Due to the crashing of waves and the backwash of water from shore, beaches can be
thought of as areas where material is in transit.
In cast and mold fossilization, the cast is the hollow space in the rock made when a
fossil is buried in sediment.
A syncline is a downfold in rock where the youngest layers are in the middle of the fold
and the youngest are on the outside.
Nitrogen makes up the largest percentage of the atmosphere.
The shoreline represents an interface between the land, sea, and air.
Glaciers in arctic regions that are frozen to their beds move via internal deformation.
Metamorphism ends when the rock begins to melt.
The use of renewable energy has been increasing for the last 40 years and is expected to
continue to rise.
Grasses will result in more slope stability than trees.
Renewable energy sources such as wood can regenerate and be sustained indefinitely.
Coal forms from ancient plant remains originally deposited in swamps and marshes.
The original energy content of the coal was derived from the sun.
Oil sands are associated with sedimentary rocks such as sandstones, shales, and
limestones.
Strained geologic materials lose their original configuration during deformation.
The first sign of a tsunami’s approach is a rapid retreat of water from the shoreline.
Caves can only form in limestone.
Uranus is famous for its large red circle called the Great Red Spot.
Instead of subduction down into the mantle, the Indian subcontinent was thrust beneath
Tibet, helping to significantly raise the landscape.
The majority of groundwater occurs as underground rivers.
Lakes and streams are surface expressions of the water table.
Black sand beaches in Hawaii were created by the erosion and deposition of coral.
Graded bedding will display particles that are fine near the bottom of the layer and get
progressively coarser toward the top.
The first life on Earth developed during the Cambrian period.
The majority of divergent plate boundaries are associated with oceanic ridges.
A detrital sedimentary rock can be radiometrically dated because the clasts formed at
the same time as the rock.
The geothermal gradient represents a decrease in interior temperature with decreasing
distance from the surface.
Pluto has been downgraded to the status of a protoplanet.
Most hurricanes form poleward of 20 latitude.
A glacier takes hundreds of thousands of years to form, but only a few thousand years
to disappear.
The climate system involves energy and moisture exchanges between five Earth
spheres: biosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and geosphere.
Neptune has only one satellite, and it is a moon named Triton.
Coastal areas undergo some of the most rapid and dynamic change due to their constant
contact with the water.
Glaciers form in areas where more snow falls in the winter than is lost in the summer.
In order for a bimodal sediment to be called till, it must be directly deposited by glacial
ice. If it is not, it is referred to as a diamicton.
Streams in arid areas generally lack an extensive network of tributaries because they
tend to be ephemeral.
When precipitation falls, water may not immediately soak in, run off, or evaporate.
Because of its immense gravity, the diameter of the planet Jupiter shrinks by a few
centimeters each year.
Volcanic activity in the early history of the Earth is believed to be responsible for much
of the CO2 found in the atmosphere.
________ is the study and reconstruction of past climates through the use of proxy data.
A) Climatology
B) Hydrology
C) Glaciology
D) Paleoclimatology
Which is the strongest of the atomic bonds?
A) Ionic
B) Covalent
C) Metallic
D) Hybrid
Circular orbital motion in waves will occur in ________ water.
A) still
B) deep
C) shallow
D) evaporating
When correlating rock between widely separated areas or between continents, what
feature(s) do geologists rely on the most to link distant rock units of similar age?
A) Rock type
B) Sedimentary structures
C) Fossils
D) Mineral content
What geologic process is responsible for the geothermal features in Yellowstone
National Park?
A) Radioactive minerals near the surface
B) Volcanic activity
C) Abnormal volumes of rain
D) Normal geothermal gradient
Using the information provided above, describe what changes will happen to the stream
and its streamflow as the water moves from the head to the mouth.
A) The channel roughness and slope decrease while the discharge, channel size, and
flow velocity increase
B) The channel size increases, which forces the flow velocity and discharge to decrease
C) The channel roughness and slope increases while the discharge, channel size, and
flow velocity decrease
D) As the flow and channel size increase, so, too do the slope and roughness
Prolonged tropical weathering of specific kinds of bedrock can produce deposits of
which mineral?
A) Gold
B) Hematite
C) Halite
D) Bauxite
Using this diagram of the hydrologic cycle, identify three locations where the
hydrologic sphere is interacting with one of the other three spheres. Match the correct
labels to the correct spaces for those processes.
A) Atmospheric & Geologic Spheres
B) Hydrologic & Geologic Spheres
C) Hydrologic & Atmospheric Spheres
1. Next to the Evaporation arrow
2. Next to the Precipitation arrow
3. Next to the Runoff arrow
Which of the following makes up the sediment that forms an organic sedimentary rock?
A) Gravel and sand
B) Plant fibers
C) Weathered ions
D) Dissolved minerals
Which of the following describes the events of the Taconic Orogeny?
A) Closing of the marginal sea caused a volcanic arc to be thrust over the continent
B) North America collided with a microcontinent as the marginal sea continued to close
C) The sea along North America closed completely as Africa collided with North
America
D) The rifting of Pangaea opened the modern Atlantic Ocean
The general term used to describe cave deposits is ________.
A) cave pearls
B) dripstone
C) bicarbonate
D) dissolution features
A ________ marks the end of one episode of sedimentation and the beginning of
another.
A) cross-bedding
B) ripplemark
C) bedding plane
D) graded bed
Think about what happens to the density of an oceanic plate as it ages and cools. How
will the age and temperature of the subducting plate affect its angle of descent?
A) Old, cool plates will have a shallow angle of descent.
B) Old, warm plates will have a steeper angle of descent.
C) Young, warm plates will have a shallow angle of descent.
D) Young, cool plates will have a steeper angle of descent.
Based on the structure of the cone and the rock making it up, what interpretations can
be made about the gas content of eruptions from cinder cone volcanoes compared to
those of shield volcanoes?
A) Less gas than shield volcanoes
B) Same gas content as shield volcanoes
C) More gas than shield volcanoes
D) Gas is not found in volcanoes
A(n) ________ is a sequence of layers composing the oceanic crust that includes
sheeted dikes, basalts, and gabbro.
A) passive margin
B) ophiolite complex
C) lithospheric sheeting
D) flood basalts
How will channel velocity change along the longitudinal profile of a stream?
A) Velocity will remain constant for the entire length of the stream
B) Velocity will start high and gradually decrease toward the mouth due to increasing
discharge downstream
C) Velocity will start low and gradually increase toward the mouth due to increasing
discharge downstream
________ are flat areas along streams that are created by the deposition of alluvium and
is subject to periodic inundation.
A) Terraces
B) Floodplains
C) Riffles
D) Bars
Metamorphic rocks can sometimes contain unusually large grains surrounded by a
fine-grained matrix of other minerals. These large crystals are called ________.
A) vesicles
B) phenocrysts
C) inclusions
D) porphyroblasts
What kind of continental margin is visible in this image?
A) Active
B) Rift
C) Passive
D) Transform
How will seasonal changes affect the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere?
A) There will be less CO2 in the atmosphere in winter than in summer
B) The levels of CO2 are constant no matter the season
C) There will be more CO2 in the atmosphere in winter than in summer
What substance is responsible for the turquoise color of the water in this image?
A) Till
B) Outwash
C) Oxidation
D) Rock flour
How can the orientation of transform faults provide information about the direction of
plate motion?
A) Transform faults are oriented perpendicular to the direction of plate motion.
B) Transform faults radiate out from the rift zone located in the center.
C) Transform faults are parallel to the direction of plate motion.
D) Transform faults are parallel to convergent boundaries.
Which of the following best describes the principle of faunal succession?
A) Rock layers will extend equally in all directions until they pinch out or reach the
edge of a basin.
B) Fossil organisms succeed one another in a specific and identifiable order.
C) Only the most successful organisms will survive climatic extremes.
D) Faults are younger than the materials they cut across.
Match the chemical weathering process with the correct definition.
1. Dissolution
2. Oxidation
3. Hydrolysis
A) Minerals dissolved in acidic water.
B) Positive ions lose electrons to oxygen.
C) Positive ions are replaced with H+ or OH-.
What provides us with the most information about the interior of the Earth?
A) Borehole data
B) Erupted materials
C) Satellite imagery
D) Seismic energy waves
What is infiltration?
A) The transition from liquid to gas as a result of increases in temperature
B) Plants taking in water
C) Water soaking into the ground
D) Water running off the surface and entering a channel
The composition of the upper mantle is defined by ________.
A) granite
B) quartz
C) perovskite
D) peridotite
The addition of which of the following will control a mineral’s color?
A) Water
B) Biologic secretions
C) Pigment
D) Trace elements
Match the atomic particle with the correct definition.
1. Proton
2. Neutron
3. Electron
A) Particle found in the nucleus; positive charge
B) Particle found orbiting the nucleus; negative charge
C) Particle found in the nucleus; no charge
Flying reptiles such as the Archaeopteryx led to the evolution of ________.
A) dinosaurs
B) birds
C) mammals
D) insects
What kind of stress is responsible for creating fault-block mountains?
A) Compression
B) Tension
C) Shear
Which of the following best describes the effect of convective flow on the elevation of
Earth’s major landforms?
A) Convective flow adds more material to the base of the lithosphere, making it
downwarp.
B) Rotation of convecting mantle material smoothes out wrinkles in the surface.
C) Hot rising material upwarps the landscape whereas downward flow causes
downwarping.
D) Subduction of oceanic plates disrupting the convective flow on the mantle, resulting
in hot spots burning through the crust.
What kind of wave motion is visible in this image?
A) Circular orbital motion
B) Breaking wave
C) Rip current
D) Longshore current
Which mineral resource is the main component for plaster and drywall?
A) Diamonds
B) Calcite
C) Gypsum
D) Talc
The world’s largest arid desert is the Sahara.
When teaching about igneous rocks, one trick instructors often implement to help
students determine the igneous composition of the samples is to use the color of the
rocks as a guide. Explain how the color of an igneous rock can often be used as an
indicator of its igneous composition. Be sure to reference specific minerals for each
composition.
Which rock layer is the youngest in this image?
Explain how interstellar debris will eventually form a planetesimal.
Carefully study the eruption visible in this figure, paying close attention to the
appearance of the rocks produced when the lava solidifies and the pyroclastic materials
fall to earth. Based on your analysis, would you say that the volcano has more layers of
solidified lava or more layers of pyroclastic deposits? What does your answer mean for
the kind of eruption style: quiescent or explosive?
Compare and contrast major floods in a humid environment (i.e., along the Mississippi
River) against those in a desert environment.
Compare and contrast the state of soil development at the following three locations:
mountaintops, foothills, bottomlands.
How does the formation, break-up, and subsequent formation of supercontinents
explain the origin of cratons?
How does the rotation of the earth give coastlines a high tide and a low tide?
What erosion control practices would be best suited for a landscape with steep slopes?
With gentle, rolling hills?
Why is the molten metallic core of Earth necessary for life to exist?
What are the three main mechanisms of convective flow in the outer core?
How does the temperature of the lithosphere and that of the asthenosphere affect those
layers’ rigidities and responses when force is applied?
How can road construction in mountainous areas exacerbate mass wasting?
Compare and contrast how the aureole of contact metamorphism will change in
thickness depending on the intrusive igneous structure.
Compare and contrast the three common types of radioactive decay: alpha particle
decay, beta particle decay, electron capture. Your answer should include how the atomic
mass and the atomic number of the isotope have changed.
Limestone is a sedimentary rock that is found over large areas of the United States.
Using this information, explain what the environment of deposition was like at the time
of limestone formation and how the mineral in the limestone formed?