Area Test 1 Answers

The current accepted age of the Earth is _______ years. A) 4.6 billion B) 4.6 thousand C) 6.4 million D) 6.4 trillion

A) 4.6 billion

What are the basic differences between the disciples of physical and historical geology? A) 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 how erosion shapes the land surface. B) Physical geology involves the study of rock strata, fossils, and deposition in relation to plate movements in the geologic past; historical geology charts how and where the plates were moving in the past. C) Physical geology is the study of fossils and sequences of rock strata; historical geology is the study of how rocks and minerals were used in the past D) None of the above-physical geology and historical geology are essentially the same.

A) 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 how erosion shapes the land surface.

Which one of the following statements is NOT correct? A) Sedimentary rocks may weather to igneous rocks. B) Magmas crystallize to form igneous rocks. C) Metamorphic rocks may melt to magma. D) Igneous rocks can undergo metamorphism.

A) Sedimentary rocks may weather to igneous rocks.

______ is the process by which rocks break down in place to produce soils and sediments. A) Weathering B) Subduction C) Lithification D) Metamorphism

A) Weathering

The ________ forms the relatively cool, brittle plates of plate tectonics. A) lithosphere B) asthenosphere C) astrosphere D) eosphere

A) lithosphere

The most prominent feature on the ocean floor are the ___________. A) oceanic ridges B) lava plateaus C) seamounts D) deep-ocean trenches

A) oceanic ridges

Which of the following best describes the fundamental concept of superposition? A) Older strata generally are deposited on younger strata without intervening, intermediate age strata B) Any sedimentary deposit accumulates on older rock or sediment layers C) Older fossils in younger strata indicate a locally inverted geologic time scale D) Strata with fossils are generally deposited on strata with no fossils

B) Any sedimentary deposit accumulates on older rock or sediment layers

_________, a popular natural philosophy of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, was based on a firm belief in a very short geologic history for Earth. A) Ecospherism B) Catastrophism C) Uniformitarianism D) Exoschism

B) Catastrophism

_____ was an important eighteenth-century English geologist and proponent of uniformitarianism. A) Isaac Newton B) James Hutton C) James Ussher D) Charles Lyell

B) James Hutton

The ______ proposes that the bodies of our solar system formed at essentially the same time from a rotating cloud of gases and dust. A) Plate tectonics theory B) Nebular hypothesis C) Heliocentric theory D) Big Bang Theory

B) Nebular hypothesis

Compared to the age of Earth accepted as correct today, how did 17th and 18th century proponents of catastrophism envision the Earth's age? A) They believed it to be about the same as current estimates, give or take a million years B) They believed Earth to be much younger than current estimates. C) They believed Earth to be much older than current estimates. D) None of the above - they didn't really address the age of Earth.

B) They believed Earth to be much younger than current estimates.

In correct order from the center outward, Earth includes which units? A) core, crust, mantle, hydrosphere B) inner core, outer core, mantle, crust C) core, inner mantle, outer mantle, crust D) inner core, crust, mantle, hydrosphere

B) inner core, outer core, mantle, crust

The continental shelf is located ________. A) seaward of the continental slope B) landward of the continental slope C) between the continental slope and continental D) between the continental rise and the abyssal plains

B) landward of the continental slope

The ______ is thought to be a liquid, metallic region in the Earth's interior. A) mantle B) outer core C) lithosphere D) inner core

B) outer core

The composition of the core of the Earth is thought to be _________. A) granite B) solid iron-nickel alloy C) basalt D) peridotite

B) solid iron-nickel alloy

______ rocks always originate at the surface of the solid Earth. A) Igneous B) Metamorphic C) Sedimentary D) Secondary

C) Sedimentary

________ is often paraphrased as "the present is the key to the past." A) biblical prophecy B) Aristotelian logic C) Uniformitarianism D) Catastrophism

C) Uniformitarianism

Active mountain belts are most likely to be found ________. A) in the interior regions of continents B) scattered through continents C) along the margins of continents D) along only the eastern margins of continents

C) along the margins of continents

The _______ is the thinnest layer of the Earth. A) outer core B) inner core C) crust D) mantle

C) crust

The asthenosphere is actually a part of the _________ of the Earth. A) crust B) outer core C) mantle D) inner core

C) mantle

______ rocks form by crystallization and consolidation of molten magma. A) Indigenous B) Sedimentary C) Primary D) Igneous

D) Igneous

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, direct observations showed that a glacier in Switzerland flowered forward in the downhill direction while its snout was retreating higher up the valley. Which of the following explains these observations in a rational, scientific way? A) Rocky debris in the valley downhill from the snout was deposited by Noah's flood. B) Cooler temperatures meant slower forward glacier flow resulting in snout retreat. C) The glacier hypothesis was finally accepted as a scientific theory. D) The melting rate of ice in the glacier exceeded the rate at which new snow and ice were added to the glacier.

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

The _____ is not a part of Earth's physical environment. A) hydrosphere B) atmosphere C) solid Earth D) astrosphere

D) astrosphere

In sedimentary rocks, lithification includes __________. A) compaction and transportation B) crystallization and cooling C) cementation and weathering D) compaction and cementation

D) compaction and cementation

A ______ is a well-tested and widely accepted view that best explains certain scientific observations. A) hypothesis B) law C) generalization D) theory

D) theory