Assume that the irrigation well in the middle of this image was installed by a seed corn
company and not by the farmers who own the local wells on either side. If irrigation
were stopped immediately, would this localized lowering recover immediately? Why or
why not?
A) Yes. Water from other parts of the aquifer could replace what was lost.
B) No. The average aquifer has a groundwater flow rate of 4 cm/day.
C) Yes. The reduced pressure in the aquifer would allow the groundwater to flow faster.
D) No. Now that irrigation has stopped, there is no suction necessary to draw the water.
Match the tectonic boundary with the effect on the crust.
1. Convergent boundary
2. Divergent boundary
3. Transform boundary
A) Crust is being created
B) Crust is being conserved
C) Crust is being destroyed
What percentage of the Earth’s total freshwater is in the form of groundwater?
A) 97.2%
B) 94%
C) 30.1%
D) 0.03%
What kind of radioactive decay is present in this image?
A) Alpha decay
B) Beta decay
C) Electron capture
You are a seismologist and are driving out to a location where a fault has recently
shifted. When you arrive at the location, you see that the road you are driving on was
constructed across the fault line. Because of slippage along the fault, the road ahead has
been shifted to the left by 20 feet. What kind of fault is present?
A) Left-lateral strike-slip
B) Right-lateral strike-slip
C) Thrust
D) Normal
Identify the mass-wasting event in this image.
A) Fall
B) Lahar
C) Debris flow
D) Slump
Assume that chemical pollutants have been illegally dumped in the major river on the
left side of this image. Will those pollutants infiltrate and contaminate any other bodies
of water? If so, which ones?
A) Stream
B) Left-hand lake
C) Right-hand lake
D) None. The major river is a discharge point
The major bombardment period that shaped much of the surface of the moon ended
________.
A) 5.0 billion years ago
B) 3.8 billion years ago
C) 2.2 billion years ago
D) 767 million years ago
Which of the following particle sizes is most likely to make up a stream’s suspended
load?
A) Gravel
B) Clay
C) Sand
D) Silt
The landform visible in this image is a drumlin. Based on the shape of the drumlin,
which direction was the ice coming from? Assume that the top of the figure is north.
A) North
B) South
C) East
D) West
What feature is highlighted with an arrow in this image?
A) Sinkhole
B) Perched water table
C) Cone of depression
D) Ground subsidence
What are the two main categories of metamorphic texture?
A) Heat and pressure
B) Schistosity and dissolution
C) Vesicular and pyroclastic
D) Foliated and nonfoliated
________ contain large quantities of preexisting sedimentary and crystalline rocks that
have been faulted and contorted into a series of folds.
A) Fault block mountains
B) Mid-ocean ridges
C) Compressional mountains
D) Submarine trenches
What kind of mountains are visible in this image?
A) Fault-block mountains
B) Volcanic arc
C) Collisional mountains
D) Accreted terranes
Which seismic waves are released first during an earthquake?
A) P waves
B) S waves
C) L waves
D) R waves
Which particle of an atom will determine the atomic number of an element?
A) Proton
B) Nucleus
C) Neutron
D) Electron
Which of the following is the hardest known natural substance?
A) Talc
B) Diamond
C) Quartz
D) Sapphire
The erosional retreat of a coastal cliff will lead to the enlargement of a ________.
A) wave-cut arch
B) wave-cut beach
C) wave-cut stack
D) wave-cut platform
Deposits of stratified sands and gravels transported from the glacial margin by
meltwater are called a(n) ________ when adjacent to an ice sheet and a(n) ________
when adjacent to an alpine glacier.
A) lateral moraine; kame
B) drumlin; outwash plain
C) outwash plain; valley train
D) terminus; esker
Organic acids can chemically weather a rock. Where would these acids originate?
A) Decay of granite
B) Thermal reaction between water and limestone
C) Secretion from and decay of vegetation
D) Leaching from the E horizon
Which rapid form of mass wasting is found at the base of slump blocks?
A) Debris flow
B) Rockslide
C) Lahar
D) Earthflow
Which areas on this image will be dominated by deposition and which will be
dominated by erosion?
A) Beaches will be dominated by erosion and the headland will be dominated by
deposition.
B) Both the beaches and the headland will be dominated by deposition.
C) Beaches will be dominated by deposition and the headland will be dominated by
erosion.
D) Both the beaches and the headland will be dominated by erosion.
The ________ is the line that marks the contact between land and sea.
A) beach
B) shoreline
C) interface
D) foreshore
What is the angle of repose for a sediment such as sand?
A) 7
B) 12
C) 33
D) 59
Which of the following best describes a pegmatitic texture?
A) Large crystals that form in a fluid-rich environment late in crystallization
B) Porous texture resulting from escaping volatiles
C) Fine-grained texture composed of microscopic crystals
D) Several large crystals surrounded by a fine-grained matrix
Which type of plate boundary accounts for the smallest percentage of all plate
boundaries on the surface of the Earth?
A) Convergent boundaries
B) Divergent boundaries
C) Transform boundaries
Which of the following scenarios represents the best nonstructural approach to flood
control?
A) Building an artificial levee two feet taller than the highest recorded flood
B) Managing a floodplain to limit development in sensitive areas
C) Paving the floodplain to increase the velocity of floodwaters
D) Creating a series of dams and reservoirs to store floodwater and release it slowly
over time
Which of these textures help geologists determine if a rock is volcanic in origin?
A) Pegmatitic
B) Aphanitic
C) Porphyritic
D) Phaneritic
Which of these textures help geologists determine if a rock is of intrusive origin?
A) Aphanitic
B) Pyroclastic
C) Porphyritic
D) Phaneritic
The principle of ________ states that organisms succeed one another in a definite,
determinable order that can be used to recognize a specific time period.
A) correlation
B) superposition
C) fossil succession
D) lateral continuity
________ is fine silt generated by glaciers that can be carried for long distances by the
wind.
A) Loess
B) Outwash
C) Till
D) Diamicton
What is the charge of a single proton?
A) +1
B) -1
C) +2
D) -3
________ is the name of the process by which new seafloor is generated at mid-ocean
ridges.
A) Subduction
B) Seafloor spreading
C) Convection
D) Melting
________ is a soil that has bedrock as its parent material.
A) Humus
B) Residual soil
C) Regolith
D) Transported soil
Identify the mass-wasting event in this image.
A) Fall
B) Rockslide
C) Debris flow
D) Slump
Over the course of the last couple of centuries, major businesses all over the world have
spent a great deal of time and money searching for and studying structural geologic
features in order to find deposits of petroleum. How would these structures trap the
substances these companies are interested in?
Which seismic waves will cause the greatest damage to buildings?
How do weather and climate differ?
What is chemical convection, and how does it affect the outer core?
How does an Andean-type mountain-building event compare to a Cordilleran-type?
Consider tectonic environments as well as processes of formation.
Explain how precipitation run-off will eventually become a stream.
How do scientists use earthquakes to determine if a volcano may erupt soon?
Composite cones are famous for their conical shapes with steep summits, sloping
flanks, and broad base. How might the composition of eruptive materials have changed
for the volcano to transition from something with a broad base to something with a
smaller base and steeper slopes?
Name the periods of the Paleozoic era in order from oldest to youngest.
Explain the processes necessary to form a bird’s-foot delta such as that on the
Mississippi River.
Write a simple chemical formula showing how the component elements of the silicate
ion affect its net charge.
Si4+ + 4O2
2- = SiO4
4-
What is saltation and why would a particle saltate?
Scientists have subdivided the upper mantle into three sections based on environmental
and compositional differences. What are these three subdivisions and how do they
compare to each other?
Is the force of gravity the same over the Earth’s surface? Explain why or why not.
Explain how migmatites form. Why are they difficult to fit into any of the three basic
rock types?
The Grinnell Formation in Glacier National Park contains mudcracks that date back
nearly 1.5 billion years. How can delicate sedimentary structures such as these be
preserved?
If clay particles are smaller than silt particles, why is it harder for moving water to pick
up clay?
Rivers in the Pacific Northwest are heavily managed by the construction of dams and
reservoirs in order to produce hydroelectric power and, in some areas, for irrigation.
However, the construction of interior dams can have serious consequences for the
coastal erosion of beaches and rocky bluffs along the Pacific Coast. How can the
construction of these dams lead to the erosion of a rocky coastal bluff?
Assuming well-formed crystals, how many cleavage surfaces are present on the sample
in this image? (Note: Cleavage surfaces are not cleavage planes.)
How does ground moraine form? Relate the formation of ground moraine to changes in
climate.