Download Earth Science – Quiz 2

Earth Science – Quiz 3
Summer 2016
Choose the best multiple choice answer. It is not necessary to download the quiz. Put your
answers on your scantron (882-E) and turn the quiz (scantron) in on the day of exam-3
1. Alfred Wegner is noted for his contribution to
a. Moving continents
b. Plate Tectonics
c. Continental Drift
d. convection hypothesis
2. Which of the following was NOT strong evidence that supports Wegener’s hypothesis of
continental drift
a. The “puzzle” fit between Africa and South America
b. Physical correlation of lithologies on different continents
c. Sea floor spreading
d. The association between paleoclimates
3. The strongest evidence that supports the birth of Plate Tectonics is
a. the logical connection between South America and Africa
b. The union between continental shelves as opposed to continental shorelines
c. The overwhelming evidence of fossils that can’t swim across seas
d. The mapping of the sea floor and geological activity that takes place
4. The lithosphere is composed of
a. both oceanic crust and sea floor
b. both continental crust and continental shelf material
c. both continental crust and plate material
d. both continental crust and oceanic crust
5. P-waves will travel through
a. liquids only
c. the surface
b. solids only
d. liquids and solids
6. The elastic rebound theory states:
a. rocks will bend and fold due to maximum stresses
b. bending of lithospheric plates results in mountains and earthquakes
c. how far a rubber band will stretch
d. rocks undergo various amounts of strain from stresses and “snap” in response to gain
equilibrium
7. The Mercalli scale is known for measuring an earthquakes
a. intensity b. energy release
c. wave vibrations
d. motion
8. The San Andreas fault is a classic example of
a. One plate diving beneath another
b. One plate sliding past another plate
c. One plate separating from another plate
d. One plate converging into another
9. The process of convection is defined by
a. the upwelling of gasses through solid material
b. heat transfer through a solid
c. the rising and cooling of liquid material creating circular motions
d. heat transfer within the rocks
10. ________ was an ancient reptile that lived in South America and Africa during the late
Paleozoic.
A) Granopteris
B) Monastarious
C) Glossopteris
D) Mesosaurus
11. In the early part of the twentieth century, ________ argued forcefully for continental drift.
A) Karl Wagner
B) Jack Pierce
C) Alfred Wegener
D) Bill Kohl
12. The former late Paleozoic supercontinent is known as ________.
A) Pandomonia
B) Pancakea
C) Pangaea
D) Panatopia
13. The ________ is an example of an active, continent-continent collision.
A) Arabian Peninsula slamming into North Africa under the Red Sea
B) westward movement of the South American plate over the Nazca plate
C) northern movement of Baja California and a sliver of western California toward the Hawaiian
Islands
D) northward movement of India into Eurasia
14. Pull-apart rift zones are generally associated with a ________ plate boundary.
A) transform
B) divergent
C) convergent
D) all plate boundaries
15. Linear, magnetic patterns associated with mid-ocean ridges are configured as ________.
A) concentric circles about a rising plume of hot mantle rocks and magma
B) reversed magnetizations along the rift valleys and normal magnetizations along the ridge
C) normal and reversed magnetized strips roughly parallel to the ridge
D) normal and reversed magnetized strips roughly perpendicular to the ridge axis
16. A typical rate of seafloor spreading in the Atlantic Ocean is ________.
A) 2 feet per year
B) 0.1 inches per year
C) 20 feet per year D) 2 centimeters per year
17. Which of the following energy sources is thought to drive the lateral motions of Earth's
lithospheric plates?
A) gravitational attractive forces of the Sun and Moon
B) electrical and magnetic fields localized in the inner core
C) export of heat from deep in the mantle to the top of the asthenosphere
D) swirling movements of the molten iron particles in the outer core
18. Which of the following statements apply to the asthenosphere, but not the lithosphere?
A) zone in the upper mantle that deforms by plastic flowage
B) cool, rigid layer of crust and upper mantle that forms the tectonic plates
C) deforms mainly by brittle fracturing and faulting
D) partial melting of rising granitic plumes produces huge volumes of basaltic magma
19. New oceanic crust and lithosphere are formed at ________.
A) divergent boundaries by submarine eruptions and intrusions of rhyolitic magma
B) convergent boundaries by submarine eruptions and intrusions of rhyolitic magma
C) divergent boundaries by submarine eruptions and intrusions of basaltic magma
D) convergent boundaries by submarine eruptions and intrusions of basaltic magma
20. Cooler, older, oceanic lithosphere sinks into the mantle at ________.
A) subduction zones along convergent plate boundaries
B) transform fault zones along divergent plate boundaries
C) rift zones along mid-ocean ridges
D) sites of long-lived, hot spot volcanism in the ocean basins
21. Deep ocean trenches are surficial evidence for ________.
A) rifting beneath a continental plate and the beginning of continental drift
B) sinking of oceanic lithosphere into the mantle at a subduction zone
C) rising of hot asthenosphere from deep in the mantle
D) transform faulting between an oceanic plate and a continental plate
22. A transform plate boundary is characterized by ________.
A) stratovolcanoes on the edge of a plate and shield volcanoes on the adjacent plate
B) two converging oceanic plates meeting head-on and piling up into a mid-ocean ridge
C) a divergent boundary where the continental plate changes to an oceanic plate
D) a deep, vertical fault along which two plates slide past one another in opposite directions
23. Which one of the following is an important fundamental assumption underlying the plate
tectonic theory?
A) Earth's magnetic field originates in the outer core.
B) Earth's surface area has been essentially constant over time.
C) Radioactive decay slows down at the extreme pressures of the inner core.
D) Earth's ocean basins are very old and stable features.
24. The modern-day Red Sea is explained by plate tectonics theory because it is ________.
A) a tiny remnant of a once immense ocean that was closed as Africa moved toward Asia
B) the site of a transform fault along which Arabia is moving away from Africa
C) a rift zone that may eventually open into a major ocean if Arabia and Africa continue to separate
D) a rare example of a two-continent subduction zone where the African continental plate is sinking
under the Arabian continental plate
25. The volcanoes and deep valleys of east Africa are related to a ________.
A) continental rift along which parts of the African continent are beginning to slowly separate
B) fault allowing Arabia to slip westward past east Africa and penetrate into Turkey
C) transform fault aligned with the Red Sea carrying the Arabian and African blocks in opposite
directions
D) continental collision zone between Africa and the Zagros Mountains along the southern margin
of Eurasia
26. The Aleutian Islands occur at a ________.
A) convergent boundary on a volcanic arc above a northward-subducting Pacific plate
B) transform boundary where North America has moved towards Alaska
C) divergent boundary where shield volcanoes are forming
D) convergent, continental margin with uplifted fault blocks, much like those of the Basin and
27. Early results of the Deep Sea Drilling Project clearly justified the conclusion that ________.
A) the oceans have not always contained most of Earth's water
B) the ocean basins are relatively young; no seafloor with an age in excess of 180 million years was
ever found
C) Proterozoic rocks are found only as seamounts in the deepest parts of the ocean basins
D) the youngest sediments were deposited directly on the oldest seafloor basalts
28. The elastic rebound theory for the origin of earthquakes was first proposed by ________
following the ________ earthquake.
A) Reid; 1906, San Francisco
B) Giuseppe; 1925, Pizza Lake
C) Richter; 1989, Loma Prieta
D) Mohorovicic; 1964, Anchorage
29. When an earthquake occurs, energy radiates in all directions from its source. The source is
also referred to as the ________.
A) inertial point
B) epicenter C) focus
D) seismic zone
30. Which one of the following statements is correct?
A) P waves travel through solids; S waves do not.
B) P and S waves travel through liquids, but P waves do not travel through solids.
C) S waves travel through solids and P waves travel through liquids.
D) P and S waves travel through liquids, but S waves do not travel through solids.
31. ________ have the highest velocities.
A) Primary waves
B) Secondary waves C) Surface waves
D) Refracted S waves
32. Major earthquakes are often followed by somewhat smaller events known as ________.
A) aftershocks
B) foreshocks
C) tremors
D) hyposhocks
33. The ________ magnitude scale is a measure of the energy released. It does not directly measure
the extent of building damage.
A) Gutenberg
B) Reid
C) Mercalli
D) Richter
34. ________ is the maximum possible damage designation on the Mercalli scale.
A) XII
B) 3
C) X
D) 10
35. The position on Earth's surface directly above the earthquake source is called the ________.
A) epicenter
B) inertial point
C) focus
D) seismic zone
36. The mechanism by which rocks store and eventually release energy in the form of an
earthquake is termed ________.
A) elastic rebound
B) seismic rebound
C) fault displacement D) stress fracture
37. Approximately how much more energy is released in a 6.5 Richter magnitude earthquake than
in one with magnitude 5.5?
A) 3000 times
B) 3 times
C) 300 times
D) 30 times
38. P waves ________.
A) propagate only in solids
C) have higher amplitudes than do S waves
B) are faster than S waves and surface waves
D) produce the strongest ground shaking
39. The Mercalli Scale is a scale from ________.
A) 1 to 12 that rates the energy required for faulting to occur
B) 1 to 10 that rates the energy released by an earthquake
C) I to XII that rates the structural damage due to an earthquake
D) I to X that rates the total energy released during the main quake and all aftershocks
40. Most of our knowledge about Earth's interior comes from ________.
A) drill holes B) volcanic eruptions C) seismic waves D) examination of deep mine shafts
41. Which one of the following statements about the crust is NOT true?
A) It is the thinnest of the major subdivisions.
B) It is thickest where prominent mountains exist.
C) Oceanic crust is enriched in potassium, sodium, and silicon.
D) Continental rocks are compositionally different than oceanic rocks.
42. An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale is ____________ times more powerful than an
earthquake measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale.
a. 10
b. 100
c. 20
d. 1000
43. There are about 600,000 earthquakes annually that range in magnitude
a. Greater than M8
b. less than M2
c. M4 to M5 d. M3
44. A Mercalli intensity earthquake of roman numeral 2 would indicate
a. A major earthquake
b. a very lightly felt EQ
c. major damage
45. Which of the following correctly lists the order in which seismic waves arrive at the
seismograph station
a. P waves  surface waves  S waves
b. S waves  P waves  Surface waves
c. P waves  S waves  Surface waves
d. Surface waves  P waves  S waves
46. Which of the following has been used, with some success, to make long-term predictions about
the location of future large earthquakes?
a. the seismic gap method
b. the principle of cross cutting relations
c. the elastic rebound theory
d. all of these
47. Which of the following describes the build-up and release of stress during an earthquake?
a. Mercalli Scale
b. elastic rebound theory
c. principle of superposition
d. the seismic gap method
48. When seismic waves pass through the boundary between two different materials,_________
A) the waves refract
B) the velocity of the waves changes
C) both A and B
D) neither A nor B
49. The partially molten layer (low velocity zone) beneath the lithosphere is called the
A) asthenosphere
B) inner corre
C) outer core
D) lower mantle
50. Which of the following statements about the Moho (Mohovoricic discontinuity) is false?
A) Siesmic waves slow down as they pass down through the Moho
B) The Moho separates denser rocks below from less dense rocks above.
C) The Moho separates the crust from the mantle.
D) The Moho marks the top of a partially molten layer.