Geology Exam 1

The Appalachian Mountains formed because North America collided with other continents. This is a direct result of which of the geologic cycles?

• tectonic

• carbon

• hydrologic

• rock

When Glacier National Park was founded, it had over 100 glaciers. Today it only has a few dozen. Melting glaciers are most obviously considered to be part of the _______________ cycle.

• tectonic

• carbon

• hydrologic

• rock

Which of these are activities that geologists would be involved in?

• trying to determine the origin and age of mountain ranges

• studying fossils to try to understand ancient environments

• using climate data to try to understand if the risk of flooding in a certain area is increasing

• looking at patterns of sand movement along a beach to predict the stability of human-built structures

Charles Darwin's ideas about evolution were controversial when he first published them. In the many years since, biologists and paleontologists have looked at modern organisms as well as the record of life on earth and found nothing to contradict them. What do we best call Darwin's ideas about evolution?

• law

• theory

• hypothesis

• speculation

Which of the scenarios below best describe a geologist using the principle of uniformitarianism?

• I am interpreting a core of rocks that have been drilled out of the deep ocean. I see volcanic ash layers, followed by the presence of fossil shells of organisms that prefer cooler water conditions. I know that volcanic eruptions have been associated with global cooling in modern times, so I interpret this another time of cooling in the past.

• I consult with a landowner about a property where they want to build a house. To do do, they will have to excavate into a steep slope. I observe that the rock layers are oriented in such a way that will likely cause them to slide and advise against it.

• I am curious about how fast Lake Cumberland is filling in with sediment. I place sediment traps in various places around the lake and check them six month later to see how much sediment has accumulated.

• i wonder how frequently earthquakes of a certain size happen in western Kentucky. I install seismometers (devices that measure earthquakes) and then track earthquake activity over the next decade.

The San Andreas fault in California is a famous example of a ___________________.

• divergent plate boundary

• convergent plate boundary

• transform plate boundary

• mantle plume

The process of Earth accretion is an example of ____________________.

• cyclical change on.a human time scale

• unidirectional change on a human time scale

• cyclical change on a geologic time scale

• unidirectional change on a geologic time scale

Examine the figure below. What sort of geologic feature is being demonstrated?

• divergent plate boundary

• convergent plate boundary

• transform plate boundary

• mantle plume

Earth's crust and mantle are mostly composed of _______________; Earth's core is composed of ____________________.

• silicate minerals, iron and nickel

• silicate minerals, also silicate minerals

• iron and nickel with a few silicate minerals, mostly iron and nickel

• iron and nickel with a few silicate minerals, silicate minerals

Earth's layers formed because of differences through time in what type of material the planet was accreting.

• True

• False