Quiz 1- Ch. 2/8

Question 1

scientific method

Answer 1

general procedure for discovering how the physical universe works through systematic observations and experiments

Question 2

scientific research

Answer 2

using the scientific method to make new discoveries and confirm old ones

Question 3

hypothesis

Answer 3

tentative explanations based on observational data and experiments

Question 4

theory

Answer 4

a coherent set of hypotheses that explains some aspect of nature

Question 5

physical laws

Answer 5

general principles about how the universe works that can be applied in every situation (Newton’s Law)

Question 6

scientific model

Answer 6

a precise representation of how a natural process operates or how a natural system behaves

Question 7

Code of ethics

Answer 7

acknowledge the work of others from which you have drawn ideas, can’t falsify data, use work of others without recognition, or be deceitful in their work. accept responsibility for training the next generation of researchers

Question 8

remote sensing

Answer 8

sensitive instruments aboard spacecraft to observe the Earth’s surface (map continents, chart motions of the oceans, etc)

Question 9

geologic record

Answer 9

information preserved in the rocks formed at various times through billions of years

Question 10

deciphering the geologic record

Answer 10

examination of rocks, careful mapping of their position in relation to younger and older rocks, dating of rocks using lab instruments, collection of samples

Question 11

principle of uniformitarianism (James Hutton)

Answer 11

The geologic record tells us that, for the most part, the processes we see in action on Earth today have worked in much the same way throughout the geologic past.

Question 12

Earth’s circumference/radius

Answer 12

C = 40,000km
R = 6370km

Question 13

topography

Answer 13

The general configuration of varying heights that gives shape to Earth’s surface, which is measured with respect to sea level.

Question 14

fossil

Answer 14

artifact of life preserved in the geologic record

Question 15

stratigraphy

Answer 15

study of strata (layers) of sedimentary rock

Question 16

Steno’s principles

Answer 16

principle of original horizontality- undeformed sediment is deposited under gravity as nearly horizontal beds
principle of superposition- a layer of strata is younger than the one beneath it and older than the one above it (stratigraphic succession-chronologically ordered set of strata)

Question 17

faunal succession

Answer 17

stratigraphic ordering of fossils of animal species (fauna) produces this sequence

Question 18

principle of faunal succession

Answer 18

sedimentary strata in an outcrop contain fossils in a definite sequence. Strata in one location can be matched to strata in another

Question 19

unconformity

Answer 19

A surface between two rock layers in a stratigraphic succession that were laid down with a time gap between them

Question 20

sedimentary sequence

Answer 20

a series of beds bound above and below by unconformities

Question 21

angular conformity

Answer 21

the upper beds overlie lower beds which have been folded by tectonic processes and then eroded away to an almost even plane (ex. Grand Canyon)

Question 22

cross cutting relationships

Answer 22

can be used to determine the relative ages of igneous intrusions or faults in the stratigraphic succession

Question 23

geologic time scale

Answer 23

A worldwide history of geologic events that divides Earth’s history into intervals, many of which are marked by distinctive sets of fossils and bounded by times when those sets of fossils changed abruptly.