Chap 1

Which of the following are necessary in order to find your position on Earth using GPS?

- Precise measurements of distance between a receiver and four satellites - Satellites to transmit a unique digital code to a ground receiver

Which of the following geologic timescale periods are part of the Cenozoic or "age of Mammals"?

- Quaternary - Tertiary

Which of the following are types of evidence that support the presence of oceans on two of Jupiter's moons?

- The surfaces of the moons are ice covered, but heat is generate by friction from Jupiter's strong gravitational force - There are induced magnetic fields around both moons, indicating that they both consist partly of strongly conducting material, such as seawater.

Greenwich Mean Time is also called _________ Time as well as ___________ Time.

- Universal - Zulu

The most probable (original) sources of water in the Earth's ocean are _________.

- the Earth's mantle, some of which is brought to the surface through volcanic activity - continual addition of water from outer space

Using the North Star to determine latitude ____________.

- will not work forever because Earth's axis of rotation changes slowly over time - has been possible for the past 1000 years

The time of sunrise changes about one hour for each _________ degrees of longitude on Earth.

15

There are __________ degrees of longitude east and west of the prime meridian to the international date line.

180

Our solar system formed approximately __________ years ago.

5 billion

The North Pole is located one-quarter of a circle in degrees latitude from the equator; thus its latitude is _______ degrees north.

90

Nebula

A large dense cloud of gas and dust in space

Light year

A light-year is equal to the distance light travels in one year, which is 9.46 × 1012 km (5.87 × 1012 mi).

Match the type of matter to the correct description

Dark matter -

Galaxies

Galaxies are composed of clumps of stars. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is composed of about 200 billion stars.

Clusters

Galaxies are preferentially found in groups called clusters

The clock time is set to noon when the Sun is at its zenith above the prime meridian. This is ____________.

Greenwich Mean Time

Most of the world's landmasses are located in the ___________ Hemisphere.

Northern

What does the positions of the Arctic and Antarctic Circles at 66.5 deg N and 66.5 deg S, respectively, represent?

On the summer solstice, the Sun does not set above the Arctic Circe and does not rise above the Antarctic Circle

Which of the following geologic timescale periods are part of the Cenozoic or "age of mammals"?

Quaternary

Match the term to its correct definition.

Solar day - The avg time for Earth to make one rotation relative to the Sun. Sidereal day - The measurement of a day on Earth based on making a complete rotation with respect to a far-distant point in space

Match the seasonal marker with the correct positioning of the Sun relative to Earth.

Summer solstice - Tropic of Cancer Autumnal equinox - equator Winter solstice - Tropic of Capricorn

The boundaries of the various geologic time were established mainly by which two methods?

The appearance or disappearance of certain fossils and radiometric dating

What is the primary force that causes the Earth to have a greater equatorial radius than the polar radius?

The force of rotation

If Earth's axis were not tilted, what would happen to the seasons?

There would be no perceived seasons on Earth and global day lengths and temperatures would uniform.

Match the term to the correct definition.

Transpiration - The release of water by plants Sublimation - The conversion of ice directly to water vapor

During the winter solstice for the Northern Hemisphere, the Sun is directly overhead at which of the following locations?

Tropic of Capricorn

Which of the following are the four closest planets to the Sun?

Venus, Mercury, Earth, and Mars

Any circle at Earth's surface with its center at Earth's center is called _____________.

a great circle

Residence time is the average length of time that __________.

a water molecule spends in any one reservoir.

Earth did not form into a perfect spherical shape because ____________.

as it rotates, the forces of rotation and gravity cause the equator to bulge outward

If Earth's overall size was scaled to the size of a basketball, then the distance from Earth's highest elevations to its deepest ocean depths would best be compared to the thickness of a(n) ______________.

avg human fingernail

Approximately 13.8 __________ years ago, the Big Bang initiated the formation of the universe.

billion

The most widely accepted age of Earth is between 4.5 and 4.6 _________ years.

billion

Which of the following pieces of technology had to be developed in order to calculate longitude accurately?

clocks

Galaxies are generally found in groups called ___________.

clusters

A half-life is the time over which one-half of the atoms of a radioactive isotope ____________.

decay

Geologic time is divided into four major _______________: the Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic, and Phanerozoic.

eons

In terms of its size, the "new" Southern Ocean ranks as number _____________ of the five oceans.

four

A sidereal day is about __________ than the mean solar day.

four minutes shorter

Nuclear ____________ is the process by which stars create elements that can have a greater atomic weight than lithium.

fusion

The Milky Way is a(n) ___________ composed of about 200 billion stars.

galaxy

The Atlantic Ocean is roughly _________ the size of the Pacific Ocean.

half

The image depicts the ____________ cycle.

hydrologic

If a(n) _____________ is supported consistently, it may be advanced to the level of a theory

hypothesis

GPS navigation is widely used because ___________.

it is worldwide now and extremely accurate

The Sun is at _________ when it is at its highest elevation above a reference longitude.

its zenith

The hypsographic curve compares which of the following?

land and water elevation relationships

The three states of water, ____________, ______________, and ____________, are possible on Earth's surface because Earth's mean surface temperature is about 61 deg F.

liquid, gas, solid

The topographic relief of Earth's highest elevations and greatest depths is ___________ compared to the overall size of the planet.

minor

Which of the following time periods are based upon the lunar cycle?

month

A(n) __________ is equal to one minute of arc length of latitude or longitude at the equator.

nautical mile

A rotating interstellar cloud of gas and dust is referred to as a ________.

nebula

A light year is equal to the distance light travels in _________.

one year

Approximately 5 billion years ago, __________ was formed.

our solar system

The most important gaseous element to accumulate in Earth's atmosphere, which had to await the evolution of photosynthesis in order to exceed its loss to space, is _________.

oxygen

In the lunar month, the Moon _________.

passes through four phases

The Sun is directly over the two tropics, Cancer and Capricorn, at two times during the solar year. These two dates are called __________.

solstices

A galaxy is composed of clumps of _________.

stars

Lord Kelvin based his estimate of Earth's age on _________, but his results were way off compared to modern-day methods of dating.

temperature

The major changes in the state of the universe that occured immediately after the Big Band were in ______ and ______.

temperature; size

It is necessary to know the time of day and the position of the Sun or the stars relative to one's longitude line because ______________.

the longitude line rotates with Earth, 360 degrees in twenty-four hours.

Which of the following reservoirs would likely show a marked increase decades after an ice age (during a warming period)?

the oceans

To determine the age of the Earth using radiometric dating, one must __________.

use radioactive isotopes

Two potential sources of the ____________ on Earth include the mantle and continual addition from outer space by icy comets.

water

Latitude can be calculated by measuring ____________.

your angle in reference to the bright star, Polaris

Earth has been divided into time ______________ that are 15 degrees of longitude wide, although some adjustments have been made when necessary to follow political boundaries for the convenience of people living in those areas.

zones

Which of the following are true regarding a great circle?

- A great circle connecting any two points on Earth's surface defines the shortest distance - They include any circle on Earth's surface with its center at Earth's center. - All longitude lines form great circles.

Place the descriptions of Earth's mass extinction events in order, with the oldest event at the top and the most recent event at the bottom.

- About 96% of all life on Earth went extinct during this extinction event - About 50% of Earth's species went extinct as a result of this event - This event killed off the dinosaurs as well as many other species

Which of the following pieces of evidence indicate that Mars possessed water?

- Data from soil and ice samples analyzed on the planet - Sedimentary rocks with ripple marks

Which of the following processes added heat to the early Earth?

- Early Earth was bombarded by particles of all sizes, and some of that energy was converted to heat on impact. - The growing layers of accumulated material resulted in the energy of compression being converted to heat.

Rank the following water reservoirs from longest residence time at the top to shortest residence time at the bottom.

- Ocean - Large lake - Pond - Atmosphere

Rank the locations or reservoirs of Earth's water in order from largest quantity of water held at the top to least quantity of water held at bottom.

- Oceans - Ice caps - Groundwater - Freshwater lakes - Atmosphere

Rank the five parts of the world's oceans from largest at the top to smallest at the bottom.

- Pacific - Atlantic - Indian - Southern - Arctic

Match the inner and outer planet groups of our solar system with the correct characteristics

Inner - Rich in metals and rocky materials Outer - Rich in ices of water, ammonia, and methane

Match the eras of geologic time with the corresponding dominant life forms.

Mesozoic - Age of Reptiles Paleozoic - Age of Marine Invertebrates, Fishes, and Amphibians Cenozoic - Age of Mammals