Earth 2: Weekly Quizzes: review

What is the age of the Earth?

- 4.5 Billion years ( 4.5 Ga)

Unconformities represent [a gap in time]. The boundary between one set of layers (younger) and another set of truncated (i.e. older) layers that are tilted/folded is called a(n) [angular unconformity]. A(n) [disconformity] is a flat contact between sediments that are actually separated by a large gap in time, perhaps because of marine regression and transgression. A(n) [nonconformity] describes the boundary between sedimentary layers deposited atop older metamorphic or igneous rocks. When the unconformity results from removal of some amount of rock by surface processes, it is a(n) [erosional unconformity].

- A gap in time - Angular uncomformity - Nonconformity - Erosional Uncomformity

Which of the following may cause species extinction on Earth?

- Asteroid/ Comet impact - Appearance/ evolution of a new predator - volcanic eruption(e.g igneous Provinces) - Appearance/ Evolution of a directly competing species - Climate change

Which of the following is involved in the field of Taxonomy ?

- Classifying Organisms into "family trees" - Detailed descriptions of ancient organisms

Select all of the following which are useful for identifying and discriminating different minerals:

- Clevage - density/ specific gravity - hardness - streak -luster

Which of these are required in order for a substance to be classified as a 'mineral'?

- Defined chemical composition - inorganic - Harder than a fingernail - Crystalline - Solid - Naturally occurring

__________ are vertical planar igneous intrusions, ___________ are horizontal planar intrusions.

- Dikes -Sills

Which of these is a mafic igneous rock?

- Gabbro

Flesic

- High SIO2 - Low density - Low melting temperature - High melt viscostiy

Which among the following is not a stratigraphic law?

- Law of Crossbedding - Law of Angularity

Mafic

- Low Si02 -High density - High melting temperature - Low melt viscosity

Long-term response

- Mapping out fault locations - Mapping Earth's amplification and attenuation responses to shaking - Constructing Buildings to rigorous code

[Mass extinction] is the term for a widespread and rapid decrease in the number of species on the planet. There have been [5] of these events since the development of multicellular animals on the planet in the Cambrian (not counting the last few hundred years, when humans have arguably triggered one of these events, which is ongoing)

- Mass Extinction& 5

Which of the following are examples of divergent plate boundaries?

- Mid-ocean ridges - Continental rifts

Which among these are Earth resources that geologists (or, more broadly, Earth scientists) think about locating and utilizing?

- Natural gas - Groundwater - Crude oil - Coal - Mineral Ores - Building stones

Which of the following attributes are required for a material to be defined as a "rock"?

- Naturally occuring - Aggregate of minerals ( or mass of glass) - Solid -Coherent ( naturally holds together

Not applicable

- Predicting when and where an earthquake will happen

Which of these are seismic waves?

- Rayleigh waves - Low waves - Shear waves

Short- term response

- Slowing car/ train traffic in response to earthquake early warming - Ducking, covering, and holding on - Shutting down gass and electricity line

Convergent plate boundaries are associated with which of the following?

- The deepest ocean trenches - The largest mountain ranges - The most explosive volcanoes - The most powerful earthquakes

Thanks to technological breakthroughs largely spurred by the Second World War, which of the following geophysical observations (made in the <20 years during and after the end of the war) fundamentally changed our understanding of the oceanic tectonic plates? Select all applicable.

- The presence of mid-ocean Mountain ridges and trenches - The presence of magnetic "stripes" on the sea floor

What 3 qualities/ phenomena need to be present for evolution to take place?

- Variation in Traits - Selective pressure - Heritablility of traits

What are the three types of stress?

- compressions -tenssion - shear

The "size" of an earthquake - defined by its energy release - is described by its [magnitude]. The Richter scale measures this property, but has two main limitations: it [was designed for Californian crust] and it [saturates at high values]. This scale is [logarithmic], meaning that a 1 unit increase corresponds to a [10]-fold increase in seismic wave amplitude. A separate, but related, quantity is [intensity], which describes how strong the earthquake shaking is at some location.

- magnitude - Was designed for Califonian Crust - Struarated at High Values - Logarithmic - 10 - Intensity

Which two of these, on average, cause the most fatalities and destruction in earthquakes worldwide?

-Structure collapse/ falling masonry - Fires

Fastes seismic waves

-p-waves (fastest) - s-waves ( 2nd) - Surface waves (Rayleigh and love ) (slowest)

Rank the following silicate structures in order of silica content, where "1" is the structure with the most SiO2 per unit volume, and "5" is the structure with the least.

1- Framework Silicates 2-Sheet silicates 3- Double chain silicates 4- Single- chain silicates 5- Independent tetrahedra silicates

Place the following rocks in order of metamorphic grade (highest to lowest).

1- Gneiss( highest grade) 2- Schist 3- Phyllite 4- Slate 5- Shale ( lowest grade)

The important processes in the genesis of clastic sedimentary rocks are as follows:

1- weathering , breaks down rocks in place 2- Erosion, mobilises particles, carrying them away from their sources 3- Particles are transported long distances downhill 4- Deposition is when the particles cannot be transported by the flow any longer 5- burial as sediments layers accumulate 6- Lithification involes the cementation of sediments into sedimentary rocks

How old is the Universe?

13.7 GA

Which of the following events, in Santa Barbara county, was one of the most widely reported environmental disasters in US history to date, and is credited with kicking off the US environmental movement and the establishment of the EPA?

1969 Santa Barbara channel oil spill

Potassium-40 (K-40) decays to Argon-40 (Ar-40) with a half-life of 1.25 billion years. If the Earth had 10 million kilograms of K-40 when it was first formed (4.56 billion years ago) how much would it have left today? You may want to use the equation: M = M0 × (0.5)^N where "M" is the mass remaining, "M0" is the original mass, and "N" is the number of half-lives elapsed (not necessarily a whole number). The "^" symbol means "to the power of".

8.0x10^5kg

4.567 Ga 2.4 Ga 200 Ma 65 Ma

Age of the Earth Great Oxidation Break up of pangea Extinction of ( non-avian) dinosaurs

Which of these was NOT used by Alfred Wegener to argue for the theory of Continental Drift?

Apparent Polar wander

Match the following non-clastic sedimentary rock names with their type:

Chert → Biochemical, Chalk → Biochemical Travertine limestone → Chemical Oil shale → Organic Coal → Organic Reef limestones → Biochemical Halite → Chemical

Lithosphere

Cold, strong, dense

Thrust/ reverse faults

Compressionsal stress (eg. continteal collision)

Fine-grained (small crystal) igneous rocks ____________ compared to coarse-grained igneous rocks.

Cool and solidify more quickly

Fossils provide absolute ages, not relative ages.

False

True or false: A sedimentary rock always takes up more physical space than the pre-lithified sediments.

False

True or false: Polymorphs have identical shape, but different chemical composition.

False- Polymorphism = same chemical composition, differnt srystal structure

Which of these combinations is associated with "mature" clastic sediments"?

Far from the source, rounded clasts, small grains, good sorting.

Quartz is a silicate mineral with which of the following crystal structures?

Framework Silicate

Which of the following is the location of a "hotspot", at which a mantle plume causes mantle melting and volcanism?

Hawaii

Larger class imply...

Higher energy depositional environment

Asthenosphere

Hot, weak, convecting, lower density ,

In the context of earthquakes, S - P time tells us what?

How far away an Earthquake was

Which of the following is a mechanism of chemical weathering?

Hydrolysis

The four most common elements in the ​entire​ Earth are oxygen, silicon, magnesium, and

Iron

Risk

Is the probability that humans will incur loss to ourselves or our built environment as a result of this natural phenomenon

Which of these depositional environments is likely to give a fossil the best chance of preservation

Low energy, Anoxic, rapid sedimentation

Magnetic seafloor anomalies (magnetic "stripes" in the oceans) result from sea-floor spreading in conjunction with?

Magnetic Polarity reversals

Where would we expect to find the ​youngest​ part of the oceanic plates?

Mid-ocean ridges

We can

Mitigate this loss/ damage by choosing where and how to build and settle

Which of the following scientists was instrumental in proving Heliocentrism (the theory that the Earth and other planets orbit around the Sun)?

Nicolas Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kelper, and Ibn Al- Shartir

The Geocentric Theory of the Earth said that

Other Bodies in the solar system revolve around the earth

In which Earth layer is the magnetic field generated?

Outercore

Stick-slip behaviour describes what?

Periods of stress buildup (stick) separated by abrupt motion on the fault in earthquakes (slip).

Which of the following minerals is most resistant to chemical weathering?

Quartz

Which of these minerals has the highest silica (SiO​2) content?

Quartz

The San Andreas fault, running roughly NW-SE between the Pacific and North American plates, is our local plate boundary. The Pacific is moving to the ​northwest​ with respect to North America. What is the ​dominant sense of motion on the San Andreas?

Righ- Lateral stike slip

Stike-slip faults

Shear stress (eg. One plate moving sideways past another )

Which of these are the "rock-forming minerals", that make up most minerals on Earth?

Silicates

Rank the following bond types in order of strength:

Strongest : Covalent Second- strongest: Ionic Weakes: Van Der Waals Second- weakest: Metallic

In which of the following environments are Blueschists formed?

Subduction zones

Normal faults

Tensional stress (eg. continental extensions

What does Hubble's law (and Hubble's constant) tell us?

The age of the Universe

The following processes are all important in the formation of clastic sediments. Match the processes described to their names

The correct answer is: Breakup of bedrock into smaller pieces → Physical weathering, Degradation of bedrock through reactions and dissolution → Chemical weathering, Physical movement of broken-up rock material → Erosion

Why do some minerals have cleavage planes, while others do not?

The crystal lattice of some minerals contains weak planes that are easier to break along

What does it mean that the Earth is "differentiated"?

The earth is internally straficied into concentric layer (core, mantle, crust )

The elements in the periodic table did not always exist. The atoms that make up our bodies, our planet, and all of atomic matter throughout the Universe were created by a variety of processes, known collectively as "nucleosynthesis" (= the making of nuclei)

The heaviest elements are created - in supernova events The lightest elements, hydrogen and helium, were made- by the big bang The intermediate sized elements are produced- inside stars

Nearly all fossils are found in sedimentary rocks, because they accumulate at the Earth's surface.

True

Stratigraphic columns in different locations will always show the same succession of geologic units.

True

True or False: The Earth's magnetic field periodically flips in polarity.

True

True or false: Immediately before a fault ruptures in an earthquake, it is storing elastic energy.

True

True or false: Minerals must have crystalline structure?

True

True or false: We can predict earthquakes.

false

Match the following minerals with their cleavages:

halite(rock salt) : three cleavage plaves at 90 degrees from each other Pyroxone: Two cleavage planes at 9- degreees from each other Mica: Once clear cleavage plane Amphibole: Two cleavage planes at 56 degrees ( 0r 124) from each other

Inclination tells you

how far you are away from the pole - your magnetic latitude

What is the mineral depicted here? Clues: It has chemical formula (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 It is the most abundant mineral in the upper mantle It is an isolated tetrahedra silicate

olivine

Hazard

refers to a natural phenomenon that can cause harm

Declination tells you

what direction the magnetic pole is