Geology Practice Test 1-5

What percentage of all of the organisms that have ever lived on Earth have succumbed to extinction events?

About 99%

Most of the Earth's limestone is composed from carbon dioxide in the form of what mineral?

Calcite

A giant meteorite smashing into Earth is an example of what?

Catastrophism

Humans evolved during the ______ Era/Eon.

Cenozoic

Coal reserves are thought to be sufficient to last a few ____.

Centuries

The tendency of some minerals to break along flat surfaces is called

Cleavage

Which scenario would most likely result in the formation of a fossil thousands of years from now?

You walk along an erupting volcano and are buried alive by several feet of ash

Which of the following best describes an element?

a fundamental form of matter that cannot be broken into simpler substances by ordinary chemical processes

Which of the following does not describe a mineral?

a fundamental form of matter that cannot be broken into simpler substances by ordinary chemical processes

Which of the following describes a crystal?

a substance whose atoms are arranged in a regular, orderly, periodically repeated pattern

Which of the following is not a possible alternative to reduce/replace the use of fossil fuels?

all of the above are alternatives

Some of the problems associated with fracking include all of the following, except:

all of the above are associated with fracking

The rock cycle describes geologic processes in which:

all types of rocks change from one type to another over time

An unconformity in which tectonic activity tilted older sedimentary rock layers before younger sediment accumulated is:

an angular unconformity

Geologic evidence for the cause of the extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous includes:

an iridium-rich layer

An oil reservoir is most similar to:

an oil-soaked sponge

Which of these igneous rocks is the most abundant rock type in oceanic crust?

basalt

Tar sands are permeated with ____.

bitumen

Bioclastic sediment consists of:

broken shell fragments and similar remains of living organisms cemented together

A large river carrying massive amounts of sediment to the ocean every year and accumulates on the delta produces ____ metamorphism.

burial

Mineral reserves:

can increase because new and inexpensive methods of processing lower grade ore can be developed and can become profitable if the price of the metal in a mineral deposit increases

Which physical properties distinguish a particular mineral from all others?

chemical composition and crystalline structure

Minerals are classified according to their:

chemical elements.

What is the most common type of sedimentary rock?

clastic

Sandstone, siltstone, and shale are _____ rocks.

clastic sedimentary

The process of ________ compresses buried sediment and forces water out of pore spaces.

compaction

Layers of sedimentary rock are ____ if they were deposited without detectable interruption.

conformable

Lithified gravel is called:

conglomerate

According to the principle of ____, a rock must first exist before anything can happen to it.

cross-cutting relationships

What causes foliation in metamorphic rocks?

differential stress during plate collisions

In a/an ____, the sedimentary layers above and below the unconformity are parallel.

disconformity

Which is the correct order from largest unit of time to smallest unit of time?

eons, eras, periods, epochs

The smallest unit of geologic time is a/an _______.

epoch

To be useful, an index fossil is produced by an organism that:

existed for a relatively short time

The color of an igneous rock tells us what?

mineral composition

Hydrothermal processes are probably responsible for the formation of ____ ore deposits than other processes.

more

Hydrothermal processes form _______.

more ore than any other process

Which of the following is not an example of a trace fossil?

mosquito in amber

A magmatic intrusion cutting through sedimentary layers:

must be younger than these sedimentary layers.

The principle of ____ states that most sediment is deposited as nearly horizontal beds.

original horizontality

The two most abundant elements in Earth's crust are ____.

oxygen (O) and silicon (Si)

Which type of fossil is formed from precipitated mineral matter that fills the cavities and pores of an organism?

petrification

Granite is an example of a ________ rock.

plutonic

Measurement of ____ age refers only to the order in which events occurred.

relative

Bauxite is an example of a:

residual ore deposit

Which of the following would be considered an industrial mineral?

salt

The principle of Original Horizontality is based on the fact that:

sediment usually accumulates in horizontal layers

92% of the earths crust is composes of ________ minerals.

silicate

What size of stars "live" the longest?

small

Where did our moon come from?

small planet sized impact

Igneous rocks form by:

solidification of magma or lava

Oil and natural gas originate from the:

source rock

Petroleum migrates from the ____ into the ____.

source rock, reservoir rock

____________________ defines the size, shape, and arrangement of igneous mineral grains in a rock.

texture

Relative age measurement refers to:

the order in which events occur.

Hardness is:

the resistance of a mineral to scratching.

The half-life of a radioactive isotope is:

the time is takes for half the atoms of the radioactive isotope in one sample to decay

Geologists use radioactive elements in rocks mainly to identify:

their absolute age

Parent and daughter isotopes occur when an isotope is ______.

unstable and radioactive

Radon forms by the radioactive decay of ____.

uranium

Most of earth's water came from what?

volcanic eruptions and comets

What is the main reason why graphite is weaker than a diamond?

weaker bonds between atoms

Crystal settling from magma occurs:

when early formed crystals sink to the bottom of a magma chamber

Mud converts to shale and organic material converts to liquid petroleum:

when pressure and temperature are increased due to burial under younger sediment.

Placer ore deposits form:

when streams or waves sort sediment according to density.

Regional dynamothermal metamorphism refers to metamorphism:

where major crustal movements build mountains and deform rocks.

Plutonic igneous rocks form when magma solidifies:

within the earth

The atmosphere consists mainly of ____ and ______.

Nitrogen and Oxygen

How many minerals have been discovered?

Over 4,000

The biggest mass extinction in Earth's history occurred at the end of the ____ Period.

Permian

Precambrian refers to all the time before the start of the ____ Eon.

Phanerozoic

Which type of texture is associated with having large crystals surrounded by a matrix of smaller crystals?

Porphyritic

Evaporite deposits form by:

Precipitation from water

____ means that the geologic processes operating today also worked in the past.

Uniformitarianism

Sedimentary rocks cover about ____% of the Earth's continents.

75%

How many chemical elements occur naturally in the earths crust?

88

Ocean's contain ______% of the earths water:

97.5%

Scientists have determined the Earth's age to be about ______ years.

4.6 byo

The earths population (in mid-2013) is about _______ people.

7.1 billion

On the Moh's hardness scale, diamond has the value ________.

10

According to the textbook, the population of the Earth by 2100 could be:

14 billion

Geologists estimate that Earth formed ____ years ago.

4.6 bya

The principle of faunal succession states that:

Fossil organisms succeeded one another through time in a definite and recognizable order.

1. The composite record of geologic time is called the:

Geologic time scale

The earth's core is part of the _______.

Geosphere

Water frozen in glaciers is a component of the:

Hydrosphere

Which type of fossil would best preserve evidence of the presence of feathers?

Impression

____ processes form mineral deposits as liquid magma solidifies to form an igneous rock.

Magmatic

Dinosaurs roamed the Earth during the:

Mesozoic Era

____ and ______ are examples for nonmetallic mineral resources.

Sand and Gravel

Weathering and erosion near the Earth's surface create the materials for ____ rocks.

Sedimentary

Quartz is composed of ____.

Silicon and oxygen

Why can't you perform a streak test on all minerals?

Some minerals are too hard

____ is the weight of a substance relative to that of an equal volume of water.

Specific gravity

Which mineral classification includes the elements of SULFUR and OXYGEN?

Sulfates

A/An ____________________ is any combination of interrelated, interacting components.

System

Fossil Fuels are:

formed from the remains of plants and animals.

Stars are powered by what?

fusion

A mineral that is valued for its beauty rather than for industrial use is a/an ____.

gem

Gradualism states that:

geologic change occurs over long periods of time by a sequence of almost imperceptible events

Earth's crust is part of the:

geosphere

In a placer deposit, gold settles out first when the stream current slows down because:

gold is denser than any other mineral

The metamorphic____________________ of a rock is the intensity of metamorphism that formed the rock.

grade

The most abundant igneous rock in the continental crust is:

granite

Which of the following is considered a possible reason for the current mass extinction?

human environmental impacts

Which of the following is not considered a possible reason for past mass extinctions?

human environmental impacts

Earth's first atmosphere was made up of what?

hydrogen and helium

Metamorphic rock forms when:

igneous, sedimentary, or other metamorphic rocks change because of high temperature and/or pressure, or compositional changes, or are deformed during mountain building.

To form an oil reservoir, cap rocks must be _________.

impermeable

According to current trends in Earth's population development, it is likely that pressure on Earth's resources will _____.

increase

A synthetic diamond is not a true mineral because it ____.

is not formed by natural processes

Obsidian:

is volcanic glass

What is the primary reason for the lack of an atmosphere on the moon?

lack of strong gravitational pull

This property describes the way light reflects off of a mineral:

luster

Extrusive igneous rocks form when:

magma erupts and solidifies on the earth's surface