Geology & Paleontology

Question 1

Green chalcedony with red spots
Also called “heliotrope”
March birthstone

Answer 1

BLOODSTONE

Question 2

Yellow QUARTZ
Also called “false topaz”
Heat can turn an AMETHYST into one

Answer 2

CITRINE

Question 3

Greek for “not drunk”
Violet QUARTZ
South Carolina state gem
February birthstone
Produced by Uruguay

Answer 3

AMETHYST

Question 4

Kind of aggregate QUARTZ
Starts with J

Answer 4

JASPER

Question 5

SILICA crystals
Makes up most sand in the world
PIEZOELECTRIC, used in clocks & watches
#7 on the MOHS SCALE
Types include CHERT, FLINT, CHALCEDONY, AGATE, ONYX, AMETHYST, CITRINE

Answer 5

QUARTZ

Question 6

SiO2 crystals
Makes up quartz

Answer 6

SILICA
SILICON DIOXIDE

Question 7

Banded chalcedony/quartz
Also a type of shooting marble
Font size used in newspaper sports
Supposedly named for Sicily’s Achates river (perhaps vice versa)

Answer 7

AGATE

Question 8

Banded chalcedony/quartz
Used in cameos & jewellery
Black

Answer 8

ONYX

Question 9

“Onyx” with red bits (due to iron)

Answer 9

SARDONYX

Question 10

Country where Caringorm “smoky quartz” comes from

Answer 10

SCOTLAND (U.K.)

Question 11

“Iceman” discovered by tourists in 1991, Tyrolean Alps (Switz/Italy)
Natural mummy from ~3000-5000 years ago

Answer 11

OTZI

Question 12

Hoax of 1912 in Sussex, England
Purported “missing link” fossils

Answer 12

PILTDOWN MAN

Question 13

Cave in France’s Vezere Valley
UNESCO World Heritage Site
“Hall of Bulls” & other Stone Age paintings

Answer 13

LASCAUX

Question 14

Extinct genus
Greek, “Southern ape”

Answer 14

AUSTRALOPITHECUS

Question 15

Australopithecus specimen
~40% complete
Discovered in Ethiopia, 1974

Answer 15

LUCY

Question 16

Homo species or sapiens subspecies
Named for a valley near Dusseldorf, Germany where it was discovered in 1856
Early humans of the Pleistocene Epoch

Answer 16

NEANDERTAL

Question 17

Early Homo sapiens of Europe
Named for a French cave where they were found in 1868
co-existed with, & outlasted, Neanderthals
Known for cave art

Answer 17

CRO-MAGNON

Question 18

“Upright man”
Specimens include Java Man, Peking Man

Answer 18

HOMO ERECTUS

Question 19

Homo erectus specimen discovered in Indonesia, 1891 (Dubois)
1st known specimen

Answer 19

“JAVA MAN”

Question 20

Homo erectus specimen discovered in 1920s in Zhoukoudian Caves, near Beijing

Answer 20

“PEKING MAN”

Question 21

“Handy man”
One of earliest Homo species

Answer 21

HOMO HABILIS

Question 22

Longest unit of geologic time
Divided into Eras
In astronomy, 1 billion years
Current: Phanerozoic

Answer 22

EON

Question 23

Geologic time unit
Shorter than Eon
Divided into Periods
Current: Cenozoic

Answer 23

ERA

Question 24

Geologic time unit
Shorter than Era
Divided into Epochs
Current: Quaternary

Answer 24

PERIOD

Question 25

Geologic time unit
Shorter than Period
Divided into Ages

Answer 25

EPOCH

Question 26

Shortest geologic time unit
Shorter than an Epoch
Current: Meghalayan

Answer 26

AGE

Question 27

Informal geologic Epoch starting when humans began impacting Earth

Answer 27

ANTHROPOCENE

Question 28

Current geologic Epoch, starting ~11,000 (eleven thousand) years ago
Name means “entirely new”

Answer 28

HOLOCENE

Question 29

“Newest” (but not current) geologic Epoch
~2.5 million ya - 11 thousand ya
Sometimes called “Ice Age” as it included the most recent one
mammoths, mastodons, neanderthals, & the first Homos roamed

Answer 29

PLEISTOCENE

Question 30

“Newer” Epoch
Prior to Pleistocene

Answer 30

PLIOCENE

Question 31

“Less new” geologic Epoch
Prior to Pliocene

Answer 31

MIOCENE

Question 32

“3-lobed” marine arthropod of Cambrian Period & Paleozoic Era
State fossil of Wisconsin, Ohio, & Pennsylvania

Answer 32

TRILOBITE

Question 33

“Breast-toothed” mammal
North America & Central America cousins of mammoths
Lived in the Pleistocene

Answer 33

MASTODON

Question 34

Cretaceous dinosaur with plate armour & a spiky tail

Answer 34

ANKYLOSAURUS

Question 35

Metamorphic rock formed from shale
Used in roofs, billiard tables, & blackboards
Also a shade of dark grey & a term for a candidate list

Answer 35

SLATE

Question 36

Most common sedimentary
Layers of mud/clay and other rocks
Often contains gas deposits

Answer 36

SHALE

Question 37

Sedimentary formation under New York named for a NY village

Answer 37

MARCELLUS SHALE

Question 38

Sedimentary formation in the BC Rockies near a same-named pass
Many rare fossils

Answer 38

BURGESS SHALE

Question 39

Sharp, shiny rock
Quickly cooled volcanic glass
Used in Aztec weapons

Answer 39

OBSIDIAN

Question 40

Hawai’ian name for a kind of basalt beloved by Scrabble players

Answer 40

AA

Question 41

Igneous rock
Latin, “foam”
Volcanic, porous enough to float
Exfoliates, polishes, abrades, plasters, used in concrete & in “Lava” soap

Answer 41

PUMICE

Question 42

Igneous
Most abundant volcanic rock (~90% of it)
Hard & dark
Mafic (magnesium + iron)
Makes up Devil’s Tower, Giant’s Causeway, black sand beaches, ocean crust (pillow form), & moon rocks

Answer 42

BASALT

Question 43

Slowly moving bodies of dense ice
None can be found in Australia
Pluto has nitrogen ones
e.g. Mendenhall or Vatnajokull

Answer 43

GLACIER

Question 44

The “birth” of icebergs from glaciers or shelfs is called this

Answer 44

CALVING

Question 45

A hole or depression left behind by a glacier
Sounds like a teapot

Answer 45

KETTLE

Question 46

Also called a bergschrund
French name for a fissure in a glacier

Answer 46

CREVASSE

Question 47

Also called a till
A hill of glacial debris deposit

Answer 47

MORAINE

Question 48

Floating ice mass
Antarctica’s include Ross (largest) & Ronne

Answer 48

ICE SHELF