Productivity in the oceans is highest in tropical regions.
Our galaxy is called the Milky Way.
Sea level is constant over long periods of the earth’s history, and that is why it is used as
a major datum for mapping elevations.
The Mississippi River is North America’s largest river in terms of discharge.
Alluvium refers to stream deposits, mainly sand and gravel.
The oldest rocks of the oceanic crust are found in deep ocean trenches far away from
active, mid-ocean ridges.
Removal of inorganic soil components from a soil is termed leaching.
A disconformity is an erosional unconformity with parallel beds or strata above and
below.
Earth’s radius and surface area are slowly increasing to accommodate the new oceanic
crust being formed at mid-ocean ridges.
The bed load of a stream moves at average rates of meters/day to several kilometers/day
in most streams.
Plankton are organisms that swim freely in the ocean.
Wegener suggested the thick continents moved through the thinner ocean crust.
Cyclones are usually associated with stormy weather.
According to the Ptolemaic (Greek) system, the planets have circular orbits.
If you are in the path of a pyroclastic flow or a lahar, you have virtually no chance to
run out of its path on foot.
Trunk streams are a major region of sediment storage in a river system.
There are places on the deepest parts of the ocean where no light penetrates that support
colonies of life.
Earthflows and slumps generally involve movement of unconsolidated or weakly
consolidated soil and regolith.
Sinkholes are actively forming in portions of the southeastern United States.
Windblown loess, like sand, typically accumulates as mound-like dunes.
Rip currents are strong currents parallel to the coastline; swimmers can easily avoid
them by swimming toward shore.
Only about 2 % of the light energy absorbed by algae is ultimately synthesized into
food and made available to herbivores.
Fossil fuels are abundant in Precambrian rocks.
Upwelling zones are frequently dead zones because high nutrients produce biologic
activity leading to anoxic water conditions.
Abundant moisture and warm temperatures result in high rates of chemical weathering.
Objects that are good absorbers of radiation are not good emitters of radiation.
Waves in the open ocean are called waves of oscillation.
The most dense objects known are black holes.
A magnitude scale is a measure of the energy released. It does not measure the extent of
building damage or loss of life.
Tycho Brahe used a telescope to accurately record the position of the planet Mars.
Longshore sand transport and longshore currents depend on waves impinging parallel to
a shoreline.
The same side of the Moon is always visible from Earth.
The wavelength of red light is shorter than the wavelength of yellow light.
Most of the molten material that is generated above the subducting slab never reaches
the surface to form a volcano.
The term Paleozoic describes the era of ancient life forms.
Waves begin to “feel bottom” when the depth of water is ________.
A) equal to its wave base
B) equal to the wavelength
C) twice as great as the wavelength
D) three times as great as the wavelength
A tsunami can occur ________.
A) when an earthquake occurs along a coastline like in Japan or Indonesia
B) when an earthquake occurs in the seafloor like along an oceanic plate boundary
C) when an explosive volcanic eruption occurs in someplace like Hawaii or Alaska
D) any time there is an earthquake anywhere
E) All of the above are correct.
A mineralogist studies minerals and their origins. A mineralogist studying the Earth
system would ________.
A) do the same thing, studying minerals and their origins, as any other mineralogist
B) study how minerals form rocks
C) study how minerals influence organisms living on them, how they react with water
to produce soil forming minerals, or study how wind transports minerals as dust and
influences climate
D) Minerals can never be used to study the Earth system.
Of the following, which one would most likely be triggered by an earthquake?
A) solifluction
B) soil creep
C) slump
D) rock avalanche
You observe a distinct, red sandstone rock body about 50 m thick that is depositionally
overlain by a red shale with interbedded gypsum and you follow this boundary in the
rock bodies for 1 km until you cross a fault which has displaced the boundary between
the two rock bodies. You walk along the fault and see a boundary between a 50 m thick
red sandstone and overlying red shale interbedded with gypsum. You conclude
________.
A) this is impossibly complex; the fault broke up all the rocks
B) this new exposure of sandstone, shale and gypsum must be a different age rock unit
C) the stratigraphic section must have been inverted by the deformation; the rocks are
upside down
D) the second exposure of sandstone, shale and gypsum correlates to the first, and the
boundary between the sandstone and shale is the same stratigraphic horizon
If the maximum temperature for a particular day is 26oC and the minimum temperature
is 14oC, the daily mean would be ________.
A) 40oC
B) 20oC
C) 12oC
D) 13oC
Which of the following is in a place where continental rifting is occurring today?
A) Himalayan Mountains in India and surrounding regions
B) Andes in South America
C) Mt. Kilimanjaro in East Africa
D) Mt. Fuji in Japan
A mass wasting process that involves slip of solid rock above a distinct sliding surface
is called ________.
A) a slump
B) a rock avalanche
C) a rock fall
D) a rock slide
Which of the following denotes the divisions of the geologic time scale in correct order
of decreasing lengths of time beginning with the longest time interval and ending with
the shortest?
A) eon, era, epoch, period
B) era, period, epoch, eon
C) eon, epoch, period, era
D) eon, era, period, epoch
Why did scientists not accept the Continental Drift hypothesis?
A) It did not explain how ocean basins form.
B) It was based on observations from the southern hemisphere which was unfamiliar to
most geologists.
C) It was proposed by a woman.
D) It did not explain most modern observations.
You are standing above a 20 m high sea cliff with a large beach below you. All around
you is a flat surface with thin soil on a rocky base. In the distance you see another flat
bench but it is about 30 m higher than you are. Where are you?
A) on an uplifted wave-cut terrace along an emergent coastline
B) on a subsiding coastline where a recent earthquake happened to uplift the seabed
C) on a dune field behind an active shoreline
D) You must be on the moon; there is nothing like that on Earth.
One half of the atmosphere is below ________.
A) 1 km (0.6 miles)
B) 3.5 km (2.1 miles)
C) 5.6 km (3.5 miles)
D) 7.2 km (4.3 miles)
E) 10 km (6 miles)
Of the 5 major groups in the Kppen classification system, which letter below indicates
the classification that is based primarily on precipitation?
A) A
B) B
C) C
D) D
E) E
Which one of the following operates primarily in areas of permafrost?
A) rock avalanche
B) solifluction
C) soil creep
D) mudflow
The dissolved materials in seawater are thought to originate from chemical weathering
of rocks on the continents and also from ________.
A) organisms
B) evaporation of fresh water
C) erosion
D) outgassing of elements from Earth’s interior
E) meteorites
Electromagnetic radiation that behaves like a particle is called a(n) ________.
A) proton
B) electron
C) photon
D) quark
When prevailing winds blow from onshore to offshore, what generally happens?
A) The winds cause offshore surface water to flow away from shore, forcing deeper
water to rise to the surface.
B) The dry conditions from the land evaporate surface waters, making them more dense
due to salinity increase, and they sink.
C) The wind drives a longshore current, which draws cold air from higher latitudes,
producing a cold climate.
D) The wind drives the water away from shore, forcing the water to descend in a
downwelling zone.
Which of the following is not used to establish the boundary between dry and humid
climates in the Kppen system?
A) Average Annual Temperature
B) Average Annual Evaporation
C) Average Annual Precipitation
D) Seasonal Distribution of Precipitation
The Hawaiian Island-Emperor Seamount chain formed as a result of ________.
A) convergent plate boundary activities
B) divergent plate boundary activities
C) transform plate boundary activities
D) hot spot activities
________ are characteristics of downcutting streams and a youthful stage of valley
evolution.
A) Rapids and lots of whitewater
B) Wide floodplains
C) U-shaped, cross-valley profiles
D) Meandering channels and natural levees
Why does the Florida peninsula experiences the greatest frequency of midafternoon
thunderstorms of any place in the United States?
A) It is further south and warmer than any other place in the United States.
B) It gets the water vapor from the trade winds crossing the Atlantic Ocean that fuels
the thunderstorms.
C) It gets winds blowing from the oceans on both sides and they collide in the middle of
Florida and rise to generate thunderstorms.
D) It is near the Bermuda Triangle.
Standard sea level pressure in inches of mercury is ________.
A) 7.52 inches
B) 14.70 inches
C) 28.70 inches
D) 29.92 inches
Winterless climates with all months having a mean temperature above 18C are known
as ________ climates.
A) humid tropical
B) dry
C) polar
D) humid middle-latitude
A place located along a windward coast will probably have ________.
A) warmer summer temperatures than an inland location at the same latitude
B) cooler summer temperatures than an inland location at the same latitude
C) summer temperatures that are very similar to an inland location at the same latitude
D) none of these
The solar wind originates from ________.
A) the interior of the Sun
B) the photosphere
C) the corona
D) the heliosphere
Based on the observed red shifts in the spectral lines of distant galaxies, astronomers
conclude that ________.
A) Earth is in the center of the universe
B) the universe is contracting
C) the universe is expanding
D) the universe is in a steady state
Usually ________ fronts produce several hours to days of moderate-to-gentle
precipitation over a large region.
A) warm
B) cold
C) warm and cold
D) none of these
If magma or lava cools quickly, the resulting igneous rock will have ________.
A) more silicate minerals
B) more variations in mineral types
C) very small crystals
D) very large crystals
Which of the following should have the steepest pressure gradient?
A) tornado
B) middle-latitude cyclone
C) hurricane
D) All should have equally steep pressure gradients.
The zigzag movement of sand grains along a beach is ________.
A) caused by obliquely breaking waves
B) called beach drift
C) very unusual and seldom occurs
D) both caused by obliquely breaking waves and called beach drift
Following the reptilian extinctions at the close of the Mesozoic, two groups of
mammals, the marsupials and ________, evolved.
A) eukaryotes
B) cephalopods
C) trilobites
D) placentals
E) stromatolites
What distinguishes Valley or Alpine Glaciers, Ice Sheets, Ice Shelves, and Sea Ice from
each other?
What does Bowen’s reaction series tell us about how rocks evolve?
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.
The movement of Earth in its orbit around the Sun is referred to as ________.
When Earth is closest to the Sun, its location is referred to as the ________ position.
There are people who specialize in “cutting” diamonds, yet diamond is the hardest
known substance. From your knowledge of minerals, which of the following describes
what the diamond cutter does?
Compare and contrast relative age dating with radiometric age dating. What is a
limitation (if any) of each?
By the late ________ period, true air-breathing amphibians with fish-like heads and
tails had evolved.
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.
The atomic particle that carries a positive charge is called a(n) ________.
Match the name of the tectonic feature with the Figure.
convergent plate margin
________ continental margins typically exhibit wide, extensive, continental shelves.
What kind of unconformity is produced when tilted, older strata are eroded and buried
by younger strata?
Explain why sedimentary rocks are particularly important in studying the past history of
the Earth.
A(n) ________ is a volcanic mountain, built up from the seafloor that never reached the
sea surface.
What type of continental margin is illustrated in the diagram below?
Briefly discuss the movement of sand on a beach environment. Include those factors,
both natural and human-induced, that affect sand movement.
Fill in the missing terms on the diagram below.
