GLG 111 Dupont Final Exam

Using cross-cutting relationships, is the lava that cuts through a rock layer older or younger than that rock layer?

Always younger if it's cutting through (cross-cutting)

As you move away from the continent, and out to sea, the major depth zones of a passive margin are

Continental shelf, continental slope, continental rise, abyssal plain

How do temperature extremes for the continents compare to temperature extremes for the oceans?

Continents have larger extremes than oceans

What type of plate boundary is most likely to generate a tsunami?

Convergent

What relative time principle tells us that fault E is younger than the intrusion D?

Cross-cutting relationships

What do the terrestrial planets, all along the moon, have?

Crusts, mantles, and cores

What are meanders?

Curves in a stream (or river)

T/F: The mineral grains of plutonic (or intrusive) rocks are usually small compared to those of volcanic (or extrusive) rocks.

False

T/F: 99% of the mass of the atmosphere is below 28 km.

False (it's 32 km)

Is rock layer "A" older or younger than intrusion D, and what relative-time principle tells us that?

Older and cross-cutting (the intrusions are always younger than the rock layers they go through)

Which surface would have the lowest albedo?

Rainforest

The greek philosopher Aristotle, like many people of his time, believed the Earth was the center of the universe and that other planets revolved around our own. What is the name given to the ancient concept?

The geocentric orbit hypothesis

Ocean tides are driven by...

The gravitational pull of the moon, and to a lesser extent, the gravitational pull of the sun.

T/F: 50% of the mass of the atmosphere is below 5.5 km.

True

T/F: Adding water, a so-called volatile, to a rock tends to lower the melting temperature of its minerals, and thus may allow it to melt if it is sufficiently warm.

True

T/F: Coldest and saltiest water is the most dense.

True

T/F: Inductive reasoning uses specific observations to reach a general conclusion

True

T/F: Intraplate earthquakes, though rare, can produce large areas of high-intensity shaking, unlike earthquakes near plate boundaries.

True

T/F: NEO hunters are not actively searching for smaller objects that could destroy entire cities, but instead are focused on detecting larger objects that could threaten entire countries or continents

True

T/F: Partial melting generates a more silica-rich magma than the parent rock.

True

T/F: Rocks near faults can deform before they rupture

True

T/F: Simple impact craters do not have a central peak, unlike complex craters

True

T/F: Temperatures on Earth would be lower if there were less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

True

T/F: The geologic time scale was originally developed using relative time principles and fossil correlation.

True

T/F: Using superposition, if a layer of rock is on top of another, the one on the bottom is older?

True

T/F: Water has a high heat capacity (must absorb a lot of heat to produce a corresponding temp increase)

True

What term refers to breaks in the geologic rock record which represent times of non-deposition or erosion?

Unconformity

At extremely low temperatures the fabric that made up the balloon carrying Joe Kittinger's capsule would have become nearly brittle. Any small flaws in the fabric could have caused the balloon to spring a leak and deflate. At what location during the ascent to 32 km would the risk of this potential danger have been most acute?

Upper Troposphere/Tropopause

Under what circumstances do clouds form?

When air rises, cools, and water condenses and then water vapor has a surface to condense onto

How do chemical sedimentary rocks form?

When minerals precipitate (crystallize) from a solution as a result of changing physical conditions (ex. the salt from a lake bed evaporating)

What is decompression melting?

When rock moves up towards the surface, it drops in pressure and causes the melting temp to decrease. Then some of the minerals start to melt (partial melting by decompression)

Felsic rocks and minerals have relatively more ______ and relatively less ______ & ______ than mafic rocks and minerals.

more silica, less iron and magnesium

What is a river's base level?

the lowest elevation to which a stream can flow to or erode its bed. The ultimate base level is usually sea level.

What percentage of harmful ultraviolet rays does the Ozone layer block?

97-99%

T/F: Relative dating involves radioactive isotopes.

False

Where are the youngest seafloor rocks found?

Nearest the mid-ocean ridges

What scale predicts the potential threat posed by an asteroid impact?

Torino

Approximately how old is the oldest oceanic crust scientifically dated to be?

200 million years

Approximately how long does it take for the moon to complete a full orbit around Earth?

28 days

Oak has a density that is 80% that of water. How much of a floating oak block is below the water surface?

80%

What are the three steps of natural ozone production and destruction in the stratosphere?

(i) O2 + UV à O + O (+ heat (ii) O2 + O à O3 (iii) O3 + UV à O2 + O (+ heat)

What is the approximate air pressure at 5.5 km compared to the surface (sea level)? Hint: sea level pressure is roughly 1 bar.

.5 bar

Salinity is influenced by what four things?

1. Temperature 2. Mixing caused by currents 3. Freshwater input from rain, streams, and melting ice 4. Size/shape of basin

The assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is that over the next century we should expect a globally averaged temperature rise of approximately _____ ºC.

2-4

The amount of seismic ENERGY released by a moment magnitude 6 earthquake is approximately _____ times greater than the energy released by a magnitude 4 earthquake.

1,000 times

What is the approximate speed of plate motion?

1-10 cm per year

What are the five main criteria for being classified as a mineral?

1. Naturally occurring 2. Inorganic 3. Solid element or compound 4. Definite chemical composition 5. Regular internal crystal structure

During mountain building, as crustal thickness increases, some of the added thickness goes into deepening the root, and some adds to the height (i.e., elevation) of the mountain range. Approximately how much of an increase in crustal thickness is required to add 2 meters to the elevation of a mountain range?

10 meters (For every 1,000 meters of rock eroded from mountains, isostasy results in just 200 meters decrease in elevation)

The amplitude (size) of the seismic waves generated by a Moment magnitude 7 Earthquake is approximately how many times greater than the amplitude of waves produced by a magnitude 6 earthquake?

10 times

How large would an asteroid have to be to generate a 200 km diameter impact crater like the Chicxulub crater on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula?

10-20km in diameter

How long is a period of Eccentricity (degree of roundness)?

100 & 400 kyrs

The amplitude (size) of the seismic waves generated by a Moment magnitude 5 Earthquake is approximately how many times greater than the amplitude of waves produced by a magnitude 3 earthquake?

100 times

Thinking back to the orbital variations that are tied to glaciation under Milankovitch theory... Which are the correct respective periods of variation for eccentricity, obliquity, and precession.

100, 41, 23 kyr

Say we have a parcel of air at 36.5 ºC and 25% rel. humidity. It must be cooled to approx. what temperature to reach saturation (100% rel. humidity)? This is the dew point for this parcel of air.

12 ºC

The most recent New Moon phase was Sunday, April 15th. Approximately how long from then should we expect a Full Moon?

14 days

The Stefan-Boltzman law states that the total energy emitted by a body is proportional to the fourth power of that body's temperature Energy emitted = constant x Temperature^4 Say object B has a temperature that is twice that of object A. How much more energy is object B emitting relative to object A, according to the Stefan Boltzman law?

16x

The average salinity of the oceans is close to...

3.5% or 35 per mil

Say you have a parcel of air at 30ºC (86 ºF) and with a relative humidity of 50%. That implies (see the graph) an absolute humidity of roughly 15 g/m3. What would be the approximate absolute humidity of this air parcel if it were at saturation (100% relative humidity)?

30 g/m^3

Evaporating 1 liter ( =1 kilogram=1,000 grams) of sea water that had a salinity of 37 ‰ would yield how many grams of solid salts?

37 Grams

When was Earth formed?

4.5 billion years ago

The modern (2017) atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is approximately ____ , and the concentration prior to the beginning of the industrial revolution in the mid- nineteenth century was approximately _____.

400 ppm (modern) and 280 ppm (pre-industrial)

How long is a period of Obliquity (amount of tilt)?

41 kyrs

Approximately when did large numbers of fossils first appear in the geologic record?

542 million years ago

Approximately when did dinosaurs, exclusive of birds, become extinct?

65 million years ago

What is a floodplain?

A broad, fairly flat expanse of land covered with sediment around the stream channel (an area where the stream spills over during a flood)

What is a caldera?

A collapsed magma chamber

What is an Isobar?

A contour line on a map that indicates constant air pressure.

What is a flood-recurrence curve?

A tool to evaluate frequency of flood events (recurrence interval in years over the maximum discharge in cu. ft/sec)

How long is a period of Precession (orbital wobble)?

About 23 kyrs

Sulfate _____, small liquid or solid particles which are suspended in the atmosphere, are produced by both humans (through burning of fossil fuels or wood) and volcanic eruptions. Regardless of their source, their presence in the atmosphere can produce a ____ climate. (fill in the blanks)

Aerosols and cooler

After many millions of years, what will the relative movement of the Pacific and North American plates move Los Angeles (on the Pacific plate) closer to?

Alaska

What is the term for the reflectivity of a surface? (Ice is very reflective, forests and water are not)

Albedo

What evidence indicated that Mount St. Helens was going to erupt in 1980?

All of the above (changing shape, earthquakes, gas emissions)

Which of the following are potential downsides to installing dams on streams?

All of the above (flooding, accumulation of sediment, changes in natural processes, weight of water might induce earthquakes)

How do we know the recent rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide is due primarily to human use of fossil fuels?

All of the other choices are correct

Positive feedbacks in the climate system tend to ____ changes in climate produced by climatic forcings.

Amplify (strengthen)

Which of the following is not one of the indications that the burning of fossil fuels is causing the recent rise in CO2 levels?

An increase in atmospheric O2 concentration

Use the diagram below to answer the following question. Which unit represents a sedimentary rock that did not experience contact metamorphism?

B (the one that didn't come into contact with the igneous plutons or lava flows)

A shipment of rubber elephants falls overboard in the northern Pacific at location A on the map below. What path does the elephant flotilla follow?

B. A-E-C-G-A (idk why)

How would you expect temperature to change with changes in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration?

As greenhouse gas concentration increases, temperature increases

What is the name for the initial global agreement to address atmospheric ozone destruction?

B. Montreal Protocol

These objects are composed mostly of rock and/or metal

Asteroids

Where is seafloor returned to the mantle?

At or near subduction zones

Where are the deepest earthquakes generated?

At subduction zones

As the Earth cooled billions of years ago, what was created?

Atmospheric oxygen (accumulated in oceans around 4 bil years ago, only became atmospheric oxygen around 2 bil years ago)

Gravel would normally be carried as what type of load by a stream?

Bed load

Again looking at the pressure map below, where are the greatest wind speeds? Hint: think about what the spacing between isobars means.

Between C and A (smallest gaps between lines)

Coal is what type of sedimentary rock?

Biochemical

Why is the sky blue?

Blue light is scattered very easily compared to other colors, so it reaches our eyes easily and makes the sky look blue

Which two ideas were combined to form the theory of plate tectonics?

Continental drift and seafloor spreading

Below is an air pressure map, with the contours representing isobars, or line of constant pressure. The unit for the pressure values is millibars. Identify the center of a LOW pressure system on this map.

C (very middle, lowest number)

What are the four major depth zones?

Continental shelf, Abyssal plain, Oceanic ridge, and Oceanic trenches

What are some common nonsilicate minerals?

Carboates, sulfates, sulfides, oxides, native elements

What does the Gulf Stream do?

Carries heat northward within the North Atlantic Ocean

A key process for destroying ozone involves chlorine. In this process ozone is lost, but not chlorine. In other words, chlorine is not consumed by the reaction. This implies that chlorine is a ____ for ozone destruction.

Catalyst

Suppose you are told that the area where you lived was once a shallow sea that evaporated. What kind of rock are you most likely to find that is related to that time?

Chemical

The three broad types of sedimentary rocks

Chemical, biochemical, and clastic

The primary source for the chlorine that participates in (anthropogenic) ozone destruction is from the gradual breakdown of what group of chemical compounds?

Chlorofluorocarbons

What is the volcano with a steep hill that accumulates around a volcanic vent?

Cinder cone volcano

Concrete is formed by adding cement and water to a mixture of sand and gravel. In the process a solid aggregate of sediment is created. This could be seen as an analog for the formation of what type of sedimentary rock?

Clastic

Sandstone is what type of sedimentary rock?

Clastic

What sort of change might a shift from predominantly Spruce (northern pine) to plentiful oak pollen suggest?

Cold and wet to warm and wet

What water type is densest?

Cold, saline water

What is lithification?

Compacting the sediments with burial and cementation of the sediments forming sedimentary rocks

Beyond the globally-averaged warming expected as a consequence of anthropogenic enhancement of the greenhouse effect, global sea level is expected to rise because of...

D. All of the above. (Melting large ice sheets, melting mountain glaciers, expansion of ocean water)

What drives circulation in the deep ocean.

D. Density differences which are produced by salinity and temperature differences

If photosynthesis exceeds respiration, atmospheric CO2 will do what?

Decrease

What is the impact on a major stream's maximum annual discharge when flood-control dams are constructed?

Decrease

The flow of water in the deep ocean is driven by...

Density differences; which are in turn produced by differences in temperature and salinity

Where would salt be carried in a stream?

Dissolved load

This type of tidal pattern has one bulge per day.

Diurnal Tide

The mid-ocean ridge in the South Atlantic shows which type of plate boundary?

Divergent (creating new plates)

The boundaries between watersheds (or drainage basins) of all sizes are elevated areas called:

Divides

Why does the Earth have a magnetic field?

Due to Earth possessing a liquid outer core

How would the temperature of Earth differ if, on average, there were 50% more clouds in the troposphere?

Earth would be cooler.

The Earth's orbit around the Sun varies from more circular to more elliptical and back again through time. What is the name for the measure of elliptical character that the orbit possesses, and over what timescale does it vary?

Eccentricity, which varies over a 100 thousand year cycle

What is the theory for how earthquakes operate, in which rocks bend (or are strained), suddenly break, and then return to their original shape?

Elastic rebound theory

T/F: A hypothesis is supported by more scientific observation and research than a theory

False

T/F: All anthropogenic carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere remains in the atmosphere.

False

T/F: Life came after free oxygen in Earth's atmosphere.

False

Partial melting occurs when the temperature is high enough to melt some minerals within a rock mass, but not others. Is the first melt produced in partial melting more felsic or more mafic than the original rock mass?

Felsic

How do biochemical sedimentary rocks form?

For due to actions of living organisms that cause minerals to be extracted from solution or from the remains from dead organisms

How do igneous rocks form?

Formed by the solidification and crystallization of a cooling magma

How do sedimentary rocks form?

Formed by the weathering of pre-existing rocks and minerals; the sediments will then be transported and deposited in other environments; they will then be buried and experience lithification

Use the diagram below to answer the following question. Which unit formed before A but after E?

G (the one at the same level as A (lava flow), but higher than level E)

Which one of these is a low silica rock that cooled slowly, likely having visible crystals?

Gabbro

Which component of the Earth system relates to the solid Earth?

Geosphere

What is it called when pressure gradient balances Coriolis effect and winds move parallel to their isobars?

Geostrophic winds

What is the primary cause of the major ocean gyres, the circular patterns of flow within the upper portion of various ocean basins?

Global wind patterns

Which one of these is a high silica rock that cooled slowly, likely having visible crystals?

Granite

Which graph below (a-d) best illustrates the change in the proportion of unstable (parent) radioactive isotope with time?

Graph A (a downward sloping line)

Which graph shows how the depth of oceanic crust changes across a mid-ocean ridge?

Graph C, the one where the lines come up (like a ____ volcano)

Broadly speaking, the Keeling curve shows the rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since 1958. However, it also shows seasonal variations in atmospheric carbon-dioxide concentration. What causes those seasonal variations?

Growth and decay of leaf material on or from deciduous trees, mostly in the Northern Hemisphere.

What zone has the most rapid change in salinity at certain (shallower) depths?

Halocline

What is the difference between heat and temperature?

Heat reflects with total kinetic energy, temperature the average kinetic energy

What % silica and magma temp does rhyolite have?

High % silica and low magma temp

Do gases escape explosively from high viscosity magma or low?

High viscosity magma (ex. Alaska)

Given the anticipated rise in global temperature, where should we expect a larger warming?

Higher latitudes and over land

What is wind?

Horizontal movement of air that arises from differences in air pressure.

House A and House B are identical in terms or their size, features, and price. House A is located on the point bar side of a meandering stream. House B is located on the cut bank side of the same stream. Which house would be the better long-term investment?

House A (near the point bar is always preferable)

What does the "stage" of a river mean?

How high the upper surface of the river water is, relative to some fixed height called a datum

Why do some scientists suggest that we are living in a new period of Earth history called the "Anthropocene"?

Humans are causing significant changes to the planet

Most abundant element in the sun?

Hydrogen

In the context of science, how would you classify the following statement? Dinosaurs became extinct because a large asteroid collided with Earth.

Hypothesis

Jello begins as a liquid mixture of boiling water and flavored gelatin. After it cools it forms a solid (but wobbly) material. This could be seen as an analog for the formation of what type of rock?

Igneous (includes lots of melting)

Three main rock types

Igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary

Greenhouse gasses, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, absorb radiation in which band of the electromagnetic spectrum?

Infrared

Does ubanization near streams generally tend to increase or decrease flooding?

Increase

If an air parcel is cooled, its relative humidity will...

Increase

What has happened to average global temperatures over the last 125 years?

Increased by about 0.8 - 1 ºC

Again looking at the air pressure map below, what direction is the air circulating around the low pressure center you just identified? Hint: this is in the Northern Hemisphere

Inward and counterclockwise or cyclonic

Why are mountains so long lived?

Isostasy (theory of floating) that says deep roots float back up, partially replacing material lost to erosion

What happened to ocean 18O/16O between last glacial maximum (LGM, about 20 thousand years ago) and the present time

It decreased

What will happen to a glacier or ice sheet in negative mass balance?

It will shrink/recede

Many things can happen when a large NEO strikes Earth. Consider only ejecta for a moment. How and why would ejecta affect short term climate (over a few months)?

It would lower global temperatures by blocking incoming energy from the Sun.

The difference in arrival time in P and S waves at a seismograph station allows you to determine what about the earthquake?

It's distance from the seismograph station

How would one compare terrestrial and Jovian planets in our solar system?

Jovian planets are larger and less dense than terrestrial planets

A 100-year flood occurs this year in a stream near where you live. How likely is it that a 100-year flood will occur next year?

Just as likely as it was this year

Globally-averaged temperature rose by 0.8-1ºC over the last century or so. That includes warming over the ocean and over land. On average, would you expect more warming over land or ocean?

Land

Braided streams are produced by

Large amounts of sediment, which usually exceed the capacity of the stream.

The strength of the Coriolis Force depends on what three things?

Latitude, rotation rate of planet, speed of moving object

The Coriolis effect, produced by the rotation of the planet, tends to deflect motion to the _____ in the southern hemisphere.

Left

This earthquake-generated hazard can occur when seismic waves shake water-saturated soils.

Liquefication

What % silica content and magma temp does basalt or gabbro have?

Low % silica and high magma temp

Which type of magma most likely has the LOWEST viscosity?

Low silica and high temp

Do gases escape easily during mild eruptions with low or high viscosity magma?

Low viscosity magma (ex. Hawaii)

Which type of environment is likely to be associated with deposition of fine-grained material?

Low-energy - a slow moving stream or gentle surf

Decompression melting is produced by reducing the pressure on hot rock, usually by moving that rock closer to the surface of Earth's crust. The underlying reason why decompression can lead to melting is that decreasing the pressure on a rock tends to _____ its melting temperature.

Lower

If Earth's atmosphere got much less cloudy, the planet's albedo (reflective property) would be...

Lower

Suppose 3 identical magnitude earthquakes occur in 3 different locations. The epicenters are Anchorage (in Alaska), Los Angeles (in California) and Boston (in Massachusetts). Which location would most likely experience the largest intensity the farthest from the epicenter?

Massachusetts

What is the order of planets from closest to the Sun to furthest from the Sun?

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Rocks that are formed by the crystallization of new minerals in the solid state (i.e. without melting) due to high heat and/or pressure are _____.

Metamorphic

Which plate tectonic setting produces partial melting that is due to rock experiencing a reduction in pressure (i.e., decompression)?

Mid-ocean ridge

Which tidal pattern is represented by the tide data for San Diego, California?

Mixed

This type of tidal pattern has two bulges a day, with one being bigger than the other.

Mixed Tide

The projected globally averaged warming is 2-4 ºC by 2100. That is over the entire surface of the planet, 70% of which is ocean. We mostly live on land. Will land-based temperature rise more or less?

More

What does partial melting produce?

More silica-rich magma, relative to the rock being melted

What are some common SILICATE minerals?

Muscovite, biotite, quartz, feldspar, pyroxene, and olivine

What three elements make up most of the atmosphere?

Nitrogen, oxygen, argon

When analyzing temperature anomaly data from a set of climate proxies you notice a change in temperatures over a 41,000 year cycle. Which natural climate change cycle is most likely responsible for such a change?

Obliquity (tilt angle)

What kind of faults are most common at divergent plate boundaries?

Normal faults

What is energy emitted from the sun produced by?

Nuclear Fusion

Assuming you know the location of the two seismic stations (GSC & NEE) , how many additional seismic stations do you need to locate the position of the epicenter?

One

What is an adiabatic temperature change?

One associated with no exchange of energy with surrounding air

Which type of organism would be the best index fossil species?

One that lived in many environments, which was present for only a few million of years.

A cut-off meander is known as a(n)...

Oxbow

What are the three most abundant elements in continental crust?

Oxygen, silicon, aluminum

Which statement concerning ozone and humans is most appropriate?

Ozone is harmful in the troposphere, beneficial in the stratosphere.

Which type of seismic wave travels the fastest, and thus arrives first at a location close to the epicenter of an earthquake?

P or primary waves

What is the unit of measurement for air pressure?

Pa = Pascal

Name of the super-continent landmass proposed by Wegener that existed 250 million years ago?

Pangaea

What is tephra?

Particles blasted into air by eruption

When analyzing temperature anomaly data from a set of climate proxies you notice a change in temperatures over a 23,000 year cycle. Which natural climate change cycle is most likely responsible for such a change?

Precession (this varies every 22 thousand years, matching up the best)

What is vapor pressure?

Pressure of a gas above a liquid

Note the X-Y line on the world map (below left). Which of the profile views (below right) most accurately models the bathymetry of the ocean floor along that line?

Profile a (the one with a second hump near the right side)

Isotopes of a particular element have the same number of ____ and different numbers of ____ in their nuclei.

Protons and Neutrons

______ indicators provide indirect records of past climate change that extend well beyond the historical record.

Proxy

What happens to the relative humidity of an isolated, unsaturated parcel of air as its temperature decreases?

Relative humidity increases

How are mountains created?

Reverse faults stack up and thicken the crust along convergent plate boundaries

What type of air changes temperature more slowly as it rises?

Saturated air (Hint: saturated air is at its dew point - any further cooling will cause condensation. Unsaturated air has not yet cooled to its dew point, and thus cooling will not (yet) produce condensation.)

Why are scientists expected to publish the data they use to make discoveries?

Science is based on empirical observations

Which statement best describes science?

Science is the process of discovery

Imagine that it rained continuously all over the world for a month. If we were to measure sea level over a five day period near the end of the month, what would we observe?

Sea level remains unchanged

Rocks formed at the Earth's surface from the breakup of other rocks, followed by lithification, are _____

Sedimentary rocks

What are clastic rocks?

Sedimentary rocks that are composed of rock and mineral fragments, formed by weathering, erosion & transportation, deposition & lithification

This type of tidal pattern has two equal-sized bulges a day.

Semidiurnal Tide

What is a common volcano to find in Hawaii?

Shield volcano

How long have asteroids been striking Earth

Since the Earth formed

What is a catalyst?

Something that makes reactions go faster

What type of volcano is Mount St. Helens? They form at subduction zones, typically.

Strato volcano

In what layer of the atmosphere does the Antarctic ozone hole occur?

Stratosphere

Which layer of the atmosphere blocks out harmful ultraviolet solar radiation?

Stratosphere

The so-called "ozone hole" is an area of decreased ozone concentration in what atmospheric layer over Antarctica?

Stratosphere (above us in the Troposphere)

Two rivers have the same depth and discharge. Stream B is half as wide as stream A. Which stream has the greater velocity? [Hint: remember that discharge = velocity x cross-sectional area = velocity x (depth x width). If both rivers have the same discharge and depth, but one is narrower than the other, what must be true of the narrower stream's velocity?]

Stream B

A _______ is an elongated region where one lithospheric plate descends below another.

Subduction zone

Wet melting produces partial melting of rock when water (a so-called volatile) is added to the rock, thereby lowering the melting temperature of some of the minerals in that rock. Which plate tectonic setting produces such wet melting?

Subduction zone

What is not considered a mineral? (ice, table salt, sugar, diamond)

Sugar

Why can radioactive elements be used to determine the ages of rocks?

Their half-lives do not change over time

Wein's law states that the wavelength of maximum emitted radiation for a body is inversely related to its temperature: Wavelength max = Constant/Temperature Earth has a absolute temperature of roughly 290 K, while the Sun has a temperature of approximately 6,000 K. Which has a smaller (or shorter) peak wavelength of emission?

Sun (hot)

Examine the image below before answering this question. D represents a magma chamber. Which relative time principle assumes that rock unit F is younger than rock unit C?

Superposition

Which type of seismic wave is the slowest, and therefore the last to arrive at a location far away from the epicenter of an earthquake?

Surface waves

When clay and silt-sized sediment is transported by streams, it is usually carried by what mode of sediment transport?

Suspended Load (small things)

What processes may change granite into gneiss?

Temp and pressure increase

Why does precipitation form when air is forced to flow up a mountain?

Temperature decreases, causes condensation

What happens to air as it rises in the troposphere?

Temperature decreases, pressure decreases (moving away from the warm surface of the Earth)

What are some eruption products?

Tephra, gases, lava flows, pyroclastic flows, lahars

The greek philosopher Aristotle, like many people at his time, believed the Earth was the center of the universe and that other planets revolved around our own. What is the name given to this ancient concept?

The Geocentric Hypothesis

Which region in the continental U.S. has the highest hazard associated with volcanoes and why?

The Pacific northwest because of the convergent plate boundary there.

The reason it is difficult to breath at high elevations is because there is less oxygen available to breath at these elevations, compared to, say, sea level. The reason there is less oxygen at high elevations is because

The air pressure is lower, which results in a lower density of air in general, with the relative proportion of oxygen remaining the same as at lower elevations

What is latent heat?

The amount of heat absorbed or released as water changes (more is used when changing from liquid to gas state)

What is relative humidity?

The amount of water vapor in air compared to the maximum possible (saturation).

Within most of the temperature range that we find liquid water on Earth, what happens to the density of that water as its temperature decreases?

The density increases

Two streams have the same velocity, but stream A has a cross-sectional area that is three times that of stream B.

The discharge from stream A is TRIPLE that of stream B.

What does the Moment magnitude scale measure?

The magnitude of the Earth shaking during an Earthquake

What is absolute humidity?

The mass of water (g) in a volume of air (m3) - water vapor density.

What distinguishes the different isotopes of a particular element?

The number of neutrons in the nucleus

What is the focus of an earthquake?

The point on the fault surface where seismic energy is first released

What is magma viscosity?

The resistance to flow a magma has, based on elements with low silica content (low viscosity) and elements with high silica content (high viscosity)

What must be true if a rock unit has an inclusion?

The rock unit is younger than the inclusion

What is the primary reason there are seasons on Earth?

The rotational (spin) axis of Earth is tilted with respect to the plane ofEarth's orbit around the Sun.

What happens to the depth of the seafloor moving away from a mid-ocean ridge?

The seafloor deepens away from the ridge

What is the gradient of a stream?

The steepness of the stream channel

Suppose you are traveling in a submersible that is diving from the ocean surface toward the seafloor at a depth of 4000 meters. What would you observe on the submersible's instrument panel as you descended through the thermocline?

The temperature of the surrounding water would decrease rapidly

What is Uniformitarianism?

The theory that most features we see are the product of slow, gradual processes, which we can observe today, acting over many millions of years (the present is the key to the past)

What is load?

The total quantity of material that a stream transports by all methods (traction, saltation, suspended, and dissolved)

What is discharge?

The volume of water flowing past a given point/cross section in a specified length of time

What happens to tectonic plates at a divergent boundary?

They are formed

What happens to the age of the Hawaiian Islands moving away from the hot spot?

They get older

What would happen to tidal ranges if the moon were larger (more massive)?

Tidal ranges would be larger

What would happen to spring tides if the moon were farther away from Earth?

Tides would be lower

Identify the correct order of atmospheric layers, from the lowest, where we mostly live, to the highest, verging on outer space.

Troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere

Without the greenhouse effect, Earth's average temp would be

Very cold (close to 0 ºF, -18 ºC)

How does the viscosity of motor oil in a car's engine change from the time you turn the key in the ignition to when you have driven 50 km (30 miles)? (Hint: think of warming up honey)

Viscosity would decrease

The Sun emits the most of its electromagnetic radiation (light) in the ________ band, while the outgoing radiation from Earth is in the ______ band.

Visible (Sun) and Infrared (Earth)

What are rare CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons)?

Volatile organic compounds used as aerosol propellants and refrigerants

Which of the following is not a proxy used for climate?

Weather instrument records (these are direct not indirect)

Which processes would convert a metamorphic rock into a sedimentary rock?

Weathering, transport, deposition, intrusive or plutonic

When it was first proposed, Alfred Wegener's continental drift hypothesis was heavily criticized by Earth scientists. What was one of the primary objections to the continental drift hypothesis?

Wegener didn't offer an explanation to how the continents move.

If the Gulf Stream were to slow down, how would the climate of Western Europe likely change?

Western Europe would cool down

When was ice triggered?

about 34 million years ago

Beyond the global warming expected as a consequence of anthropogenic enhancement of the greenhouse effect, global sea level is expected to rise because of

all of the other answers are correct

Graph that shows the daily mean stream flow over a period of time is a....

hydrograph

The combination of fossil fuel use and deforestation has emitted approximately 480 Gigatons of carbon over the last century, but the amount of carbon in the atmosphere has only increased by approximately 190 Gigatons. About 110 Gigatons of this "missing" carbon went into which reservoir of the carbon cycle?

the ocean (mostly in the surface portion, but some in the deep ocean)