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Earth Science Final Exam Study Guide 2014
The final exam will be 70 multiple choice questions. The study guide covers the concepts, ideas, and facts that
will be on the final exam.
Plate Tectonics
1. What evidence did Wegener use to come up with his idea of continental drift?(notes)
 Fossils
 Rock sequences
 Glacier striations
 Fit of continents
 Mountains
2. Harry Hess discovered sea-floor spreading. What did he observe of the ocean floor?(pg174) Reversals of
magnetic poles as found in the rock record.
3. Along a mid-ocean ridge, where would we find the youngest rock? (pg175)
Near the middle
4. Define and sketch the three types of plate boundaries (pg176-178).
Divergent: 2 plates moving apart
Convergent: 2 plates moving toward each other
Transform: 2 plates sliding past each other
5. The San Andreas is an example of a transform boundary, while the Andes Mountains are a product of an O-C
convergent boundary. (pg179)
6. What types of boundaries experience subduction? (pg177)
O-C convergent and O-O convergent
7. What type of boundary produces a mid-ocean ridge?(pg179)
Divergent
8. Around 250 million years ago, all the continents were welded together into one landmass known as Pangaea.
9. Most volcanoes occur along plate boundaries (Ring of Fire), how is Hawaii different than most volcanoes?
(pg197)
Hawaii is a hot spot, not located on a plate boundary.
10. Define Pyroclastic material (pg200): released gases and solid fragments from eruption
11. Compare and contrast shield volcanoes, cinder cones, and composite volcanoes. (pg 202-203)
-Shield volcanoes are broad in shape and erupt with basaltic lava (mafic)
-Cinder cones are smaller and tend to occur on the sides of other volcanoes. Lava is thrown into the air.
-Composite volcanoes are the most violent eruptions, alternating between lava flows and pyroclastic
material
12. Define Caldera(pg204): collapsed volcano top
13. Draw and label the diagram from pg 214, showing a fault, epicenter, and focus of an earthquake.
14. Compression stress will create a reverse fault. (pg240)
15. Tension stress will create a normal fault (pg280)
16. Compare both types of body waves, S and P waves. (pg215)
Primary wave- faster, compressional stress, goes through all of Earth’s layers
Secondary wave- slower, shear stress, only goes through solid layers
17. Once body waves reach the surface of earth they become more destructive and are called surface waves (pg216).
18. Define liquefaction (pg222) the process by which saturated sediments are transformed into a substance
that acts like a liquid due to an earthquake.
19. What does the Richter scale measure? (pg220) Magnitude (how much energy is released).
20. How many seismographs are needed to locate the epicenter of an earthquake? (pg219) 3
21. The Earth’s center is an inner core composed of solid iron and nickel. (pg72)
22. The outer core is composed of iron and nickel in the liquid state. (pg72)
23. What layer of Earth makes up the tectonic plates? (pg73). Lithosphere
24. What layer of Earth does convection occur and move the plates along? (pg73) Asthenosphere
Astronomy Unit Study Guide
Earth-Moon-Sun System
1. How did the moon form? (pg. 556)
Impact Theory- a planet sized object hit Earth sending debris out. That debris condensed into the moon.
2. What is regolith? (pg 560)
Loose dirt on the surface of the moon creating from meteorite impacts
3. Draw the phases of the moon and label your drawing (pg. 563).
4. What is the difference between a waxing and waning moon? (pg563)
Waxing-light on the right, soon to be bright
Waning- light on the left, soon nothing will be left.
5. Sketch the configuration of the Earth, Moon, and Sun during a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse, include
the umbra and penumbra. (pg. 564-565)
6. Sketch the possible configurations of the Earth, Moon and Sun during spring tides and neap tides. Label
the corresponding moon phase to each moon on your diagram. (pg. 542)
Why does the Moon have more of an effect on the tides than the Sun? (pg542)
It is closer to Earth
Why do we experience two high tides and two low tides in one day? (pg541)
There are two tidal bulges on Earth at any given time.
7. Why do the northern and southern hemispheres experience opposite seasons from one another? (pg. 8283). Include the two factors associated with the tilt that makes our days warmer in the summer (see
seasons lab)
The tilt of Earth causes the seasons because one hemisphere will receive more direct sunlight and have
more hours in the sun while the other will receive indirect sunlight and have fewer hours in the sun.
Draw a picture of the Earth labeling the Arctic Circle, the Tropic of Cancer, the Equator, the tropic of
Capricorn, and the Antarctic Circle (pg. 83).
When the northern hemisphere is experiencing a summer solstice the sun’s rays are directly hitting
Tropic of Cancer (pg. 82).
When the northern hemisphere is experiencing a winter solstice the sun’s rays are directly hitting Tropic
of Capricorn (pg. 82).
When the northern hemisphere is experiencing an autumnal equinox or a vernal equinox the sun’s rays
are directly hitting Equator (pg 82).
The Solar System
1. What order are the planets starting at the sun and moving out?
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
2. What planets are the inner planets? Outer planets? Gas Giants?(pg 588-589)
Inner planets- Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
Outer planets- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
Gas Giants- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
3. Why is Pluto now considered a dwarf planet?
It crosses paths with Neptune.
4. Why is Venus considered Earth’s twin? (pg 590-591)
It is about the same size.
5. Give one unique characteristic of each planet (pg 588-598)
Mercury- Cratered like our moon
Venus-hottest planet because of the extreme greenhouse effect
Earth- only planet with water in three states of matter, only planet humans have been to
Mars- red planet due to rust on the surface, ice caps
Jupiter- largest planet with a hurricane like storm that has lasted for 300 years
Saturn-least dense planet, large ring system
Uranus-blue from methane, rotates on its side
Neptune-blue of methane
Pluto-actually a dwarf planet, smallest planet
6. What are comets and why do they have two tails? What direction are the tails pointing? (pg 602).
One tail is a dust tail and one tail is an ion tail that interacts with the solar wind so it is always pointing away
from the sun.
7. What is the difference between a meteor, meteorite, and a meteoroid? (pg 604).
Meteoroid- rock in space
Meteor-light from burning rock as travels through the atmosphere
Meteorite- rock that crashes to Earth
Theories/ Astronomer/ Exploration
1. How do scientists explain the beginning of the Universe? (pg634)
Big Bang Model- The universe began small and dense and then expanded outward and cooled.
2. Explain the solar system models developed by Ptolemy and Copernicus. Include a definition of each.
a. Ptolemy-geocentric (earth centered with planets traveling in epicycles around)
b. Copernicus-heliocentric (sun centered with planets going in perfect circles)
3. What is Kepler’s 1st law of planetary motion? (pg578)
Planets travel in elliptical orbits with the sun at one focus and an imaginary second focus
4. What does Kepler’s 2nd law of planetary motion say about the speed of a planet’s revolution?
The closer a planet is to the sun, the faster it will travel around it.
5. What missions were designed in bring humans to the moon? (notes)
Apollo
6. What did Spirit and Opportunity find on Mars? (notes)
Evidence of past water
Galaxies and Stars
1. What are the three shapes of galaxies and which kind is the Milky Way? (pg. 632)
Spiral- center with spiral arms (Milky Way)
Irregular- no real center, random stars scattered
Elliptical- spherical or near spherical cluster of stars
2. What is located at the center of our galaxy? (pg630)
A supermassive black hole
3. What is a circumpolar constellation? (pg617)
Any constellation that appears to go around the North Star because of Earth’s rotation.
4. What is the difference between apparent magnitude and absolute magnitude? (pg. 619, 623)
Apparent magnitude- the brightness of a star as it appears from Earth
Absolute magnitude- the actual brightness of a star if we lined up the stars 10 parsecs from Earth.
5. How do scientists know what elements make up stars? What instrument do they use? (pg 614)
Scientists use a spectroscope to observe the spectral lines of the stars. They then compare that to known
spectra of the elements. If they line up, then the star has that element.
6. What is the Doppler effect and how does it prove that the universe is expanding? (pg. 615-616)
The Doppler effect is the phenomenon where light will be shifted toward red if it is moving away and
blue if it is moving toward. This helps to prove that the universe is expanding because astronomers see
most galaxies exhibit the redshift.
7. What is the H-R diagram? (pg 626)
A graph that plots temperature versus luminosity (brightness).
8. Explain the life cycle of our Sun and stars like our Sun (pg. 627-628).
Nebula- cloud of gas and dust
Protostar- part of the cloud rotates and heats up
Main Sequence- star begins to fuse hydrogen into helium in the core
Red Giant- Star runs out of hydrogen in the core and fuses what is left outside the core and expands and
cools
Planetary Nebula- star is not hot enough to fuse carbon to the gases float away
White Dwarf-the carbon core is left over
9. What stage of life is our Sun currently experiencing?
Main Sequence
10. Explain the life cycle of a massive star (pg. 627, 629)
Nebula- cloud of gas and dust
Protostar- part of the cloud rotates and heats up
Main Sequence- star begins to fuse hydrogen into helium in the core
Red Supergiant- Star runs out of hydrogen in the core and fuses what is left outside the core and expands
and cools. Continues to fuse lighter elements into heavier elements.
Supernova- Star cannot fuse iron so it explodes
Neutron star- ball of neutrons left over OR black hole- very dense remnant that does not let light escape
11. What color are the hottest stars? Coolest? (pg626)
Blue= hottest
Red=coolest
12. List the different types of electromagnetic radiation from longest wavelength to shortest.(pg613)
Radio, Infared, visible light, ultraviolet, x-rays, gamma rays
13. What is parallax?(pg620)
The apparent shift in stars caused by the revolution of the Earth. Once calculated, we can determine the
distance to that star.
14. What do a parsec, a light year, and an AU all have in common?(Pg620)
They all measure distance in astronomy
15. Draw a diagram of the sun’s layers and label them. Include sunspots and prominences (pg573).
Historic Geology Study Guide
Relative Dating
1. List each type of fossil and an example of each.
Trace fossil- indirect evidence of life
Mold- hollow depression
Cast- replica of fossil created from the mold
Original remains- actual remains of the plant or animal
Replaced remains- remains replaced by rock forming minerals
2. What is the principle of superposition?
Undisturbed sequence of strata, the older rock will be on the bottom and the younger will be on top
3. What is the principle of cross-cutting relationships?
Igneous intrusion is always younger than the rock it has intruded
4. Analyze the rock layers and place them in order from oldest to youngest.
Limestone, Sandstone, Shale, Basalt
5. What is an unconformity?
Where layers of rock are missing from the rock sequence
6. When Earth deposits sediment into strata, it will always lay (horizontally or vertically).
Absolute Dating
7. What is a half-life?
The rate at which a radioactive isotope decays into the daughter isotope
8. How do scientists find the absolute age of a rock? Describe this process.
Scientists need to identify the amount of parent isotope to the daughter isotope and determine this ratio.
Using this ratio, they can determine the number of half lives that have pasted and then multiply this by
the length of the half life. This is called radiometric dating.
9. Carbon-14 can only be used for what kind of material? organic
10. Define parent isotope: original radioactive isotope
11. Define daughter isotope: the product of the radioactive decay
Geologic Time Scale
12. List the order of the units of time from largest to smallest.
Eon, Era, Period, Epoch
13. On the geologic time scale, the farthest back in time is located at the (top or bottom).
Natural Resources
14. What makes a resource renewable? The rate at which it is consumed is slower than the rate at which it is
created.
15. Fill in the chart for the sources of energy.
Energy Source
Pro
Solar
renewable
passive system requires little $
Wind
renewable
Con
Requires $ for active system,
not useful in areas with little
sunlight, pollution from
creation of solar panels
“ugly” wind turbines, birds
non polluting
Nuclear
efficient
Can be used anywhere
and bats are killed, requires
large area
Nuclear waste, risk of
meltdown
Water
renewable
nonpolluting
Only available in areas with
water, dams alter ecosystems
Geothermal
Clean, nonpolluting
Thermal pollution, expensive
Coal/petroleum/oil
Cheap, coal is available in the
US
CO2 emissions, fine
particulate air pollution, oil is
found overseas, oil spills
Virginia Geology
16. Label the provinces of Virginia.
Piedmont
Valley and
Ridge
Appalachian
17. In which province is Loudoun CountyPlateau
located?
Piedmont
18. Which province was created last from sediment from the
Bluemountains?
Coastal Plain
Ridge
19. Which province is known because of its anticlines and synclines?
Valley and Ridge
20. Which province contains the fossil fuel coal?
Appalachian plateau
Rock Unit Study Guide- Academic
The Rock Cycle
1. How does an igneous rock form?
Cooling and crystallizing molten rock
2. How does a sedimentary rock form?
Sediments compact and cement together
3. How does a metamorphic rock form?
Heat and pressure to create a new rock
4. How can metamorphic rock become igneous rock?
Melts to become magma or lava then cools and crystallizes to become igneous
5. How can an igneous rock become a sedimentary rock?
Weathers and erodes into sediments then compacts and cements together
Igneous Rocks
1. Compare and contrast magma and lava.
Magma- molten rock inside Earth
Coastal
Plain
Lava- molten rock on the surface of Earth
2. What is the difference between felsic and mafic molten rock?
Felsic magma/lava is thick and slow moving and will create light colored rocks.
Mafic magma/lava is thin and will create dark colored rocks
3. Extrusive rocks cool quickly on Earth’s surface and have
Small or no crystal grains.
4. Intrusive igneous rocks cool slowly under Earth’s surface and have large crystal grains.
5. Compare and contrast a dike and a sill.
Both are types of plutons but a dike cuts across the rock layers while a sill goes with the rock layers
6. What is a pluton?
When magma cools underground and creates igneous rock
7. Be able to identify pumice, obsidian, granite, and basalt.
Sedimentary Rocks
1. Describe the three types of sedimentary rock.
Organic- made from once living things (shells, fossils)
Chemical- made from minerals that were once dissolved in water
Clastic- sediments stuck together
2. Be able to identify conglomerate, sandstone, rock salt, and coquina.
3. List the major sediments in order from largest to smallest.
Gravel, pebbles, sand, silt, mud
4. How does a river “sort” sediments based on their size.
When a river loses energy it will drop the sediments from largest to smallest
5. What is stratification?
Layers of sediments only found in sedimentary rocks
6. What type of rock are fossils found in? sedimentary
Metamorphic Rock
1. What is a parent rock?
The original rock
2. What are the two types of metamorphic rock?
Foliated- layers or stripes from flattened minerals
Nonfoliated- no flattened minerals because only heat was applied
3. What is foliation? Layers or stripes due to pressure and flattens the minerals
4. What does sandstone change to after heat is applied and it re-crystallizes?
quartzite
5. What does granite change to after heat and pressure is applied?
gneiss
6. What is the difference between regional and local metamorphism?
Regional metamorphism will affect a larger area and cause more changes to the rock (foliated) while local
metamorphism will affect a smaller area and is caused by “baking” the rock. (nonfoliated)
7. Be able to identify slate, gneiss, and quartzite.
Agents of Erosion Notes
Weathering is the breakup of rock due to the exposure of
Earth's surface.
processes on
Erosion is the removal and transport of materials by
Mechanical weathering: when rock is split or broken into
of the same material without changing its composition.
natural agents.
smaller pieces
Chemical weathering: when the rock's mineral are
changed into
different substances.
Agent of Erosion: Gravity
Mass movement refers to the downward transportation of weathered materials by gravity.
Landslide is the movement of a mass of bedrock or loose soil and rock down the slope of a hill, mountain, or
cliff.
Different types of landslides:
Creep: slow, imperceivable movement of soil down a slope.
Slump: blocks of land move downhill along a surface that
curve into the slope. Caused when the slope becomes too steep
to be supported.
Earthflows: mass of weathered material that has been saturated
with water flows downhill.
Mudflows: rapid movement of water that contains large
amounts of suspended clay and silt.
Agent of Erosion: Ice
Glaciers pick up and move particles ranging in size from fine
powder to house sized boulders.
The glacier can move because at the base of the glacier, the weight causes grains of ice to partically melt and
acts as a lubricant for the whole mass. Glaciers also move because the ice grains are flattened and can glide
past the other grains.
Glaciers erode bedrock by dragging particles and creating long parallel grooves called striations and smooth the
rock.
When glaciers move they carve out the valley floor in the shape of a "U".
Rock material eroded by glacial ice can be carried on top, within, or be
dragged below the glacier.
Ice Deposits:
Till: the unsorted sediment deposited by a glacier.
Moraine: a large deposit of till
Agents of Erosion: Wind
Wind can pick up and move loose rock material and can smash the sediment against another rock causing
weathering.
Deflation is the removal of loose rock particles by the wind.
Abrasion is the wearing away of rock material by windblown sand.
When strong, steady winds lift great amounts of silt and clay from the topsoil, a dust storm results. Dust in the
atmosphere can be carried great distances (even over oceans)!
Wind Deposits:
Loess- unlayered silt sized particles deposited by the wind.
Sand dunes- hills of sand deposited by the wind.
Agents of Erosion: Running Water
Rapidly flowing water has a lifting effect that can split off and move rock fragments. Running water also
erodes at its bed by using sand and gravel as cutting tools. These sediments are rounded because of the water.
A river transports its load in three different ways:
1) in suspension- when the river
the silt, clay and fine sand.
is carrying
2) in solution- when the river
dissolved mineral matter from
contains
the bedrock.
3) in its bed load- when the river
sand, pebbles, and boulders
bottom
rolls the
along the
Rivers erode their bed and form "V" shaped valleys.
A stream cannot erode its bed to a level any lower than the level of the largest body of water into which it flows.
This is called the base level.
Water Deposits:
A river will deposit a part of its load of sediment when either the river's energy or the amount of water
decreases.
Rivers can erode their banks until they create a "cut through". The river will then deposit sediment and create
an oxbow lake.
A delta forms when river flows into a quiet or larger body of water causing the sediments to deposits in a fan
shape.
An alluvial fan can form when a mountain stream meets the flat base of the mountain.
Groundwater Notes
1. Factors that affect how much water seeps into the ground:
a. type of rock and soil
b. climate
c. topography
d. vegetation and land use
2. Porosity- The amount of water that soil or
upon the amount of space between grains
rock can hold depends
of material.
3. Permeability-How fast water can pass through the pore spaces of a rock.
4. Water table- upper surface
of the zone of saturation.
5. Zone of Saturation- the
ground where all pore spaces
are filled with water.
6. Zone of Aeration- section of
ground that can still hold
water.
Supplies rivers between rain storms and also supplies drinking water.
7. Aquifers- layers of rock that can store and carry groundwater.
8. Artesian formation- aquifer between 2 impermeable layers.
a. In places where the water table does not reach the surface, humans can reach the
groundwater by digging or driving wells into the ground.
Zone of aeration
Ordinary well
Artesian well
Water table
Zone of Saturation
Impermeable rock
Aquifer
Impermeable rock
9. Spring- where the water table meets the surface on a hillside
11. Hot Springs -caused when groundwater is heated by Earth's interior.
12. Geyser- when water in the tube is heated until boiling and pressure is relieved.
Formation of Karst Topography
1.Carbonic acid dissolved the limestone
2.Water table lowers
3.Limestone deposits from the rocks above the cave form stalactites and stalagmites.
Features of Karst Topography
1. Caverns
2. Sinkholes
3. Stalactites
4. Stalagmites
Surface Water Notes



Rain running down a slope eventually reaches a permanent body of water such a stream.
A stream that runs into another
stream is called a
tributary.
are called a river
A river and all of its tributaries
system.
A Watershed
 Watershed: All the land that
either directly or through
drains into the river
tributaries.
Features of a River
water travels in a
 Stream Velocity: Distance the
given amount of time.
the slope.
 Stream Gradient: Steepness of
 Stream Discharge: Amount of water that passes a certain point in a given amount of time.
 Floodplain: the valley floor where the river runs during a flood.
 Meander: the winding back and forth in broad curves.
 Natural Levees: thick deposits that form elevated ridges along the stream banks