Soils final exam

Question 1

What are the two main geologic materials found in the earth’s crust?

Answer 1

rocks and minerals

Question 2

What is the area called where two tectonic plates rub together?

Answer 2

Boundaries

Question 3

What is the reason people that live in the Pacific North West have issues with boundaries?

Answer 3

Active faults

Question 4

What type of rock is Gneiss?

Answer 4

Metamorphic

Question 5

What is the region of the world called where 75% of all volcanoes and 90% of earthquakes occur?

Answer 5

ring of fire

Question 6

What type of plate boundary do we experience in the Pacific Northwest?

Answer 6

Convergent

Question 7

What is the process called that is responsible for the breakdown of rocks into smaller pieces of rock and individual minerals?

Answer 7

weathering

Question 8

What are the four major components of soil?

Answer 8

minerals, air, water and organic matter

Question 9

From largest to smallest name the three types of particles that make up what is called soil.

Answer 9

Sand, silt and clay

Question 10

What type of soil particles feel smooth when you rub them between your thumb and fingers?

Answer 10

silt or clay

Question 11

What is the best type of soil for growing plants?

Answer 11

loam

Question 12

Decaying plants and animals make up which important non-mineral component of soil?

Answer 12

Humus

Question 13

What do worms like to eat?

Answer 13

soil

Question 14

What type of organism is found in soil that can be used to make antibiotics?

Answer 14

bacteria

Question 15

What is worm poop called?

Answer 15

castings

Question 16

Mass wasting and erosion are forms of mechanical or physical weathering?

Answer 16

True

Question 17

The physical breakdown and chemical alteration of rock at or near the Earth’s surface is called?

Answer 17

Weathering

Question 18

Salt crystal growth (i.e when sea spray or salty groundwater penetrates crevices and pore spaces in rocks) is a form of chemical weathering.

Answer 18

False

Question 19

Dissolving and oxidation are two forms of chemical weathering.

Answer 19

True

Question 20

Chemical reactions in which a compound like iron loses electrons is called oxidization or oxidizing.

Answer 20

True

Question 21

Quartz is a compound that is extremely unstable and weathers easily even when exposed to the Earth’s surface.

Answer 21

False

Question 22

Marble and limestone are examples of types of rocks that contain the element calcite.

Answer 22

True

Question 23

The rocks and minerals in warm and moist climates tend to experience more physical/mechanical weathering than chemical weathering.

Answer 23

False

Question 24

The greater the amount of precipitation a climate has the greater the amount of chemical weathering.

Answer 24

True

Question 25

Briefly explain why some types of rock formations end up weathering into columns or “hoodoos” over long periods of time

Answer 25

It is caused by differential weathering, not all rock that happens to be in the same area is made of the same stuff. So, because of that different kinds of roc will weather and wear away at different rates and be impacted by different kinds of chemical weathering eventually forming hoodoos.