Geology Final

If a mineral sample was formed with 2,000 parent isotopes, how many daughter isotopes would be present after two half lives?

1500

A mineral formed with 4,000 atoms of a radioactive parent isotope but now only contains 500 parent isotopes. If the half-life of the isotope is 1 million years, how old is the mineral?

3,000,000 years

Life likely first formed on this planet how many years ago?

3.8 billion

How old is the Earth?

4,600,000,000 years

Which statement about a change in the nature of Earth's orbit around the sun is an accurate representation of climate patterns in the Northern hemisphere?

A decrease in the tilt of Earth's axis would result in a warmer December in North Carolina.

The legend of the gryphon is based on what in reality?

A dinosaur

Upon what basis were the upper and lower boundaries of the Mesozoic Era defined?

Abrupt changes in the types of fossils, representing mass extinctions

Which is true about ancient environments?

All are true

Which is not used as evidence to support evolutionary theory?

All are used as support

Name the appropriate index fossil of the Cenozoic

All four animals lived only during the Cenozoic

Which career/profession is not affected by past or present geologic activity?

Almost all careers are affected

Which represents the longest interval of time?

Eon

What is the word for the above ground portion of a fault that has been moved?

Escarpment

Which of these is not a result of a Mars-sized planet slamming into Earth 4.6 billion years ago.

Extinction of all life

A hypothesis has more scientific support than a theory.

False

A line of volcanoes formed above a hot spot would get progressively older as they got closer to the nearest oceanic ridge.

False

All seismic waves pass through the entire Earth.

False

All volcanoes spew the same magma but different gases.

False

An increase in ocean temperature would decrease sea level.

False

Faults act the same across their entire distance.

False

One life started animals and plants evolved very quickly.

False

Sedimentary rocks are easily distinguished by color.

False

The Hawaiian Islands are located above a subduction zone.

False

The oldest rocks in an ocean basin are found in the middle.

False

Volcanism only occurs over hotspots and convergent plate margins.

False

Yellowstone National Park occurs on a plate boundary.

False

Examine the map of the plate boundaries and answer the following question. New oceanic floor is being created at.

G

What is a primary reason that explains why an increase in glaciers on land would cause sea level to fall?

Glaciers tie up large volumes of water that would otherwise be in the sea

What metamorphic rock type formed under the most pressure and temperature?

Gneiss

Why is a volcano like a soda?

Have carbonation

How would the temperature of Earth differ if carbon dioxide made up 3% of the atmosphere?

Earth would be warmer

What was Alfred Wegener's continental drift hypothesis?

Earth's landmasses used to form a single supercontinent.

What earth process dominates along transform faults?

Earthquakes

During the formation of the Appalachian Mountains in NC, layers of rock stacked on top of one another. What can geologists use to solve this problem?

Index fossils to identify layers

Which is not a process that helps plates move?

Mountain building

Where can you find the largest sedimentary coasts?

Near the source rock

What is the Ultimate cause of climate warming on Earth?

Net increases in solar radiation remaining in Earth

North Carolina is riding on which tectonic plate?

North American

The Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina formed from the collision of which two tectonic plates?

North American; African

Which part of the upper crust tells us the most about rocks in the asthenosphere?

Ocean crust

Which process is not part of Earth's Milankovitch cycles?

Orbital Resonance

Mid-ocean ridges are present in the

Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans

The name of the most recent supercontinent is:

Pangea

Which is not formed by glacial processes?

Playas

Which igneous rocks contains lots of holes?

Porphyritic

A student examines a series of horizontal sedimentary rock layers in the walls of the Grand Canyon. What principal is the student most likely to use to determine the order in which the layers where formed?

Principal of superposition

Subduction zones do all of the following except which answer?

Push continents apart

All of these natural hazards can cause massive destruction. But which one is most localized, covering the smallest area?

Pyroclastic flow

What is the reason for the difference in texture between plutonic and volcanic igneous rocks?

Rate of temperature change during crystallization.

Which rock was formed from sediments that were transported the greatest distance.

Sample D has mud/clay sized rounded clasts

What ultimately controls how sedimentary environments move across a landscape?

Sea level

Which of the following volcano type is built mostly by basalt lava flows?

Shield Volcano

Which is not a tectonic plate boundary type?

Slipknot

Which of these statements best represents the change in stress associated with an earthquake?

Stress increases and rocks change shape (deform) before an earthquake occurs.

The ice cover in the Arctic Ocean is decreasing for much of the year. What is the consequence of this change?

The albedo of the region is decreasing and temperatures are rising.

Granites form only underground.

True

It has been both warmer and colder in Earth's past.

True

Limestone can form as a precipitation from water, without life being involved.

True

Metamorphic rocks form based on the composition of original rocks.

True

North Carolina has different rock terranes.

True

The theory of plate tectonics explains past processes that shaped the Earth and also explains present-day processes.

True

"The present is the key to the past" is a description of what geologic principle?

Uniformitarianism

How would the viscosity of lava change as it leaves a volcano and begins to cool, as it flows over Earth's surface?

Viscosity would increase

Which is not a means of recording temperature that is used by climate scientists?

Volcanic rock isotopes

(____) is the most abundant greenhouse gas, (____) is the strongest greenhouse gas.

Water vapor; methane

What does an unconformity in the rock record represent?

Weathering and erosion

From 20 to 10 million years ago, a plate was moving (___) over a hotspot. 10 million years ago, the plate changed direction and has been moving (____) ever since, forming the island chain below.

West, North

If you were a realtor or an investor looking to make money on a tropical beach resort, but did not want to buy tsunami insurance, along which plate boundary would you look for property?

divergent

The underlying mechanism hypothesized to drie plate tectonics is

heat release from the Earth through convection cells.

The geysers and hot springs in Yellowstone National Park are the result of a (___) bringing magma straight from the (____).

hot spot, asthenosphere

Which of the following rock types might weather to form sediment on the Earth?

igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks

At convergent boundaries, one can expect to find all of the following geologic processes except:

plate rifting

The process of breaking a continent into two plates, then spreading apart to form a new ocean basin is called

rifting

Which is not a type of fault?

Divergent

Which list of volcanoes is in order of most viscous to least viscous magma?

Dome, composite, shield

The current lodes rocks on Earth are found on which continent?

Australia

During an earthquake, you would expect a building on (____) to experience the least amount of damage.

Bedrock

What is the name of the top of a collapsed volcano?

Caldera

Sedimentary rocks can be divided into which sub-categories:

Clastic and chemical

Which is these lists is smallest size to largest?

Clay, sand, cobble, boulder

Magma rises through the crust, baking rocks around it. What is this an example of?

Contact metamorphism

At which location is the entire crust the thickest?

Continental-continental convergent boundary

If you were a farmer looking to grow grapes in a rich volcanic soil to produce a delicious variety of wine, along which plate boundary would you look for property?

Convergent

Tsunamis occur on which plate boundary type?

Convergent

Typically, the most explosive volcanoes on Earth, such as Mt St. Helens, are found on which geologic feature.

Convergent boundary

Which of the following is a real geologic period?

Cretaceous

Which of the following is not an indicator that a volcano is at high risk for eruption?

Decrease in earthquake activity

Which technique is not used to predict vocalic eruptions?

Isotope readings from magma

Which of the following corresponds to the location of an earthquake's epicenter?

It is the location on the land surface above the earthquake's source

How is a magic, plutonic igneous rock different from a felsic, volcanic rock?

Larger crystals, less silica, darker

Most destruction from earthquakes occurs because of which waves?

Love

Gases escape more easily from a (____) viscosity magma; that is why eruptions are more violent from volcanoes that are supplied by (____) viscosity magma.

Low; High

Which is not a consequence of glacier growth?

Lower atmospheric nitrogen levels

Which is a metamorphic rock?

Marble

Granite, the state rock of North Carolina, is formed by

The gradual cooling of felsic magma deep underground.

Which type of surface would have the lowest albedo value?

The tropical ocean

Which of the following statements is consistent with hot spots?

They are used to determine that plates are moving, as well as the direction

Continental crust is (____) and (____) than oceanic crust.

Thicker, less dense

The piedmont of North Carolina formed when an island arc was added to the ancient North American continent about 500 million years ago.

This is an example of an interpretation.

The San Andreas fault is which plate boundary type?

Transform

The epicenter of an earthquake is located through what technique?

Triangulation

A caldera oems when a volcano collapses into its empty magma chamber following a large eruption.

True

A hotspot does not move.

True

Air bubbles trapped in very old glaciers help scientists determine Earth's past climate.

True

The Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina formed by:

slabs of rocks stacking on top of each other

Heavy elements composing the Earth were created and spread across the galaxy because of exploding stars called:

supernova

By current support, the moon formed

when a large planet slammed into earth