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The two broad areas of geology are physical geology and structural geology.
More than 2300 years ago, Aristotle's keen observations and experiments helped the early Greeks correctly explain many things about the natural world.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, catastrophists believed that Earth's landscapes had been shaped primarily by great disasters.
Uniformitarianism is a fundamental principle of geology that states that the physical, chemical, and biological laws that govern geological processes remain unchanged through time.
The principle of uniformitarianism indicates that
The geologic time scale was developed using principles of relative dating.
The law of superposition and the principle of fossil succession are each used for relative dating.
The theory of plate tectonics provides geologists with a comprehensive model of Earth's internal workings.
The age of Earth is about 6.4 billion years.
All science is based on the assumption that the natural world behaves in a consistent and predictable manner that is comprehensible through careful, systematic study.
The scientific method is the standard used by scientists so that
The geological time scale has been constructed based upon which of the following?
A scientific hypothesis is a tentative (or untested) explanation.
Scientific theories that explain a large number of interrelated aspects of the natural world are called paradigms.
As the Earth was forming, an early period of chemical segregation established the basic divisions of its interior.
There is a fixed path that scientists always follow that leads unerringly to scientific knowledge.
The Earth and the other planets formed at the same time from an enormous rotating cloud called the solar nebula.
A system is a group of interacting or interdependent parts that form a complex whole.
Earth can be thought of as consisting of four spheres: the hydrosphere, the atmosphere, solid Earth, and biosphere.
Approximately how much of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans?
Humans are not considered parts of the Earth system.
The Earth system is powered by two parts: the Sun, and heat from burning fossil fuels.
The Earth system that involves glaciers, oceans, and rain is the
The Earth system that involves the surface expression of Earth's dynamic interior is the
All of the following are fundamental Earth systems except _______.
The composition of Earth's core is thought to be an iron-nickel alloy with minor amounts of oxygen, silicon, and sulfur.
Earth's outermost layer, consisting of the crust and upper mantle, is called the lithosphere.

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Earth's outer core is liquid, whereas the inner core is solid.
Over 82 percent of Earth's volume is contained in the crust.
As defined by composition, Earth's internal structure consists of the core, mantle, and crust.
Shields (flat expanses composed largely of crystalline rocks), are parts of stable continental interiors.
On average, continental rocks are more dense than the rocks of the oceanic crust.
The boundary between the continents and the deep-ocean basins lies along the continental shelf.
Extremely deep, relatively narrow depressions on the ocean floor are called abyssal plains.
Magma is molten material that forms in Earth's interior where temperatures and pressures are such that rock melts.
Lithification is a term that means "conversion into rock."
The rock cycle illustrates the origin of the three basic rock types and the role of various geologic processes in transforming one rock type into another.
Geology is the science that pursues an understanding of __________.
The Earth system is powered by energy from two sources: __________ and __________.
Earth's outermost layer, consisting of the crust and uppermost mantle, is a relatively cool, rigid shell called the __________.
The __________ form(s) a continuous belt that winds for more than 70,000 kilometers (43,000 miles) around the globe.
The act of placing rocks in their proper sequence of formation is called __________.
To assume that rock layers that are inclined have been moved into that position by crustal disturbances is to apply a principle of relative dating known as cross-cutting relationships.
What fundamental principle of geology did Nicolaus Steno propose in 1669?
To state that "in an undeformed sequence of sedimentary rocks the oldest rock is at the bottom" is to use a basic principle of relative dating called the law of superposition.
Most layers of sediment are deposited in a horizontal position.
An igneous rock that cuts through a sedimentary rock must be younger than that sedimentary rock.
This is an example of __________.
An unconformity is a break in the rock record during which deposition ceased, erosion removed previously formed rocks, and then deposition resumed.
Pieces of one rock unit contained within another are called inclusions.
When magma works its way into a rock and crystallizes, we can assume that the intrusion is younger than the rock that has been intruded.
A break in the rock record where the deposition of sediment has been interrupted is referred to as a(n)
__________.
No place on Earth has a complete set of conformable strata.
The "matching-up" of rocks from similar ages but different regions is referred to as correlation.
Which fundamental geologic principle allows geologists to use the remains of organisms when correlating rock units?
The fact that fossils succeed one another in a definite and determinable order is known as the principle of fossil succession.

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Atoms of the same element that contain different numbers of neutrons are called __________.
__________ is the result of the spontaneous decay of an atom's nucleus.
Of the three rock types, igneous rocks are more suitable for radiometric dating than sedimentary rocks.
The complete decay of uranium eventually produces a stable daughter consisting of the element
__________.
Using radioactive isotopes to calculate the ages of rocks and minerals is a procedure called radiometric dating.
If the ratio of parent isotope to daughter isotope is 1:7, __________ half-lives have elapsed.
All rocks can be dated radiometrically.
Which isotopic system is commonly used by anthropologists and archaeologists, as well as geologists, for dating objects a few thousand years old?
During radioactive decay, as the percentage of radioactive parent atoms declines, the proportion of stable daughter atoms also decreases.
The first 88 percent of Earth's history, about which geologists know very little, is referred to as the
__________.
The Hadean, the Archean, and the Proterozoic eons are commonly referred to as the Precambrian.
The first appearance of abundant fossil evidence in the geologic record occurs at the beginning of the
__________ period.
Which of the following sequences places the different units of the geologic time scale in proper order beginning with the greatest expanses of time?
The Mesozoic era is the age of "recent life" on Earth.
According to the information at this University of California site
, the study of the "family tree of life" is referred to as __________.
Referring to this University of California Museum of Paleontology site
, determine when the first vertebrates developed on Earth.
The entire geologic time scale was created using numerical dates.
As stated in the information at this
NASA site
, the Universe began with a "Big Bang" about __________ years ago.
According to the science information at this
NASA site
, where did the elements such as oxygen and carbon that make up Earth originate?
Plants are responsible for dramatically altering the composition of the entire planet's atmosphere.
Earth's original atmosphere consisted of gases expelled from within the planet during a process known as ____________.
The enormous cloud from which the solar system formed was composed mostly of the gases hydrogen and nitrogen.
Which one of the following is NOT a gas geologists hypothesize existed in Earth's original atmosphere?
Once the available metal ____________ was oxidized, substantial quantities of oxygen began to accumulate in Earth's atmosphere.
The largest division of geologic time is a "period."
The smallest divisions of the geologic time scale are referred to as ____________.
Large "core areas" of Precambrian rocks, called ____________, exist on each continent.

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Which era of the geologic time scale is often referred to as the "age of reptiles"?
The beginning of the Cenozoic era is marked by the appearance of the first life-forms with hard parts.
The supercontinent of Pangaea formed during the late ____________.
Evidence indicates that some dinosaurs, unlike their present-day reptile relatives, were warm blooded.
Which one of the following is most notably absent in Precambrian rocks?
The Mesozoic era is the least understood span of Earth's history.
During their formation, the inner planets were unable to retain appreciable amounts of the lighter, gaseous components because of their high surface temperatures and weak ____________ fields.
An early period of chemical segregation established the three basic divisions of Earth's interior.
Which era of geologic time spans the largest percentage of Earth's history?
Plants were not established on the land until the early Cenozoic.
One group of ____________, exemplified by the fossil Archaeopteryx, led to the birds.
During the Mesozoic, reptiles made one of the most spectacular adaptive radiations in all of Earth history.
Which one of the following was NOT a characteristic of primitive mammals?
During the Cenozoic, the stable continental margin of western North America was the site of abundant marine sedimentation.
The most common Precambrian fossils are __________.
The oldest plant fossils are older than the oldest animal fossils.
Which one of the following was NOT a continent included in the vast southern continent of
Gondwanaland during the early Paleozoic?
Both Australia and South America provide excellent examples of how isolation caused by the separation of continents increased the diversity of animals in the world.
The greatest of at least five mass extinctions to occur over the past 600 million years took place at the end of the __________ era.
The ancestral Appalachian Mountains formed during the late Paleozoic as North America and Africa collided.
Many large mammals were rapidly eliminated during a wave of late Pleistocene extinctions.
The Devonian period is often called the "age of fishes."