Geology Unit 1
The smallest particle of matter that exhibits and defines the distinctive chemical characteristics of and individual element is a neutron. True or False
False
If discharge of a stream increases to the point that the stream overflows its banks, the stream is said to be ___________.
Flooding
The continuous side-to-side erosion caused by shifting of the stream's meanders produces an increasingly broader, flat valley floor covered with alluvium. The flat part of this valley floor, next to the stream, is the ________.
Floodplain
Bajadas develop when multiple alluvial fans grow and merge along the fronts of mountain ranges in arid lands. True or False
True
Before it can be sedimentary rock, sediment must be produced (weathered from pre-existing rocks), transported, deposited, and lithified. True or False
True
Coal is a sedimentary rock that is made of organic matter. True or False
True
Compaction and cementation are the most common forms of lithification. True or False
True
Given the right conditions any kind of rock can be transformed into any other kind of rock. True or False
True
Although infrequent, running water is responsible for most of the erosional work in deserts. True or False
True
Ranked by discharge, what is the world's largest river?
Amazon
Ephemeral streams _________.
Are a major agent of erosion in desert regions
Old Faithful, a(n) ________ in Yellowstone National Park, erupts steam and hot water.
Geyser
Chemical weathering would be most effective ________.
In a warm, wet climate
What element is the most abundant in the Earth's crust by weight?
Oxygen
An igneous rock that cools rapidly is likely to have __________ crystals.
Small
How is desert different from steppe?
Steppe is more humid than desert
Streams erode downward until they reach ________.
Their base level
The color of a powdered mineral is the physical property known as luster. True or False
False
The parent rock of marble is sandstone. True or False
False
About what percentage of Earth's land surface is covered by deserts?
30%
About what percentage of Earth's land surface was covered by glaciers during the Quaternary period?
30%
An atom's mass number is 13 and its atomic number is 6. How many neutrons are in its nucleus?
7
Which of the following minerals is a silicate (a mineral containing a silicon-bearing ion) A. Feldspar B. Iron C. Calcite D. Hematite
A. Feldspar
A(n) ________ is a cone of debris that forms where an ephemeral stream emerges from the confines of the canyon. Its runoff spreads over the gentler slopes at the base of the mountains and quickly loses velocity, dumping most of its sediment load within a short distance.
Alluvial Fan
Which of the following has the highest specific gravity? A. Olivine B. Gold C. Quartz
B. Gold
Which of the following is a silicate mineral with a single-chained structure? A. Olivine B. Pyroxene C. Epidote D. Tourmaline
B. Pyroxene
The ________ region of the United States is depicted in this image.
Basin and Range
Layers in sedimentary rock are called ___________.
Beds
Which of the drainage patterns shown here might develop on relatively uniform surface materials?
C
Synthetically made glass and natural quartz crystals both exhibit a fracture termed ___________.
Conchoidal
Which rock type is most likely to have been deposited in a high- energy environment (such as a very turbulent stream)?
Conglomerate
Which of the following is not true for minerals? A. inorganic B. naturally occurring C. liquid, solid, or gas in form D. definite chemical composition
C. Liquid, solid, or gas in form
________ is formed when carbon dioxide dissolves in rainwater, and this mildly reactive substance aids chemical weathering.
Carbonic Acid
_____________ are formed when groundwater dissolves cavities into limestone.
Caverns
The skeletal remains of plankton make up the sedimentary rock ________.
Chalk
Rock salt and rock gypsum are examples of ________ sedimentary rocks.
Chemical
Due to the arrangement of weaker bonds in their crystal lattice, the tendency of certain minerals to break along the smooth, parallel planes is known as __________.
Cleavage
One drainage basin is separated from a neighboring drainage basin by a ____________.
Divide
All compounds are minerals. True or false
False
Diamond and quartz are both minerals composed of a single element. True or False
False
Electrons are found in the nucleus of an atom. True or False
False
Melting and calving are two forms of accumulation. True or False
False
Mud cracks and ripple marks are common features of igneous rocks. True or False
False
A cubic centimeter each of quartz, olivine, and native gold weigh 2.5, 3.0, and 19.8 respectively. This indicates that ______________.
Gold has a higher density and specific gravity than quartz and olivine
Detrital sedimentary rocks are classified and named principally on the basis of ________.
Grain size
_____________ is located in tiny pore spaces between grains of soil and sediment, underground.
Groundwater
The resistance of a mineral to scratching or abrasion is known as ________.
Hardness
To test whether a rock sample includes any of the mineral calcite, you should perform the __________ test.
Hydrochloric Acid
This cobble shows prominent scratches because __________.
It was scraped against other rocks in a glacier
In contact metamorphism, ________ is the dominant agent of change.
Limestone
The appearance or quality of light reflected from the surface of a mineral is called ________.
Luster
The downslope movement of rock or soil due to the influence of gravity is ________.
Mass wasting
Regional metamorphism occurs during ________.
Mountain Building
Which igneous texture is characterized by two distinctively different crystal sizes?
Porphyritic
Precipitation of water on the land surface leads directly to ________.
Precipitation, Evaporation, Infiltration
Which of the following are the positively charged particles in an atom's nucleus?
Protons
All of the atoms making up any given element have the same number of _________.
Protons in the nucleus
Which kind of rocks contain fossils?
Sedimentary
At a delta, which of the following happens?
The main channel splits into a number of distributary channels.
If accumulation exceeds ablation (wastage) in a glacial budget, which of the following will happen?
The terminus will move downhill (advance).
In parts of the High Plains aquifer, water is being pumped from the ground faster than it is replenished. This has resulted in the water table dropping significantly. True or False
True
Loose, granular particles assume a stable slope called the angle of repose. True or False
True
Rusting is a form of mechanical weathering. True or False
True
The central region of an atom is the nucleus. True or False
True
Till is unsorted sediment deposited directly from the melting glacial ice; stream action is not involved. True or False
True
To transform an igneous rock into a sedimentary rock, which of the following processes must take place?
Weathering, transport, deposition, and lithification.
What is the least effective agent of erosion?
Wind
When a valley glacier leaves the mountains and enters the relative flat lands below, it may spread out to form ________.
a piedmont glacier
In an area of alpine glaciation, sinuous, sharp-edged ridges called ________ and sharp, pyramid-like peaks called________ are common features.
arêtes; horns
If you were on a geology field trip in an area of glacial deposition, how would you distinguish between samples of till and stratified drift?
by comparing their grain size and sorting
External processes that occur at or near Earth's surface and are powered by __________.
the Sun
________ make up the suspended loads of most rivers.
fine particles
Infiltration adds water to ________.
groundwater
A rainshadow desert forms ______.
in places where mountain ranges act as barriers to movement of water vapor.
Where do crevasses form?
in the zone of fracture
A glacier's downstream end __________.
is in the zone of wastage
Cross-bedding consists of many preserved ________ resulting from moving sand dunes.
slip faces