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156 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
what kind of volcanic rock would you find at the Mid-Atlantic ridge?
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pillow lava
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clay materials in shale are deposited..
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physically
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CaCO3, or calcite (limestone), is most soluble in which type of water?
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cold water (fresh or salt)
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which metamorphic facies would occur at a subduction zone (high pressure, low temperature)?
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blueschist
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which would be the best type of index fossil for the Cambrian period?
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trilobite
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the substudy of geology that is focused on the succession of sedimentary rock layers is:
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stratigraphy
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which of the following drives the rock cycle?
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internal heat of the earth
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which of the following is diagnostic of minerals by itself?
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x-ray diffraction pattern
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which of the following sequences is listed corrected in terms of Mohs hardness scale?
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apatite, quartz, corundum
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which mineral crystallizes first from a mafic magma?
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olivine
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A geologic contact between rocks, in which the sedimentary rock was deposited on a granite
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nonconformity
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a metamorphic rock that is so high grade that it has almost melted:
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migmatite
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which of the following has the longest half-life?
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rubidium-87
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which of the following might be involved in studyign the earth?
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all of the above
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an example of a theory is:
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1 and 2
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scientists are completly objective
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false
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a website report on an experiment that was created independently and without consultation or critical review can be good science
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false
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rocks are unit composition; they cannot be broken into smaller pieces of different composition
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flase
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the mineral quartz comes in many colors
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true
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a sedimentary rock can only be formed from weathering/erosion of an igneous rock
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false
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an example of a scientific law is
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thermodynamic behavior
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pure science is driven by:
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curiosity
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probably the best experiment to study the history of flooding on the Mississippi River is:
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dig or drill into floodplain, examine record of floods in sediments
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Which of the following sounds like a good, relevant hypothesis?
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"Is the center of the earth made of liquid metal, responciple for the geomagnetic field?"
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The old dude who knows that a theory is never proven and can always be questioned is:
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Alfred Wegener, father of plate techtonics
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which of the following is NOT a mineral?
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obsidian
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The old dude who knows that a theory is never proven and can always be questioned is:
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Alfred Wegener, father of plate techtonics
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which of the following IS a mineral?
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graphite
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What is the building block of most of the minerals in the Earth?
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silica tetrahedra
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The faces of a cut gemstone reflect:
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none of the above
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There are thousands of minerals; but how many of these are common, rock-forming?
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30
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IS it possible for a chemical composition (like pure carbon) to come in multiple minerals; as in multiple atomic structures?
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yes
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Minerals can grow, or crystalize, 1) from a magma, 2) in the solid state, and 3) from:
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aqueous solutions (precipitation)
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What would you find in a kimberlite pipe?
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diamonds
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At a subduction zone, rocks melt mainly because of:
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addition of volatiles (water from subducting oceanic rocks)
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What causes melting at mid-ocean ridges and is responciple for producing magma that makes up all of the ocean floor?
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decompression melting
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why are volcanic rocks fine-grained (small crystals)?
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all of the above
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The first step in the cycle of forming a sedimentary rock is:
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weathering
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Physical properties of minerals and the tremendous variety of minerals are due to:
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chemical composition and atomic structure
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Chemical composition of a mineral depends on:
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2 and 4 only
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What type of atomic bond is strong and due to electron sharing?
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covalent bond
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In class, you looked at granite, rhyolite, and obsidian (3 very different rocks). Did these rocks have approximately the same chemical composition?
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yes
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Mt. Pinatubo is what kind of volcano (it has ash, explosions, etc.)
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composite, or strato volcano
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The earth's mantle consists of a sea of a sea of magma - it is all molten below 30km depth
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false
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an igneous intrusive rock that is mafic is:
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gabbro
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How are clastic sediments deposited?
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by gravity
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The composition with the least amount of silica is:
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ultramafic
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How are clastic sediments deposited?
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by gravity
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With increasing duration of sedimentary transport, what happens?
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2 and 3 only
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A gravel (sediment) forms what as a rock?
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conglomerate
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What is stratigaphy
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layers of sediment
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What is an example of an organic sediment?
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coal
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Aside from composition, what else is used to classify igneous rock types?
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grainsize
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Hawaii is made of basalt (low viscosity) and thus is a:
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shield volcano
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Bowen's reaction series is best defined as:
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sequence of minerals that differentiates (crystallizes) from a magama as it cools
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A huge, irregularly shaped igneous intrustion (like at Yosemite in CA) is a:
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batholith
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A pyroclastic flow forms a rock known as:
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tuff
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What type of sediment do you expect in the Salton Sea?
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evaporite minerals
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Subsidence, compaction, cementation, and chemical alteration occur during:
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lithification/diagenesis
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What rock type would you expect in an alluvial fan?
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conglomerate
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Heat and pressure increase with depth in the earth
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true
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"Arenite"; sandstone, well-sorted, mature minerals (mainly quartz), would form at:
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beach
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"Shale"; mudstone, made from clay minerals, would form where?
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deep ocean, far from land
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Chert would form where?
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deep ocean, on the sea floor
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Which of the following can provide a clock by which absolute ages can be measured:
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radioactive decay
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Which of the following rocks would be the most usful for absolute dating
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granite
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Contact metamorphism involves:
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a nearby magmatic intrusion
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If a limestone is metamorphosed, what rock will it become?
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marble
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Which of the following is the highest metamorphic grade?
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gneiss
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The layering and fabric in metamorphic rocks that is not the same as sedimentary layering is what?
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foliation
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Relative time in a stratigraphic column is based on:
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2,3, 4, and 5
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What makes fossils and faunal succession work, as far as being a tool relative dating and correlating stratigraphic columns?
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evolution is a global phenomenon
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Why can we use radioactive decay to measure absolute ages?
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rates of decay are constant and measureable
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Radioactive isotopes are described in terms of parent and daughter atoms.
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true
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If the half-life of Uranium-238 is 4.5 billion years, how much of the original uranium is left in the oldest Earth rocks?
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just more than half
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The age of the Earth is:
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4.6 billion years
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Why are complex names used for the relative geologic timescale?
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absolute dating was not developed until mid 20th-century, so relative names were used
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Placing geologic events in a sequence based on simple rules is:
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relative dating
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A gap within the sequence of forming layers and rocks, that can represent a large period of time is:
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unconformity
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To what color are all galaxies shifted due to expansion of the universe?
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red
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the continental crust grew by distillation (magmatism) and amalgamation (collision) during:
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Archean era
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How do we know the atmosphere became oxygen rich 3.0 billion years ago?
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banded iron formations
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The earth's core (inner+outer) makes up:
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10-20% of the earth volume
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What type of plate boundary occurs between North America and the Atlantic ocean?
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passive margin
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Where would you find the oldest oceanic crust?
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offshore VA
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Which of the following is TRUE with respect to changes with increasing distances from a mid-ocean ridge?
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thickness of oceanic lithosphere
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At 5cm/year on the San Andreas fault, and today 600km apart, how long before LA is adjacent to Oakland?
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12 million years
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Which of the following is TRUE with respect to changes with increasing distances from a mid-ocean ridge?
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thickness of oceanic lithosphere
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An example of a place dominated by normal faulting is:
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Basin and Range, USA
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Which of the following was a caldera eruption?
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Mt. Mazama (Crater Lake), 4700 BC
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If forced to live near a volcano, which might be the most useful tool in deciding where to build a home?
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topographic map
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When soft, wet sediments lose strenth and shift during earthquake shaking:
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liquefaction
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During which orogeny did the African continent collide with the North American continent?
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Alleghanian
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The continental crust is:
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thicker than oceanic crust
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What would be the best place to construct a "monumant to humanity" that would survive for hundreds of millions of years?
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central Canada - a craton
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Scientists' best guess of how the universe was formed is called:
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big bang
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Our star, the sun, is a:
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at least a second generation star
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Which of the following is thought to have happened in the first moments of the universe:
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creation of all matter
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The carbon atons that make up your body were formed:
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prior to a supernova in a preexisting star
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What fuels the sun and causes it to radiate energy?
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hydrogen
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Why did matter accrete to form stars, solar systems, and galaxies after the big bang?
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gravity
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Our best guess for the origin of the moon is that it was captured intact as an astroid into the earth's orbit
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false
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4 billion years ago, or just before the "second differentation", the earth's surface was:
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covered by one ocean
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The first forms of life to evolve in the Archean, more than 3 billion years ago, were:
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prokaryotes
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What does K-T boundary stand for?
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Cretaceous-Tertiary
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The Cambrian Explosion represents the most intense example of what in earth history?
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biologtic diversification
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Where did the heat come from for the "First Differentation"?
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meteorite impacts, gravitational potential energy
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Why did climate change in early earth history?
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removal of CO2 from the atmosphere
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4 billion years ago, the length of a day was:
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shorter
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How do we know the length of the day during the Archean?
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stromatolite fossils
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How do we know the lower (younger) age limit for the time the earth formed?
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moon rocks
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How do we know what was going on in the earth's crust during the first stages of plate technonics?
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greenstone belts
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The major difference between the outer and inner core is due to:
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presure-temperature and phase
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The earth's inner core is:
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solid
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What evidence tells us the nature of the earth's outer core?
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2 and 3
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The P-Wave Shadow is due to:
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refraction of seismic waves at core-mantle boundary
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The earth's magnetic field changes (reverses) through time.
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true
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The base of the crust is called:
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the Moho
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The continents are higher than the sea floor because:
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isotasy
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What is cyanobacteria good for?
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making oxygen
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Most of the new oceanic crust (sea floor) is created by magmatism at:
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mid-ocean ridges
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North America is a "supercontinent" like Pangea
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false
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The plates in plate tectonics are:
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lithosphere
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What forms at mid-ocean ridges?
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pillow basalt
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10-km deep trenches in the sea floor are due to:
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subduction
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what is the most important thing driving plate tectonics?
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mantle convection
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the emergence of plate tectonics in the 1960s was a revolution for science
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true
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how old is the oldest oceanic crust?
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200 million years
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Plate motions are generally:
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centimeters per year
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The earth is expanding volumetrically due to creation of new sea floor
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false
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Which of the following would you expect at a continental collision zone?
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thrust faults, folds
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Are Appalachian folds actively forming?
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no
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Which word describes mountain building?
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orogeny, orogenic
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What instrument was most important for the revolution of plate tectonics in the 1960s?
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echo sounder
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What is a paleo-pole?
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past position of the north magnetic pole relative to a continent held-fixed
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Strike-slip faults are a part of plate tectonics because:
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geometric accidents between plates
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Continental crust subducts and is recycled into the mantle
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true
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Planar features along which rocks slide against each other (brittle deformation) are:
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faults
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Folding occurs:
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in the lower continental crust
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What type of force is exerted at a collision zone?
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compression
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No earthquakes greater than Magnitude 3 has ever struck the US east of the Rock Mountains
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false
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Seismologists can forecast earthquakes based on elastic strain accumulation to within:
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decades
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The source area for earthquake energy in large earthquakes is:
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a fault plane
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Earthquake magnitude is linear; there's a 2x increase in energy released between one-step increase in magnitude
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false
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The frequency of earthquakes of a given magnitude is related to the magnitude, and decreases exponentially as magnitude increases.
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true
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Which two things exert the most important control on earthquake hazards?
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location and construction (economy)
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What is a killer pulse?
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high energy of seismic waves near source, exponential decay with distance away
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the key to eruptive style of volcanism is:
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magma viscosity
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Hawaii, the Columbia flood basalts, and Yellowstone are examples of what type of volcanic province?
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mantle hot-spot
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How are pyroclastic flows most different from simple landslides of rock?
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they are always hotter
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Eruption of which of the following would affect the greatest number of people?
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caldera
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A lahar is made up of:
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mud
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the majority of rock produced by a Plinian column is:
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ash
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Which of the following is a composite volcano?
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Mt. Pinatubo, Philippines
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Which describes the explosion of Mt. St. Helens?
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edifice collapse
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Geology is almost exclusively (>99%) concerned with the study of rocks
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false
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