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128 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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How old is the Earth and the other planets in the Universe?
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4.6 billion years old
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What time period makes up the largest portion of the Earth's history?
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Precambrian
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The science of processes related to the composition, structure, and history of the Earth and its life.
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Geology
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Time it took the first billion humans to be on the planet.
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2 million years
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How many people can the Earth support?
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We don't know.
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To produce a material for an indefinite period of time without decreasing its "stock" available for the future.
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Sustainability
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The concept that everything is interconnected.
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System Science
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What happens to the system if inputs exceed outputs?
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The system grows
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Uses the concept that the "present is the key to the past."
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Uniformitarianism
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Hazardous Earth processes become a problem of environmental geology when people come into contact with them, and disasters wen they impact a large number of people.
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True
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Most environmental problems are what?
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Behavioral
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The smallest unit of matter that retains all of the characteristics of an element?
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None of the above
(Answer is the atom.) |
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What is not found in the nucleus of an atom?
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An electron
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The outer shell of electrons is called the valence shell.
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True
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Atoms of the same element with variable numbers of neutrons?
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Isotope
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A bond that occurs through charge attraction?
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Ionic bond
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A bond that uses loose sharing of outer shell electrons?
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Metallic bond
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A carbonate mineral?
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Calcite
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A native element?
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Gold
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An oxide mineral?
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Hematite
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A silicate mineral?
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Olivine
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A sulfide mineral?
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Pyrite
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What is a rock composed of many different types of minerals?
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Polyminerallic
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Sedimentary rock layers and extrusive igneous rock features are deposited in layers that are parallel to the Earth's surface?
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Law of Original Horizontality
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The aphanitic texture is related to extrusive igneous rocks.
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True
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Sedimentary rock with clastic texture?
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Gravel & Conglomerate
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Sedimentary rock with organic clastic texture?
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Bituminous coal & Lignite
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Metamorphism is a solid state.
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True
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What is not a metamorphic rock texture?
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Glassy
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What is the sudden change in shape as the result of stress?
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Brittle
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Anticlines and synclines are types of folds.
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True
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Ability of a mineral to transmit light and images?
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Diaphaneity
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What is the appearance of light as it is reflected from the surface of a mineral?
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Luster
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What is the breakage across planes of internal weakness?
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Cleavage
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What is breakage across random bonds?
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Fracture
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What is the color of a mineral in the powdered form?
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Streak
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What mineral has the hardness of seven on the Moh's hardness scale?
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Quartz
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Ability to transmit light and images?
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Transparent
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What are special properties for the identification of minerals?
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Feel, Magnetism, Odor Taste
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Macroscopic crystals?
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Phaneritic
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Microscopic crystals?
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Aphanitic
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Large crystals set within microscopic crystals?
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Porphyritic aphanitic
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No crystals?
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Glassy
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This texture represents slow cooling, deep beneath the ground surface?
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Phaneritic
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Magma that is rich in lighter colored minerals?
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Sialic
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Glassy igneous rock without bubble?
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Obsidian
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Physical or mechanic weathering results in what?
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Pieces of preexisting rock
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Mineral found in limestones?
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Calcite
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Clay forms what rock?
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Shale
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Crystalline quartz forms what rock?
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Chert
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Gravel forms what rock?
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Conglomerate
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Lime forms what rock?
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Limestone
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What is an agent of metamorphism?
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Chemically active fluids, Heat, Pressure
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What is the presence of a planar element in metamorphic rocks?
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Foliation
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What is soil formed from sediment?
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Transported
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Humus is what horizon?
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O-Horizon
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Parent rock is what horizon?
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D/R-Horizon
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Partially decomposed parent rock is what horizon?
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C-Horizon
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Zone of accumulation is what horizon?
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B-Horizon
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Zone of leaching is what horizon?
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A-Horizon
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Peats?
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Histosols
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Recently formed soils?
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Entisols
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Sesquioxide-rich, highly weathered soils?
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Oxisols
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Shrinking and swelling clay soils?
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Vertisols
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Soil with clay B horizons and a high base status?
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Alfisol
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Soils of arid regions?
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Aridisols
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Soils with clay B horizons and a low base status?
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Ultisol
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Soils with iron and humus in the B-Horizon?
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Spodosol
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Earth is differentiated into layers by composition and behavior.
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True
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These waves help us in determining the composition of the layers of the Earth's interior and their thicknesses?
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Earthquake
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By looking at the interaction between the Earth and other bodies in space we can use this property of the Earth to determine its general composition?
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Gravity
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This type of meteorite"s composition is similar to that of what we believe lies at the Earth's center?
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Iron
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The supercontinent that existed 245 million years ago as described by Alfred Wegener?
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Pangaea
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Plate boundary located where plates move away from each other?
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Divergent
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Plate boundary where plates move towards each other?
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Convergent
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Plate boundary where plates move from side to side?
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Transform
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The San Andreas Fault is an example of this type of boundary?
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Transform
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For the modern geologist, the unifying theory helps to explain?
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Distribution of mountains and types
Distribution of rock types Distribution of fossil species Mass extinctions and sea level fluctuations Matching shorelines |
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Folds in the rocks of these two continents indicated that they must have been together at one time?
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Africa and South America
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Remnant magnetism in the rocks can tell us where the rocks were located on the surface of the Earth at their time of formation.
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True
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All of the rocks of the ocean floor show the same condition of magnetism.
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False
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The sea floor is the youngest near the continents and are the oldest at the middle of the oceans.
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False
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What is a concentration of naturally occurring material in or on the crust of the Earth in a form that can now or potentially be extracted at a profit?
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Resource
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An identified and economic resource?
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Reserve
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An identified but subeconomic resource?
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Marginal reserve
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An undiscovered resource but could exist in known districts?
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Hypothetical resource
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Earth material that has a higher concentration of a material than is normally found?
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Ore
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Genesis type for diamond?
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Igneous
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Genesis type for gold?
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Sedimentary
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40% of the land used for minerals extraction in the US is used for disposal of the wastes.
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True
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Not a source of water pollution formed by mineral extraction and processing?
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Blowing dust and minerals
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Type of mining that has a lower impact on the surface ecosystems?
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Shaft and tunnel
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Lowest impact on the environment?
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Reuse
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Earth material that has been altered by physical, chemical and biological processes such that it can support rooted plant life?
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Soil
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Hardpan layer of soil horizon?
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E-Horizon
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Organic horizon of soil horizon?
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O-Horizon
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Parent material of soil horizon?
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D/R-Horizon
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Darker soil colors indicate oxidation of minerals in the soil.
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False
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The distribution of sand, silt and clay in the soil is the soil's what?
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Texture
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Calcite containing soils of arid regions?
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Aridisols
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Soils composed of mainly organic materials?
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Histosols
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Soils formed in volcanic ash and other volcanic ejecta?
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Andisols
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Soils of grassland ecosystems?
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Mollisols
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Ability of a soil to degrade metals?
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Corrosive potential
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Ability of a soil to resist deformation?
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Soil strength
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Changes in soil strength due to disturbances?
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Soil sensitivity
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That which soil materials can be removed by wind or water?
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Soil erodibility
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Measure of a soil's tendency to consolidate?
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Soil compressibility
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Measure of the ease with which water moves through a material?
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Hydraulic conductivity
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Procedure and/or equipment necessary to remove soils?
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Ease of excavation
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In the universal soil loss equation, the value L represents?
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We didn't have to know this
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When soil erodes it becomes?
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Pollution and sediment
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The number one source of contamination in rivers in the United States is agriculture.
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True
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The lines running from pole to pole are lines of?
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Longitude
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The line running from the north pole, through Greenwich, England and on to the south pole is called the?
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Prime Meridian
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Lines of latitude and longitude can be measured in?
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Degrees, Minutes, Seconds
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Verbal scale for quadrangle topographic maps?
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1:24,000
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In the Land Office Grid System, the sections are numbered beginning in the?
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Upper right
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The six-mile wide strips running north and south in the Land Office Grid Systems are?
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Ranges
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Difference in elevation between the highest and lowest point on a map?
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Relief
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Imaginary line connecting points of equal elevation?
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Contour line
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Vertical difference between two adjacent contour lines?
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Contour interval
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Vertical distance above a local surface?
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Height
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Vertical distance above sea level?
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Elevation
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Vertical distance below a local surface?
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Depth
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Contour lines are repeated on either side of a depression, upslope from a depression on a hill slope, and each side of a mountain top.
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True
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Contour lines "V" in the downhill direction on a contour map.
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False
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The method of interpreting the location for contour lines based upon known points of elevation is called interpolation.
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True
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