ESC Midterm Flashcards
A government report about a hurricane would
be part of the discipline of meteorology.
A newspaper article about an earthquake would be reporting on the discipline of
geology.
According to the figure, the birth of the Earth occurred approximately
4,540 Ma.
Glaciers would be considered part of both the cryosphere and the
hydrosphere.
If buying a house in the area shown, Earth Science may help you determine
if the area is safe from natural hazards.
The difference between meteorology and climate science is that
meteorology studies shorter-term conditions of the atmosphere and climate science studies the longer-term trends.
The mantle and core would be considered part of which Earth System realm?
Geosphere
The study of Earth’s oceans and their interaction with Earth’s land and atmosphere is called
oceanography
The theory of _________ is considered to be the foundation of geology.
plate tectonics
Which one of these practical questions may be answered by Earth Science?
What will the weather be like today?
A bathymetric map of the Earth’s oceans would reveal that most of the ocean floor is made up of
abyssal plains.
Earth’s core
generates Earth’s magnetic field.
Edwin Hubble’s research was important because
his measurements of galaxies showed that the Universe is expanding.
From earliest to latest, which of the following is the correct order of events in the formation of Earth?
Formation of accretionary disk, formation of planetesimals, differentiation, formation of Moon
How did the Earth become round?
The early Earth’s interior rock became warm enough to flow in response to gravity.
Scientific cosmology
investigates the overall structure and history of the Universe.
Soil forms when ________ interact(s) with air, water, and organisms.
sediment
The Big Bang
began with all matter and energy concentrated in an infinitesimally small point.
The Moho is the boundary between Earth’s
crust and mantle.
The earliest nebulae to form in the Universe were made almost entirely of
hydrogen and helium.
The geothermal gradient
refers to the rate of increase in temperature with increasing depth in the Earth.
The leading hypothesis for the formation of our Moon states that it
was formed by the collision of Earth with a Mars-sized protoplanet.
The nebular theory explains
how the Solar System formed.
The process by which the Earth developed its layered interior is called
differentiation.
The two most common gases of Earth’s atmosphere are
nitrogen (N2) and oxygen (O2).
The type of rock formed by the solidification of molten rock is
igneous.
This figure shows the planets of the Solar System and their positions relative to the Sun. Rocky planets are closest to the Sun, and the gas and ice giants are farther away. Which of the following sequences places the planets in the correct order?
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
This figure shows the planets of the Solar System and their positions relative to the Sun. Which observation about the planets’ arrangement is true?
The asteroid belt marks the boundary between the rocky planets and the gas giants.
Using this image, describe the relationship between air pressure and altitude.
At the top of Mt. Everest, air pressure is less than 0.4 bars.
Which layer of the Earth’s interior is completely molten?
Outer core
Which of Earth’s layers accounts for most of the volume of Earth?
Mantle
Which of Earth’s layers is the thinnest?
Crust
Which of the following groups of elements make up most of the mass of the Earth?
Iron, oxygen, silicon, and magnesium
Which of the following serves as a trap for cosmic rays and shields life on Earth from excessive radiation?
Van Allen belts
Which of these is a terrestrial planet?
Mars
A subducting (or downgoing) plate
will have a trench associated with it.
According to the mantle plume model for the origin of hot spots
mantle plumes produce volcanoes that do not always coincide with a plate boundary.
Accretionary prisms form as a result of what process?
Subduction
Asthenosphere
is warm enough to flow slowly.
By using GPS data, scientists have been able to
directly observe plate motions.
During the process of seafloor spreading
new seafloor is formed at ridges and destroyed at trenches.
Earth’s magnetic field is created primarily by the
flow of liquid iron alloy in Earth’s molten outer core.
East Africa and the Basin and the Range Province of the United States are examples of a
continental rift.
Identify the plate boundary in the image.
convergent
Identify the plate boundary in the image.
transform
In the figure the magnetic anomaly pattern is mirrored on either side of the central ridge. What is responsible for this pattern?
Reversals of the direction of Earth’s magnetic field occur during seafloor spreading.
Oceanic crust
is composed of basalt and lies under a blanket of sediment.
Plate tectonics theory took decades to be accepted because
Wegener couldn’t explain how continents moved.
Plate tectonics theory was widely accepted by scientists in what decade?
1960s
The Hawaiian Islands, a chain of volcanic islands located in the middle of the Pacific Plate, extend northwest across the Pacific as shown in the figure. The island of Hawaii is the youngest, and the islands get progressively older to the northwest. How are the positions of the islands explained by plate tectonic theory?
A hot spot is currently situated under Hawaii and the Pacific Plate is moving across it in a northwesterly direction.
The Himalayas are currently growing because at their location
a continental plate is colliding with another continental plate.
The center of a mid-ocean ridge is where
new oceanic lithosphere is being created.
The chain of volcanoes along the west coast of South America (the Andes Mountains) exists because
an oceanic plate is subducting under the western edge of the South American Plate.
The contact between lithospheric plates is called a
plate boundary.
The global occurrence of earthquakes reveals that
they usually occur on the boundaries of plates.
The rate of plate motion
can range from 1 to 15 cm per year.
Which of the following has faulting but no volcanic activity?
Transform plate boundary
Which of the following statements about lithosphere and asthenosphere is TRUE?
Lithosphere consists of the crust and the upper mantle, and behaves like a hard layer that breaks and bends.
Which of the following was used as evidence by Wegener to develop the theory of continental drift?
The presence of matching mountain chains on continents currently separated by oceans
Why is the lithosphere rigid while the asthenosphere is not?
The temperature in the asthenosphere is higher than the lithosphere so the rock is softer.
According to Mohs hardness scale
gypsum is softer than fluorite.
Asbestos was widely used as a fireproofing insulation. Why is it no longer used?
When inhaled it can embed in the lungs and cause cancer.
Calcite and aragonite minerals that constitute clamshells are examples of which method of mineral formation?
Biomineralization
Crystalline rocks
are rocks whose grains grew to interlock.
Diamonds are very hard gemstones that form
when graphite is subjected to high pressure.
Glass is not considered a mineral because
it does not have a crystal structure.
Most of the major chemical classes of minerals are defined by which chemical group that the mineral contains?
Negatively charged ion or group
Rocks in which individual mineral grains are held together by a cement are
clastic rocks.
Rocks that form at or near Earth’s surface by the cementing of grains or precipitation from water are
sedimentary.
The building block of the silicate minerals is called the
silicon-oxygen tetrahedron.
The image shows a calcite fragment. The calcite has
three planes of cleavage, one of which is inclined.
The migration of atoms or molecules through a material is called
diffusion.
The mineral crystals of amethyst growing into the center of the geode in the figure are
euhedral.
The most abundant mineral group on Earth is the
silicates.
The quartz in this figure shows a very specific type of breakage. What is this type of break called?
Conchoidal fracture
The tendency of a mineral to break and produce smooth, curving, shell-shaped surfaces is called
conchoidal fracture.
The type of rock that forms by solidification of molten rock is
igneous.
This figure shows a sample of pyrite (FeS2). Which of the following statements can be determined to be true simply by visual inspection of this sample?
Pyrite has metallic luster and a cubic crystal habit.
What physical property of a mineral describes the shape of a cluster of many well-formed crystals that grew together as a group?
Habit
When a mineral specimen is scraped along a ceramic plate to observe the color of its powder, the physical property being checked is
streak.
Which of the following is a mineral?
Salt (NaCl)
Which of the following would be best used to study rocks in the field?
Hand lens
Which type(s) of rock(s) may display layering?
Sedimentary and metamorphic
Why would brick not be considered a rock?
Bricks are manmade.
___________ rocks form when existing rocks are subjected to high temperatures and pressures that cause changes in mineralogy and texture but do not melt.
Metamorphic
A felsic or silicic magma
is more viscous than mafic magma.
A moving, glowing, descending cloud of hot gases and volcanic pieces
is called a pyroclastic flow or nuée ardente.
According to Bowen’s reaction series, as a magma cools in the discontinuous series, minerals will crystallize in which order?
Olivine, pyroxene, amphibole, biotite
Bowen’s reaction series
was established by laboratory experiments in the 1920s.
Lahars, composed of ash, pyroclastic debris, and water,
have often resulted in damage and death to humans and their property.
Magma may cool and crystallize to become solid igneous rock
very slowly (in centuries to a million years) when it forms a deep pluton.
Magmas have a variety of chemical compositions because
they can incorporate chemicals from the surrounding rock.
Obsidian is classified as having a __________ texture.
glassy
The difference between a dike and a sill is that
a dike cuts across pre-existing layers while a sill is parallel to them.
The dramatic scenery of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, shown here,
owes its existence to erosion of a batholith.
The magma with the highest percentage of iron oxide and magnesium oxide and lowest percentage of silica is
ultramafic.
The presence of pillow lava is evidence of
a submarine eruption.
This image shows a classic example of
columnar jointing.
This stratovolcano erupted in 1980 in the United States. Although there were warnings of its impending eruption, it still killed dozens, partly because it first blew sideways, producing a monstrous landslide. This volcano is
Mt. St. Helens.
Using the diagram, identify the coarse-grained igneous rock with abundant plagioclase and lesser amounts of quartz, pyroxene, amphibole, and biotite.
Diorite
Volcanic eruptions vary in size from very small to extremely large events. This image shows the different stages of a cataclysmic eruption. What type of eruption is shown by this sequence of images?
Caldera eruption
Which describes the melting that takes place when deep hot rock rises to shallower depths without cooling?
Decompression melting
Which eruption or volcano type is likely to produce the most violently ejected pyroclastic fragments?
Stratovolcano
Which explosive volcano erupted in 1815, resulting in temperatures so cool that the following year was called “the year without a summer”?
Mt. Tambora in Indonesia
Which of the following describes an elongated crack that may serve as a conduit for lava to erupt on the surface?
Fissure
Which of the following is associated with intrusive igneous activity?
Crystallization of magma underground
Which of the following is considered a warning sign of imminent eruption?
earthquake activity
Which of the following volcanic areas is part of the Ring of Fire?
Mt. Pinatubo, Philippines
Why does magma tend to rise upward once it forms?
The magma is less dense than the surrounding rock.
A thick soil profile indicates that
the soil likely formed over a long period of time.
A very fine-grained clastic sedimentary rock is called a
shale.
Coal is an example of which type of sedimentary rock?
Organic
Coral reefs that are preserved as sedimentary rocks are classified as
limestones.
Finely laminated shale was likely formed from sediments deposited
in a lake.
Geologists find a series of graded beds, one on top of another. What events could have produced this set of structures?
Repeated turbidity currents
How were thick layers of halite and gypsum deposited beneath the Mediterranean Sea?
At times of low global sea level, the Mediterranean Sea was cut off from the Atlantic Ocean, and the trapped seawater evaporated.
In the environment shown, the waves sort the beach sediments. What type of clastic sedimentary rock is most likely to form in this environment?
Sandstone
Layers of sedimentary rocks are called
beds.
Limestone that forms by inorganic chemical precipitation is
travertine.
More mature sediments are typically
further from their source and better sorted.
Natural, smaller-scale cracks in a rock that form as deeply buried crust rises to the Earth’s surface are called
joints.
Reactions of iron-bearing minerals with Earth’s atmosphere result in a type of chemical weathering called
oxidation.
The accumulation of decaying organic material near the top of a soil is called
humus.
The figure shows several different magnified samples of sediments. Which of the samples displays the BEST sorting?
D
The soil shown in the figure has no O-horizon and has a B-horizon with abundant calcite deposits called calcrete. This type of soil is most likely to form in
deserts.
The transformation of loose sediment into solid rock is a process called
lithification.
What type of clastic sedimentary rock will form in the environment shown?
Conglomerate
What type of environment likely created the bedding structure shown?
Desert with migrating dunes
When relative sea level rises, the shoreline migrates inland in a process called
transgression.
Where is a sedimentary basin likely to be found?
Continental rift
Which chemical reaction breaks down feldspars into clay minerals?
Hydrolysis
Which of the following would be considered sediment?
Clam shells on a beach
Which of the four main classes of sedimentary rock forms by the precipitation of minerals directly from water, without help from living organisms?
Chemical
Which soil horizon consists of weathered bedrock material that has not yet been leached or had significant accumulation?
C
A rock experienced melting then cooling, burial to deep depths during mountain building, and then uplift and weathering. Which pathway did this rock take through the rock cycle?
Igneous → metamorphic → sedimentary
As they pass through the rock cycle, all atoms
do not move through the rock cycle at the same rate.
Different temperature and pressure ranges create specific sets of metamorphic minerals that are called metamorphic facies. Using the graph, determine what facies a rock would be found in if it was buried 30 km deep and heated to a temperature of approximately 200 degrees C.
Blueschist
During metamorphism, the process that changes the crystal structure of a mineral without changing its chemical composition is called
phase change.
Identify the metamorphic process that causes grains to warp and/or elongate but not melt or dissolve.
Plastic deformation
Identify the metamorphic process that is shown in the image.
Pressure solution
Identify the metamorphic process that is shown in the image.
Recrystallization
In a rock undergoing metamorphosis, which type of stress occurs when one part of a rock moves sideways relative to the rest of the rock?
Shear stress
Metamorphic grade is determined mainly by
temperature.
Metamorphic rocks differ from igneous rocks in their formation because metamorphic rocks
do not form from molten rock.
Metamorphism can occur in the surrounding rock as an igneous pluton forms. Which type of metamorphism is most likely to occur in the surrounding rock?
Thermal or contact metamorphism
Shale, a sedimentary rock, can be subjected to high heat and pressure through
burial during continental collision.
The fine-grained foliated metamorphic rock formed from the metamorphism of shale or mudstone is called
slate.
The temperature range for the formation of low-grade metamorphic rocks is __________ degrees C.
250 to 400
The various geologic environments of the rock cycle (in which rocks can melt, metamorphose, or become sediment) are ultimately generated by
plate tectonics.
Using the graph, determine what type of metamorphism (related to its geologic setting) a rock would likely be experiencing if it was at a depth of 20 km and heated to a temperature of 500 degrees C.
Mountain belt metamorphism
What type of metamorphism would occur at a plate boundary where two continents are colliding?
Dynamothermal or regional metamorphism
When a rock is subjected to compressional pressure, the grains will
elongate perpendicular to the direction of stress.
Which agent of metamorphism involves hot water moving ions?
Interaction with hydrothermal fluids
Which nonfoliated metamorphic rock forms from the metamorphism of limestone?
Marble
Which of the following describes an igneous to metamorphic to sedimentary path through the rock cycle?
A granite becomes buried and heated to form gneiss, and is then uplifted and eroded to make sand.
Which process brings metamorphic rocks to the surface over time?
Exhumation
Which statement about the pathways of the rock cycle is TRUE?
Granite that is eroded, transported, deposited, and lithified will become a sedimentary rock.
Which type of foliation does gneiss have?
Compositional layering
A fold-thrust-belt is associated with
subduction.
A horizontal line on Earth’s surface has a plunge of
0°
A series of anticlines and synclines forms as a result of
compression.
According to the principle of isostasy, tall mountains
have deep roots.
Brittle deformation
occurs when many atomic bonds are broken quickly and rock pieces separate.
Continental lithosphere that has not experienced a mountain-building event in at least one billion years is called a(n)
craton.
Depending on the direction of force (red arrows in the diagrams), stress is categorized as compression, tension, shear, or pressure. Which of the following diagrams shows tension?
B
Identify the structure in the image.
Syncline
If you see small, angular fragments of shattered rock along a linear boundary between two masses of rock, you are looking at
fault breccia.
Igneous rock can form during mountain building when
flux melting occurs at convergent boundaries.
Mountain building at convergent margins produces several distinct geologic settings. This diagram represents an orogeny in which one continent has already collided with another continent. Where on the image is a suture located?
C
Stress
generated during orogeny can be different at various locations.
The Andes Mountains are an example of mountains formed by
subduction.
The Himalayas formed by
collision.
The North American craton consists of a
shield and platform.
The crust in the Basin and Range Province of Nevada, Utah, and Arizona is stretching; therefore, fault movement in this region must be
normal.
The process of mountain belt formation is called
orogeny.
The structure pictured in the diagram is a(n)
basin.
What is the change in shape produced by stress called?
Strain
What type of fault does the diagram show?
Dip-slip fault, normal
What type of fault does the diagram show?
Left-lateral strike-slip fault
Where would metamorphic rocks form during mountain building?
Near plutons
Which of the following conditions will tend to make rocks change by plastic deformation rather than by brittle deformation?
Slowly applied stress
Which process can cause mountains to erode and decrease in elevation?
Movement of glaciers
You’re looking at a fault trace in the field. You observe a polished surface with linear grooves on it, and fine powder next to it. In more technical terms, what are you seeing?
Slickensides, slip lineations, and fault gouge
