ES-Jun 2014 Q21-30

The block diagram below represents caves that developed in a region over time.
Which type of weathering was primarily responsible for the development of these caves?

• physical weathering of sandstone
• physical weathering of limestone
• chemical weathering of sandstone
•  chemical weathering of limestone

Which agent of erosion is most likely responsible for the deposition of sandbars along ocean shorelines?

• glaciers
• mass movement
• wave action
• wind action

The block diagram below represents the drainage basins of some river systems separated by highland divides, shown with dashed lines. The arrows show the directions of surface-water flow.
The three areas separated by highland divides are called

• meanders
• floodplains
• watersheds
•  tributaries

Which New York State landscape region is mostly composed of horizontal sedimentary bedrock at high elevations?

• Hudson Highlands
• Allegheny Plateau
• Taconic Mountains
• Atlantic Coastal Plain

Which characteristic do samples of the mineral pyroxene normally exhibit?

• yellow to amber color
• bubbling in hydrochloric acid
• cleaves at 56° and 124°
•  hardness of 5 to 6

The photograph below shows the texture of a rock composed of various minerals as seen through a microscope.
Which rock is most likely shown above?

• sandstone
•  anthracite coal
• dunite
• schist

Which minerals contain the two most abundant elements by mass in Earth’s crust?

•  fluorite and calcite
• magnetite and pyrite
• amphibole and quartz
• galena and sulfur

The photograph below shows an outcrop where a light-colored, igneous rock is cross cut by a dark-colored, igneous rock.
This fine-grained, dark-colored, igneous rock is most likely

• rhyolite
•  diorite
•  basalt
• gabbro

The diagram below represents positions of Earth in its orbit around the Sun and twelve constellations that can be seen in the midnight sky by an observer in New York State at different times of the year. The approximate locations of the constellations in relation to Earth’s orbit are shown.
Which date is correctly paired with two constellations that can be seen in the sky at midnight?

• May 21: Scorpius and Taurus
• August 21: Libra and Virgo
• November 21: Gemini and Capricorn
• February 21: Leo and Cancer

The cross section of the bedrock layers of a canyon is represented below. Letters A and B represent rock layers on the sides of the canyon.
Layer A can best be correlated to layer B by comparing the

• sediments on each side of the stream
•  sequence of rock layers on each side of the canyon
• organisms currently living in rock layers A and B
• rate of erosion of rock layers A and B by the stream