Geology 101 Finals Study

The Principle of _ state that the physical, chemical, and biological processes at work shaping the Earth today have also operated in the geologic past.

What is the accepted age of the Earth?

What percentage of the Earth is covered by oceans?

What is though to be the date of the formation of the universe?

What is the definition of differentiation?

What property of the crust allowed it to form as the exterior of Earth?

What provides us with the most information about the interior of the Earth?

Which layer of the Earth is the thinnest?

Which layer of the Earth is the thickest?

What is the definition of the asthenosphere?

What is the name of the theory that describes the formation of the universe?

Which of the three most abundant elements in the universe has the highest percentage?

What environmental condition had to change before subatomic particles could come together and form the first atoms after the Big Bang?

Which process is responsible for oxygen in the atmosphere today?

What is a craton?

Which of the following organisms is defined as a primitive organism that reproduces asexually and lacks an organized nucleus?

Which mineral resource is the main component for plaster and drywall?

_ is the process where materials separate into different layers due to density.

Where is oceanic crust generated?

Of the three mechanisms of heat transfer, which is the only one that does not operate in the interior of the Earth?

Thermal springs known as _ are often associated with oceanic ridges, where hat water containing dissolved minerals gushes from the seafloor.

What is the definition of orogenesis?

According to the plate tectonics model, most global mountain ranges are associated with which kind of plate boundary?

Which style of convergent boundary will characterize an Andean-type mountain building event?

What is the name of the supercontinent proposed by Alfred Wegener?

Which plate boundary accounts for the smallest percentage of all plate boundaries on the surface of the Earth?

Continental crust is mainly composed of _ whereas oceanic crust is mainly composed o _.

A location where continental rifting is occurring today is _.

What is a mantle plume?

What generates the heat necessary for convection in the Earth?

Which of the following is not part of the definition of a mineral?

A _ is a solid, naturally occurring, cohesive substance composed of minerals or mineral-like materials.

An isotope of Oxygen has 8 protons, 10 neutrons, and 8 electrons. What is the atomic mass of this isotope?

What is an ion?

Which is the strongest of the atomic bonds?

Crystallization of molten rock will produce _ rocks.

Which of the following is the hardest known natural substance?

Which identification technique would be best to identify calcite?

_ is defined as a mineral's resistance to scratching.

Which of the following minerals has good cleavage in two directions?

Conchoidal fractures are indicative of the mineral _.

The _ are the mineral class that accounts for more than 90% of the Earth's crust.

A(n) _ is a silicate structure where no silica tetrahedra share any oxygen ions.

Ferromagnesian minerals are those that contain a great deal of _.

What are the two groups of feldspar minerals called?

What is the mineral name for table salt?

What was the rate of cooling and the environment of formation for an extrusive igneous rock?

Which of the following minerals is not a ferromagnesian mineral?

Which two Minerals define a felsic composition?

Which igneous texture has visible crystals that are only a few millimeters across?

Which of the following textures would be the most common texture found in a volcanic lava flow

Which of the following textures would be the most common texture found in a batholith?

_ is a felsic igneous rock with a meringue-like vesicular texture created by small shards of volcanic glass

What is the term used to describe increased temperature with depth in the Earth?

_ describes how an entire suite of silicate minerals can form from a single basaltic magma as it cools and crystallizes.

Which mineral on the Bowen's Reaction Series will be the first to melt if an igneous rock is heated?

What is the name of the pre-existing rock that is displaced by intrusive igneous bodies?

A _ is a tabular, concordant pluton that is nearly horizontal and forms when magma exploits a weakness between sedimentary layers.

Define magma.

_ is a material's resistance to flowing.

Which of the following lavas make up 90% of the total volume of lava on Earth?

What is the name of the small holes created by gas bubbles on the surface of scoria?

A _ is a cone-shaped structure created by successive eruptions of volcanic materials such as lava or pyroclastic materials.

With the exception of volcanoes associated with a subduction zone, most volcanic islands are _ volcanoes.

In order to cover such large expanses of seafloor, shield volcanoes erupt _ lava.

A _ is a submarine volcano.

Lavas erupting from composite cones are generally _ -rich, making them very viscous.

The Ring of Fire is a narrow zone of composite cone volcanoes rimming the _ Ocean.

What kind(s) of lava are most closely associated with composite cones?

What is the driving force behind pyroclastic flows?

What kind of volcano is most closely associated with pyroclastic flows?

What kind of viscosity would flood basalts have?

An example of a volcanic caldera that formed from the collapse of a magma chamber after large volumes of material were erupted is _.

Along which tectonic boundary will chains of composite cone volcanoes be located?

What type of lava is produced at a divergent plate boundary?

_ is when physical forces break solid rock into smaller sediments.

_ is when there is a chemical transformation of rock into other compounds.

What is the most important agent of chemical weathering?

Which acid is commonly responsible for the dissolution of limestone?

Which chemical weathering process is the primary method of weathering for feldspars?

Rainwater will combine with which atmospheric gas in order to create carbonic acid?

Which climate contains the optimum environment for chemical weathering?

_ is the upper few feet of regolith that contains minerals and organic matter, water, and air and is capable of sustaining life.

Which rock type can contain fossils?

_ are fragments of pre-existing materials that have been broken down trough the processes of weathering.

Which of the following makes up the sediment that forms an organic sedimentary rock?

_ is the process where sediments are converted into a sedimentary rock.

Which environment would be likely to produce a black shale?

Which of the following methods of transportation will result in the coarsest sorting (poorest sorting)?

_ describes the range in particle sizes in a detrital sedimentary rock.

Which of the following best describes the appearance and composition of a conglomerate?

Which rock is the most abundant chemical sedimentary rock?

_ processes such as evaporation and chemical activity can precipitate chemical sediments.

_ is a biochemical sedimentary rock that often forms in carbonate reefs.

The primary basis for classifying detrital rocks is _ whereas the primary basis or classifying chemical rocks is _.

A _ describes how, when a sedimentary layer is examined in cross-sectionlaterally, various parts of the layer consist of different sediments accumulating next to each other in different environments of deposition.

A _ marks the end of one episode of sedimentation and the beginning of another.

_ is the process where a rock changes form or mineral content as a result of environmental changes such as heat and pressure.

Which of the following is the parent tock for quartzite?

Which low-grade metamorphic rock will display fine rock cleavage and contains very fine grains of mica?

Which of the following lists of metamorphic rocks places the rocks in order from lowest metamorphic grade to highest.

Which of the following rocks represents the highest grade of metamorphism?

What kind of force will create foliation in metamorphic rocks?

What is foliation?

_ metamorphism tends to occur in regions where massive amounts of sedimentary or volcanic materials accumulate in a subsiding basin.

In which geologic setting is the most widespread occurrence of hydrothermal metamorphism?

_ is a widespread type of metamorphism typically associated with mountain building.

Which tectonic boundary is associated with regional metamorphism?

What is the definition of relative dating?

A(n) _ is a type of unconformity with parallel beds above and below the erosional surface.

What is a fossil?

_ is the scientific study of fossils.

A worm burrow is an example of which type of fossilization?

What is correlation?

The principle of _ states that organisms succeed one another in a definite, determinable order that can be used to recognize a specific time period.

What is an index fossil?

What is an isotope?

If 235U has 92 protons, how many neutrons does it have?

_ is a technique where the decay rate of radioactive isotope is measured and used to determine the age of a geologic material.

What is the definition of a half-life?

Which era are we currently in?

_ is a term used to define 88% of Earth's history prior to the start of the Paleozoic Era.

Which of the following is the best description for structural geology?

Which tectonic boundary is associated with compressional stress?

A rubber band being stretched in preparation to fire across the room is an example o what kind of deformation.

What is a fault?

You are sitting in class when our professor begins talking about a dome with inner layers dating back to the Tertiary and its outer layers dating back to the Permian. You immediately know this professor is wrong. What is your evidence?

A(n) _ fold has limbs that are tilted beyond the vertical to the point that the axial plane is horizontal.

Which tectonic boundary would have many normal faults associated with it?

A _ fault is created when the hanging wall moves up relative to the footwall.

A _ fault has a vertical fault plane and shows movement parallel to the orientation o the fault.

Which type of fault was responsible for the devastation associated with the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco?

_ is the compass direction of the line produced by the intersection of an inclined rock layer with a horizontal plane.

_ is the angle of inclination of the surface of a rock unit measured from a horizontal plane.

Which of the following best describes the age relationship of the layers in an anticline.

What is the term for stored-up energy released by earthquakes?

You are watching TV with a friend when there is a special bulletin about a city in California being devastated by an earthquake. The news anchor reports that the epicenter of the earthquake is 45 miles east of Los Angeles. How would you explain the definition of he epicenter to your geologically impaired friend?

What is the definition of the focus?

_ are smaller earthquakes of lesser magnitude that follow a major earthquake.

Which tectonic boundary is associated with megathrust faults?

Which tectonic boundary is responsible for the most powerful and destructive earthquakes recorded?

Which seismic wave will b released first during an earthquake?

When going from a 5 to a 6 on the Richter Scale, what is the increase in amplitude of seismic waves?

Liquefaction will _.

Which of the following would be the most unstable during an earthquake?