Geology 1403 Bockoven Final Exam Review

How long ago did the universe form, according to the big bang theory?

13.7 billion years ago

Plates move at a rate of about ____ cm/year

5

After one half life, _____% of the parent isotope and ____% of the daughter isotope is present. After two half lives, ____% of the parent isotope and ____% of the daughter isotope is present. After three half lives, _____% of the parent isotope and ____% of the daughter isotope is present

50,50 25, 75 12.5, 87.5

What is a sedimentary rock?

A rock that is the most common on the Earth's surface. They can from either eroding a previous rock to a sediment and then lithifying the sediment or precipitation from water or compaction of plant fragments

How old is the earth?

About 4.6 billion years old

The two largest conventional oil fields in the United States are n the states of ___ and __

Alaska, Texas

In North America, the two major mountain chains are the _____ in the east and the ____ in the west.

Appalachian, NA Cordillera

The North American Cordillera includes, among others, the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevadas, and the ____ mountains.

Cascade

____ sedimentary rocks are formed from cemented sediment grains eroded from pre-existing rocks

Clastic detrita

____ is an inorganic sedimentary rock, formed from the compression and alteration of plant fragments

Coal

Where is mechanical weathering by freeze thaw cycles most commonly found?

Temperature climates

Where is chemical weathering most commonly found?

The Humid/Wet/Tropical climates

What theory describes the formation of the Milky Way Solar System?

The Nebular Theory

What are fractures in bedrock along which movement has taken place?

Vaults

What is Ship Rock, NM and Devil's Tower, WY examples of?

Volcanic neck

During heavy rains, sediment carried down narrow mountain canyons is deposited on the desert floor as ____ fans

alluvia

What is a metamorphic rock?

a Rock that forms from high pressure and temperature in the solid state

Why do geologists believe that the outer core of the earth is liquid?

because p waves can travel through it but s waves cannot

Caverns are usually formed by acid dissolution of limestone ____ the water table. Speleothems are formed by precipitation of limestone by dropping water in a cavern limestone ___ the water table.

below, above

Coral sand beaches in the caribbean or the great barrier reef are composed of the mineral ____

calcite

What mineral are limestones composed of?

calcite

The lower part of a glacier, where melting of snow and ice occurs, is called the zone of _____ or the zone of wastage.

ablation

_____ fans are thick deposits of sediment found at the base of many submarine canyons.

abyssal

An alpine glacier ___ when accumulation is greater and ___ when wastage is greater.

advance, retreats

What Mineral Group is calcite a member of?

carbonates

We live in the _____ era

cenozoic

A ____ forms at the mouth of a stream, where it empties into a body of water and deposits sediments

delta

What is oceanic crust compared to continental crust?

denser and thinner

The point on the surface of the earth directly above an earthquake's focus is the _____

epicenter

Rocky shorelines with sea stacks and arches indicate a _____ Coastline

erosional

A ____ is an ice-transported boulder that was not derived from the underlying bedrock

erratic

An ____ is along sinuous ridge of sediment deposited by a stream that flowed under a continental glacier

esker

The point within the earth where seismic waves first originate in an earthquake is the _____

focus/hypocenter

A ____ is the sharp peak tat remains after cirques have cut back into a mountain several sides. The metamorphic rock ___ is named after the Matterhorn. The upper part of a glacier, the part with the permanent snow and ice, is called the Zone of ____

horn, horntels, accumulation

The upthrown block is the ____ and the downthrown block is the ____

horst, graben.

Intraplate Mantle Plumes form _____ such as the Yellowstone Supervolcano, the Hawaiian Islands, and the Emperor Sea Mount Chain. These Mantel Plumes ____ located at plate boundaries

hot spots, are not

What are hot springs on the seafloor at the mid-ocean ridges?

hydrothermal

Another name for Continental Glaciation is ____

ice sheets

Unweathered _____ rocks are the best choice for absolute radiometric dating.

igneous

What are the 3 major rock groups?

igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary

Plutonic igneous rocks are usually ____ and cool ____ and are ____ grained

intrusive, slowly, coarse

The line which separates these 2 zones on a glacier is called the _____

snowline

As an Alpine or Continental glacier retreats, end moraines called ____ moraines may be left behind. The end moraine that indicates the farthest reach of the glacier is called the ___ moraine

recessional, terminal

______ metamorphism occurs over widespread areas when rocks subjected to high pressure at depth, and usually results in foliated textures

regional

What are the 2 major types of metamorphism

regional and contact

The two types of age dating are ____ and ____

relative, radiometric (absolute, numeric)

Economic deposits of petroleum in a conventional field require ____, ____, ____, and ____

source rock, reservoir, trap, and cap rock/sea

Longshore drift can create a ____ , a long thin ridge of sediment attached to land but extending out into open water.

spit

Speleothems that hang from the cave ceiling are called _____ . The ones that grow up from the floor are called _____. These can join together to form a _____

stalactites, stalagmites, pillar/column

Wave erosion of headlands and deposition in bays causes coastal ____

straightening

What is the most significant agent of chemical weathering?

the formation of carbonic acid from CO2 and H2O

What is the continental crust composed of?

the igneous rock granite

Underwater earthquakes can cause seismic sea waves called _____

tsunamis

______ composition magmas are the most viscous, and create the most explosive volcanic eruptions.

Felsic

_____ coasts are common because sea level has been rising for the past 15,000 years

Submergant

A ____ is a ridge of sediment that completely crosses a bay, cutting it off from the ocean.

Baymouth bar

What are the 2 micas?

Biotite Mica and Muscovite

_____ metamorphism occurs adjacent to a pluton when a body of magma intrudes a relatively cool country rock, and usually results in nonfoliated textures

Contact

US coasts with gently sloping sandy beaches, such as those along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico are ____ Coastlines

Depositional

The most recent catastrophic nuclear disaster occurred in ____

Hiroshima, Japan

The ferromagnesian minerals contain the elements ____ and ____. The minerals are ____, the Pyroxene ____, the Amphibole _____, and the mica _____

Iron, Magnesium, olivine, ____, ____, biotite

What theory states that less dense continental rocks "floats" on the more dense mantle rock?

Isostacy

A small hill of till left behind a Continental Glaciation is called a ____

Kames

When an ice block that was buried in till in front of an Ice Sheet finally melts a depression called ____ forms.

Kettle lake

The delta of the ___ river is a wave-dominated delta that resembles the Greek letter delta nd is the origin of the name

Nile

Does the mineral Quartz have cleavage?

No

What forms the outer brittle tectonic plates

Lithosphere

_____ composition magmas are less viscous, ad create runny, basaltic, lava flows.

Mafic

The Big Thwack Theory explains that our moon was formed when a ______ sized planet collided with the earth.

Mars

The dinosaurs went extinct at the end of the _____ Era, _____ Period, _____ years ago

Mesozoic, cretaceons, 65 million

The ______ cycles explain that earth's ice ages and interglacial periods are caused by differences in the amount of heat from solar radiation that the earth receives due to variations in its orbit around the sun

Milankovich

Out of the 4, rank from most dense to least dense: Core, continental crust, mantle, oceanic crust

Most dense to least dense: Core, Mantle, Oceanic crust, Continental Crust

_____ is a type of mass wasting that acts like a viscous fluid or "wet cement"

Mud flow

Much of the city of ___ is below sea level because it was built on a subsiding delta.

New Orleans

The first abundant multicellular, hard-shelled organisms appeared in the ____ Era, _____ period, ______ years ago.

Paleozoic, Cambrian, 540 million

The Colorado plateau is marked by flat-lying sedimentary rocks that are heavily eroded into landforms called _____

Plateaus, mesas, beauts, and monuments

The longest length of geologic time occurred during the ______. The oldest rocks are found in the middle of continents in the Precambrian_____. The oldeset rocks dated so far contained zircon crystals and were found in the Jack Hills of ____.

Precambrian, shield, Australia

What is the silicate mineral most resistant to weathering and least susceptible to chemical attack on the Earth's surface?

Quartz

What metamorphoses from the parent rock quartz sandstone?

Quartzite

The _____ scale measures the magnitude of an earthquake. It is a logarithmic mathematical scale based on the maximum amplitude on a seismogram. The ____ Scale describes an earthquakes intensity

Richter, Mertality

What is an igneous rock?

Rocks form by melting, cooking and recrystalization

What type of volcano is very large and has a gentle slope with layers of basaltic lava flows?

Shield

What is the core composed of?

The elements iron and nickel

What is the most common agent of chemical weathering?

The formation of carbonic acid from CO2 in the atmosphere and water

What does dilute acid react with?

The mineral calcite, the sedimentary rock limestone, and the metamorphic rock marble

What does the lithosphere move on ?

The plastic asthenosphere

What causes the magnetic field of the earth?

The presence of iron in the earth's core

A ____ is an upward-arching field with two limbs. The limbs dip away from the axis/hinge line.

anticline

What is another term for fine-grained texture in igneous rocks?

aphanetic

Sharp ridges are called _____ separate adjacent glacially carved alpine valleys.

arete

The "horns" in a _____ dune point in a downwind direction. Trough time, the sand dune moves. Wind bounces sand up the ____ windward side of the dune until the sand reaches the crest. Sand then avalanches down the ____ leeward slip face of the dune.

bargent, gentle, steep

Galveston Island, and Padre Island, are examples of ____ islands.

barrier

What is the oceanic crust composed of?

basalt

Some black sand beaches in Hawaii are made up of sand-sized particles of the rock ___ or the volcanic glass ____. Hawaiian green sand beaches are composed of the mineral _____

basalt, obsidian, olivine

What is the most common mineral group in the earth's crust?

basillicate

A fold in which the beds dip toward a central point is called a ____

basin

A ____ is a large intrusive pluton greater than 100 square kilometers in size

batholith

Seismic ____ waves travel faster than surface waves. The seismic wave that travels fastest is the ____ wave, followed by the ____ wave. Surface waves cause the most destruction to people and property, and include the ____ wave, and the _____wave.

body, p, s, Raleigh, love

Wind=blown sand many sculpt isolated pebbles, cobbles, or boulders into ____

bonifact

A _____ stream flows in a network of intertwined channels, around numerous sandbars. These are common in areas of high bed loads such as deserts and ____ runoff.

braided, glacial

A ___ is a structure built parallel to shore to absorb the force of large, offshore breaking waves and provide quiet water near shore

breakwater

What are the 2 most common minerals on the earth's crust?

quartz and the feldspars

A _____ is a small, steep volcano constructed of pyroclastic fragments.

cindercone

A ___ is a bowl-shaped depression carved into a mountain at the head of an alpine glacier. After the glacier melts, the depression may be filled with a lake called a ____ . A series of small lakes down an alpine glacier carved valley are called ____ Lakes because they resemble Rosary Beads.

circ, tarn, Paternoster

What are the 3 major sedimentary rock groups?

clastic detrital, bioclastic/chemical organic, chemical inorganic

What is it called when a mineral breaks along planes of weakness?

cleavage

Most of our electricity comes from power plants that burn ___ or ____

coal, natural gas

Most of our energy comes from the 2 nonrenewable fossil fuels, ____, _____, _____

coal, natural gas, and oil

A _____ volcano is an intermediate volcano in both size and in the angle of its cone.

composite

All folds are created by what kind of stress?

compression

A ______ view represents a vertical slice through the Earth. The view from above is called the ____ view.

crossection, map

The Himalayas were formed by collision of 2 continental plates at a _____ convergent plate boundary

cont-cont

The 3 types of convergent plate boundaries are?

cont-cont, ocean-cont, and ocean-ocean

What are the major types of crust?

continental and oceanic

In North America, the ___ separates streams that flow into the Pacific ocean from those that flow into the Atlantic ocean and Gulf of Mexico.

continental divide

The 2 main types of glaciation are ___ and ___

continental, alpine

In _____ plate boundaries, the plates are moving towards each other. Crust is destroyed here.

convergent

What are the 3 concentric zones of the earth?

core, mantle, crust

A geologist uses _____ to establish the equivalency of rocks of similar age in different areas

corolation

the slowest form of mass wasting is ____, which can cause bent telephone and fence poles, and cracked walls and driveways

creep

Open fissures called ___ develop in the brittle surface ice of glaciers.

crevass

Deflation may cause fine silt and clay to be removed by desert winds, and many leave behind a layer of gravel known as ______

desert pavement

The area of a desert covers may enlarge due to poor agricultural practices, overuse of water, and climate change. This is called ____

desertification

At the surface of the Earth, ultramafic rocks in kimberlite pipes weather away leaving behind concentrations of ______.

diamonds

A ______ is a small discordant igneous intrusion and a ___ is a small concordant igneous intrusion.

dike, sill

In _____ plate boundaries, the plates are moving away from each other. New crust is constructed here.

divergent

Mid-Ocean Ridges are examples of ____ plate boundaries

divergent

Rifts are examples of ____ plate boundaries

divergent

What are the three major types of plate boundaries

divergent, convergent, and transform

Shallow focus earthquakes are associated with ____ and ____ plate boundaries while both shallow and deep focus earthquakes are associated with ___ Plate boundaries.

divergent, transform, convergent

A fold in which the beds dip away from a central point is called a _____

dome

The ____ is the total area drained by a river and its tributaries (sometimes called the watershed)

drainage basin

A ___ is a long canoe or cigar shaped hill made of till, parallel to direction of Ice sheet movement

drumlin

Bad agricultural practices, drought, and windblown loess caused an ecological disaster in the Great Plains of the US in the 1930's. This is called the ____ and includes the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas.

dust bowl

Many ____ coast lines indicate that the land has been uplifted at a faster rate than sea level is rising.

emergant

An ____ meander (also called _____ meander), forms when a meandering stream begins to downcut due to a change in the stream's height above base level. This can be caused by ____ of the land or a _____ in sea level.

encized, trenched, uplift, fall

____ moraines form at the terminus of both Alpine and Continental Glaciers.

end

Volcanic igneous rocks are usually _____ and cool _____ and are _____ grained

extrusive, quickly, fine

When the river overtops the channel during a flood, fine sediments are deposited in the ____ that make fertile farmland.

flood plain

What is it called when a mineral breaks irregularly?

fracture

____ are sometimes built perpendicular to shore in an attempt to protect beaches that re losing sand from longshore drift

grains

All glaciers flow downhill due to ___

gravity

Much of the fresh water we use for drinking and irrigation comes from subsurface _____

groundwater

The half-life of a radioactive material is the time it takes for a given amount of radioactive isotope to be reduced by ____

half

The mineral ____ tastes salty and has ______cleavage.

halite, cubic

Mass wasting is more common in areas with ____ slopes, ____ relief, ____ precipitation, and a ___ amount of vegetation

high, high, high, low

A stream may evolve from a "straight" stream near its headwaters to a meandering stream near its mouth. Near the headwaters, the "straight" stream may have a ____ gradient, a ____ v-shaped channel in cross-section, a ____ floodplain, and _____may be the prominent type of erosion.

higher, symmetrical, absent, downcutting

What metamorphoses from the parent limestone

marble

____ are rock walls designed to protect the entrance of a harbor from sediment deposition and storm waves.

jetties

What are fractures in the bedrock along which no movement has taken place?

joints

What are the feldspars?

k feldspar and plagiocrase

An area with many depressions, sinkholes, sinking streams, springs and caves is said to have ____ topography.. The rock type associated with this topography is _____ which is usually dissolved by ____ acid.

karst, limestone, carbonic

Melted glacial ice mixed with volcanic ash forms a type of flow called _____

lahar

Mounds of till that form along the sides of valley glaciers are called ____ moraines, and ___ moraines form in the middle of an alpine glacier.

lateral, medial

Wind creates waves. Waves move sand. Sand is moved along the beach by waves hitting eh beach at an angle and producing a ____ current.

longshore

Continental crust has a higher elevation than oceanic crust due to its ____ density

lower

A ____ stream has a curvy s-shaped channel. This stream flow faster and erodes more on the outside of meander bends at the _____, and it flows slower and deposits sediments on the inside of the meander bends at _____.

meandering, _____, point bar

According to the theory of sea floor spreading, the youngest igneous rocks in the ocean are found at the ______

mid-ocean ridge

Geologic resources that take millions of years to form and cannot be replenished during a human's lifetime are called _____

non renewable

What are the 3 types of unconformities?

nonconformity, angular unconformity, disconformity

Fault Block Mountains, such as the Grand Tetons, WY, are created by ____ faults.

normal

Horst and gabens are bounded by _____ faults.

normal

____ faults are the result of tension

normal

____ and _____ faults are the most common types of dip-slip faults.

normal, reverse

We mine uranium to produce ____energy, which accounts for about 10% of our energy needs

nuclear

non-ferromagnesium

quartz, k felds, plagiocias, feldspar

Most beach sand is composed of the mineral ____ and is carried to the shore line by _____ and moved along the beach parallel to shore by _____.

quartz, rivers, waves/longshore drift

The 4 rocks of prograde metamorphism, from lowest grade to highest grade are:

slate, phylite, schist, and neiss

The Cascade Range of Washington and the Andes of South America are formed along Subduction zones at ____ convergent plate boundaries

ocean-cont

The Mariana Trench and the Aleutian Islands are formed along Subduction zones at _____ convergent plate boundaries

ocean-ocean

Most of the water on the planet is saline and foun din the ____. Most fresh water on the planet is found in ____

oceans, ice/glaciers

On a map, an anticline or dome has the ____ rocks in the center and a syncline or basin has the ____ rocks in the center

oldest, youngest

What are places where bedrock is exposed at the surface of the earth?

outcrop

In parts of Texas and New Mexico, ____ of groundwater has caused the water table of the Ogallala Aquifer to drop more than 40 feet.

overuse

A cutoff meander may become a crescent-shaped _____ lake.

oxbow

Many of the red, orange, and yellow rocks of the desert are a result of _____ of iron forming minerals such as the mineral ______

oxidation, hematite

The chemical composition of the _____ is the most important factor in determining what the resultant metamorphic rock will be.

parent rock

A ___ is a broad, gently sloping surface formed by the coalescing of alluvial fans

pejada

What is the mantle composed of?

peridotite

What is another term for coarse- grained texture in igneous rocks?

phaneritic

The Exfoliation Dome and sheet joints at Enchanted Rock are examples of physical weather by ______?

pressure release

The most deadly event in a volcanic eruption is a(n)

pyroclastic flow

Folds and ____ faults are the result of compression

reverse

What cleavage does calcite have?

rhombehdral

What are the driving forces of plate tectonics?

ridge puss, convection, slab pull

The San Andreas fault is a ____ lateral _____ slip fault

right, strike

Worldwide, the most important concentration of earthquakes and volcanoes is called the _____

ring of fire

When global temperatures rise, ice sheets melt and sea level ____ and when global temperatures fall, ice sheets form and sea level _____

rises, falls

The Mississippi River has a ___ dominated delta which extends quite far out into the relatively quiet waters of the gulf of mexico

river

The fastest type of mass wasting is ____ or ____

rockfall, rock avalanche

Walls built on shore to protect the land from wave erosion are called ____. These were overtopped by the tsunami after the 2011 Japan earthquake.

seawalls

What type of cleavage do Biotite Mica and Muscovite have?

sheet cleavage

A ____ forms when the roof collapses on a cavern near the surface

sinkhole

The foliated metamorphic rock _____ is often used for making chalkboards, pool tables, and roofs.

slate

Estuaries (drowned rivers) and Fiords (drowned glacial valleys) indicate a ____ Shoreline.

submerged

A _____ is a downward bending fold with two limbs. The limbs dip toward the axis/hinge line

syncline

The ____ is the end of a glacier. Tis term applies to both Alpine and Continental glaciers

terminus

The state that produces the most wind energy is ____

texas

What does the lithosphere include?

the crust and the upper mantle

a _____ fault is a low-angle reverse fault

thrust

A ____ is a bar of sediment that connects an island to the mainland. Morro Rock, CA is connected to the mainland by one of these.

tombolo

In ____ plate boundaries, the plates are moving side-by-side. Crust is not created or destroyed here

transform

The San Andreas fault of California is a ____ plate boundary

transform

A ____ slide moves down a plane of weakness, such as a clay later, a mica shist, or a fault or joint

translational

The 2 types of slides are ____ and ___ slides.

translational, rotational

To become a sedimentary rock, sediment is ____ , ______, is buried and then _______.

transported, deposited, lithified

A _____ is a gap in the geologic rock record representing erosion or non-deposition

unconformity

In an Emergent coastline, a wave cut platform may be raised up out of the water to create a flat area called an ____. These create the sea cliffs that are common in California.

uplifted marine terrace

The cross-section of stream valleys are often ____ shaped and the cross section of alpine glacial valleys are often ___ shaped.

v, u

Other names for Alpine Glaciers are ____ Glaciers or ____ glaciers.

valley, mountain glaciers

Petroglyphs were often carved into ____, a hard shiny coating of mafic minerals that form on rock surfaces in deserts

varnish

Sea mounts are extinct underwater ____. As coral grows upward around an eroding and sinking seamount, a ring of coral called an ____ may form.

volcanoes, atoll

The predominant force of erosion shaping most desert landscapes is _____

water

The upper surface of the saturated zone of ground water is called the ____

watertable

The 3 types of deltas are

wave, tide, and stream dominated

In general, higher mountain ranges such as the Himalayas tend to be geographically ___. Lower mountain ranges such as the Appalachians tend to be geologically _____.

younger, older