Name: ________________________________ Date: _________________ Period: _____
Study Guide for Geology Unit
The test will be: __________________
Make sure you have all of the following. During the Geology Unit, you have had:
4 Readings (“Our Layered Planet,” Reading #2 starts with “The Earth’s Layers,” “The Rock
Cycle” packet, and “The Rock Cycle and Igneous Rocks.”)
2 Movies with question packets (“Origins,” and “Hour that Shook Japan (Megaquake)”)
2 Activities (Earth Calendar and Webquest (Savage Earth Website)
5 Quizzes
Questions on the test will be taken from this material.
Vocabulary *If you attach your completed vocabulary sheet to this study guide, you don’t
have to fill the following in. Just use it to test yourself and see if you know the
definitions.
Atmosphere
Crust
Mantle
Outer core
Inner core
Lithosphere
Asthenosphere
1
Convergent boundary
Divergent boundary
Transform fault boundary
Mid ocean ridge
Subduction zone
Deep Sea trench
Continental Drift
Pangaea
Sea Floor Spreading
Earth’s Magnetic Field (Magnetosphere)
Normal Polarity
Reversed Polarity
Curie Point
2
Paleomagnetism
Plate Tectonics
Amplitude
Focus
Epicenter
Seismic Waves
S-waves
P-waves
Surface Waves
Fault
Magnitude
Richter Scale
Intensity
3
Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale
Chemical weathering
Physical weathering
Erosion
Lithifaction
Mineral
Rock
Igneous
Metamorphic
Sedimentary
Intrusive
Extrusive
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Questions
1. Simply, how was Earth born? About how old is the Earth?
2. What was the “iron catastrophe?” How is that relevant to our study of geology?
3. Draw all layers of the Earth and LABEL them. Then, after each label write (S) if
the layer is solid, (M) if it is molten, and (SM) if it is semi-molten.
4. What layers comprise the lithosphere? Asthenosphere?
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5. List the three types of plate boundaries. Tell me what you know about each type.
6. Explain how the North America can be moving away from Western Europe. (Use
the vocabulary words lithosphere, Asthenosphere, plate tectonics, and one of the 3
plate boundary types).
7. What two plate boundaries may cause earthquakes?
8. What two scales are used to measure earthquakes? How do the two differ in what
they measure? What do the scales go from and to?
9. How much more shaking occurs in an earthquake that measures 6.0 on the Richter
Scale than an earthquake that measures 5.0 on the Richter Scale?
10. What is Pangaea? How does the study of rocks support the theory of Pangaea?
Does the theory of Pangaea support the theory of plate tectonics? How?
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11. Tell me everything you can about the earthquake that hit Honshu, Japan on
March11, 2011. Tell me how it happened, what the effects were, and what this
may tell us about the western US coastline.
12. How does Earth’s magnetic field support life on Earth?
13. What is the “rock cycle?”
14. What is the difference between a rock and a mineral?
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15. Name the three different types of rocks. Explain how each forms.
16. What do color and crystal size tell you about a rock?
17. What is an intrusive igneous rock? What is an extrusive igneous rock?
18. What is “weathering?” Give an example of chemical weathering and an example of
physical weathering.
19. What is erosion? What 4 things cause erosion?
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20. Give three examples of each: igneous rock, sedimentary rock, and metamorphic
rock.
21. What type of rock contains fossils?
22. Molten rock above ground is called ______________________ and molten rock
below ground is called _________________________.
23. “Acidic” rocks have more ____________________ than “less acidic” rocks. (Why
did I use quotation marks here?)
24. What are the two types of igneous rock? Three types of sedimentary rock? What are
the two types of metamorphic rock?
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