geology test 1

The ion at the center of a silicate tetrahedron is surrounded by _______.

4 oxygen ions

The currently accepted age of Earth is

4.6 Billion years

An atom's mass number is 13 and its atomic number is 6. How many neutrons are in its nucleus?

7

Chrysotile, crocidolite, and amosite are different mineralogical forms of what industrial commodity?

Abestos

Active mountain belts are most likely to be found _______.

Along the margins of continents

Which of the following best describes the fundamental concept of superposition?

Any sedimentary deposit accumulates on older rock or sediment layers

_____ was the highly influential, ancient Greek philosopher noted for his writings and teachings on natural philosophy and on the workings of Earth

Aristotle

All of the following are possible steps of scientific investigation except for ________.

Assumption of conclusions without prior experimentation or observation

The ______ is not a part of the Earth's physical environment.

Astrosphere

Which of the following is an accurate description of ionic bonding?

Atoms of different elements, having gained or lost electrons, form negative and positive ions that are bonded together by attractive forces between ions with opposite charges.

Choose the option that doesn't fit: a. hydrosphere b. biosphere c. atmosphere d. solid earth

Biosphere

The _______ refers to the sum total of all life on Earth.

Biosphere

Which carbonate mineral reacts readily with cool, dilute hydrochloric acid to produce visible bubbles of carbon dioxide gas?

Calcite

Which of the following is the unit of weight used for measuring diamonds?

Carat

Which of the following denotes the purity of gold used in jewelry?

Carlot

________, a popular natural philosophy of the 17th and early 18th centuries, was based on a firm belief in a very short geologic history for Earth.

Catastrophism

Which of the following is a typical product of weathering?

Clays

Which of the following mineral groups exhibits a sheet-like silicate structure?

Clays

The strong tendency of certain minerals to break along smooth, parallel planes is known as ______.

Cleavage

Which one of the following describes a mineral's response to mechanical impact?

Cleavage

A ________ system is one in which energy moves freely in and out, but no matter enters or leaves the system.

Closed

All of the following provide evidence or clues to the composition of Earth's interior except for ______.

Comets

Moving from the shoreline towards the deep-ocean basin, the continental margin may include the ______, _______ and the _______.

Continental Shelf, Continental Slope, Continental Rise

Choose the option that doesn't fit: a. Abyssal plain b. Seamount c. Oceanic ridge d. Continental slope

Continental slope

Ruby and sapphire are red and blue forms of the mineral _____.

Corundum

In which type of chemical bonding are electrons shared between adjacent atoms?

Covalent

The relatively stable interior portion of a continent is known as a ______.

Craton

The _____ is the thinnest layer of the Earth

Crust

The thin, outer layer of Earth, from 7 to 40 km in thickness, is called _____.

Crust

What mineral is the hardest known substance in nature?

Diamond

What are the lightest or least massive of the basic atomic particles?

Electrons

Choose the option that doesn't fit: a. hypothesis b. theory c. fact d. observation

Fact

A scientific theory is a tentative or untested explanation that is proposed to explain scientific observations.

False

According to the nebular hypothesis, all of the bodies of the universe evolved from a rotating cloud of gases and dust about 5 billion years ago.

False

Aristotle and other prominent Greek philosophers were the first ones to promote the doctrine of uniformitarianism

False

Igneous rocks are produced largely by the deposition and consolidation of surface materials like sand and mud.

False

Oceans cover slightly less than half of the Earth's surface.

False

The asthenosphere is a relatively cool and rigid shell that overlies the lithosphere

False

The currently accepted age of the Earth is approx. 4.5 million years.

False

The lithosphere, asthenosphere, and mesosphere are all layers of Earth defined by their composition.

False

A cubic centimeter of quartz, olivine, and gold weigh 2.5, 3.0, and 19.8 grams respectively. This indicates that ______.

Gold has a higher density and specific gravity than quartz and olivine.

Which mineral is easily soluble in water at room temperature conditions?

Halite

What are some basic differences between the disciplines of physical and historical geology?

Historical geology involves the study of rock strata, fossils, and geologic events, utilizing the geologic time scale as a reference; physical geology includes the study of how rocks form and of how erosion shapes the land surface

Which of the following minerals is a ferromagnesian silicate?

Hornblende

_________ rocks form by crystallization and consolidation of molten magma.

Igneous

Which of the following best defines a mineral and a rock?

In a mineral the constituent atoms are bonded in a regular, repetitive, internal structure; a rock is a lithified or consolidated aggregate of different mineral grains.

In correct order from the center outward, Earth includes which units?

Inner core, outer core, mantle, crust

What is the name given to an atom that gains or loses electrons in a chemical reaction?

Ion

_____ was an important 18th century English geologist and proponent of uniformitarianism

James Hutton

The continental shelf is located _____.

Landward of the continental slope

Choose the option that doesn't fit: a. crust b. mantle c. lithosphere d. core

Lithosphere

The ______ forms the relatively cool, brittle plates of plate tectonics.

Lithosphere

The ______ is the relatively rigid zone above the asthenosphere that includes the crust and upper mantle.

Lithosphere

Which of the following diseases has been linked directly to prolonged inhalation of asbestos dust?

Lung cancer

The _____ is the solid, rocky shell between the crust and outer core.

Mantle

The asthenosphere is actually part of the _____ of the earth.

Mantle

Choose the option that doesn't fit: a. Pressure b. Foliation c. Hydrothermal fluids d. Melting

Melting

Which of the following statements is not correct?

Metamorphic rocks may melt to magma

Which of the following minerals is a silicate?

Muscovite

Which of the following minerals is in the mineral group known as mica?

Muscovite

The ______ proposes that the bodies of our solar system form at essentially the same time from a rotating cloud of gases and dust.

Nebular hypothesis

The most prominent feature on the ocean floor are the ______.

Oceanic Ridges

Choose the option that doesn't fit: a. protosun b. Oort cloud c. protoplanets d. meteorites

Oort cloud

The ______ is thought to be a liquid, metallic region of the Earth's interior.

Outer Core

The convective flow of liquid, metallic iron in the _______ is thought to generate Earth's magnetic field.

Outer core

What element is the most abundant in the Earth's crust by weight?

Oxygen

The ____ division of the geologic time scale is an era of the Phanerozoic eon.

Paleozoic

List the 2, broad, traditional subject areas of geologic study.

Physical and Historical

Which one of the following is a sodium and calcium feldspar with twinning striations?

Plagioclase

In natural systems, mechanisms that drive or enhance change are called _____.

Positive Feedback Mechanisms

The _____ states that fossil organisms succeed one another in a definite and determinable order.

Principle of Fossil Succession

Which of the following denotes the massive, positively charged, nuclear particles?

Protons

Atoms of the same element, zinc for example, have the same number of _______.

Protons in the nucleus

Which mineral is composed of silicon dioxide (SiO2)?

Quartz

Which of the following observations and inferences is consistent with the idea of uniformitarianism?

Sand rolling along a stream bottom shows that sediment is moving downstream

What type of rock comprises most of the exposed surface of Earth (roughly 75%)?

Sedimentary

__________ rocks always originate at the surface of the solid Earth.

Sedimentary

Which of the following is not a fundamental particle found in atoms?

Selectron

Which group of minerals are the most abundant in the Earth's crust?

Silicates

All silicate minerals contain which two elements?

Silicon, oxygen

The composition of the core of Earth is thought to be _______.

Solid iron-nickel alloy

Choose the option that doesn't fit: a. mountain belt b. shield c. craton d. stable platform

Stable platform

Which of the following is correct for isotopes of the same element?

The atoms have different numbers or neutrons and the same number of protons

Which one of the following is not true for minerals?

The can be liquid, solid, or gas

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, direct observations showed that a glacier in Switzerland flowed forward in the downhill direction while its snout (terminus) was retreating high up the valley. Which of the following explains these observations in a rational, scientific way?

The melting rate of ice in the glacier exceeded the rate at which new snow and ice were added to the glacier

A ______ is a well-tested and widely accepted view that best explains certain scientific observations.

Theory

Which of the following best characterizes ferromagnesian silicates?

They are black to dark-green, silicate minerals containing iron and magnesium

Compared to the age of the Earth accepted as correct today, how did the 17th and 18th century proponents of catastrophism envision the Earth's age?

They believed Earth to be much younger than current estimates

How do the electrons behave in a mineral with metallic bonding?

They can move relatively easily from atom to atom inside the mineral

According to the rock cycle, any type of rock (igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic) may be transformed into another type of rock, given enough time.

True

Continental shields and stable platforms are part of the interior region known as a craton.

True

In an open system both energy and matter flow into and out of the system.

True

Internally, the Earth consists of spherical shells with different compositions and densities

True

Much of our modeling of Earth's interior comes from the study of seismic or earthquake waves

True

The doctrine of uniformitarianism implies that the current forces and processes shaping the Earth have been operating for a very long time.

True

The law of superposition applies primarily to sedimentary rocks and lava flows

True

The statement "the present is the key to the past" describes what basic geologic concept or doctrine?

Uniformitarianism

_______ is often paraphrased as "the present is the key to the past"

Uniformitarianism

_______ is the process by which rocks breakdown in place to produce soils and sediments.

Weathering

In sedimentary rocks, lithification includes ____.

compaction and cementation