Geology 1200 Exam 1- UNCC(2020) Ch.1-4
The lithosphere of the Earth is generally thinnest at ________ plate boundaries.
Divergent
The change in wavelength (and therefore frequency) of waves that happens if the source of the waves is moving is explained by the?
Doppler effect
Hot-spot tracks result from moving?
plates
The apparent tendency of the north (or south) magnetic pole to vary in position over time is termed?
polar wander
When you are warmed by the Sun, you are experiencing ________; you are experiencing ________ when you burn yourself touching a metal object that is being heated on the opposite end?
radiation; conduction
Light from a star that has been shifted due to the Doppler effect is most likely to tell us the __________ of the star?
relative velocity
The broad flat regions that occupy most of the ocean floor are?
abyssal plains
Currently, most geologists?
agree that continental drift occurs due to mechanisms at work in the ocean basins and upper mantle
A mixture of copper and tin would be called a(n)?
alloy
Within the seafloor, the rate of geothermal heat flow is greatest?
along mid-ocean ridges.
Terrestrial planets are mainly composed of ________, while the giant planets are made predominantly of ________?
rock and metals; volatiles
The lithosphere lies directly above the?
asthenosphere
The Moho lies?
at greater depth under continents than under oceans.
Seafloor spreading occurs?
at mid-ocean ridges
The majority of new oceanic crust is created?
at mid-ocean ridges
The thickness of clay and planktonic microskeletons is greatest?
at the edges of ocean basins.
Mid-ocean ridges tend to be?
roughly symmetrical about the ridge axis.
Which of the following is NOT an example of sediment? -sand -ground-up seashells -cobblestones on a beach -sandstone
sandstone
Continents passively move apart as a result of __________, and they passively move together as a result of __________?
seafloor spreading; subduction
Volcanoes that are submerged beneath the surface of the sea are termed?
seamounts
The rate of seafloor spreading exactly matches the rate of?
subduction
During a journey to the center of the Earth, one would experience?
temperature and pressure both increasing.
The Earth's surface is protected from solar wind and cosmic radiation by?
the Earth's magnetic field
If a geologist discovered coal in a modern-day cold, snowy location, he or she could conclude that?
the area was once covered with swamps and/or jungles.
Beneath a blanket of sediments, oceanic crust is primarily composed of?
basalt
Evidence of paleomagnetism can be found in?
basaltic rocks
As compared to the rocks that make up the crust, the Earth as a whole is?
considerably more dense
Wegener saw Pangaea as a jigsaw puzzle, where the puzzle pieces were?
continents
As compared to the asthenosphere, the lithosphere is ________?
cooler and less able to flow
The lithosphere is composed of the?
crust and the uppermost part of the mantle
From left to right, correctly label each section of this slice of the Earth. Note that 1 starts at the surface of the Earth and 6 ends at the center of the Earth?
crust, upper mantle, transition zone, lower mantle, liquid outer core, solid inner core
The shape of the Earth's magnetic field is approximately that of a?
dipole, such as that produced by a bar magnet.
Seafloor spreading is most likely to occur at?
divergent boundaries
Glass is different from a mineral because it?
does not have atoms arranged in an orderly pattern
According to the Big Bang theory, our Universe is ________?
expanding
A fracture in the crust, where rocks slide past one another, is termed a?
fault
Regions of the sea floor with positive magnetic anomalies were formed during times when the Earth's magnetic field?
had normal polarity
Regions of the sea floor with negative magnetic anomalies were formed during times when the Earth's magnetic field?
had reversed polarity
Look at the two conceptual examples of light waves shown below. These two waves
have different wavelengths
Wegener's idea of continental drift was rejected by American geologists because?
he could not conceive of a valid mechanism that would cause continents to shift positions.
The region of space that contains all of the material of our Solar System (shown below) is termed the?
heliosphere
According to the model proposed by geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilson, hot spots are caused by?
hot plumes of mantle material that rise up through cooler, denser surrounding rock.
In Wegener's evidence for continental drift, continents were proposed to fit together, such as the east coast of South America with the?
lower west coast of Africa
Marine magnetic anomalies result from seafloor spreading in conjunction with?
magnetic polarity reversals
Evidence that the South American and African continents were once joined includes evidence from their coastlines such as?
matching fossil distributions.
Marine magnetic anomaly belts run parallel to?
mid-ocean ridges
The current scientific explanation for the origin of planets, moons, asteroids, and comets in our Solar System is the?
nebular theory
Eratosthenes was the first person to accurately estimate the size of the Earth. He accomplished this feat by?
observing shadows cast simultaneously at two different cities that were separated by a known distance.
According to the figure below, marine magnetic anomalies lay roughly ________ to mid-ocean ridges?
parallel
Which of the following bodies is the smallest?
planetesimal
Energy can best be described as?
the inherent ability of a region of space and the matter within it to do work.
According to the figure below, what can be said about the ocean sediments at location B relative to location D?
they are thicker and older
Compared to oceanic crust, continental crust is?
thicker
The San Andreas Fault zone in California is an example of a ________ plate boundary?
transform
Earth's geothermal gradient is the rate of temperature change incurred by?
traversing down into the Earth's interior.
Most winds and clouds develop in the?
troposphere
The atmosphere is divided into several distinct layers. From the ground up they are, in order?
troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere.
The best estimate of when the Universe formed is?
13.7 Ga.
The Wadati-Benioff zone extends down within the mantle to a maximum depth of ________ km?
660
The image below shows a cross-sectional view of a typical subduction zone, with earthquake locations shown with small dots. The band of earthquakes that follows the shape of the downgoing plate is termed the ________ zone?
wadati-benioff
According to the figure below, the Earth's magnetic poles move constantly. About how far from the geographic poles do the magnetic poles move? -they remain less than a kilometer from the geographic poles -they move as far south as the tropics -they remain in the high latitudes
?
Distinctive rock sequences on South America terminate at the Atlantic Ocean but reappear on the continent of?
Africa
proposed the continental-drift hypothesis, suggesting that the arrangement of continents on the planet has changed over geologic time?
Alfred Wegener
The closest galaxy to ours is ________, which is 4.37 light years away?
Alpha Centauri
Most of the pulling force driving plate motion is produced?
At subduction zones
The image below shows a view of a typical segmented mid-ocean ridge. Which letter below marks the location of the active transform fault? -A -B -C -D
B
In ancient Greece, Eratosthenes measured the difference in angles of the Sun's rays in two different locations in Egypt at the same time to calculate the?
Circumference of the Earth
The image below shows an example of which type of heat transfer? -Cool -Hot
Convection
The branch of science that studies the structure and history of the Universe is?
Cosmology
Scientists believe that the Moon formed due to a protoplanet colliding with the Earth. If this is the case, the Moon should have a composition similar to?
The earths Mantle Other Meteros other Comets Not sure Guess
How do magnetic anomaly patterns on the ocean floor best serve as evidence for seafloor spreading?
The symmetry on either side of mid-ocean ridges shows that new crust is created and then split apart.
Substances that can be transformed to a gas at the conditions found at the Earth's surface are termed?
Volatiles
__________ was the first human to orbit the Earth?
Yuri Gagarin
what does an ordinary compass indicate?
Magnetic north
The Earth's magnetic field serves as a shield against solar-wind particles, which can be dangerous to life forms. The area inside this magnetic shield is known as the?
Magnetosphere
Which of the following is true about Earth's tectonic plates?
Some tectonic plates contain both oceanic and continental lithosphere.
Which of the following statements is true of terrestrial planets as compared to the Jovian planets?
Terrestrial planets are smaller.
Our Solar System belongs to a galaxy known as?
The Milky Way
Most asteroids inhabit the "asteroid belt between?
Mars and Jupiter
Most asteroids inhabit the "asteroid belt" between the planets?
Mars and Jupiter
Aside from the Earth, the terrestrial planets are?
Mars, Mercury, and Venus
The amount of matter in an object is referred to as its?
Mass
In the context of scientific cosmology, the universe contains two basic entities: __________ and __________?
Matter, Energy
Which of the following planets is MOST similar to Earth?
Mercury
The boundary between the crust and the mantle is marked by an abrupt change in seismic velocity called the?
Moho
Which of the following is most true of moons?
Moons orbit a plant
The figure below shows the hypsometric curve for the Earth. Which of the following can be concluded from the plot of this data?
Most of the continents are between 0 and 1 km above sea level.
The primary evidence that our Sun is a third-, fourth-, or fifth-generation star comes from the fact that our?
Solar System contains too many heavy atoms to be first-generation.
Which of the following best describes how the Earth's Moon formed?
Early in the history of our Solar System, a protoplanet collided with the Earth, sending debris into orbit that coalesced to form the Moon.
Most meteorites are asteroidal or planetary fragments. As such, geologists consider the average composition of meteorites to be representative of the average composition of the?
Earth as a whole
When we say that light from a distant stellar object is red-shifted, this means that the light we see?
Has a longer wavelength than at the source.
By far the most common elements in the Universe and in our Solar System are?
Hydrogen and Helium
Molten material slowly cools and crystalizes underground. This results in the formation of a(n)?
Igneous rock
Which of the following is NOT necessarily true of a planet?
It has one or more moons
Which of the following is NOT required for a substance to be considered a mineral?
It must contain carbon
Which of the following is true about blue-shifted light that we detect from the cosmos?
It signifies a source that is moving toward us.
Which planet in our Solar System has the highest mass?
Jupiter
The giant planets are?
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Presently, the Earth's atmosphere is dominated by which two gases?
Nitrogen and Oxygen
