Geol 101: Physical Geology
Fall 2006
EXAM 3
Write your name out in full on the scantron form and fill in the corresponding
ovals to spell out your name. Also fill in your student ID number in the space
provided. Do not include the dash and do not leave any spaces. Make sure you
have all 8 pages of the exam. There are 55 questions. For each question, select
the correct answer and fill in your choice on the scantron form. You MUST use
pencil on the scantron form!
1. An example of a region of faulting and earthquakes in a continental interior
setting is the:
A. New Madrid region
B. Pacific Northwest region
C. Western Pacific region
D. San Andreas fault region
E. none of the above
2. The region of the U.S.A. that experienced at least 4 earthquakes in 18111812 (including a magnitude 8.1) was:
A. the New Madrid region
B. the Pacific Northwest region
C. the Alaska region
D. the San Andreas fault region
E. the Hawaii region
3.
The type of
compression
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
fault that forms in a region where the crust is undergoing
is a:
thrust fault
reverse fault
normal fault
both A and B above
all of the above
4.
If a fault is dipping into the
fault is the (1) _________ and
__________.
A. (1) footwall
B. (1) footwall
C. (1) fault plane
D. (1) hanging wall
E. (1) hanging wall
ground at 60º, the block of rock above the
the block of rock below the fault is the (2)
(2) hanging wall
(2) fault scarp
(2) footwall
(2) fault plane
(2) footwall
5.
Along the San Andreas fault, the west side is moving towards the north and
the east side is moving relatively towards the south. This makes the San
Andreas fault:
A. a normal fault
B. a right-lateral fault
C. a left-lateral fault
D. a reverse fault
E. either a left or right-lateral fault (depending on what side of
the fault you are standing on)
6.
Which of the following types of folds have TWO fold limbs?
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7.
A. anticlines
B. synclines
C. monoclines
D. all of the above
E. only A and B above
On 26th December 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake caused a tsunami that
killed about 283,000 people around the rim of the Indian Ocean. The
earthquake itself occurred off the coast of this country:
A. India
B. Thailand
C. Sri Lanka
D. Indonesia
E. Sumatra
8.
Geologic evidence suggests that a magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit the
continental United States in the year 1700, also producing a tsunami that
ultimately hit Japan. Where did this earthquake occur?
A. along the San Andreas fault of California
B. southern Alaska
C. in the New Madrid region of Missouri
D. offshore from Charleston, South Carolina
E. in the Pacific Northwest
9.
The process of creep along faults is when:
A. faults produce one long continuous earthquake
B. faults with low amounts of friction slide constantly without
causing an earthquake
C. slow-slipping faults start to slip faster and faster until an
earthquake occurs
D. faults start to behave in a ductile manner
E. there is not enough tectonic stress available for a fault to
produce an earthquake
10.
The Great San Francisco earthquake in 1906 was the most devastating
earthquake in the history of the United States, killing about 3,000 people.
This magnitude 7.8 earthquake happened because of motion along the:
A. Cascadia subduction zone
B. Aleutians subduction zone
C. San Andreas fault
D. Borah Peak fault
E. Basin and Range faults
11.
The largest earthquake in the United States during historic times, as well as
being the second largest earthquake ever recorded, was:
A. in southern Alaska in 1964
B. in San Francisco in 1906
C. in Idaho in 1983
D. in Charleston, South Carolina in 1886
E. in Hawaii in 2006
12.
The largest earthquake in historic times had a magnitude of 9.5 and
occurred off the coast of:
A. Peru
B. Chile
C. Mexico
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D.
E.
13.
The record
traced from
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Alaska
Indonesia
of an earthquake’s seismic waves is a series of zig-zag lines
left to right, called a:
seismogram
seismograph
seismometer
seismologist
magnitudometer
14.
The focus of an earthquake is:
A. the location of a fault scarp at the earth’s surface where the
earthquake rupture starts
B. the point inside the earth from which body waves radiate into
the surrounding rocks
C. the point on the earth's surface where surface waves radiate out
into the surrounding rocks
D. exactly the same as the epicenter of an earthquake
E. always at the earth's surface
15.
The first two seismic waves to arrive after an earthquake are:
A. the S-wave then the P-wave
B. the P-wave then the S-wave
C. the Love wave then the Rayleigh wave
D. the Rayleigh wave then the Love wave
E. dependent on the distance to the earthquake
16. Which seismic wave is a type of body wave that moves through rocks with a
back and forth motion, like a snake?
A. P-waves
B. Love waves
C. Rayleigh waves
D. sound waves
E. S-waves
17.
The minimum number of earthquake monitoring stations needed to determine
the epicenter of an earthquake:
A. 5
B. 4
C. 3
D. 2
E. 1
18.
Which of the following is NOT a type of measurement scale for earthquakes?
A. moment magnitude scale
B. Modified Mercalli intensity scale
C. Richter scale
D. Saffir-Simpson scale
E. all of the above are used for measuring earthquakes
19.
The intensity of the 2001 Nisqually earthquake (M6.8) near Seattle was far
less than that of the 1994 Northridge earthquake (M6.7) near Los Angeles
because:
A. Seattle is not as heavily populated as Los Angeles
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B. Los Angeles has earthquakes more often
C. buildings in Seattle are designed better than those in Los
Angeles
D. the Nisqually earthquake was much deeper than the Northridge
earthquake
E. Seattle is closer to the water, which absorbed a lot of the
seismic waves
20. Which of the following is an accurate description of liquefaction due to an
earthquake?
A. when ground shaking causes water-saturated sediment to act like
quicksand
B. when a shift of the ocean bottom produces a giant wave at the
surface
C. when earthquakes cause waterlogged mountain slopes to produce
landslides
D. when seismic waves get amplified in loose sediments, causing
more shaking
E. when an earthquake causes bodies of water to slosh back and forth
21.
22.
23.
24.
What type of earthquake-induced hazard was responsible for the destruction
of Yungay, Peru, in 1970?
A. tsunami
B. ground shaking
C. aftershocks
D. liquefaction
E. landslide
Which of the following is an accurate definition of the term tsunami?
A. it is a type of earthquake that occurs under the ocean
B. it is a type of seismic wave that causes a lot of damage to tall
buildings
C. it is a water wave generated in the ocean as a result of an
earthquake
D. it is a type of landslide triggered in a mountainous region
during an earthquake
E. it is an ancient Japanese method of studying earthquakes
The process whereby seismic wave motion directions change as they pass
across a boundary from one rock layer into a rock layer with a different
density is:
A. wave reflection
B. wave refraction
C. wave rays
D. wave interference
E. wave shadowing
Considering that (1) _________ are unable to pass through liquids, we know
that the (2) __________ must be a liquid because seismic wave shadow zones
are observed after a major earthquake occurs.
A. (1) P-waves
(2) outer core
B. (1) P-waves
(2) inner core
C. (1) S-waves
(2) outer core
D. (1) S-waves
(2) inner core
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E.
(1) S-waves
(2) asthenosphere
25.
As a result of seismic waves interacting with the liquid layer mentioned in
the previous question, within what region do seismographs show no record of
the earthquake ever having occurred?
A. the S-wave shadow zone
B. the P-wave shadow zone
C. the epicenter
D. the opposite side of the earth to the earthquake
E. no such region exists
26.
The Mohorovicic discontinuity, better known as the Moho, is:
A. the boundary between the crust and the mantle
B. the boundary between the lithosphere and the asthenosphere
C. the boundary between the mantle and the outer core
D. the boundary between the outer core and the inner core
E. a region in Yugoslavia where seismic waves mysteriously vanish
27.
Continental crust, which commonly forms high mountains, is thicker, and
stands higher, than oceanic crust:
A. because continental crust is denser than oceanic crust
B. because continental crust is less dense than oceanic crust
C. because of the principle of isostacy
D. both A and C above
E. both B and C above
28.
A continental margin is comprised of:
A. continental rise, continental slope, and deep ocean basin
B. continental rise, continental slope, and mid-ocean ridge
C. continental shelf, continental rise, and deep ocean basin
D. continental shelf, continental slope, and mid-ocean ridge
E. continental shelf, continental slope, and continental rise
29.
The boundary between oceanic crust and continental crust is:
A. beneath the continental rise
B. beneath the continental shelf
C. beneath the continental slope
D. beneath the mid-ocean ridge
E. at the current-day coastline
30.
The (1) ___________ is an example of a/an (2) ____________ continental
margin.
A. (1) west coast of North America
(2) passive
B. (1) Pacific Northwest coast
(2) active
C. (1) east coast of North America
(2) active
D. (1) west coast of South America
(2) passive
E. (1) east coast of South America
(2) active
31. Which of the following portion of the ocean floor is the flattest?
A. ocean trenches
B. ocean ridges
C. continental slope
D. abyssal plains
E. continental rise
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32. Which of the following portions of typical oceanic lithosphere would most
likely occur on the sea floor?
A. pillow basalt
B. sheeted dike complex
C. peridotite
D. gabbro
E. serpentinite
33.
The tectonic plate that used to exist off the west coast of North America
but which has long since been subducted, was the:
A. Juan da Fuca plate
B. Farallon plate
C. California plate
D. Pacific plate
E. Exotic plate
34.
What is meant by the term orogenesis?
A. it is a type of metamorphism
B.
it is the process by which subducting plates melt
C. it is the development of a new rift valley
D. it is the creation of mountain ranges
E. it is a type of folding
35.
Backarc. Volcanic arc. Forearc. What’s missing from this list?
A. island arc
B. deep arc
C. subduction arc
D. Noah’s arc
E. trench
36.
The pile of crumpled sea floor sediments that build up where an ocean plate
starts to subduct is called a/an:
A. forearc basin
B. island arc
C. batholith
D. turbidity flow
E. accretionary wedge
37.
In which of these places would you expect to find a suture zone?
A. Himalayas
B. Sierra Nevada
C. East African Rift Valley
D. mid-ocean ridge
E. Gritman medical center
38.
The main driving force behind mass wasting is:
A. water
B. ice
C. wind
D. gravity
E. human stupidity
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39. Which of these controls on mass wasting reduces the cohesion of slope
material?
A. a decrease in the steepness of the slope
B. an increase in the amount of water in the regolith
C. an increase in the amount of vegetation cover
D. an increase in the shear strength of the regolith particles
E. all of the above
40.
The angle of repose of most sediment is approximately:
A. 0°
B. 60° - 90°
C. 45° - 60°
D. 25° - 40°
E. there is no limit to the angle of repose
41.
The type of landslide that involves slow sliding of sediment above a
concave slip surface is called:
A. a slump
B. a rock slide
C. a mudflow
D. a debris avalanche
E. creep
42.
The type of landslide that involves a slurry flow of clay-sized sediment is
called:
A. a slump
B. a rock slide
C. a mudflow
D. a debris avalanche
E. creep
43.
44.
About 99% of all liquid fresh water on Earth is stored:
A. in the oceans
B. in swamps
C. in the ice caps
D. underground
E. in rivers
In a meandering river, an example of a feature created by deposition of
sediment is:
A. a natural levee
B. a flood plain
C. a point bar
D. all of the above
E. not possible - only erosion occurs in a meandering channel
45. Which of the following features or processes would NOT be associated with a
flood plain?
A. natural levees
B. distributaries
C. stream terraces
D. point bars
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E.
vertical accretion
46.
Deltas get their name from the Greek letter, . What is the only type of
delta that really has this triangular shape when viewed from above?
A. stream-dominated delta
B. wave-dominated delta
C. bird’s foot delta
D. tide-dominated delta
E. all deltas have a triangular shape – that’s why they’re called
deltas
47.
A continental divide is:
A. a mountain chain separating rivers that flow into different
oceans
B. a mountain chain separating drainage basins emptying into the
same ocean
C. a high standing area inside a drainage basin
D. a boundary between two different patterns of river drainage
E. a mountain range at a divergent plate boundary
48. The type of river drainage that resembles the shape of veins in a leaf is
called:
A. trellis
B. dendritic
C. rectangular
D. radial
E. deranged
49.
Which of the following statements about ultimate base level is FALSE?
A. rivers cannot erode deeper than ultimate base level
B. ultimate base level is always sea level
C. ultimate base level can change through time
D. a lake is a type of ultimate base level
E. all of the above statements are false
50.
Stream piracy is a direct result of:
A. incised meandering
B. downcutting
C. lateral erosion
D. headward erosion
E. drunken bandits on river barges
BONUS QUESTIONS
51.
The magnitude 7.9 Fort Tejon earthquake of 1857 occurred here:
A. California
B. Pacific Northwest
C. Borah Peak, Idaho
D. Charleston, South Carolina
E. Alaska
52.
The type of seismic wave that has the most in common with sound waves:
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A. Rayleigh wave
B. Love wave
C. S-wave
D. P-wave
E. none of the above (sound waves have no similarities to any
seismic waves)
53.
The type of mass wasting that involves the development of bulging lobes on
a vegetated slope is called:
A. creep
B. earthflow
C. solifluction
D. a debris slide
E. a lahar
54. Which of the following features is NOT made out of alluvium?
A. alluvial fans
B. bars
C. flood plains
D. deltas
E. rock slides
55. An example of a lake that existed during the last ice age, caused by a
glacial dam, is:
A. Great Salt Lake
B. Finger Lakes
C. the Aral Sea
D. Lake Chad
E. Lake Missoula
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