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Unit 2
1. What is the earths core?
a) has a solid inner part and liquid outer part
b) has a liquid inner part and solid outer part
c) is made up entirely of liquid
d) is completely solid
Correct Answer : A- the Core has solid inner part and liquid outer part
2. What are P waves?
a) normal waves that go through solid, liquid and gas
b) normal waves that only go through liquid and solids
c) normal waves that do not go through solid liquid and gas
d) normal waves that do not shake buildings
Correct answer: A-P (or push) waves are normal sound waves, and go
through gas, liquid and solid
3. What are S waves
a) they go through liquids
b) they do not go through liquids
c) they go through solids and liquids
d) they go through liquids and gas’s
Correct Answer: B- S waves slower, don’t go through liquids
4. How do earthquakes become less common?
a) for each increase of 2 in magnitude, quakes become about 10 times less
common
b) for each increase of 2 in magnitude, quakes become about 30 times less
common
c) for each increase of 1 in magnitude, quakes become about 10 times less
common
d)for each increase of 5 in magnitude, quakes become about 10 times less
common
Correct Answer: c- For each increase of 1 in magnitude, quakes become
about 10 times less common but because increase of 1 in magnitude
means increase of about 30 in energy, most energy release (and most
damage) in few big, rare quake
5. What is true about the sea floor?
a) The sea floor is hottest, highest in elevation, near the crack, forming a midoceanic ridge
b) The sea floor is coldest, highest in elevation, far from the crack, forming a
mid-oceanic ridge
c)The sea floor is coldest, highest in elevation, near the crack, forming a midoceanic ridge
d) The sea floor is hottest, highest in elevation, far from the crack, forming a midoceanic ridge
Correct Answer: The sea floor is hottest, highest in elevation, near the
crack, forming a mid-oceanic ridge
Unit 4
1. What happens in subduction zones?
a) In subduction, denser side sinks under less-dense side
b) In subduction, less-dense side sinks under less-dense side
c) In subduction, less-dense sinks under denser side
d) ) In subduction, denser side sinks under desnser side
Correct Answer: A- In subduction, denser side sinks under less-dense side
2. True/False: Push together, pull apart and slide past are the three basic
tectonic styes
• Correct Answer: True
3. True/False: The three types of plate boundaries, plus hot-spot activity poking
up through plates, give the great majority of mountain-building, earthquakes,
volcanoes, etc.
Correct Answer: True
4. What is it called when plates run into eachother?
a) subduction
b) obduction
c) intermediates
d) production
Correct Answer: b- When they run into each other, obduction results, with folding,
push-together (thrust) faulting, and thickening
5. True/False: The three types of plate boundaries, plus hot-spot activity poking
up through plates, give the great majority of mountain-building, earthquakes, and
volcanoes
Correct Answer: True
Unit 5
1. What is true about moisture?
a) warmer air can hold less moisture
b) colder air can hold more moisture
c) cold and warm air can hold the same amount of moisture
d) warmer air can hold more moisture
Correct Answer: D
2. How does air cool and rise?
a) The air cools 7oF for 1000 foot rise going up, warms 12oF for 1000 foot fall
coming down,
b) The air cools 5oF for 1000 foot rise going up, warms 3oF for 1000 foot fall
coming down,
c) The air cools 3oF for 1000 foot rise going up, warms 5oF for 1000 foot fall
coming down,
d) The air cools 5oF for 7000 foot rise going up, warms 6oF for 500 foot fall
coming down,
Correct Answer: c
3. True/False: "Weathering" includes the chemical changes that make small rock
pieces from big ones, and the physical changes that make new minerals
Correct Answer: False: "Weathering" includes the physical changes that make
small rock pieces from big ones, and the chemical changes that make new
minerals
4. True/False: The sodium makes the ocean less salty
Correct Answer: False-sodium is salt so it makes the ocean more salty
5. What is mass Movement?
a) uphill transport of soil and rock with rivers glaciors and wind
b) downhill transport of soil and rock without rivers or glaciers or wind
c) uphill transport of soil and rock without rivers or glaciers or wind
d) downhill transport of soil and rock with rivers or glaciers or wind
Correct Answer: b
Unit 6
1. True/False: the ground does not act like a sponge
Correct Answer: False- The ground acts something like a sponge, with spaces
filling during rains, and draining to keep streams running between rains
2. What is a delta?
a) big pile of sediment, which compacts under its own weight
b) small pile of sediment, which compacts under its own weight
c) small pile of sediment, which does not compact under its own weight
d) big pile of sediment, which does not compact under its own weight
Correct Answer: A- a delta is a big pile of sediment, which compacts under its
own weight
3. True/False: All rocks do not dissolve easily
Correct Answer: Some rocks dissolve easily; if cracks are rare so the
dissolving is focused, then sinkholes form going down from the surface, with
caves beneath and springs giving a landscape called karst
4. True/False: Damns are sometimes helpful but sometimes can harm the
environment/ecosystem
Correct Answer: True- Although they stop floods sometimes, clean water
released by dams picks up sand, removing sand bars and affecting river
ecosystems
5. What can happen if we ignore river problems
a) nothing, we should leave rivers alone
b) nothing, rivers fix their own ecosystems
c) if we do not fix the river problems, the next disaster will be worse than the first
d) if we do not fix the river problems, the next disaster will be less harmful than
the first
Correct Answer: c- A low city by a high river and sea with no wetlands to slow
storm surges brought huge hurricane disaster so if we do not fix this, the next
disaster will be worse than the one before it
Unit 7
1. How does a glacier form?
a) a glacier forms if if snowfall exceeds melting by enough, for long enough, to
make a big enough pile
b) a glacier forms if if snowfall does not exceed melting by enough, for long
enough, to make a big enough pile
c) a glacier forms if if snowfall exceeds melting by enough, for long enough, to
make a small enough pile
d) a glacier forms if if snowfall does not exceed melting by enough, for long
enough, to make a small enough pile
Correct Answer: A
2. True/False: that sea level was lower when the ice was big
Correct Answer: True: The hypothesis of past ice ages also predicts that sea
level was lower when the ice was big, and indeed we observe dead shallowwater corals of that age in growth position in deep water on the sides of oceanic
islands, flooded river valleys, etc.
3. What is true about land now?
a) land should be sinking where ice was
b) land should be staying the same where ice once was
c) Land should be rising where ice once was
d) Land should be sinking and rising where ice once was
Correct Answer: c-The hypothesis of past ice ages predicts that the land now
should be rising where the ice was, and sinking just beyond where the ice was,
and these are indeed observed
4. Glaciers erode valleys what shaped cross-sections?
a) U-shaped
b) V-shaped
c) W-shaped
d) z-Shaped
Correct Answer: A- Glaciers erode valleys to give them “U”-shaped crosssections, often with the floors of valleys coming in from the side left "hanging"
above the floor of the main valley; streams make “V”-shaped valleys without
hanging valleys
5. True/False: A glacier takes water (as ice) and sediment from the accumulation
zone
Correct Answer: True- A glacier takes water (as ice) and sediment from the
accumulation zone (where snow accumulates faster than it melts) to the ablation
zone (where melting, also called ablation, exceeds snow accumulation) or to
calve icebergs