ESCI 1005 Final Flashcards
(188 cards)
1
Q
A plate could be completely destroyed?
A
True
2
Q
About how far above the surface does Earth’s atmosphere extend?
A
100km
3
Q
About how many major tectonic plates are there?
A
10
4
Q
Bonds formed by valence electrons shared between a pair of atoms are called?
A
Covalent
5
Q
Continental crust is easily subducted
A
False
6
Q
Continental crust is typically thinner than oceanic crust?
A
False
7
Q
Continents move with plates
A
True
8
Q
Diamond and graphite are
A
polymorphs
9
Q
Diamond forms at shallow depths in the Earth’s crust
A
False
10
Q
Earth has never suffered a large asteroid impact
A
False
11
Q
Earth started cold and has heated up?
A
False
12
Q
Earth’s tectonic plates are about how thick?
A
100km
13
Q
Glass is a mineral?
A
False
14
Q
In what century did Wegener publish his theory about continental drift?
A
20th
15
Q
One form of olivine has the chemical formula Mg2Si04. In this mineral, Mg is acting as a ____?
A
Cation
16
Q
Cations
A
an ion with fewer electrons than protons, giving it a positive charge.
17
Q
Ordinary ice is a mineral?
A
True
18
Q
Polymorphs are variants of one mineral?
A
False
19
Q
Polymorphs
A
polymorphism is the ability of a solid material to exist in more than one form or crystal structure.
20
Q
Protein crystals are minerals?
A
False
21
Q
Seismicity is very common in continental interiors?
A
False
22
Q
Some plates have no oceanic lithosphere in them?
A
False
23
Q
Table salt is not a mineral because it is organic?
A
False
24
Q
The amount of land surface hasn’t changes much at all through Earth’s history?
A
False
25
The bonds that hold sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) together in the mineral halite are covalent?
False
26
The chemical composition of quartz is?
SiO2
27
The planets in the solar system all orbit the Sun in the same direction?
True
28
Two or more minerals can share the exact same chemical composition?
True
29
What does ocean bathymetry do as you move away from mid-ocean ridges?
grow larger (water depth increases)
30
What layer has remained unchanged since the birth of the earth?
none of these
31
What two elements account for almost all of the Earth's atmosphere?
N and O
| Nitrogen & Oxygen
32
What two elements account for almost all of the dissolved content (salinity) in ocean water?
Na and Cl
| Sodium & Chlorine
33
Which bond type is most common in minerals?
ionic
34
Which bond type tends to produce minerals that dissolve in water most readily?
ionic
35
Which compositional layer has the greatest volume?
mantle
36
Which element is a common component of Earth's crust?
Fe
| Iron
37
Which mineral group is the most abundant in the Earth's crust and mantle?
silicates
38
Which of the following combination of properties is unique to a mineral?
composition and crystalline lattice
39
Which of the following is a significant plate driving force?
Slab pull
40
Which of the following is a type of plate boundary?
Transform, divergent, convergent
41
Which of the following is the closest to the age of the Earth (in years)? Recall that 1 billion equals 1000 million.
4500 million
| 4.5 billion
42
Which of the following is considered strong proof of oceanic plate subduction?
deep earthquakes
43
Which of the following is not a true chemical bond (ie doesn't involve exchange or sharing of electrons)?
van der Waals
44
Which of the following is not one of the "big four" elements comprising the bulk Earth?
H
(Hydrogen)
(Mg, O, Si, Fe)
45
Which of the following mechanical layers is the weakest?
asthenosphere
46
Which plate boundary is least often associated with volcanism?
Transform
47
Which value is closest to the average depth of the oceans? Recall the one km equals 1000 meters.
4000m
| 4 km
48
Which value is closest to the deepest bathymetry on Earth?
10 km
49
A large, irregular shaped body of crystallized magma in the subsurface is a ____?
pluton
50
A nearly horizontal layer of igneous rock is called ____?
Sill
51
Cross bedding is an indication of ____?
deposition from a moving fluid
52
Earth's magnetic field is static, the product of magnetic minerals in the crust, mantle and core?
False
53
Earth's magnetic field resembles that of a giant bar magnet but changes with time?
True
54
Going from largest clast size to smallest, which of the following is the correct ordering?
gravel, sand, silt, clay
55
Magma and lava are completely synonymous?
False
56
Magmas contain nothing but molten rock?
False
57
Mature sediment is ____?
more rounded
58
Melting in subduction zones is largely a result of?
water
59
Melting rock is a common occurrence in the mantle?
False
60
Metamorphism involves melting?
False
61
Metamorphism usually changes rock composition?
False
62
Most magmas and lavas are silicic (ie crystallize into rocks with abundant silicate minerals)?
True
63
Ocean crust is chemical closest to which of the following?
gabbro
64
Pyroclastic material comprises of sills and dikes?
False
65
Relative to sediment near the top of an accumulation, sediment near the base was?
deposited earlier
66
Ripples are static features formed by interaction of wind and/or water and the rocky surface?
False
67
Ripples propagate up or downstream?
downstream
68
Seafloor magnetic lineations are visible in ocean bathymetry?
False
69
Sediments accumulate deep in the crust?
False
70
Sediments become sedimentary rock with time- nothing else is needed?
False
71
Sediments deposited in the same layer at the same time but in different places must be practically identical?
False
72
Shield and strato volcanoes represent two different ends of the volcano morphology spectrum?
True
73
Silicate minerals are common in igneous rocks?
True
74
The composition of melt and the parent solid are identical?
False
75
The geotherm is _____.
none of the above
76
The horizontal banding obvious in many sedimentary rocks is called?
Bedding
77
Foliation
repetitive layering in metamorphic rocks
78
The last time Earth's magnetic field completely reversed polarity was closest to how many years ago?
1 million
79
The temperature of most lavas is less than 500 degree celsius
False
80
There is lots of metamorphic rock exposed in MN?
True
81
Volcanic ash is little different from chimney ash?
False
82
Volcanic bombs are large sized tephra?
True
83
Volcanic island chains in the Pacific are arrayed in lines. This is because they represent magma leaking out through long cracks in the crust?
False
84
What rock you start with is all that matters in categorizing metamorphic rocks?
False
85
Which characteristic is not an important part of SEDIMENTARY rock classification?
Color
86
Which gas is not commonly emitted by volcanoes?
none of the above
| sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, water vapor
87
Which magma is more likely to be explosive?
one that would crystallize into a rhyolite
88
Which of the following is not a type of METAMORPHISM?
Magnetic
| regional, hydrothermal, contact, burial
89
Which of the following is the most common type of METAMORPHISM on land?
regional
90
Which physical characteristic is not important in naming IGNEOUS rocks?
Color
91
Which setting is associated with deep sediment accumulations?
fore-arc basin
rifted continental margin
accretionary prism
92
You find a rock that is light in color, has large crystals, is mostly quartz and potassium feldspar and outcrops in St. Cloud MN. It is most likely ____?
Granite
93
A graded stream is no longer moving sediment?
False
94
A one-hundred year flood could happen two years in a row?
True
95
A well-sorted gravel is likely to have greater porosity than a silty sandstone (sandstone with some silt sized grains)?
True
96
All ground water is fresh?
False
97
Deltas can form in lakes?
True
98
Freshwater is less dense than salt water?
True
99
Groundwater commonly moves at velocities of meters a day or more?
False
100
Mantle outgassing occurs everywhere and at all times as water slowly escapes the mantle?
False
101
Most of the world's oceans are underlain by abyssal plains?
True
102
Most of the world's water is saline?
True
103
Natural levees form primarily during floods?
True
104
Oceans cover about what percentage of the planet?
70%
105
On which side of a river bend would you expect to find a sand or point bar?
inside
106
One can discern the direction of longshore drift by examining the amount of sand on the two side of a jetty or groin?
True
107
Permeability varies little between different rock types?
False
108
Small, steep mountain streams have higher competence than major trunk streams?
False
109
Stream long profiles are concave up?
True
110
Streams with high discharge and low sediment supply can erode below base level?
False
111
Surface currents and water waves are the same thing?
False
112
Surface currents rotate clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere?
True
113
The Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of the US has high salinity because evaporation significantly exceeds precipitation there?
True
114
The cations that comprise part ocean salinity are largely from terrestrial weathering?
True
115
The ease of erosion of clasts increases as the size of the clasts decreases, continuing to the smallest clast size?
False
116
The net transport of water is parallel to average wind direction?
False
117
The oceans are really one interconnected ocean?
True
118
The peak discharge during a one-hundred year flow is exactly twice that of a fifty-year flood?
False
119
The residence time of water in the atmosphere is about two weeks?
True
120
The residence time of water in the oceans is about two weeks?
False
121
The water in Earth's oceans today has been there since the formation of the planet?
False
122
The water table is visible within 1 km of the classroom?
True
123
There is no strong evidence that the amount of water on Earth's surface has changed dramatically in the last 100 Ma?
True
124
Thermohaline circulation is driven by density variations of seawater?
True
125
Tsunamis are just long wavelength ocean waves?
True
126
Turbulent flow is better at carrying sediment?
True
127
Urban construction, especially concrete, has reduced the likelihood of flooding in urban floodplains?
False
128
Water can both leave the mantle and go back in?
True
129
Wave base is about what fraction of wavelength deep?
One-half
130
Wave refraction creates longshore drift or, at least, accentuates it?
False
131
What typically happens with distance downstream to the average size of clasts carried by a river?
Decreases
132
What would have the higher angle of repose?
a mixture of sand and gravel
133
Which of the following is a place where surface water descends to form deep water?
North Atlantic
134
Which of the following is not a means of removing dissolved content from ocean water?
volcanic outgassing
| formation of evaporates, hydrothermal alteration, clay deposition
135
Which of the following is not a potential sink of sand to a beach?
Offshore transport
136
Which of the following is not a potential source of sand to a beach?
none of the above
| dune erosion, stream discharge, longshore drift, onshore transport
137
Which of the following is least likely cause of a stream terrace?
rise in stream base level
| increase in stream discharge, regional uplift, decrease in sediment supply
138
Which type of sediment transport has the fastest average sediment velocity?
suspended load
139
Which value is closest to the amplitude of the tides in open water?
1 m
140
Which value is closest to the average salinity of ocean water?
40 per mil
141
Without a moon, Earth would not have ocean tides?
False
142
A fault is simply a crack in a rock?
False
143
A fault cuts both a fold and an igneous intrusion proves the intrusion is older than the fold?
False
144
How large was the largest recorded earthquake?
9.5
145
About how many years old did Bishop Ussher believe the Earth to be?
6000 years
146
Aerobic bacteria appear in the geologic record more than 1 billion years ago?
True
147
An eroded syncline has the oldest rocks outcropping near the fold axis?
False
148
Carbon 14 would be a great method to assign ages to fossil organisms from the Cambrain?
False
149
Dip is measured in degrees east of north?
False
150
Ductile deformation is common in the deep crust and mantle?
True
151
Faults are expressions of brittle deformation?
True
152
From longest to shortest, order the divisions of geologic time:
eon, era, period, epoch
153
Hominids and dinosauria overlapped in time?
False
154
If you drill horizontally far enough through a hanging wall in both directions, you will reach the footwall (along one of the two directions)?
True
155
In a normal fault, the hanging wall moves up relative to the food wall?
False
156
In which rock types would you be most likely to find a fossil?
Sedimentary
157
In which tectonic setting would you most expect normal faulting?
Divergent boundary
158
Insects predate mammals?
True
159
Strike-slip faults
vertical (or nearly vertical) fractures where the blocks have mostly moved horizontally
160
Lord Kelvin thought the Earth was relatively young based on?
Heat flow
161
Meteorites were used to estimate the age of the Earth using cross-cutting relationships?
False
162
Motion of fault blocks is parallel to the fault?
True
163
Mountains are anticlines and valleys are synclines?
False
164
Normal faults are the product of which type of stress?
Tension
165
Normal faults result in horizontal _____?
extension
166
Organisms with hard parts became common in the Archean?
False
167
Oxygen in the atmosphere has been pretty much constant throughout Earth's history?
False
168
Prokaryotes appeared before eukaryotes?
True
169
Rocks above the brittle-ductile transition are more likely to behave?
in a brittle fashion
170
Slickensides are evidence of fault motion?
True
171
The amplitude of ground motion of a magnitude 6 earthquake is how large compared to a magnitude 5 earthquake?
10 x larger
172
The Cambrian explosion refers to a massive meteorite impact?
False
173
The diversity and number of species and genera on Earth has been continuously and steadily increasing through the last 500 Ma?
False
174
The largest mass extinction that we know of was the KT boundary?
False
175
The limbs dip away from the axis of kind of fold?
anticline
176
The radiometric age (age est. by dating using radioactive isotopes) of a rock isn't affected by metamorphism?
False
177
The Richter scale is a measure of earthquake damage?
False
178
Two isotopes of the same element differ in the number of?
neutrons
179
What are stromatolites?
none of the above
180
What is unconformity?
evidence of missing time in the rock record
181
What is the approximate depth of the brittle-ductile transition?
10 km
182
What is the final daughter product of Uranium decay?
Lead
183
What is the half-life of a radioactive isotope?
the time it takes for half of the original amount to decay
184
When did fish first appear in the fossil record?
Ordovician
185
Which of the following is not a type of stress?
Surface
186
What is unlikely to be a good key bed?
a thin layer of extrusive igneous rock
187
Which of the following makes ductile deformation LESS likely?
increase strain rate
188
Which type of unconformity is the erosional surface between parallel sets of sedimentary strata?
disconformity
