Geology and Physical Geography Flashcards
What name is given to the molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling?
LAVA
The scale of wind speed devised in 1805 that ranges from 0 to 12 is named after which Irish-born Real Admiral in the Royal Navy?
FRANCIS BEAUFORT
Which fault running through California forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate?
SAN ANDREAS
Which of three periods of the Mesozoic Era (also known as the Age of Reptiles) follows the Triassic period and precedes the Cretaceous period and is part of the title of a film franchise?
JURASSIC
From the Japanese for “harbour wave” which large and potentially destructive ocean wave is caused by an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption?
TSUNAMI
What is the point on the earth’s surface that is directly above the place where an earthquake originates?
EPICENTRE
Which soft white limestone (calcium carbonate) is formed from the skeletal remains of sea creatures?
CHALK
Which strong cold northwesterly wind blows down the Rhone from southern France into the northern Mediterranean?
MISTRAL
What name is given to the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and the Sun and the rotation of the Earth?
TIDES
Which of the three major groups of rocks arises from the transformation of existing rock types under extreme heat and pressure?
METAMORPHIC
What is the lowest portion of Earth’s atmosphere which contains approximately 75% of the atmosphere’s mass and 99% of its water vapour?
TROPOSPHERE
Which region of the Earth includes the crust and the uppermost mantle and is subdivided into tectonic plates?
LITHOSPHERE
Which hurricane caused destruction along the Gulf coast from Florida to Texas and catastrophic flooding in New Orleans in August 2005?
KATRINA
Giving its name to a range of mountains in northeast Italy which carbonate mineral is composed of calcium magnesium carbonate?
DOLOMITE
What name is given to any geological formation containing or conducting ground water especially one that supplies the water for wells?
AQUIFER
Also known as a composite volcano what type of conical volcano is composed of many layers of hardened lava tephra and volcanic ash?
STRATOVOLCANO
Named after a German mineralogist which scale of hardness ranges from 1 (talc) to 10 (diamond)?
MOHS
From the Greek for “new life” what is the current geological era?
CENOZOIC
Thunderstorms occur in association with which type of cloud?
CUMULONIMBUS
Giant’s Causeway is an area of interlocking columns of which extrusive igneous rock created by an ancient volcanic eruption?
BASALT
The intensity of which natural phenomena is measured on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale based on the damage caused?
TORNADOES
The biggest volcanic eruption in recorded history occurred when which mountain in Indonesia erupted in 1815?
TAMBORA
Containing one-third of the trees on Earth which biome also known as the boreal forest is characterized by coniferous forests?
TAIGA
The ozone layer is a region of which layer of the Earth’s atmosphere?
STRATOSPHERE
Which variety of coal has the highest carbon content and the fewest impurities and is sometimes referred to as ‘black coal’?
ANTHRACITE
Ranging from from I (not felt) to XII (total destruction) which seismic scale measures the intensity of an earthquake?
MERCALLI SCALE
On a weather map what type of front is shown with alternating semicircles and triangles pointing in direction of travel?
OCCLUDED FRONT
Galena is the principal ore of which metal?
LEAD
Which soft rock is made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption?
TUFF (OR TUFA)
Not be confused with erosion which process involves the breaking down of rocks soil and minerals through contact with the Earth’s atmosphere and waters?
WEATHERING
Which mineral with the chemical formula sio2 is the second most abundant mineral in the Earth’s continental crust after feldspar?
QUARTZ
The most powerful earthquake ever recorded occurred in which country in 1960 and was followed by a giant wave that spread across the Pacific Ocean and devastated part of Hawaii?
CHILE
The inner core of the Earth is a solid ball composed of an alloy of iron and which other metal?
NICKEL
Lateral terminal medial and ground are all types of which material that is transported by a glacier and then deposited?
MORAINE
The F layer of ionisation in the ionosphere is named after which English physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1947 for his discovery of the layer?
EDWARD APPLETON
Which cold ocean current that flows north along the west coast of South America from Chile to Peru is named after a Prussian scientist who also has a penguin and a squid named after him?
HUMBOLDT
What name is given to a time of colder temperatures during an interglacial period?
STADIAL
Vaalbara Rodinia and Pangaea are three examples of what type of ancient landmass?
SUPERCONTINENT
The red colour of the variety of corundum known as a ruby is caused mainly by the presence of which element?
CHROMIUM
Orogeny is the process in which a section of the earth’s crust is folded and deformed resulting in the formation of what type of landforms?
MOUNTAINS
What type of soil which is used in farming as it retains nutrients and water is composed of sand (40%) silt (40%) and clay (20%)?
LOAM
What name is given to an area of the Earth’s surface where seismographs cannot detect an earthquake after its seismic waves have passed through the Earth?
SHADOW ZONE
The opposite of a tributary what type of stream branches off and flows away from a main stream channel and is commonly found in river deltas?
DISTRIBUTARY
Named after the first person to scientifically propose that the Earth had been subject to a past ice age which immense glacial lake was located in the centre of North America?
LAKE AGASSIZ
Originally proposed in contrast to catastrophism which concept was popularised by Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology?
UNIFORMITARIANISM
Who proposed a nomenclature system for clouds in 1802 and named the three principal categories of clouds – cumulus stratus and cirrus?
LUKE HOWARD
Also referred to as ‘petrified lightning’ what name is given to a silica glass mineraloid formed when sand is fused by the energy of a lightning strike?
FULGURITE
The Brickfielder is a hot and dry wind that occurs in the summer season in which country?
AUSTRALIA
What name is given to an observable shaft of precipitation that falls from a cloud but evaporates before reaching the ground?
VIRGA
Who championed the theory of continental drift and published The Age of the Earth and Principles of Physical Geology?
ARTHUR HOLMES
