Endterm exam

Question 1

What is gradation?

Answer 1

The phenomenon of wearing down of relief variations of the surface of the earth through erosion

Question 2

Define weathering.

Answer 2

The breaking down or dissolving of rocks and minerals on the surface of the Earth

Question 3

What are the agents of weathering?

Answer 3

• Water
• Ice
• Acids
• Salts
• Plants
• Animals
• Changes in temperature

Question 4

What is physical weathering?

Answer 4

Also called mechanical weathering, it disintegrates rocks into smaller pieces

Question 5

What is frost wedging?

Answer 5

When water gets inside the joints, alternate freezing and thawing episodes pry the rock apart

Question 6

What is salt crystal growth?

Answer 6

Force exerted by salt crystals formed as water evaporates from pore spaces or cracks in rocks can cause the rock to fall apart

Question 7

What is abrasion?

Answer 7

The wearing away of rocks by constant collision of loose particles

Question 8

What role do biological activities play in weathering?

Answer 8

Plants and animals (including humans) act as agents of mechanical weathering

Question 9

What is chemical weathering?

Answer 9

Decomposes rocks through chemical reactions that change the original rock-forming minerals

Question 10

What is hydrolysis?

Answer 10

Change in the composition of minerals when they react with water

Question 11

What is oxidation?

Answer 11

Reaction between minerals and oxygen dissolved in water

Question 12

What is dissolution?

Answer 12

Dissociation of molecules into ions; common example includes dissolution of calcite and salt

Question 13

What is mass movement?

Answer 13

Also called mass wasting, it includes all processes by which soil and rock materials are dislodged and transported downslope

Question 14

What are the types of mass movement?

Answer 14

• Slow movement
• Rapid movement

Question 15

What is erosion?

Answer 15

The acquisition and transportation of rock debris by geomorphic agents like running water, wind, and waves

Question 16

What is deposition?

Answer 16

The laying down of sediment carried by wind, water, or ice

Question 17

What are endogenic processes?

Answer 17

Processes driven by energy emanating from within the earth that shape the Earth’s crust

Question 18

What is diastrophism?

Answer 18

The movement of solid materials in the crust that could take up to hundreds and millions of years

Question 19

What is epeirogeny?

Answer 19

A vertical movement associated with the formation of continents and plateaus through uplifting or warping

Question 20

What is orogeny?

Answer 20

A horizontal movement that builds mountains through severe folding

Question 21

What are fault mountains?

Answer 21

Mountains built through forces of tension

Question 22

What are fold mountains?

Answer 22

Mountains built through the forces of compression

Question 23

What is deformation?

Answer 23

Any change in shape, position, and/or volume of a rock in response to stress

Question 24

What are the four types of stress?

Answer 24

• Confining stress
• Compression
• Tension
• Shear

Question 25

What is the theory of continental drift?

Answer 25

The idea that continents have moved over geological time

Question 26

What evidence supports the theory of continental drift?

Answer 26

* Fit of the continents * Matching of rock units across ocean basins * Distribution of fossils * Paleoclimate evidence

Question 27

What is seafloor spreading theory?

Answer 27

The theory suggesting that new oceanic crust is created at mid-ocean ridges

Question 28

What evidence supports seafloor spreading theory?

Answer 28

* Distribution of seafloor topographic features * Sediment thickness * Composition of oceanic crust * High heat flow along mid-ocean ridge axes * Distribution of submarine earthquakes

Question 29

What are the three types of plate boundaries?

Answer 29

* Divergent Boundaries * Convergent Boundaries * Transform Boundaries

Question 30

Define divergent boundaries.

Answer 30

Boundaries where plates are moving apart and new crust is created by magma

Question 31

Define convergent boundaries.

Answer 31

Boundaries where plates are moving toward each other, and one plate may sink under another

Question 32

Define transform boundaries.

Answer 32

The zone between two plates sliding horizontally past one another

Question 33

What are relative dating methods?

Answer 33

Methods that estimate whether an object is younger or older than other things found at the site

Question 34

What is stratigraphy?

Answer 34

A method that allows archaeologists to construct a relative chronological sequence from the oldest to youngest layers

Question 35

What is seriation?

Answer 35

A technique that looks at changes in certain styles of artifacts to develop a chronology

Question 36

What is fluorine dating?

Answer 36

A technique that analyzes how much fluorine has been absorbed by bones from surrounding soils

Question 37

What are absolute dating methods?

Answer 37

Methods that provide specific origin dates and time ranges

Question 38

What is radiocarbon dating?

Answer 38

A method that measures the decay of the radioactive isotope Carbon-14 in organic material

Question 39

What is dendrochronology?

Answer 39

A method that uses variations in tree rings to produce timelines

Question 40

What is thermoluminescence?

Answer 40

A method that determines the age of pottery or ceramics based on specific heating events

Question 41

What is fission-track dating?

Answer 41

A technique that determines age based on trails of damage done by the spontaneous fission of uranium-238

Question 42

What is archaeomagnetic dating?

Answer 42

A method that analyzes magnetic particles in geological materials to track shifts in the earth’s magnetic fields

Question 43

What is the geologic time scale?

Answer 43

A series of time intervals that divide Earth's history based on significant events

Question 44

What is an eon?

Answer 44

The largest intervals of geologic time, lasting hundreds of millions of years

Question 45

What is an era?

Answer 45

Subdivisions of an eon, marked by significant events in Earth's history

Question 46

What is a period?

Answer 46

Subdivisions of eras, marked by events that are widespread but not as significant as those bounding eras

Question 47

What is an epoch?

Answer 47

Subdivisions of periods, typically applied to the most recent portion of geologic time