Which layer is thought to be the birthplace of deep mantle plumes?
A) Transition zone
B) Outer core
C) D” layer
D) Shadow zone
Approximately 91 percent of the coal use in the United States today is used for
________.
A) home heating
B) transportation
C) construction
D) electricity
Which of the following mineral identification techniques would most easily identify
calcite?
A) Taste
B) Streak
C) Magnetism
D) Effervescence
________ is a term used to describe how the water table around a well becomes lower
as water is taken from the subsurface.
A) Depression
B) Saturation
C) Perching
D) Drawdown
Name a sedimentary rock that will sequester CO2 in the geosphere.
A) Conglomerate
B) Shale
C) Rock salt
D) Limestone
________ form when waves that approach the beach at an angle and produce a net
current direction that is parallel to the shore, resulting in beach drift.
A) Refractions
B) Rip currents
C) Eddies
D) Longshore currents
What kind(s) of lava are most closely associated with composite cones?
A) Andesite
B) Rhyolite
C) Basalt
D) Rhyolite and basalt
A ________ is a hard shoreline stabilization feature, detached from the shoreline, that
protects shorelines from the pounding of waves by creating an area of quiet water
behind it.
A) groin
B) seawall
C) breakwater
D) jetty
Stream valleys are produced through combined effects of mass wasting and running
water. If running water alone were responsible for creating stream valleys, how would
they appear?
A) Wide valleys with flat bottoms
B) V-shaped valleys
C) Narrow valleys with vertical walls
D) U-shaped valleys
What kind of subduction occurs when old, dense lithosphere sinks into the mantle by its
own weight rather than by compressional force?
A) Forced subduction
B) Mantle plume subduction
C) Spontaneous subduction
D) Overriding subduction
What is the name of the small holes created by gas bubbles on the surface of scoria?
A) Lapilli
B) Pumice
C) Vesicles
D) Volatiles
Why are the mid-ocean ridges higher in elevation than the surrounding ocean floor?
A) The force of magma extruding from the fissure pushes the seafloor up.
B) Warmer material near the ridge is less dense, so it is more buoyant on the mantle.
C) The collision of the tectonic plates is forcing material higher.
D) Thermal springs developing in stress fractures are depositing large volumes of
material, increasing the height.
Which of the following best describes a seismic gap?
A) Unusually quiet zones along typically active faults
B) A downdropped valley bound by normal faults
C) Faults that have not been active for several million years
D) An erosional valley that has developed in an inactive fault
Although the jigsaw-puzzle fit of the southern continents was noted, opponents of
continental drift argued that, even if continental displacement had occurred, a good fit
between the continents today would be unlikely. What geologic evidence did they cite
to support this claim?
A) Deposition in river deltas had changed the longshore current, resulting in erosion.
B) The tensional stress of splitting sheared the continents beyond all repair.
C) Wave erosion and coastal deposition have changed the shape of the continents.
D) Fissure eruptions along continental margins had created new land.
How do researchers today routinely determine the depth of the water to the seafloor?
A) Ship-mounted gravimeters
B) A weighted roped or cable
C) High-resolution multibeam instruments
D) Laser reflector systems linked to satellites
An estimated 99.85 percent of the mass in the solar system is concentrated in
________.
A) Jupiter
B) the sun
C) the Kuiper Belt
D) the terrestrial planets
Lateral and medial moraines are found in connection with ________ glaciation.
A) alpine
B) ice shelf
C) continental
D) ice cap
What kind of environment would have produced the Martian rock visible here?
A) Stream
B) Desert
C) Beach
D) Evaporating lake
Define the tenacity of a mineral.
A) Resistance to scratching
B) Parting along a plane of weakness
C) A specific pattern of fracturing
D) Resistance to breaking or deforming
The ________ was a period of drought in the 1930s in the United States that resulted in
significant dust storms blowing fine sediment for hundreds of miles.
A) Dust Bowl
B) driftless area
C) rainshadow
D) basin and range
________ is a widespread type of metamorphism typically associated with mountain
building.
A) Pyrometamorphism
B) Burial metamorphism
C) Shock metamorphism
D) Regional metamorphism
Which region has the highest annual average wind speeds?
A) Washington and Oregon
B) Utah, Arizona, and Nevada
C) Florida and Georgia
D) Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas
________ are small, solid, extraterrestrial particles that will burn and glow when
passing through Earth’s atmosphere.
A) Comets
B) Asteroids
C) Meteoroids
D) Mesocoronas
What was the approximate concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere in 2015? Use the
smoothed curve for seasonally corrected data to make the determination.
A) 400 ppm
B) 380 ppm
C) 340 ppm
D) 320 ppm
Most marine organisms produce the mineral substance ________, which will later
become limestone.
A) SiO2
B) SO2
C) H2CO3
D) CaCO3
What is the primary method scientists use to determine the layering of the interior of the
Earth?
A) Drill cores
B) Volcanic rocks
C) Sonar
D) Seismic waves
What is the average increase in temperature along the geothermal gradient in the upper
crust?
A) 13C per km
B) 25C per km
C) 30C per km
D) 42C per km
When magma forms, it rises up through the crust. Why does magma rise?
A) It is forced upward by pressure from the Earth’s interior.
B) It is less dense.
C) It is uplifted by tectonism.
D) It is forced out by volcanism.
Which circumstance will force a wave displaying circular orbital motion to slow down
at the base, which allows the wave to break?
A) The water gets deeper.
B) The seafloor is uneven.
C) The wave is refracted.
D) The wave feels bottom with shallower depth.
What environmental condition is reduced on a batholith in order to generate weathering
via sheeting?
A) Heat
B) Moisture
C) Pressure
D) Mineral content
Why are urban areas susceptible to flash floods?
A) Oil, gasoline, and other auto fluids repel more water into the stream system
B) City sewers promote flooding of city streets and parking areas
C) A high percentage of the surface area is covered with cement, asphalt, and other
impervious materials
D) Construction materials promote rapid absorption of precipitation, which puts excess
water into the stream system
Ferromagnesian minerals are those that contain a great deal of ________.
A) manganese and iron
B) potassium and aluminum
C) magnesium and iron
D) calcium and silicon
________ is a soil that has unconsolidated sediment as its parent material.
A) Humus
B) Residual soil
C) Regolith
D) Transported soil
Why won’t meltwater infiltrate into permafrost?
Differentiate the three types of magma based on igneous composition and silica content.
Which soil formation characteristic will most strongly influence a soil when it is
young? When it is old?
What are the five controls of soil formation?
One method of geologic dating is dendrochronology, or the science of tree ring dating.
Based on what you know about tree rings, how could you determine the age of the tree?
Would this be an example of relative dating or numerical dating?
Consider the shallow ocean basins and current climate in the Persian Gulf. What kind of
rocks would you expect to be forming there, and how would they form?
Explain how circulation patterns in the atmosphere generate the bands of low-latitude
deserts around the equator.
Compare and contrast proglacial lakes and pluvial lakes.
How does a reserve differ from an ore?
Explain how climate can affect the other four controls of soil formation.
Why are oceanic ridges elevated above the rest of the seafloor?
What role does fire play in making mass wasting more severe during subsequent rains?
Why would rhyolite deposits be less common than granite deposits?
Which of the following substances is not a mineral: gold, water, ice? Why?
How does elastic rebound work to create earthquakes?
Explain the most widely accepted hypothesis behind the formation of the Basin and
Range Province. When was this process supposed to be occurring?
The velocity of moving water controls the sediment it can carry. How will a decrease in
water velocity control the size of the sediment particle that is deposited first?
How do both weathering and erosion work together to produce significant landforms
such as broad valleys?
Using the block diagram provided, explain how new plate material is created at a
divergent plate boundary. Make sure your answer includes a discussion on the forces at
work and the generation of magma beneath the rift.