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160 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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The principle which states the “disturbed rocks or strata are older than those rocks that cut or disturb them “is the principle of ________.
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Cross-cutting principle
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The basic rock until defined on the basis of distinctive and easily recognized characteristics is a _______.
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Formation
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_________ is the sum of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom.
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Atomic mass
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Radiometric age dating techniques were used to establish the relative geologic time scale.
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False
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Which of the following is the oldest?
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Lower Cretaceous
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Disturbed rocks or strata are older than those rocks that disturb them or cut through them.
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True
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The ____________ is a product of placing rocks in their proper sequence of formation to create a composite record of geologic events.
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relative geologic time scale
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Radiometric age dating, the basis of the establishment of the absolute geologic time scale , was not possible until after the discovery of radioactivity in the 20th century.
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False
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The principle which states that “strata extend in all directions until they thin against edges of the basins they accumulated in" is the principle of ___________.
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original lateral continuity
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Which of the following is not a period in the Mesozoic Era?
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Cambrian
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Radioactive decay is the spontaneous nuclear disintegration of isotopes at constant rates.
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True
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History is a sequence of events placed in proper chronological order.
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True
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An isotope is a species of the same element with the same mass and different atomic number.
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False
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Clay and quartz are common products of long-term chemical weathering.
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True
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The concentration of nitrogen ions in a solution determines the acidity so the greater the concentration of nitrogen ions the greater the acidity.
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False
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Water expands by 25% when it freezes
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False
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Which of the following is not a cause of mechanical weathering?
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Oxidation
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Slabs of rock slip, slide, or break off large rock masses along concentric joints in a process called _______.
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Exfoliation
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Solution is a major chemical weathering process in regions with large exposures of surficial limestones.
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True
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________ is the reaction between hydrogen ions and hydroxyl ions of water and a mineral’s ions.
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Hydrolysis
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The processes by which rocks and minerals at the surface of the Earth are broken down into smaller rocks and eventually into soils is collectively referred to as the processes of ________.
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Weathering
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Running water, wind, and glaciers transport weathered products elsewhere, where they are deposited to form sediments and later become________ as sedimentary rocks.
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lithified
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Mechanical weathering dominates over chemical weathering in warm climates.
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False
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Acids produced by decaying plant material and the organisms feeding on it help dissolve cements and rocks.
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True
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Joints are always pathways for mechanical and chemical weathering and over time can even determine the location of river and drainage systems.
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True
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Weathering and erosion produce sediments that later form sedimentary rocks.
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True
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Claystones do not exhibit fissility but break into blocky masses.
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True
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Shale differs from mudstone by breaking into smaller pieces along bedding planes. This breakage characteristic is called _________.
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fissility
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Fossils are preserved in sedimentary rocks.
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True
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________ sedimentary rocks are formed from the accumulation of minerals and rock fragments eroded from pre-existing rocks (metamorphic, sedimentary, or igneous) or their weathered by-products.
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Detrital
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Lithostatic pressure is the pressure resulting from the weight of the overlying rocks.
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True
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Which of the following is a poorly-sorted detrital sedimentary rock?
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A Conglomerate
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Most chemical sedimentary rocks form from precipitation from solution in fresh water (lakes, rivers, caves, springs) or in the sea.
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True
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________ sedimentary rocks form from the organic or inorganic precipitation of minerals from an aqueous solution or the accumulation of organic matter.
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Chemical
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Dolomite differs from limestone in that some of the calcium has been replaced by magnesium changing it to magnesium carbonate CaMg (CO3)2 .
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True
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A _______ limestone is composed to a large extent by the skeletal remains of invertebrate fossils (corals, sponges, bryozoans, pelecypods, echinoida, etc.)
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bioclastic
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_________ is a biochemical sedimentary rock composed of combustible material derived from the partial decomposition of plants.
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Coal
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A __________ is a coarse-grained limestone composed of poorly-cemented shells and shell fragments (often of near-shore species).
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coquina
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Sediments are converted to sedimentary rocks and account for 75% of exposed rocks on the Earth’s surface.
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True
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Chert has a concoidal fracture pattern, making it easy to work into tools and projectiles (arrowheads, scrapers, etc.)
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True
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Sedimentary rocks have two types of texture: clastic (or detrital) and non-clastic (crystalline).
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True
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The process of binding the grains together is_______ where minerals are precipitated in the pore spaces.
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cementation
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Some sedimentary rocks begins as the weathered products of existing rocks.
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True
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A conglomerate is composted predominantly of rounded to subrounded clasts, a significant proportion being gravel size.
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True
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Sorting refers to the range of particle density in a clastic sediment or sedimentary rock.
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False
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The sphericity of a particle is the degree to which the shape of the particle approaches the form of a sphere.
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True
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______is a detrital sedimentary rock formed by cementation of individual grains ranging in size from 1/16 to 2 mm.
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Sandstone
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The White Cliffs of Dover are composed of this type of sedimentary rock made up of the calcium carbonate skeletal remains of microscopic marine algae.
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Chalk
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______is the most common chemical sedimentary rock.
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Limestone
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Unconsolidated sediments (mud) are turned into sedimentary rocks (shale) by a process called______.
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lithification
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______are finely-bedded sedimentary rocks (usually claystone to siltstones) often alternating between carbon-rich and carbon-poor beds.
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Varves
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Tracks and trails of organisms can be preserved in sediment and are considered a type of trace fossil.
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True
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Marine vertebrate fossils in Mesozoic sedimentary rocks include turtles, fish, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, icthyosaurs. All were nektonic (free swimming) and had global distribution.
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True
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_____________ refers to the accumulation of deposits that exhibits specific characteristics, reflecting a specific environment, and grading into other sedimentary accumulation formed at the same time but with different characteristics.
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A Sediemtary facis
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Microscopic fossils of algal plants and protozoans can be used to estimate such parameters as: sea surface temperature, water depth, salinity, water clarity, etc.
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True
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Sedimentary rocks rich in volcanic ash tend to have light greenish to blueish-green hues.
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True
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Deltas are large bodies of sediment deposited where streams of rivers empty into lakes or the sea.
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True
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Distrubed beds are usually mixed or contorted in some manner. They indicate proximity to unstable sediment sources or disturbances by earthquakes and volcanoes.
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True
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Dinosaur remains are commonly found in eolian-derived sedimentary rock.
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False
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Invertebrate fossils are less common from the marine realm than from the terrestrial environments.
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False
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The colors of sedimentary rocks are reflections of the climate and environments they form in and the composition of the sediments within them.
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True
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Spores and pollen can be found in the fossil excrement of dinosaurs (called coprolites).
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True
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______sediments are usually fine-grained and converted into shales and siltstones, sandstones, and coal.
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Deltaic
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Sediemntary rocks formed in fluvial or river environments have produced the greatest number of dinosaur remains.
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True
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Current ripples are asymmetrical.
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True
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_________ are essentially little waves of sand that develop on a depositional surface.
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Ripple marks
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________ occur on the base of beds (usually siltstone of sandstone) and represent a filling of a groove, track, or depression of the underling bed.
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Sole marks
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______ are sub-polygonal shrinkage cracks produced by the drying of clay-rich sediment.
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Mud cracks
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Correlations of ancient or fossil tracks, trails, and burrows with those in modern environments have allowed scientists to use these trace fossils to interpret such ancient environmental factors as diverse as water and sediment oxygen levels.
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True
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______ describes beds at an inclination to the horizontal.
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Cross-bedding
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Current ripples are symmetrical with gentile slopes in the upwind or upstream direction and steeper downwind or downstream slopes.
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False
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______ occur where there is an even back-and-forth motion of water or air, as offshore just outside the surf zone.
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Oscillation ripples
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______ is a clay formed by the alteration of volcanic ash.
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Bentonite
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_____ is a viscous hydrocarbon that escapes through fractures or faults from underground hydrocarbon sources.
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Tar
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Hillsides are good for fossil collecting, particularly where there is erosion.
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True
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Silica replacement of marine fossils is relatively uncommon.
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False
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Leaves, crustaceans, fish, and insects are often carbonized.
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True
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Common microfossils made of silica are ___.
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Diatoms and radiolarians
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A fossil is any evidence, direct or indirect, of the existence of organisms in prehistoric time.
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True
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_____ are the fossilized solid excretory products of animals
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Coprolites
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Ice age mammoths and rhinoceroses found frozen in Siberia are not considered fossils.
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False
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If a leaf falls into wet concrete and leaves an impression, this impression would be an example of a ___.
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external mold
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Permineralization makes fossil bone denser than living bone.
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True
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Each of the following are factors that inhibit preservation except _____.
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Anaerobic
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______ or dessication of fossils results from a drying out of tissues prior to complete decomposition.
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Mummification
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In the process of replacement the original microstructure is usually destroyed.
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False
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An external mold is formed by dissolution of the shell of the former interior and shell area with sediment or minerals.
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False
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Most ____ is the hardened resin of conifer trees.
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Amber
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Each of the following are factors that enhance preservation except ___.
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High acid content
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Pyritization is the process where the original material of the skeleton or sometimes soft tissue becomes replaced or coated with pyrite during fossilization.
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True
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Most dinosaur bones are carbonized.
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False
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Vertebrate fossils are never found in peat.
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False
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Dinosaur footprints are not considered fossils.
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False
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A fossil is any evidence, direct or indirect, of the existence of organisms in prehistoric time.
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True
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Teeth are commonly made of ____ and are often preserved in their unaltered mineralogy.
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Calcium phosphate
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Pleistocene vertebrates have been recovered from the tar pit at this site.
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Rancho la Brea of Los Angeles
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______ is the process of removal of the original skeletal material and simultaneous atom-by-atom secondary replacement of another mineral.
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Replacement
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_______ is the process by which the soft tissue is preserved as a carbon film by volatilization of the hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.
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Carbonization
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Oceanic crustal ages are the youngest near ridges and progressively older away from them.
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True
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Trenches are zones of high heat flow.
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False
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Major zones of earthquakes occur near trenches where a zone of dipping shallow, intermediate and deep earthquakes defines a ______ of seismicity
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Benioff Zone
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Zones of Oceanic crust with normal polarity produce positive magnetic anomalies and zones with reverse polarity produce negative anomalies
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True
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Fracture zones on the sea floor are parallel to the direction of plate motion.
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True
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Deep sea trenches are long narrow and deep bathymetric depression associated with volcanic arcs that together mark a collisional zone where one _____ plate is subducted under another.
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Lithospheric
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Modern reefs are generally restricted between 30 degrees north and south latitudes in water warmer than 70 degrees F.
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True
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When magma cools to form a volcanic rock, it aquires the magnetic signature of the current magnetic field of today. The magnetic field of today has _______ polarity.
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Normal
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A _______ is a boundary between two plates that are moving toward one another.
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convergent plate boundary
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J. Tuzo Wilson hypothesized that the Pacific Plate was moving over a stationary______ in the mantle where there was a localized source of heat energy. (thermal or mantle plume).
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Hot spot
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Ice sheets deposit unique deposits of unsorted rocks called_______.
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Glacial till
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Zones of similar geologic history and age occur on opposite margins of the Atlantic in conjugate positions.
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True
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Oceanic ______ are the deepest regions of the oceanic basins.
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Trenches
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Positive magnetic anormalies are placed where the magnetic field intensity is lowest.
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False
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Coal and oil deposits form from terrestrial and oceanic organic carbon deposits.
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True
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______ was a synapsid plant-eater and is found in Permian rocks in Africa, Madagascar, India, and Antarctica.
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Lystrosaurus
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Sediment thickness decreases away from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and reaches minimum thickness along the adjacent continental margins.
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False
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When lithosphere with oceanic crust meets lithosphere with continental crust, a trench forms and the denser oceanic lithosphere is subducted.
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True
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_______ was a small fresh water reptile from the early Permian of coastal Brazil and West Africa.
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Mesosaurus
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The ________ is the ridged outer layer from the earth’s surface down to the Asthenosphere.
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Lithosphere
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Dead coral reefs on guyots (flat-top volcanic seamounts believed to be wave-cut) occur well below present sea level.
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True
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The greatest global concentration of volcanoes is around the rim of the Pacific where there concentration is referred to as the _________.
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RIng of fire
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Heat-driven convection in the asthenosphere, or the entire mantle, is a fundamental cause of plate motion.
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True
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The concept of___________ was introduced to account for the origin and pattern of magnetic anomalies.
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Seafloor spreading
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The direction of plate motion is parallel to the ridge crest generating the plate.
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False
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A___________ is where new crust is created as plates move apart.
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Divergent plate boundary
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After the disappearance of the late Paleozoic ice sheets in the southern hemisphere, an assemblage of seed ferns spread throughout portions of south America South Africa Australia India and Antarctica. This flora is known as the _______ flora.
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Glossopteris
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_________ refers to the force imparted on a plate by the gravity-driven subduction of a cold dense slab of lithosphere surrounded by warmer asthhenosphere, thus pulling the rest od the plate along as it descends into the athenosphere.
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Slab Pull
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_______ is the name of the supercontinent that exists during the late Paleozoic- early Mesozoic, comprising all of the present continents.
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Pangea
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Oceanic __________ are the largest bathymetric features in the ocean basins.
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Ridges
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During the Late Cretaceous, Antarctica began separating from Australia.
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True
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During the Late Jurassic, North America separated from South America as the ______ began forming.
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Gulf of Mexico
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_______ was comprised of Europe, part of Asia, Greenland, and North America.
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Laurasia
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By the Late Jurassic, the Atlantic had not yet formed north of Spain.
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True
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During the ________ the South Atlantic Ocean widened rapidly.
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Cretaceous
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The large Pangaean supercontinent, with only a few stray landmasses unassembled, extended from pole to pole.
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True
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An east-west indentation into Pangaea, called the ______ began to form during the Early Triassic.
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Tethys Sea
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Most of Australia’s separation from Antarctica occurred during the ________.
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Cenozoic
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The Australian plate still moves northward today. This northward motion is being accommodated by subduction under ________, causing the mountainous terrain, high seismicity, and volcanism.
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Indonesia
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At the beginning of the ________ Period (245 million years ago), all landmasses were assembled into a single continent called Pangaea.
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Triassic
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During the Late Triassic, _________ began to split portions of Pangaea apart.
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Rifting
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The ________ ended about 65 million years ago with the mass extinction that ended the reign of dinosaurs.
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Cretaceous
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During the Cretaceous, North America was still connected to Europe and Asia.
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True
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Europe separated from Greenland before or after the age of dinosaurs?
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After
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Late Cretaceous rifting and seafloor spreading also began to separate Greenland from North America by formation of the ___________.
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Labrador Sea
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Enormous rift systems began splitting up some of the Pangaean supercontinent late in the _______ period.
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Triassic
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During the cretaceous Period Indian separated from Madagascar and began moving north (from Antarctica) to collide with Asia after extinction of dinosaurs.
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True
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The ______ Era includes that interval of time since the extinctions that ended the Mesozoic.
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Cenozoic
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Pangea was surrounded by the _______ Ocean.
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Panthalassa
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During the Cretaceous, South America was completely disconnected from Antarctica as a large island continent.
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False
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Mummification or dessication might occur in an arid environment by the burial of an animal in hot sand shortly after death.
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True
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The principle that states that “in any undisturbed succession of strata, the oldest strata are at the bottom with successively younger ones above “is known as the __________.
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Principle of Superposition
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________ are failed rifts.
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Aulacogens
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Fossil dinosaur bones and most fossil wood has been preserved by this process:
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permineralization
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The eastern boundary of the North American Plate is:
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the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
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Which of the following can not be dated using the carbon-14 age-dating technique:
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granite
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A ____________ is on the trailing edge of a continental plate and away from plate margins.
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passive continental margin
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This feature is where the North American Plate is sliding laterally past the Pacific Plate (transform plate boundary)
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San Andreas Fault
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The short half-life of carbon-14 limits the use of this technique to generally dating materials less than 50,000 to 60,000 years old.
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True
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This individual is considered the author of continental drift theory:
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Alfred Wegener
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Which of the following would you be least likely to find in amber:
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a fish
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Fossils are preserved in sedimentary rocks.
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True
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