Download unit 2 earth history - possible test questions

UNIT 4 HISTORICAL GEOLOGY - POSSIBLE TEST QUESTIONS
EARTH AND SCIENCE
Revised 2/13
Measurements of Earth and Sun
1. What is the diameter of the Earth?
2. What is the diameter of the Sun?
3. What is Earth’s circumference?
Simple Compositional Model of Earth
4. Describe Earth’s three distinct, concentric layers.
5. What two types of crust does the Earth have?
Origin of Earth’s Three Concentric Layers
6. Describe the three sources of Earth’s residual heat?
7. Heat from within the Earth is continually generated by ______?
Physical Properties of Earth’s Layers
8. What is a lithosphere and where is it located?
9. What is the asthenosphere and where is it located?
10. Describe the lower mantle and where it is located.
11. Describe the components of Earth’s core and where are they located.
Origin of Earth’s Atmosphere
12. What happened to most of the hydrogen and helium that accumulated with Earth’s mass?
Outgassing
13. How much free oxygen was available very early in Earth’s history?
Earth’s Atmosphere
14. What does the presence of pyrite grains in early sedimentary rocks imply?
15. Describe the occurrence of “banded iron formations” during early Earth times (2.5-2.0 billion
years).
16. Which ancient life forms were present at least 3.5 billion years ago that began creating Earth’s free
oxygen??
17. What is the approximate percentage composition of Earth’s atmosphere today?
18. What happened to most of the CO2 that was present in early Earth’s atmosphere?
Earth’s Hydrosphere
19. How long did it take Earth’s oceans to reach its current salinity levels?
PLATE TECTONICS AND CONTINENTAL DRIFT
Tectonics and Continental Drift
20. Alfred Wegener was famous for proposing which scientific theory?
21. What was “Pangaea”.
Wegener’s Theory
22. Remember that Wegener used fossils, striations and age of rocks to “prove” continental drift?
23. Why was the Theory of Continental Drift rejected?
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Earth’s Core and Magnetism
24. What is the current theory about the creation of Earth’s magnetic field?
25. What evidence do we have for Earth’s magnetic shield?
Magnetite and Magnetism in Rocks
26. Describes what happens to a magnetite grain when it cools within a basaltic magma.
27. Define paleomagnetism and why is it an important geologic tool.
Seafloor Spreading
28. Who proposed the theory of seafloor spreading?
Describing the Seafloor
29. “Magnetic polarity stripes” (magnetic reversals) are ______ on both sides of the mid-oceanic ridge.
30. What is the name of the deepest submarine trench?
31. Compare the age of basalt at the oceanic ridge to its age at the edge far from the ridge.
Tectonic Plates
32. What is a tectonic plate?
Plate Boundaries
33. Describe a divergent plate boundary, including the movement of neighboring plates.
34. Describe a transform plate boundary, including the movement of neighboring plates.
35. Describe a convergent plate boundary, including the movement of neighboring plates.
37. Which tectonic zone can create an ocean basin?
37. Where tectonically are all black smokers located?
38. What do we call a divergent zone on land?
39. What are the three types of convergent zones?
40. Define a subduction zone.
41. Where tectonically are the deep sea trenches located?
Driving Mechanisms of Plates
42. What is the most favored theory or mechanism today for plate tectonic movements?
Hot Spots and Super-continents
43. Give an example of a landmass created by a mantle plume or hotspot?
44. Describe a super-continent cycle and who came up with the name?.
SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES
45. How is science different from other fields of human endeavor?
46. Why is it that many aspects of being human are not amenable to scientific description?
47. Which subjective “sciences” are not normally addressed by normal science?
48. Questions that science can address are limited by____?
49. How absolute is scientific knowledge?
50. With many publicized articles about global warming, should they also give reasons that do not fit
the model?
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HISTORICAL GEOLOGY Weekly Quiz # 6
A. (Page 28)
What name did Edward Suess propose for a super-continent in 1885? ___
B. The picture on page 31 (Figure 2.5b) show “lines” of glacial movement. What are these lines?
____
C. (Page 36)
The temperature at which magnetite can gain or loses it remnant magnetism from heating? ____
D. (Page 38)
As a group, how many geologists accept that plates are created at oceanic ridges and destroyed at
deep sea trenches? ______
E. (Page 39)
The lithosphere overlies the hotter and weaker semi-plastic _______
HISTORICAL GEOLOGY Weekly Quiz # 7
Page 477 Figure 19.2
A. The Eoarchean Era ended __________ ago.
Page 478 Figure 19.4
B. This figure is illustrating the origin of ________
Page 476 Figure 19.1
C. The Archean Eon alone accounts for ________ of all geologic time.
Page 477
D. The approximate age of the oldest detrital zircons in Australia: ______
Page 483 Figure 19.9
E. How many named greenstone belts are in figure 19.9: ________
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