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
