Multiple Choice Questions
Which of the following statements is NOT true about the factors affecting mass movement?
After heavy rain, sediment moves along with the water
During the_______, all but one of the major marine phyla appeared.
Cambrian explosion
The Phanerozoic Eon includes the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and _________.
Cenozoic Eras
Intrusive igneous rocks form _______.
Coarse-grained rocks
Which of the following statements is NOT true about valley glaciers?
Flow rates are the same within the various portions of the glacier.
Valuable one deposits and gem crystals are often associated with _______.
Igneous intrusions
Which of the following could increase the rate of chemical weathering of a rock?
Increasing its total surface area
As North American rifted from Europe and Africa, a continuous rift system called the _________ was formed.
Mid-Atlantic Ridge
The southern point to which glaciers advanced in North America is marked by the path(s) of the _______.
Ohio River and Missouri River
Which of the following is NOT true about glaciers?
Only valley glaciers flow
Which of the following is NOT an indication that creep has occurred?
Parallel grooves form in bedrock
Which of the following is used to determine the absolute age of a rock?
Radiometric dating
Which of the following happens when a river enters a large body of water?
The river water slows down and deposits large amounts of sediments.
Which of the following statements is true about the development of a stream?
The velocity of water is greater along the outside pf a meander curve.
Which of the following characteristics of water can be responsible for mechanical weathering?
Water expands when it freeze
Continental drift was not widely accepted when it was first proposed because _____.
Wegener couldn't explain why or how the continents moved
Which of the following statements is true about wind transport?
Wind transport and erosion primarily occur in areas with little vegetative cover.
Compared to ocean crust near deep-sea trenches, crust near ocean ridges is ______.
Younger
Subduction results in the formation of __________.
a deep-sea trench
The magnetic pattern of ocean-floor rocks on one side of an ocean ridge is ______.
a mirror image of that of the other side
During the Cambrian Period (early Paleozoic Era), Laurentia was covered by ________.
a sea
The existence of coal beds in Antarctica indicates that the continent once had ______.
a temperate, rainy climate
Evolution is the process by which organisms __________.
adapt to changes in their enviornment
Most volcanoes occur _______.
along convergent boundaries
Two important anatomical traits of all primates are _________.
an opposable thumb and forward-facing eyes
A blocked-off meander eventually becomes ______.
an oxbow lake
When two cirques on opposite sides of a valley meet, they form a _______.
arête
The oldest rock layer in an undisturbed rock sequence occurs _________.
at the bottom of the sequence
Types of plutons include _______.
batholiths, stocks, sills, dikes, and laccoliths
The three ways in which a stream carries its load are in solution, suspension, and _______.
bed load
A triangular deposit composed of sediment eroded from adjacent mountains is called a _________.
clastic wedge
What type of sedimentary rock is coarse-grained with rounded fragments?
conglomerates
What results when rocks come in contact with molten rocks such as those in an igneous intrusion?
contact metamorphism
Rocks are formed when magma _____.
crystallizes
In which of the following areas is wind a major erosional agent?
deserts
The locations of seismic belts are determined by plotting _______.
earthquake epicenters
The Archean and Proterozoic are examples of _________.
eons
On the geologic time scale, the smallest unit of time is called a _______.
epoch
Which of the following lists the units of geologic time in order from shortest to longest?
epoch, period, era, eon
Igneous rocks that cool quickly on Earth's surface are ______.
extrusive
Extrusive rocks, which cool more rapidly than intrusive rocks, are generally more _____.
finely grained
Molds, casts, coprolites, and petrified wood are all example of ________.
fossils
Convention currents transfer thermal energy ______.
from warmer regions to cooler regions
the series of transgressions and regressions that produce cyclotherms were likely produced by ________.
glacation
What type of bedding has the heaviest and coarsest material on the bottom?
graded
There can be no stream erosion or glacial erosion without ______.
gravity
The amount of time it takes for one-half of the original amount of an isotope to decay is known as its ______.
half-life
Index fossils are useful to geologists if the fossils.
have lived over a short period of time
Streams lengthen through _____.
headward erosion
Which of the following could increase the rate of chemical weathering of a rock?
increasing its total surface area
An example of a fossil with original preservation includes a _________.
insect imbedded in amber
Igneous rocks that cool slowly beneath Earth's crust are ____.
intrusive
Deaths associated with earthquake deaths in sloping areas result from ______.
landslides
Where there is limited sand available and strong prevailing winds
longitudinal dunes are formed
Where there is limited sand available and strong prevailing winds ______.
longitudinal dunes are formed
The driving forces of tectonic plates are related to convention currents in Earth's _______.
mantle
Many early mapmakers thought Earth's continents had moved based on ______.
matching coastlines
Silver, gold, and copper have shiny surfaces and thus are said to have _______.
metallic luster
A numerical scale of earthquake magnitude that takes into account the size of the fault rupture is the __________.
moment magnitude scale
A ridge consisting of mixed debris deposited by a glacier a _________.
moraine
The youngest part of the ocean floor is found ______.
near oceans ridges
Each cycle of spreading and intrusion of magma during seafloor spreading results in ________.
new ocean crust
Features found at divergent boundaries include _________.
ocean ridges
At an oceanic-oceanic convergent boundary ________.
old crust is recycled by subduction
Ores near Earth's surface generally are obtained from ____.
open-pit mines
Mummified animals found in dry caves can be examples of fossils with _________.
original preservation
The process by which volcanoes vent water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and other substances is called _________.
outgassing
The ozone layer that filters ultraviolet radiation originated from _________ produced bu stromatolites.
oxygen
The most abundant elements in Earth's crust are _______.
oxygen and silicon
When there is no tectonic activity along the edge of a continent, the edge is referred to as a ______.
passive margin
Cyanobacteria use the process of _______ to produce energy, and oxygen is given off as a waste product.
photosynthesis
The downward part of a convention current causes a sinking force that ______.
puls tectonic plates toward one another
Slumps are common after a rainfall because the water ______.
reduces friction between soil grains
Which of the following does NOT provide evidence the Taconic Orogeny (the ancient mountains of New York state)?
remnants of long, linear reef mounds
A _______ fault forms as a result of horizontal compression.
reverse
Volcanism that occurs under water along mid-ocean ridges is ______.
rift volcanism
Dune formation will take place when _____.
sand, high winds, and vegetation are present
Dune formation will take place when ______.
sand, high winds, and vegetation are present
Which of the following are used to classify plutons?
size, shape, and relationship surrounding rocks
Minerals exist in a ________ form.
solid
The subduction of the East Pacific Rise during the early Cenozoic Era coincides with pull-apart tectonism in the ___________ United States.
southwestern
The San Andreas Fault, a result of horizontal shear is a _______ fault.
strike-slip
Which of the following is marked by the appearance of organisms with hard parts?
the end of the Precambrian
Crust is neither destroyed nor formed along which of the following boundaries?
transform
When part of the rock record is destroyed, the erosional gap that forms is a _______.
unconformity
Which of the following are landscape features associated with volcanoes?
vents, craters, and calderas
Continental-continental plate collisions produce __________.
very tall mountain ranges
All of the following affect the temperature at which magma form EXCEPT ______.
viscosity
Which of the following characteristics of water can be responsible for mechanical weathering?
water expands when it freezes
Which of the following has the potential for the most erosion?
water flowing down a steep slope
In which of the following climates would chemical weathering most readily occur?
wet and warm
Which of the following causes deflation?
wind erosion
An example of a trace fossil includes a __________.
worm trail
Isochron maps of the seafloor indicate that ocean crust is ________.
youngest near ocean ridges
The oldest known mineral on Earth is ______.
zircon