air that rise
B) pockets of warm air that rise
C) pockets of cold air that sink
D) pockets of warm air that sink
Major mountain belts on the earth are ________.
A) older than smaller mountain belts because they have had enough time to grow large
B) located around the Pacific Ocean
C) over 10 km high
D) made of granite because it is low density and allows for maximum growth
You pick up a sandstone. In the rock sample you see an impression of a sea shell in the
rock. This type of fossil is a ________.
A) mold
B) cast
C) permineralized fossil
D) pseudofossil
Caves most commonly form in ________.
A) limestone
B) sandstone
C) quartzite
D) shale
Magma differentiation tends to produce deposits of ________ near the base of
intrusions.
A) gold
B) silver
C) chromite
D) copper
Which letter in the figure corresponds to a “fault”?
________ is the quantity of water flowing past a certain stream cross section per unit
time.
What type of current is illustrated in the diagram below?
Fill in the blanks on the diagram below with the names of the soil “layers” that are
labeled.
Which letter in the figure above corresponds to a “syncline”?
An instrument that measures wind speed is called a(n) ________.
The boundary between air masses having different densities is called a(n) ________.
Which letter, S thru Z, corresponds to the object in the photo labeled “D”?
When caves on opposite sides of a headland unite, a(n) ________ results.
________ denotes the downslope movement of soils and regolith.
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.
Fractures in rock with no conspicuous offset are called ________.
What type of stress (pressure) is illustrated in the diagram below?
A very slow motion of Earth’s axis that requires 26,000 years to complete is called
________.
Discuss the formation and growth of tropical cyclone (hurricanes) and how winds aloft
affect their formation.
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.