Which of the following is an example of a numerical date?
A) The Stone Age occurred before the Iron Age.
B) John Adams was president of the United States after George Washington.
C) A meteorite impacted the Earth sixty-five million years ago.
D) Dinosaurs descended from reptiles, which descended from amphibians.
What process produces the alternating dark-colored belts and light-colored zones
visible on Jupiter?
A) Convective flow
B) Dust storms on the surface
C) Volcanic eruptions along tectonic boundaries
D) Acid rain
Which organism, developing approximately 4.2 million years ago, represents the link
between humans and apes?
A) Homo habilis
B) Homo erectus
C) Homo sapiens
D) Australopithecus
During an earthquake, energy waves radiate outward in all directions through the
interior from the ________ whereas energy waves radiate outward in all directions
along the surface from the ________.
A) epicenter; focus
B) megathrust; fault
C) hypocenter; focus
D) focus; epicenter
What is the difference between faults and joints?
A) Joints are the result of compression, whereas faults are the result of tension.
B) Joints are the result of earthquakes, and faults are the result of weathering.
C) Joints form in place, whereas faults form because rock has moved.
D) Joints form from external stress, and faults form from cooling.
Match the type of glacier with the correct definition.
A) A long, narrow glacier that flows downslope
B) A broad lobe that spreads out to flow on an open plain
C) A small, round glacier at the head of a valley
D) A large, massive glacier that moves independently of the topography
1. Valley glacier
2. Cirque
3. Piedmont glacier
4. Ice sheet
What material makes up the shells of many marine microorganisms?
A) NO2
B) CaCO3
C) SiO2
D) NaCl
Which of these statements best describes the lithosphere?
A) The lithosphere is the layer in the interior of the Earth that is just below the crust.
B) The lithosphere is composed of the crust and the rigid part of the upper mantle.
C) The lithosphere is a low-density part of the upper mantle.
D) The lithosphere consists solely of the crust.
What erosional feature is visible in this image? (Hint: It is bedrock.)
A) Arte
B) Moraine
C) Drumlin
D) Roche moutonne
If gravity pulls infiltrating water downward, what force allows water to be pulled
upward at the capillary fringe?
A) Static electricity
B) Friction
C) Surface tension
D) Compression
Match the phenomena associated with soil erosion in order from first to last.
1. First
2. Second
3. Third
4. Fourth
5. Fifth
A) Formation of gullies
B) Stream
C) Impact of raindrops
D) Sheet erosion
E) Formation of rills
Match the seismic hazard with the correct definition.
A) Large ocean waves generated.
B) Collapse and lowering of the land surface.
C) Seismic energy transforms stable soil into mobile material incapable of supporting
buildings.
D) Rhythmic sloshing of water in lakes and enclosed basins.
1. Liquefaction
2. Landslide
3. Seiche
4. Tsunami
5. Subsidence
The Mississippi River cuts through Silurian-aged dolomite between northwestern
Illinois and eastern Iowa. Which is older? How do you know?
A) Dolomite;the principle of superposition
B) Mississippi; the principle of original horizontality
C) Dolomite; the principle of cross-cutting relationships
D) Mississippi; the principle of lateral continuity
Hurricanes get their energy from ________ water.
A) cold
B) warm
C) fresh
D) still
What is an ion?
A) An atom that has more or fewer protons than it should
B) An atom that has more or fewer neutrons than it should
C) An atom that has more or fewer electrons than it should
Which of the following is not part of the definition of a mineral?
A) Naturally occurring
B) Organic
C) Orderly crystalline structure
D) Definite chemical composition
Which of the following is an example of a trace fossil?
A) A spider encased in amber
B) Petrified wood
C) Gastroliths
D) A skeleton
________ is a variety of sandstone that is associated with submarine landslides called
turbidity currents.
A) Quartz sandstone
B) Graywacke
C) Arkose
D) Conglomerate
An example of a volcanic caldera that formed from the collapse of a magma chamber
after large volumes of material were erupted is ________.
A) Parcutin
B) Yellowstone
C) Mount Fujiyama
D) Mount Rainier
A(n) ________ is a type of unconformity with parallel beds above and below the
erosional surface.
A) fossil conformity
B) nonconformity
C) disconformity
D) angular unconformity
Put the layers of an ophiolite complex in order from top to bottom:
A) Gabbro
B) Deep-sea sediments or sedimentary rocks
C) Sheeted dike complex
D) Pillow basalts
1. Layer 1 (Uppermost layer)
2. Layer 2
3. Layer 3
4. Layer 4 (Lowermost layer)
What is a fossil?
A) Evidence of past life that can include skeletal as well as trace material
B) Only the hard parts of a skeletal structure that have been preserved
C) Mudcracks preserved in sedimentary rock
D) A really old geologist
There have been several instances in the last 150 years when valuable materials such as
diamonds have been found contained in glacial debris. If one wanted to try to trace such
valuable materials back to their source, which moraine would be most useful for tracing
valuable gold deposits back to their bedrock source area?
A) Recessional moraine
B) Terminal moraine
C) Lateral moraine
D) Esker
Which location possesses the continental margin in this image?
A) Western margin of South America
B) Eastern margin of North America
C) East of Japan
D) Around the Philippines
What is the wetted perimeter of a stream?
A) That part of a streambed that contains the strongest current
B) Where the stream is incising on the outside of a meander loop
C) Where deposition occurs in an abandoned stream channel
D) The amount of flow in contact with the banks and bed of the channel
How can agriculture be responsible for increasing the amount of methane in the
atmosphere?
A) Crops like corn and soybeans add methane to the atmosphere
B) Methane is emitted by bacteria in the gut of agricultural animals, such as cattle and
sheep
C) Overtilling the land will cause the soil to break down and release greenhouse gases
D) Fumes from liquid fertilizer are opening holes in the ozone
Which of the following materials would cause the greatest gravity anomaly?
A) Quartz
B) Water
C) Granite
D) Metallic ore
What is the accepted age of the Earth?
A) 10,000 years
B) 1 million years
C) 4.6 million years
D) 4.6 billion years
What depositional feature is visible here?
A) Braided channel
B) Terrace
C) Incised meanders
D) Delta
The longer a soil has been forming, the ________ it becomes and the ________ it
resembles the parent material.
A) thinner; less
B) thinner; more
C) thicker; more
D) thicker; less
How does the burning of fossil fuels affect the environment?
A) Greenhouse gases are released that raise global temperatures.
B) Sulfur dioxide is produced, which contributes to acid rain.
C) Particulates are released into the atmosphere, which collect on ice caps and glaciers
to absorb more heat.
D) Increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leads to ocean acidification.
E) All of the above.
Identify the parts of the wave labeled in this image. (Parts occur multiple times.)
A) Trough
B) Crest
1. A
2. B
Together, ________, ________, and ________ provide more than 81 percent of the
energy consumed in the United States.
A) uranium; hydroelectricity; coal
B) coal; nuclear power; wind energy
C) natural gas; wind power; biofuel
D) oil; coal; natural gas
Oxidation is an effective method to weather iron in olivine. However, what must
happen first to free the iron?
A) Root wedging to break up the olivine
B) Melting of the olivine
C) Dissolution of olivine
D) Hydrolysis acting on the olivine
Which region would be most likely to produce a catastrophic landslide?
A) Old, eroded, worn-down mountains
B) V-shaped stream valley with gentle slopes
C) Flat-lying floodplains along a stream
D) Steep, geologically young mountains
Compare and contrast the water velocity and type of streamflow in a rocky mountain
stream versus a silt-bottomed stream along the Gulf Coast.
How does the residence time of aerosols in the atmosphere compare to that of
greenhouse gases?
Compare and contrast positive climate-feedback mechanisms and negative
climate-feedback mechanisms.
Magma that forms batholiths forms in the mantle and must migrate upward. However,
the sedimentary and metamorphic rocks that surround these batholiths are only
moderately deformed. How does a rising magma body make its way through several
kilometers of solid rock to be emplaced as a batholith? (Start your journey in the
mantle.)
Is the rock in the above image intrusive or extrusive?
If there are over 100 elements on the periodic table of elements, it would stand to
reason that there would be millions of ways these elements could combine to form
minerals. However, there are only 4000 named minerals. Why might there be so few
minerals on Earth when there are so many possible combinations?
Scenario: In the pursuit of scientific knowledge, you decide to
bore a hole into the crust to see how the temperature
changes. You start your borehole in Davenport, Iowa, where
the geothermal gradient is 20C/km.
Refer to the scenario above. Assuming a temperature of 20C at the ground surface, what
is the temperature at a depth of 2 miles?
What is the difference between the eye and eye wall of a hurricane?
The New Madrid earthquakes of the early nineteenth century were some of the largest
in American history. At their greatest, they caused buildings and bluffs to collapse,
caused land subsidence, and displaced parts of the Mississippi River. Could another
earthquake of this magnitude happen near New Madrid again? Explain how the
earthquake devastation today would compare to that of the early nineteenth century.
How does an ice cap compare to an ice sheet?
Compare rock deformation in near surface environments to that deep within Earth’s
crust. Which deformation style will be more common in each location?
There is an expression in American society that it would only take one good earthquake
and the state of California would sink into the ocean. Using what you know about plate
boundaries, evaluate this statement.
How did the early atmosphere develop on Earth?
Using the nebular theory, explain the formation of our solar system from the formation
of the solar nebula through the present day.
Scientific research supports the existence of Alfred Wegener’s proposed supercontinent,
Pangaea, approximately 300 million years ago. Pangaea subsequently broke apart, and
the piecesour modern continentsmigrated to the positions they occupy today. Based on
your knowledge of the mechanics of tectonic motion, do you think there is a likelihood
of another supercontinent forming? If so, where?
Of the following substances, which are the common elements in igneous rocks?
Silicon, rubidium, nitrogen, carbon, sodium, manganese, hydrogen, oxygen, potassium,
calcium, phosphorous, aluminum, iron, chlorine, magnesium, uranium, helium, gold
Explain how a P-wave shadow will form. Between which degrees will it form?
Why would a pile of gravel weather faster than a single solid boulder?