STUDY GUIDE FOR MID-TERM EXAM KEY
1. In which type of rock are fossils most likely to be found? ___Sedimentary Rocks_________
2. Which mineral is easily identified by smell? ____________Sulfur_____________
3. Which natural resource makes the largest contribution to Virginia’s economy? ______Coal_____
4. A student visits the area around a volcano that has recently erupted. The student can expect to find what
rock type? ___Extrusive Igneous_____
5. List the properties used to identify a mineral.
Color, luster, cleavage, fracture, hardness, taste, smell, fluorescence, radioactivity, magnetism
6. Approximately 99.7% of all water on Earth is found in oceans, seas, ice, and the atmosphere. What percentage
leftover is drinkable? _____0.3______ %.
7. Cyanite (Al2SiO5), quartz (SiO2), and leucite (KAlSi2O6) may be grouped together because they all contain the
_______silica______ ion.
8. Draw a topographic map of a hill with a crater at the top.
9. Which point on the hill is steepest? Explain why you chose the point you did. Point C because the contour lines
are close together
10. What do all maps have? _________Distortion____________
11. What is the elevation of point I on the contour map?
1440 feet
12. The picture below represents soil development. List the correct order from beginning to end.
II, IV, III, I
13. What is located beneath soil layers? ___bedrock_____________
14. __Organic____ matter is made from decayed plants and animals.
15. In karst regions, caves are carved by the flow of water through limestone bedrock. How do the
stalagmites and stalactites in the caves develop?
By dripping water
16. Sinkholes associated with natural processes are characteristic of what type of
bedrock?_Limestone________
17. Porosity is the amount of pore space in soils. Permeability is the ability of water to pass
through the soil. Why do some soils have high porosity but low permeability?
The pore spaces are small and do not allow for water to pass through quickly
18. This picture shows a simple well that was dug down to the groundwater. What probably caused the
lower level of groundwater, known as a “cone of depression,” in the vicinity of the well?
As water is drawn from the well, it takes time for the groundwater to percolate through the
soil and restore the level
19. The drawing below shows the water table in the vicinity of a newly drilled well. Draw the appearance of
the water table several months later when the well has been in regular use.

20. According to the diagram below, the water supply will be most consistent in well –
Well 3
21. During droughts, lack of rain can lead to wells drying up. This is because the drought has
lowered the ________Water Table__________________.
22. List the Fossil Fuels.
Coal, oil, natural gas
23. Major mineral resources of Virginia include granite, limestone, and ______coal_________.
24. Virginia has large deposits of sand and gravel. These are usually found in areas where
___water_____ once flowed.
25. Which energy source produces the least environmental effects? ______solar____________
26. What is reclamation?
When land is put back to its original state before mining took place  adding soil, grass,
plants, trees
27. What is the greatest environmental cost of hydroelectric power?
Destruction of free-running rivers and their ecosystems
28. Which mineral, when in the form of sand, can be used to manufacture glass? __Quartz_____
29. What determines the size of grains in igneous rocks? Cooling Rate
30. What is the contour interval of this map? ___20 feet___ Where is the steepest point? __X__
What is the value for point X? __180 feet___________
31. Why are some extrusive igneous rocks, such as obsidian, glassy?
Because they cool quickly
32. Metamorphic rocks whose minerals are arranged in layers or bands are called _foliated___.
33. Students want to identify a rock in a nearby field. Which property would be most useful in
identifying the unknown rock?___Mineral content___________
34. Rocks formed by the cementing of weathered materials are called _sedimentary_ rocks.
35. Draw and correctly label a rock cycle.
A  igneous rocks; B  sediments; C  Sedimentary rocks; D  Metamorphic rocks
36. Slate is a fairly common rock that can be used for roofing shingles. What property makes it
most suitable for this use?
It can be split into thin flat layers
37. Which kind of rock is formed by the processes shown? _______sedimentary___________
38. The picture below shows that one of the main pollution problems associated with sinkholes is
that they can ____connect_______ directly to the ____water______ table.
List Evidence to support Continental Drift:
1. Jigsaw Puzzle Fit
2. Fossils
3. Climate
4. Rock Sequences
Circle the letter where metamorphic rocks are most likely to be found. Letter “C”
What does the picture below illustrate (show): Fault
Where is the highest concentration of earthquakes (each little dot is an earthquake) occurring in the diagram
below? Where the plates slide past each other
List features associated with plate tectonics (i.e. different features):
1. Rift Valleys
2. Volcanoes
3. Earthquakes
4. Mid-Ocean Ridges
What caused X and Y to be folded? What type of force? Compression (collision of plates)
Why do volcanoes and ridges form where the seafloor is spreading apart? Draw a picture to help with your explanation.
Because magma pushes upward towards the surface
What caused the folding and faulting found in the rocks of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia?
Colliding plates
Which layer in the picture below is an example of an intrusion? 3
Draw a picture of a landform that is created when two continents collide. You should draw Mountains without volcanoes
Why is more of the upper block’s formation in the picture below missing? Because it’s exposed at the surface
Look at the picture below and tell where most of the earthquakes would occur. At plate boundaries
Slippage along faults within Earth’s crust creates ____earthquakes___________________.
The edges of moving crustal plates are often defined by _volcanoes and earthquakes__________________.
The mountain shown below is composed of deformed sedimentary layers. They are located near a tectonic plate
boundary and are still increasing in elevation due to what? Plates colliding
What type of fault is the San Andreas Fault (located in California)? __strike-slip fault________________________
Why is the topography of the Valley and Ridge Province rolling topography?
Differential erosion
What does Pangaea mean?
supercontinent
Even though the Earth’s inner core is hotter than the liquid outer core, why is it solid?
Because of all of the other layers putting pressure on it
Which point on the diagram below is where an earthquake originates? Focus
What is the fewest number of seismic graphic stations that must record the arrival time of P and S waves in order for the
epicenter of an earthquake to be located? ________3__________
How did identical rock types, identical fossils, and very similar mountain ranges end up being found on four different
continents? Explain. The continents were joined together at one time
Seismic waves generate from the earthquake at point R would arrive at locations W and X as follows: at X first
What data is trying to be explained by the diagram below? Why similar fossils are found on different continents
Which rock type is being described in the following statement?  Sample 4 is made up of layers of
sand grains cemented together. __________Sedimentary______________________________
The shale layers in the drawing below were broken and separated by movement along the fault. What also most likely
occurred as these rock layers moved along the fault? _earthquake_______
Draw a diagram representing the Earth’s Interior. Make sure to label all of the different parts.
Scientists use volcanoes and earthquake activity to establish ________plate___________ boundaries.
The Marianas Trench is the deepest trench in the oceans. How did this trench form? Because one plate is subducting
beneath another
The Earth’s mantle is made up of very hot material that rises to the top of the mantle, cools, then sinks, reheats, and
rises again, constantly repeating the cycle. This action, which causes the Earth’s crust to move, is known as
__Convection_______________.
At which ocean feature in the drawing below would the greatest amount of water pressure be exerted? Trench
What kind of fold is shown at point X in the drawing below? Anticline