EARTH SCIENCE: GEOLOGY 104 QUIZZES...

chapter 1-6

Quiz 1

1) A Hypothesis is:

a) a natural law
a) a fact
b) a potential explanation
d) a baby hypo

2) An example of inductive reasoning might be

found in the weather forecast when a
meteorologist predicts rain is coming based on
known principles or characteristics of a certain air
mass.
a) true b)false

3) The Alvarez Hypothesis is an example of good

science because:

a) it is based on empirical observations (in this

case, iridium around the world in 66 million year
old rock layers)
a) the predicted presence of a 66 million year old
crater on Earth was eventually located
b) the hypothesis will never change no matter how
many other observations are made
c) all of the above are correct
d) answers a) and b) are correct only

4) The scientific method is based on four key

principles described below.

a) tentative, empirical observations, predictable

and testable, becomes a universal law
a) tentative, empirical observations, predictable
and testable, offers a natural cause for a natural
event
b) absolute explanation, empirical observations,
predictable and testable, usually becomes a theory
c) tentative, empirical observations, unpredictable,
offers a natural cause for a natural event

5) Which of the following pieces of information

were known prior to the Hutchinson gas
explosions?

a) the volume of gas in the Yaggy Storage Facility

a) the types of rock underlying the city
b) when the explosions would occur
c) the location of the leaking wells
Quiz 2:

1) Galileo’s observations of the phases and

apparent changing size of Venus viewed from the
Earth support the ________ model.

a) geocentric
a) heliocentric
b) big bang
c) supernova

2) If an object in space such as a star in another

galaxy shows a red shift in wavelength of light
reaching an observer on Earth, the object is:
a) moving toward Earth
a) exploding
b) being sucked into a black hole
c) moving away from Earth

3) In general when you looked at plots of white

dwarfs on the Hertsprung-Russell diagram the
surface temperature of the white dwarfs are
________ than the surface temperature of our Sun.

a) colder
a) approximately the same temperature
b) hotter
c) cannot be determined on this diagram

4) In the geocentric model of Earth’s position in the

Solar System:

a) the Earth and other planets revolve around the

Sun
a) the Sun and the planets revolve around the Earth
b) all galaxies revolve around the Sun
c) all galaxies revolve around the Earth

5) The main reason for our seasons is:

a) the Earth is closer to the Sun during our summer
solstice and farther from the Sun during our winter
solstice
a) sunspot activities creating a hotter Sun always
occur during our summer solstice
b) the Earth is tilted at 23.5 degrees on its
geographic axis
c) the position of the Moon determines our seasons

Quiz 3

1) Meteor Crater in Arizona is a “simple” crater

about 1,200 meters (1.2 km or less than one mile)
 across and is bowl-shaped. This crater was
created by a meteorite that is thought to have
been about 50 meters (165 feet) in diameter. This
meteorite is about the size of a:

a) car
a) two-story house
b) 15-floor office building
c) Mt. Everest

2) Some scientists hypothesize that a significant

amount of water for the Earth’s oceans may have
been supplied by:

a) meteorites
a) meteors
b) comets
c) aqua-fina

3) The asteroid belt is located:

a) at the Oort cloud beyond the orbit of Neptune

a) between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
b) between the orbits of Earth and Mars
c) between the Sun and Mercury
4) The composition of meteorites is the same as
the composition of the terrestrial planets. This
implies:

a) the terrestrial planets formed from such material

a) all planets formed from such material
b) stars form from such material
c) the age of the Universe is 14 billion years old

5) When an asteroid strikes Earth it is known as a:

a) meteor
a) meteorite
b) shooting star
c) comet
Quiz 4

1) One natural feature that can be used to

contradict the contracting Earth model is Earth’s
heat flow, where in general the highest heat flow
is found at:

a) the trenches
a) the ridges
b) the continents
c) the equatorial area

2) The lithosphere is comprised of:

a) the crust all the way down to the outer core

a) the solid inner core plus the liquid outer core
b) the whole mantle
c) the crust plus the upper-rigid mantle
3) The San Andreas Fault system marks a portion
of the plate boundary between the Pacific and
North American plates. What type of plate
boundary is the San Andreas?

a) transform
a) divergent
b) convergent
c) collisional

4) The three types of plate boundaries are known

as:

a) convergent, divergent and ridge

a) divergent, convergent and transcontinental
b) transform, continental and divergent
c) convergent, divergent and transform

5) Which of these lines of evidence were used to

support Wegener’s continental drift hypothesis?

a) the distribution of fossils

a) the fit of the continents
b) earthquake locations
c) all of the above
d) a) and b) only
Quiz 5

1) How much more would ground motion increase

between magnitude 4.5 and 5.5 earthquakes?

a) no increase
a) 5 times as much
b) 10 times as much
c) 30 times as much
2) In a normal fault, the block below the fault plane
moves ______ relative to the block above the fault
plane.

a) up
a) down
b) apart
c) horizontal

3) P-waves travel the fastest in the Earth’s interior

and can move through:

a) solids only
a) liquids only
b) solids, liquids and gases
c) the biosphere only

4) The closer the seismograph is to the earthquake

source, the greater the time interval between the
arrival of the first P-waves and first S-waves.

a) true b) false

5) The epicenter of an earthquake is:

a) where the initial rupture begins
a) where the P and S-waves originate
b) the location on the Earth’s surface where the
fault scarp occurs
c) the location on the Earth’s surface directly
above the focus

Quiz 6

1) Characteristics of rhyolitic magma include:

a) relatively low temperature
a) relatively high water content
b) relatively explosive eruptions
c) relatively high silica content
d) all of the above

2) How would you classify the viscosity of the

magma that produced the eruption of Nyirangongo
and the violence of the eruption itself?

a) low viscosity magma; violent eruption

a) high viscosity magma; violent eruption
b) low viscosity magma; mild eruption
c) high viscosity magma; mild eruption

3) Viscosity is defined as ‘resistance to flow’.

Therefore, the higher the viscosity:

a) the more resistance to flow

a) the less resistance to flow
b) there is no way to increase or decrease viscosity
c) the faster a substance will flow
4) Viscosity of a magma can be decreased by
decreasing the silica content and also by
___________ the temperature.

a) increasing
a) decreasing
b) lowering
c) measuring

5) What type of volcano AND what type of magma is

associated with Mount St. Helens?

a) shield volcano; basaltic

a) stratovolcano; basaltic
b) cinder cone; andesitic
c) stratovolcano; andesitic
d) shield volcano; rhyolitic

below is an example of a test question that could be asked on the Mid Term. 
This is taken from your homework and developed into a multiple choice
question.  Most of your test questions on the Mid Term and Final will be
multiple choice, taken from your homework assignments (like below) and
from the quizzes. 
 
#5. Which of the following best describes the timeline of the life
cycle of our Sun?

a) The early Sun (protosun) formed about 5 million years ago and 5 million
years from now it will become a red giant and then end its life as a white
and finally a black dwarf star.
b) The early Sun (protosun) formed about 5 billion years ago and 10 billion
years from now it will become a red giant and then end its life as a white
and finally a black dwarf star.
c) The early Sun (protosun) formed about 5 billion years ago and 5 billion
years from now it will become a red giant and then end its life as a white
and finally a black dwarf star.
d) The early Sun (protosun) formed about 5 billion years ago and 5 billion
years from now it will end its life in a supernova explosion.