Which kind of mineral tenacity refers to a mineral being deformed by being hammered
without breaking?
A) Malleable
B) Sectile
C) Fibrous
D) Elastic
Why did invertebrates, particularly arthropods, get so large in the Late Paleozoic?
A) There was more moisture in the atmosphere.
B) Ozone in the atmosphere shielded them from ultraviolet radiation.
C) There was more vegetation for them to feed on.
D) There was more oxygen in the atmosphere.
What is the age of the moon?
A) 4.5 billion years
B) 5.025 million years
C) 3.14 million years
D) 4.527 million years
Match the choices below to the correct description.
A) R waves
B) L waves
C) S waves
D) P waves
1. This body wave is a compressional wave.
2. This body wave is a shear wave.
3. This surface wave moves from side to side.
4. This surface wave moves up and down.
Upon combustion, which naturally occurring substance in coal is released to potentially
create acid rain?
A) Nitrogen
B) Uranium
C) Oxygen
D) Sulfur
E) All of the above
Which of the following zones has the greatest seismic activity on Earth?
A) Circum-Pacific Belt
B) Alpine-Himalayan Belt
C) San Andreas Fault
D) Mid-Atlantic Ridge
What is the name of the chart that organizes elements in order of chemical properties?
A) Moh’s hardness scale
B) Atomic symbols
C) Elemental flowchart
D) Periodic table of elements
Which environment would be likely to produce a black shale?
A) Shallow marine bay
B) Swamp
C) Forest
D) Eolian dunes
Look at the soil orders that dominate Alaska. How would you describe the climatic
conditions present in that part of the state?
This image contains a spit, which is identified by an arrow. (The arrow is only for
identification purposes.) Using the shape of the spit, from which direction is the
longshore current coming? Assume for our purposes that the top of the figure is north.
A) From west to east
B) From north to south
C) From north to west
D) From south to east
Along which tectonic boundary will chains of composite cone volcanoes be located?
A) Convergent boundary
B) Divergent boundary
C) Transform boundary
D) Mantle plumes
In the mid-twentieth century, researchers dredging the seafloor could not find any
materials older than ________.
A) 10,000 years
B) 1.2 million years
C) 180 million years
D) 1.5 billion years
If 235U has 92 protons, how many neutrons does it have?
A) 25
B) 92
C) 143
D) 235
What kind of rock is visible in this image from Mars?
A) Basalt
B) Shale
C) Conglomerate
D) Granite
A deposit of volcanic tuff contains the isotope potassium-40, which is slowly decaying
into argon-40. How might the apparent age of the sample be affected if the volcanic tuff
is heated and remains heated for a long period of time?
A) The rate of decay will speed up.
B) The sample will appear older than it really is.
C) The sample will appear younger than it really is.
D) Heat will have no effect on the age of the sample.
Which of the following is not an agent of erosion?
A) Running water
B) Heat
C) Ice
D) Wind
Will density increase or decrease with the crystallization of a magma?
A) Decrease
B) Increase
Which process is responsible for the oxygen in the atmosphere today?
A) Photosynthesis
B) Outgassing of volcanoes
C) Weathering of carbonate rocks
D) Asteroid impact
________ was an important eighteenth-century geologist who developed the concept of
Uniformitarianism to explain the slow, steady changes responsible for shaping the
Earth.
A) Charles Lyell
B) Isaac Newton
C) James Hutton
D) Charles Darwin
Which intermediary helps to break down minerals into a form digestible by humans?
A) Meteorites
B) Rocks
C) Plants
D) Gravel
Which planktonic marine organism, often found in sea sediments, can be used to make
interpretations about past climates?
A) Foraminifera
B) Clams
C) Fish
D) Algae
How many hinge lines does a monocline have?
A) One
B) Two
C) Three
D) Four
During the last glaciation, a large tongue of glacial ice occupied Lake Michigan for
thousands of years. How, several thousand years after the retreat of the ice, an emergent
coastline is developing along part of the lake. What geologic process is creating an
emergent coastline in Lake Michigan?
A) Lake levels are falling.
B) Rebound of a depressed crust.
C) Subsidence of the land surface around the lake.
D) Accumulation of dunes on the beach.
Match the location with the kind of desert it is. (Note: You may use some choices more
than once.)
A) Middle-Latitude Deserts and Steppes
B) Subtropical Deserts and Steppes
1. Atacama Desert
2. Gobi Desert
3. Eastern Washington State
4. Chihuahuan
5. Simpson (Australia)
Of all the mineral and energy resources in this figure, which is the most important
resource in terms of quantity consumed?
A) Natural gas
B) Iron
C) Petroleum
D) Stone
The famous Permian ________ reefs in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park are a
rich source of organic material.
A) sandstone
B) limestone
C) shale
D) conglomerate
Using the arrival times in this image, determine the S-minus-P interval for this
earthquake.
A) 6.0 minutes
B) 4.1 minutes
C) 10.1 minutes
D) 3.7 minutes
________ are mounds and ridges of sand that are deposited by the wind.
A) Ventifacts
B) Desert pavements
C) Blowouts
D) Dunes
These images contain a cross section of Venus, a terrestrial planet, and Saturn, a Jovian
planet. Notice how Venus, a terrestrial planet, has a rocky mantle. What is the
equivalent layer in Saturn made from?
A) Rocky material
B) Oxygen
C) Ice
D) Hydrogen/helium
You are sitting in class when your professor begins talking about a dome with the inner
layers dating back to the Tertiary and its outer layers dating back to the Permian. You
immediately know this professor is wrong. What is your evidence?
A) Domes don’t have layers.
B) Domes have the oldest layers in the middle, not the youngest.
C) Now that we know the age of the layers, we would call it a syncline.
D) Domes didn’t exist back then.
________ metamorphism will occur where two blocks of rock are grinding against each
other.
A) Impact
B) Regional
C) Hydrothermal
D) Fault zone
What percentage of the atmosphere is carbon dioxide?
A) 0.0400%
B) 0.152%
C) 1%
D) 5%