1. The elastic rebound theory:
a. Describes how seismic waves pass through Earth’s interior.
b. Describes how folding in the crust dampens earthquake magnitude.
c. Is a theory describing the behavior of faulting crust.
d. Was proven wrong in the middle of the twentieth century.
e. Was first defined by Archimedes.
2. Earthquakes at divergent margins tend to be:
a. Deep and strong.
b. Produced by normal faulting.
c. On the surface of a subducting slab.
d. Related to compression.
e. Caused by anticlines.
3. Examples of U.S. intraplate seismicity include:
a. San Francisco.
b. Charleston.
c. Los Angeles.
d. Seattle.
e. Portland.
4. Seismicity at divergent, convergent, and transverse plate boundaries is caused by the following stresses (in
order):
a. Compressive, shear, and subductive
b. Transverse, subductive, and decompression
c. Tensional, compressional, and shearing
d. Normal, reverse, and plunging
e. None of the above.
5. Finding an epicenter requires:
a. Firsthand accounts.
b. Seismic tomography.
c. Wave refraction.
d. Triangulation.
e. Calculating the intensity.
6. Seismic discontinuities are found at the following depths:
a. 8 km to 20–70 km, 100 km, 400 km, 660 km, 4,800 km, and 2,900 km
b. 20 km to 50 km, 70 km, 3,500 km, and 2,900 km
c. 20 km to 50 km, but only at subduction zones
d. 8 km, 100 km, 1,000 km, 2,000 km, 3,000 km, and 4,000 km
e. None of these
7. Seismic tomography reveals that Earth’s interior is:
a. Like a layer cake with four layers.
b. Like a layer cake but interrupted by plumes.
c. Highly complex with hot regions and cool regions.
d. Too complex to understand.
e. Made of olivine entirely to the inner core.
8. Relative dating is the process of:
a. Calculating the age of a rock sample.
b. Determining how old a mineral is.
c. Determining the sequence of events in a period of geologic history.
d. Calculating when a mineral was renewed by metamorphism.
e. Determining the sources of uncertainty in a date.
9. Radiometric dating is the process of:
a. Estimating the age of a sample using radioisotopes.
b. Documenting the unique fossil assemblage in a rock.
c. Determining the geologic events that formed a rock.
d. Determining the sequence of geologic events in the crust.
e. Assessing the rate of sediment accumulation in the ocean.
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10. Early critical thinkers estimated Earth’s age using:
a. Calculations of the rate of delivery of salt to the sea.
b. Estimates of sediment accumulation over time.
c. Calculations of the time needed for Earth to cool.
d. Assessments of time needed to allow for evolution as recorded in rocks.
e. All of these.
11. The principle of superposition states that:
a. Lowest layers in an undeformed sequence are the oldest.
b. Highest layers in an undeformed sequence are the youngest.
c. A rock layer lying above another must be the younger of the two.
d. Older rock units typically are found at the base of a sequence of rocks.
e. All of the above.
12. When an intrusion invades the crust, its relative position in a sequence of geologic events is determined using
the principle of:
a. Unconformities.
b. Superposition.
c. Cross-cutting relationships.
d. Original lateral continuity.
e. None of these.
13. William “Strata” Smith is known for:
a. His use of the principle of fossil succession.
b. Using radiometric dating to determine the geology of England.
c. Developing modern map-making techniques.
d. Identifying England’s earliest life-forms.
e. None of these.
14. To date a very old rock, a geologist should use an isotope that:
a. Is very old.
b. Is very young.
c. Has a long half-life.
d. Has a short half-life.
e. Has been contaminated by groundwater.
15. Typically:
a. Primary radioisotopes have shorter half-lives than cosmogenic radioisotopes.
b. Primary radioisotopes have longer half-lives than cosmogenic radioisotopes.
c. Primary radioisotopes have the same half-lives as cosmogenic radioisotopes.
d. Primary radioisotopes come from the decay of cosmogenic radioisotopes.
e. Primary radioisotopes cannot be compared to cosmogenic radioisotopes.
16. Which of the following statements is true?
a. Moon rocks, meteorites, and continents are all the same age.
b. The oldest Earth rock is the age of Earth.
c. Earth, Moon, and meteorites all formed at the same time.
d. It is unlikely that any rocks are left on Earth from its origin.
e. Meteorites come from the Moon.
17. Nicholas Steno was the originator of:
a. Igneous geology.
b. Stratigraphy.
c. Metamorphism.
d. Planetary geology.
e. Radiometric dating.
18. The term “fossil” refers to:
a. Any evidence of evolution.
b. Any evidence of changes in species over time.
c. Any trace of soft parts of organisms.
d. Any evidence of past life on Earth.
e. None of the above.
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19. Natural selection is:
a. The tendency of populations with favorable variations to survive.
b. The tendency of individuals that are weaker to produce more offspring.
c. The tendency of a species to improve through time through random mating.
d. The tendency of weak species to dominate over stronger individuals.
e. The tendency of life to develop machines.
20. Evolution is:
a. Changes in the inherited traits of a population from one generation to the next.
b. Changes in physical traits due to individual effort.
c. Genetic variations that are not passed on to future generations.
d. Emergence of stronger individuals as dominant in a community.
e. Divine intervention.
21. Mass extinctions are important because they:
a. Reduce competition and allow rapid evolution of surviving species.
b. Generally cause the death of carnivorous species.
c. Stop evolution because so many species remain.
d. Lead to the formation of large landmasses.
e. Close the Tethys Seaway.
22. The “Age of Fish” was the:
a. Precambrian.
b. Silurian.
c. Mesozoic.
d. Devonian.
e. Quaternary.
23. What characteristics of life on Earth mark the Archean Eon?
a. Life was highly diverse.
b. Life was confined to land alone.
c. Life was characterized by increasing diversity among plants and insects.
d. Life was characterized by simple forms, such as stromatolites.
e. During the Archean Eon mammals increased in diversity.
24. A major development at the end of the Precambrian was the:
a. Evolution of birds on land.
b. Emergence of the first complex life-forms.
c. Cooling of the crust.
d. Appearance of whales and other marine mammals.
e. First water on Earth.
25. The phylogeny of the horse shows:
a. Decreasing size, strength, and speed over time.
b. Lengthening of the forelegs to adapt to life in forests.
c. Increasing size, strength, and speed to adapt to life in grasslands.
d. Random changes in response to the breakup of Pangaea.
e. Smaller and more stealthy body arrangement.
26. During the Cenozoic:
a. The mammals went extinct.
b. Dinosaurs were dominant.
c. The first plants and animals developed in the ocean.
d. We are not sure what happened in the Cenozoic since it is the oldest era.
e. None of the above.
27. The carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere has risen in recent decades. This is likely due to:
a. Increased volcanic outgassing.
b. Decreased eccentricity and obliquity.
c. Increased burning of fossil fuels.
d. The breakup of Pangaea.
e. None of the above.
28. The country that emits the most greenhouse gases is:
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30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
a. China.
b. Brazil.
c. Russia.
d. United States.
e. India.
Heat circulation in the atmosphere governs climate. It includes:
a. Global circulation in the form of a number of “cells.”
b. Thermohaline circulation, in which air takes tens of thousands of years to circle the globe.
c. Trade winds, which “trade” heat vertically from the troposphere into the ionosphere.
d. Oceanic upwelling, which releases heat into the atmosphere from warm deep waters.
e. There is very little heat circulation in the atmosphere.
The greenhouse effect:
a. Is the atmosphere’s natural ability to store heat radiated from Earth.
b. Is governed in large part by the ability of ice to absorb heat.
c. Includes the process of short-wave radiation from the biosphere.
d. Does not include heat production by the Sun.
e. All of the above.
The atmosphere has several layers. These layers include the:
a. Lithosphere, biosphere, and ionosphere.
b. Troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere.
c. Troposphere, ionosphere, and hydrosphere.
d. Biosphere, lithosphere, and atmosphere.
e. All of the above.
The amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is increasing due to:
a. Increased volcanic activity.
b. Increased solar output.
c. Changes in oceanic circulation.
d. Decreased carbon cycling.
e. Human industrial activities.
Which of the following statements about sea level rise is true?
a. It is not yet occurring but is likely to occur in the future.
b. It is occurring now and is one of the major hazards associated with global warming.
c. It is occurring now at the highest rate in the last half-million years.
d. It is a major cause of global warming.
e. It is not a major worry.
Global warming is changing the world’s glaciers and oceans because of:
a. Increased snowfall and ocean circulation.
b. Decreased melting and ocean cooling.
c. Increased melting and ocean acidification.
d. Decreased snowfall and greater thermohaline circulation.
e. Glaciers and oceans are not changing.
Some consequences of global warming include:
a. Sea-level rise and coral bleaching.
b. Ocean acidification and glacier retreat.
c. Shifts in species ranges and competition.
d. Drought, storms, and rainfall changes.
e. All of the above.
The smallest type of alpine glacier is a(n):
a. Temperate glacier.
b. Icecap.
c. Outlet glacier.
d. Polar glacier.
e. Valley glacier.
Ice within a glacier is:
a. Perpetually moving forward toward the terminus.
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41.
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b. Moving backward and forward, depending on the rate of supply and melting.
c. Mostly immobile.
d. Perpetually frozen to the bedrock beneath.
e. Ice is not the primary component of a glacier.
Which glacial landforms will be left by a retreating continental ice sheet? (Circle all that are true.)
a. Drumlins, eskers, and terminal moraines
b. Ground moraine, kettle lakes, end moraines
c. Deposits of till, outwash plain, glacial erratic
d. Horns, arêtes, and tarns
e. Hanging valleys, U-shaped valley
In response to global warming, alpine glaciers around the world are:
a. Generally retreating.
b. Relatively stable.
c. Generally advancing.
d. Moving in random ways.
e. None of the above.
Which of the following statements about orbital parameters are true? (Circle all that apply.)
a. They govern the weather due to their relationship to the Moon.
b. They include precession, obliquity, and axial tilt.
c. They produce climate cycles with a 100,000-year periodicity.
d. They correlate with observations of paleoclimate.
e. They do not influence global climate.
The Younger Dryas:
a. Was a short-term climatic warming at the end of the last ice age.
b. Occurred during the last interglacial.
c. Was a cool period that followed the end of the last ice age.
d. Is the scientific name for modern global warming.
e. Occurred during the last ice age.
For a glacier to advance:
a. Snowfall must slow and then stop.
b. Retreat must equal advance.
c. Wastage must exceed accumulation.
d. Accumulation must exceed wastage.
e. The internal conveyor belt reverses direction.
Rapid climate changes:
a. Are well predicted by the orbital parameters.
b. Have not been shown to be real phenomena.
c. Are caused by climate feedbacks, not by orbital parameters.
d. Are important only in the tropics.
e. Are typical of changes in insolation.
The hydrologic cycle describes:
a. The movement of water through the environment.
b. Condensation, runoff, evapotranspiration, precipitation, and infiltration.
c. The water in various natural reservoirs.
d. The water being exchanged in natural processes.
e. All of the above.
Within a drainage system:
a. Water all flows away from the largest channel.
b. All runoff flows in only one channel.
c. Water comes only from the same storm.
d. All runoff drains into the same stream.
e. All runoff infiltrates.
The Hjulstrom diagram tells us that:
a. Clay and gravel require about the same water velocity to erode.
b. Clay is more easily eroded than gravel.
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48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
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54.
55.
c. Gravel is more easily eroded than clay.
d. Sand is harder to erode than clay.
e. All sediments erode at the same water velocity.
The lowest level to which a stream can erode is known as the:
a. Hjulstrom diagram.
b. Topset bed.
c. Graded profile.
d. Base level.
e. Floodplain.
Channels generally take one of three forms:
a. Oxbow, meander scar, and alluvial fan.
b. Meandering, braided, and straight.
c. Turbulent, laminar, and graded.
d. Alluvial, aggraded, and erosional.
e. None of the above.
Flooding is a result of:
a. Prolonged rainfall saturating the ground.
b. Rapid melting of winter snow and ice.
c. Rapid and heavy rainfall.
d. Presence of upstream artificial levels that pass the flood wave downstream.
e. All of the above.
If base level lowers:
a. A stream will rejuvenate.
b. The floodplain will collect excess sediment.
c. Deposition will increase greater than erosion.
d. A stream will decrease discharge.
e. A stream will decrease its gradient.
Avulsion is when:
a. Flooding causes a stream to decrease discharge.
b. Flooding causes a stream to build an alluvial fan.
c. Flooding causes a stream to rejuvenate.
d. Flooding causes a stream to establish a graded profile.
e. Flooding causes a stream to establish a new channel to reach base level.
Freshwater stress is:
a. A condition in which a stream flows only occasionally because of poor groundwater flow.
b. A lack of sufficient freshwater to support the natural ecosystem.
c. A situation in which humans use more water than can be supplied in the next season.
d. A situation in which a population consumes more than 10% of its total water supply per year.
e. A situation where water pollution has caused a “dead zone.”
Groundwater typically is found as:
a. Large underground lakes.
b. Large underground rivers.
c. Small pockets under rain forests.
d. Rims of water around individual grains and in fractures.
e. Vapor in pore spaces in the crust.
Which of the following is a characteristic of wetlands?
a. Wetlands may recharge groundwater.
b. Wetlands may be fed by groundwater discharge.
c. Both a and b.
d. Neither a nor b.
e. None of the above.
Groundwater flows in response to:
a. Gravity and density.
b. Gravity and porosity.
c. Permeability and topography.
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d. Gaseous pressure and slope.
e. Gravity and hydraulic pressure.
Groundwater contamination may result from:
a. Salt intrusion, illegal chemical disposal.
b. Agricultural waste, pesticides.
c. Landfill seepage, polluted runoff.
d. Human sewage, leaky underground storage tanks.
e. All of the above.
Geysers:
a. Are the reason why caves have speleothems.
b. May occur as nonviolent pools of warm water.
c. Are the main reason why groundwater migrates.
d. Are violent eruptions of hot groundwater.
e. All of the above.
Most liquid freshwater is found:
a. In rivers.
b. In lakes and streams.
c. In the ocean.
d. As groundwater.
e. During percolation.
Porosity is:
a. The percentage of empty space in the crust.
b. The percentage of connected space for groundwater movement in the crust.
c. The percentage of pore space in the crust located at the water table.
d. The water in the capillary fringe.
e. The percentage of crustal space filled with groundwater.
An aquiclude may lead to formation of an artesian well because:
a. It allows atmospheric pressure to drain an unconfined aquifer.
b. It confines an aquifer and closes off groundwater recharge.
c. It confines an aquifer so that hydraulic pressure increases, leading to artesian flow.
d. It causes karstification of the crust.
e. All of the above.
Longshore currents and rip currents develop:
a. In deep water.
b. On the subaerial beach.
c. In nearshore circulation.
d. Because of global warming.
e. All of the above.
Hurricanes:
a. Do not occur outside of the tropics.
b. Have decreased their impact on U.S. shores.
c. Cause coastal damage by high winds and flooding.
d. Are not strong enough to inflict serious damage on houses and roads.
e. None of the above.
Sea-level rise:
a. Has exceeded 120 m since the last ice age.
b. Has formed estuaries in the mouths of major rivers.
c. Is a growing problem on all coastlines.
d. Is a major cause of coastal erosion.
e. All of the above.
Barrier islands may migrate with rising sea level.
a. This process is called “rollover.”
b. Barrier islands cannot migrate with rising sea level.
c. Rollover only occurs because sand dunes on the island can move.
d. Barrier islands cannot migrate if they are damaged by a hurricane.
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e. They migrate in a seaward direction as sea level rises.
65. Tidal deltas form in places where:
a. Sediments collect in the mouths of rivers.
b. Barrier islands roll over.
c. Storm surge is especially frequent.
d. Tides enter and exit lagoons at inlets.
e. Rocky shorelines accumulate beaches.
66. Chesapeake Bay and San Francisco Bay are:
a. Not true estuaries.
b. The result of marine transgression.
c. Formed by sediment erosion in the mouths of streams.
d. Major river deltas.
e. Examples of emergent coastlines.
67. Shorelines on tectonically stable lands that collect sediment are termed:
a. Emergent coasts.
b. Submergent coasts.
c. Erosional coasts.
d. Depositional coasts.
e. Estuaries.
68. Corals are:
a. Animals that build huge colonies of calcium carbonate.
b. Organisms known as polyps.
c. Builders of reefs, along with plants (algae).
d. Dependent on sunlight.
e. All of the above.
69. The major oceans are the:
a. Mediterranean, Caribbean, Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific.
b. Antarctic, Arctic, Pacific, Atlantic, and Mediterranean.
c. Southern, Arctic, Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian.
d. Pacific, Atlantic, Arctic, and Indian.
e. Indian, Red Sea, Arctic, Pacific, and Antarctic.
70. Surface circulation is propelled principally by:
a. Thermohaline circulation.
b. Earth’s rotation.
c. Plate tectonics.
d. The wind.
e. The tides.
71. Ekman transport occurs when:
a. The Coriolis effect causes surface water to travel to the left in the Northern Hemisphere.
b. Water below the surface lags behind surface water in responding to the Coriolis effect.
c. Winds blow water toward the coast causing upwelling.
d. Surface water and water that is deeper travel in the same direction due to the Coriolis effect.
e. Currents sink due to density and evaporation.
72. The continental margin consists of the:
a. Abyssal plain, slope, rise, and mid-ocean ridge.
b. Shelf, slope, rise, and abyssal plain.
c. Shelf, slope, and rise.
d. Watershed, shelf, and slope.
e. Abyssal hills, submarine fans, and submarine ridges.
73. Submarine canyons are:
a. Formed by erosion of the continental slope by streams and turbidity currents.
b. Drowned watersheds.
c. Inactive drainage systems formed by past tectonic processes.
d. Caused by sediment migration across the continental rise.
e. The result of hurricane storm surge.
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74. The carbonate compensation depth is:
a. The depth at which calcium carbonate precipitates in the water.
b. Generally at 2 km in most oceans.
c. Controlled by the salinity.
d. The level of silicate precipitation.
e. None of the above.
75. Pelagic sediment stratigraphy is influenced by:
a. The CCD.
b. Productivity in overlying waters.
c. Proximity to continents.
d. Dissolution and dilution of sediments.
e. All of the above.
76. Oceanic crust is composed of:
a. Gabbro, andesite, and basalt.
b. Gabbro, basalt, hydrothermal deposits, and pelagic sediment.
c. Basalt, pillow lava, peridotite, andesite, and marine rhyolite.
d. Rhyolite lava flows, gabbro, basalt, and hemipelagic sediment.
e. None of the above.
77. Most oceanic trenches are characterized by:
a. Great depth.
b. Mixed types of sediments.
c. Earthquake activity.
d. Nearby active volcanism.
e. All of the above.
78. Managing marine environments requires:
a. Focusing on one problem at a time.
b. Sticking to the coastal zone because that is where most of the problems are.
c. Managing overlapping human impacts simultaneously.
d. In reality, most marine environments do not need management.
e. Focusing mostly on the surface waters.
79. Active margins are characterized by:
a. Wide, sediment-rich shelves.
b. Narrow shelves along tectonic boundaries.
c. High sediment accumulation due to large watersheds and their deltas.
d. Abyssal clay accumulation because of a shallow CCD.
e. Slow subsidence.
Answers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
C
B
B
C
D
A
C
C
A
E
E
C
A
C
B
D
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
B
D
A
A
A
D
D
B
C
E
C
A
A
A
B
E
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
B
C
E
E
A
A, B, C, D, E
A
B, C, D
C
D
C
E
D
A
D
B
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
E
A
E
D
D
C
E
E
D
D
A
C
C
C
E
A
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
D
B
D
E
C
D
B
C
A
E
E
B
E
C
B
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