GEOLOGY 101 Quizzes before Exam 1

The amount of water in the rivers is only __________ of the total water of the earth.

0.0001%

The oldest part of the ocean floor is

~200 million years old

What fundamental geologic principle allows geologist to use the remains of organisms when correlating rock units?

fossil or faunal succession

The Earth's outer core is made of:

liquid iron

The density of the Earth's core is

more than the density of the crust

Due to seafloor spreading, the sediments on the ocean floor are ________ at the crest of the ocean ridge and _______ near the continental borders.

thinnest, thickest

The accepted age of the Earth is about:

4.56 billion years

You are the first person to land on Mars. Congratulations! (Please don't leave Matt Damon behind when you leave.) Being the marvelous geologist that you are, the first thing you do is pick up a rock. Your highly trained eyes tell you that it is an igneous rock. It is fine-grained, dark colored, and has small grains of green olivine. You immediately radio back to Houston to tell them you have found a piece of:

Basalt

Which of the following are the most useful radiometric clocks used in geologic studies?

Carbon-14 Clock, and Potassium-Argon (K-Ar) Clock

Which one of the following statements is NOT true?

Continents are usually more dense than oceanic crust.

Why is the earth layered?

Density

__________ is the energy that fuels the tectonic system?

Earth's internal heat

Which of the following statements about magma is FALSE?

Magma which solidifies below the surface forms extrusive igneous rocks.

___________ texture occurs when an igneous rock formed by mostly by ash (small broken crystals, fragments of rocks, and glass). (Choose the BEST answer)

Pyroclastic

Which of the following is NOT true about mafic minerals?

They are generally light colored.

This blue mineral, with natural crystal faces and a beautiful crystal form, likely grew in an unrestricted environment.

True

Igneous rocks are classified based on two properties. They are:

composition and texture

Which of the following is NOT included in the definition of a mineral?

contains silicon and oxygen

Folded mountain belts, like these seen in the Appalachian Mountains near Pennsylvania, are the result of

convergent plate motion

Phaneritic igneous rocks are characterized by

crystals large enough to see

Plate move apart at:

divergent plate boundaries

Natural systems tend toward _____________, which is a condition of the lowest possible energy.

equilibrium

Which of the following minerals are considered FELSIC minerals?

feldspar, and quartz

In certain volcanic rocks such as basalt, iron minerals can become weakly magnetized as the rock solidifies and cools. This weak magnetism is a record of the earth's

paleomagnetism

The asthenosphere is:

part of the upper mantle

By applying the law of superposition, _____________ dates can be determined.

relative

Felsic minerals are rich in:

silica and aluminum

The basic building block for silicate minerals is the

silica tetrahedron

Which of the following was used as an evidence for continental drift? (More than one answer possible)[*remember that continental drift IS NOT the same as plate tectonics]

similar fossils found on either side of the Atlantic, and tropical climate fossils in (currently) cold northern areas