Download Geosci Ques

Doug Benscoter
Unit 2
1) What is the hottest, driest place in the United States?
A) Cumberland Valley
B) Sugar Valley
C) Death Valley
D) Desert Valley
Answer: C
Feedback: Death Valley is the hottest, driest place in the U.S. due mostly to t
he landscape which was formed by pull-apart faults.
2) T/F: Pull-apart faults created Death Valley.
Answer: True
Feedback: Pull-apart faults created Death Valley, which contributes to its
extreme summer temperatures.
3) The main way(s) heat is moved by is ________?
A) Conduction
B) Convection
C) Radiation
D) All of the above
Answer: D
Feedback: Temperature is a measurement of the vibrations of atoms that
create heat. Heat is moved around by three main ways: conduction,
convection, and radiation.
4) What was the first National Park?
A) The Smokies
B) Yellowstone
C) The Grand Canyon
D) Yosemite
Answer: B
Feedback: Yellowstone was the first National Park founded by the expedition
of Lewis and Clark (they bypassed it) and signed into law by U.S. Congress on
March 1, 1872.
5) T/F: Most earthquakes are caused by elastic rebound.
Answer: True
Feedback: Earthquakes are caused by elastic rebound, which is basically an
explanation for how energy is spread during earthquakes.
Unit 3
6) The seafloor is made of ________?
A) Sand
B) Sea-creatures
C) Basalt
D) Mud
Answer: C
Feedback: The seafloor is made of basalt which is igneous rock formed from
the rapid cooling of basaltic lava.
7) T/F: The lithosphere is broken into plates.
Answer: True
Feedback: The lithosphere is broken into tectonic plates that create the
shape of our environment by the constant friction of plates colliding. There
are eight big plates and some other smaller ones.
8) Which one of the following settings is not associated with volcanoes?
A) Pull-apart margins
B) Push-together subduction zones.
C) Hot spots
D) None of the above
Answer: D
Feedback: The three main types of volcanoes are pull-apart margins, pushtogether subduction zones, and hot spots.
9) T/F: People who live by volcanoes should not worry about them because
volcanoes create a little threat and they rarely ever go off.
Answer: False
Feedback: Geologists can predict fairly well nowadays when a volcano is
about to go off. Also, volcanoes create a lot of damage such as landslides,
release of poisonous gasses, and tsunamis.
10) T/F: Volcano eruptions are unpredictable and even the best geologists can’t
predict when one will go off.
Answer: False
Feedback: One suggestion to avoid a volcano eruption is to just stay out of
harm’s way. Geologists can accurately map out where landslides have
occurred along with regions where large pyroclastic chunks have fallen.
Unit 4
11) Death Valley was created by this structural style:
A) Pull-apart
B) Push-together
C) Slide-past
D) None of the above
Answer: A
Feedback: Pull-apart faults did create Death Valley.
12) ________ of an iceberg’s thickness sits below the surface.
A) 2/5
B) 1/10
C) 4/5
D) 9/10
Answer: D
Feedback: 9/10 of an iceberg’s thickness does sit below the surface. The
reason why Titanic sank was because when they hit the iceberg, they didn’t
realize how much was actually below the surface.
13) T/F: A tsunami may only be a few foot waves in the middle of the ocean.
Answer: True
Feedback: Tsunamis may be only a few feet high in the middle of the ocean
even though tsunamis can travel between 300 and 500 miles per hour because as
the wave approaches the coast, it becomes more squashed and high. (Instead of
being long and low.)
14) The process that makes rocks that many people consider pretty and
creates/produces gems is:
A) Monomorphism
B) Metamorphism
C) Zoomorphism
D) Homomorphism
Answer: B
Feedback: Metamorphism is the process by which rocks can be altered in
texture, composition, or internal structure by extreme heat, pressure, and the
interaction of new chemical substances.
15) T/F: Tsunamis are usually created from a large underwater earthquake.
Answer: True
Feedback: Tsunamis are commonly created from underwater earthquakes.
However, tsunamis can also be created by undersea landslide, volcanic
eruptions, and even meteorite impacts on the water.
Unit 5
16) T/F: The poles receive the most sunshine on Earth.
Answer: False
Feedback: The equator receives the most sunshine on Earth.
17) The changes that occur at the surface are called:
A) Weathering
B) Breaking-down
C) Destroying
D) Erosion
Answer: A
Feedback: Weathering is the breaking down of rocks, soils, and minerals by
the Earth’s atmosphere, organisms, and waters.
18) The most important mineral that grows in cracks of rocks is ______.
A) Granite
B) Quartz
C) Ice
D) Mud
Answer: C
Feedback: Ice is the most important mineral that grows in cracks of rocks
because it greatly helps expands the process.
19) T/F: Water is usually involved in mass movement.
Answer: True
Feedback: Mass movement usually occurs when water is involved because it
makes the soil heavy, lubricates the motion of rocks as they slide past each
other, temporarily floats rocks, and saturation of a rock mass helps remove t
he effect of water tension.
20) Which one isn’t a mass movement of land?
A) Rock fall
B) Landslide
C) Avalanche
D) Shower
Answer: D
Feedback: Rock falls, landslides, and avalanches are all mass movements of
land. A shower is not.
Unit 6
21) The evaporation from plants and other surfaces usually is lumped together and
called __________.
A) Phyto-evaporation
B) Phytotranspiration
C) Evapotranspiration
D) Transpiration
Answer: C
Feedback: Evapotranspiration is the evaporation from plants and other
surfaces.
22) T/F: The wetlands above the Mississippi Delta are disappearing because of the
indirect effects of humans.
Answer: True
Feedback: Draining, dredging, building dikes, mining, building roads, etc. are
all indirect effects by humans that are contributing to the diminishing size of
wetlands.
23) A cavity in the ground, usually in limestone formation, caused by water erosion
and provides a route for surface water to disappear underground is called a _______.
A) Waterhole
B) Sinkhole
C) Cave
D) Ground Cavity
Answer: B
Feedback: A sinkhole is a cavity in the ground cause by erosion. There are a
lot of sinkholes in the State College area caused from down going waters.
Sinkholes can cause a number of problems such as groundwater
contamination, flooding, and property damage.
24) T/F: Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans because the Mississippi river
had natural levees which caged the river between the below sea-level city.
Answer: True
Feedback: New Orleans is located on a flood plain and is sinking slowly. The
Mississippi River had natural levees that acted like a cage for the river. When
the hurricane came through New Orleans, the river overflowed and caused
devastation on New Orleans.
25) T/F: Reservoirs can last forever despite how much sediment is collecting in the
reservoir.
Answer: False
Feedback: Sediment build-up in a reservoir can cause a reservoir to be
useless.