These questions serve as an example of the types and style of the questions that will be found on the exam. The questions on the actual exam will cover similar material and may be worded differently. The answers for these questions may be found in your lecture notes and/or in the text.
This exam includes material from lectures 1 through 6 and Chapters 1 to 6 in Earth Science,
Tarbuck and Lutgens, 11 th
edition.
Part 1. True (A)/False (B)
1. Rocks are aggregates of one or more minerals.
2. The silicon-oxygen tetrahedron is a stable chemical compound.
3. All atoms with the same number of protons are given the same name.
4. Igneous rocks with coarse crystals have cooled more quickly than those with fine crystals.
5. The fine grained equivalent of granite is rhyolite.
6. A mafic rock will tend to have a darker color and higher density than a felsic igneous rock.
7. Particle size is the primary basis for distinguishing among various detrital sedimentary rocks.
8. Chemical sedimentary rocks are formed by melting and recrystalization.
9. During metamorphism the rock being deformed remains a solid.
10. A metamorphic rock cannot be re-metamorphosed to a different metamorphic rock.
11. Spheroidal weathering is primarily the result of mechanical weathering caused by unloading.
12. Quartz is very resistant to chemical weathering.
13. Gravity plays an important role in all mass wasting events.
14. Mass wasting events are classified by speed and material.
15. The freezing and thawing of soil can produce a gradual downhill movement of material.
16. The discharge of a river usually increases downstream.
17. The gradient of a river usually decreases downstream.
18. The velocity of a river usually increases downstream.
19. A narrow, V-shaped valley is characteristic of the youthful stage of valley development.
20. A stream creates its own floodplain by erosion and deposition.
22. As its name implies, the water table is always very level (flat).
23 Even when the front of a glacier is retreating, the ice within the glacier is advancing.
24. Till is sediment deposited directly by a glacier.
25. Running water is the most important erosional agent.
Part 2. Multiple Choice
26. The most abundant element in the earth's crust (by weight) is:
a. oxygen
c. calcium b. silicon d. sodium
27. The definition of the term MINERAL includes words such as:
a. glass, amorphous b. naturally occurring, crystalline
d. organic, solution e. polymorphism, isomorphism
c. clastic, mafic

28. The resistance of a mineral to abrasion is known as:
a. cleavage c. resistance e. fracture
b. hardness d. conchoidal
29. As the rate of cooling increases (speeds up), the size of the crystals that form:
a. increases b. decreases c. is not affected
30. Select the coarse grained rock which is composed mainly of quartz and potassium feldspar from the list below:
a. basalt b. andesite c. granite d. diorite e. gabbro
31. Sedimentary rocks:
a. may contain fossils
b. hold important clues to the earth's history
c. are layered
d. may contain economically important materials
e. all of these
32. Detrital sediments would predominate in all of the following environments except:
a. swamp b. salt flat c. river floodplain d. delta
33. What sedimentary rock is composed of the most abundant product of chemical weathering?
a. sandstone
c. limestone b. shale d. conglomerate
34. Which of the following changes may occur during metamorphism?
a. certain minerals may recrystallize
c. crystals may grow larger b. the rock becomes more compact d. all of these
e. both a and b
35. When certain minerals recrystallize with a preferred orientation that is perpendicular to the direction of the compressional force, the rock is said to exhibit:
a. shear b. foliation c. aureole d. all of the above e. none of the above
36. Which one of the following is not true about mechanical weathering?
a. produces smaller pieces
b. adds to the effectiveness of chemical weathering
c. may lead to the formation of talus slopes
d. does not change the rock's mineral composition
e. does not affect metamorphic rocks
37. When water freezes, its volume:
a. increases b. decreases
38. Among the controls of soil formation are:
a. plants and animals b. slope
c. climate d. time c. remains unchanged
e. all of these
39. Which of the following statements best describes slump?
a. slippage of a mass of material moving along a curved surface
b. blocks of bedrock sliding down a slope
c. a rapid flowage of debris containing a large amount of water
d. a slow, downhill movement of soil and regolith
40. The release of water vapor to the atmosphere by plants is called:
a. evaporation
b. degassing c. infiltration d. transpiration

41. At a bend in a river, the main erosion is:
a. on the outside of the bend
b. on the inside of the bend
c. both outside and inside the bend
d. at an oxbow lake
42. Where the underlying bedrock is relatively uniform, the pattern of streamflow is determined chiefly by the slope of the land. The drainage pattern that develops in such a situation is termed a
______________ pattern.
a. dendritic
c. radial d. trellis b. rectangular
43. The continuous movement of water from the oceans to the atmosphere, from the atmosphere to the land, and from the land back to the sea is known as:
a. evapotranspiration
b. Kreb's cycle
c. hydrologic cycle
d. atmospheric cycle
e. none of these
44. Which one of the following aquifers would be best for purifying groundwater that is contaminated with harmful sewage bacteria?
a. highly fractured granite
c. sand
45. Caves most commonly form in: b. coarse gravel d. cavernous limestone
a. limestone
c. dolomite b. sandstone d. granite
e. shale
46. How does an alpine glacier modify the valley through which it moves?
a. deepens it d. all of these
b. widens it
c. straightens it e. only a and b
47. Which of the following may have contributed to climatic changes related to the Ice Age?
a. alteration of atmospheric gasses
b. wobbling of the earth's axis
c. variations in the shape of the earth's orbit
d. all of the above
e. none of the above
48. Large boulders moved by glacial erosion are called:
a. erratics b. foundlings
c. till d. outwash
49. A broad accumulation of stratified drift deposited adjacent to the downstream edge of an end moraine is a:
a. kame terrace
b. esker
50. A wash is:
a. a desert stream channel c. outwash plain d. col e. ground moraine b. an accumulation of sand on the lee side of a dune
c. a type of loess deposit
e. none of the above d. a sand- free zone on the floor of a desert