Deck 1: An Introduction to Geology and Plate Tectonics

Question 1

What was Wegener's dramatic paleoclimatic evidence linking all of the southern hemisphere continents between 300 and 220 million years ago?

A) massive reef limestones in Alberta and the Eastern Arctic
B) tropical Carboniferous coal swamps across the Northern Hemisphere, particularly the Eastern U.S. and central Europe, where the fossil trees lacked annual growth rings
C) massive crossbedded red sandstones suggesting former tropical deserts
D) striated and grooved bedrock overlain by Paleozoic tillites in South American and African areas now within 30° of the equator

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The continental shelf is located .

A) between the continental slope and continental rise
B) seaward of the continental slope
C) between the continental rise and the abyssal plains
D) landward of the continental slope

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Why are the youngest mountains formed either in the circum Pacific belt or the Alps- Himalayas belt?

A) Because this is where the oldest and strongest rocks are exposed.
B) Because these are the stable shield areas.
C) These are the regions with the greatest political pressure.
D) These are areas of maximum plate convergence today.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

A typical rate of lithospheric (tectonic) plate movement is .

A) 20 metres per year
B) 5 centimetres per year
C) 0.1 centimetres per year
D) 2 metres per year

Question 5

That fossil organisms succeed one another in an orderly and definite sequence is .

A) the principal of fossil succession
B) the law of superposition
C) the law of the geologic time scale
D) the Phanerozoic principal

Question 6

Earth's two chief energy sources for all of its heat and geologic processes are .

A) wind and ocean currents
B) oil and coal
C) tidal forces and wind
D) external solar radiation and internal decay of naturally radioactive elements

Question 7

The is the thinnest layer of the Earth.

A) outer core
B) inner core
C) crust
D) mantle

Question 8

Time scales and intervals of importance to geologic processes .

A) range only from days to millions of years
B) range from less than a millisecond to billions of years
C) must be shorter than seismic wave vibrations or longer than mantle convection cycles but nothing in between
D) must be at least as long as the epochs in the geologic time scale

Question 9

"The physical, chemical and biological processes that operate today have operated throughout geologic time" is a restatement of James Hutton's theory of .

A) uniformitarianism
B) gradualism
C) catastrophism
D) recidivism

Question 10

The forms the relatively cool, brittle plates of plate tectonics.

A) astrosphere
B) eosphere
C) lithosphere
D) asthenosphere

Question 11

is the process by which rocks breakdown in place to produce soils and sediments.

A) Lithification
B) Metamorphism
C) Weathering
D) Subduction

Question 12

The acceptance of the 18th century concept of uniformitarianism inevitably led to the acceptance of

A) an extremely old age for the Earth
B) Darwin's theory of evolution
C) Ussher's calculations
D) a geologic evolution for Earth that was free from catastrophes

Question 13

In correct order from the centre outward, Earth includes which units?

A) inner core, crust, mantle, hydrosphere
B) core, crust, mantle, hydrosphere
C) core, inner mantle, outer mantle, crust
D) inner core, outer core, mantle, crust

Question 14

The Phanerozoic Eon corresponding to the age of complex multicellular life as recorded in fossils encompasses .

A) only the first 50 million years of the Cambrian Period
B) the first 4.6 billion years of Earth history
C) only the latest 56 million years of Earth history
D) roughly the last 12% of Earth history

Question 15

Consider the tectonic plates on either side of an oceanic- ridge boundary. How are the plates moving with respect to the boundary?

A) sliding along it
B) moving away from it
C) falling into it
D) moving toward it

Question 16

The northern extension of North America's great Paleozoic Appalachian mountain belt is now found in .

A) the rugged landscape of Western Greenland
B) the Alps of Southern Europe
C) the Mid Atlantic Ridge north of Iceland
D) the Caledonides of the British Isles and Scandinavia

Question 17

are the three, basic categories of rocks in the rock cycle.

A) Sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic
B) Sedimentary, igneous, and volcanic
C) Crustal, lithospheric, and transform
D) Weathered, sedimentary, and volcanic

Question 18

was an a Scottish physician and farmer who wrote Theory of the Earth and is credited with being the father of modern geology because he was the first to promote the theories of uniformitarianism and the vastness of geologic time.

A) Charles Lyell
B) James Ussher
C) James Hutton
D) William Stokes

Question 19

The continental crust is heterogeneous but is predominantly made of and is thick.

A) granite, 35 to 70 km
B) granite, 3.5 to 7 km
C) basalt, 7 km
D) metasedimentary rocks, 600 km

Question 20

rocks always originate at the surface of the Earth.

A) Igneous
B) Secondary
C) Metamorphic
D) Sedimentary

Question 21

The composition of the core of Earth is thought to be .

A) iron- nickel alloy
B) peridotite
C) granite
D) basalt

Question 22

The Earth's atmosphere serves to .

A) protect us from alien invasion
B) generate Earth's gravitational field
C) generate Earth's magnetic field
D) reduce ultraviolet radiation, trap solar heat, and regulate climate

Question 23

Why is Mt. Vesuvius considered so hazardous?

A) People fear that it may imminently repeat the type of ash eruptions that buried Pompeii and Herculaneum in AD 79.
B) It is made of very steep unstable ash deposits that are always generating landslides.
C) The city of Naples and Bay of Naples surround it so that any renewal of activity threatens people.
D) It is constantly erupting.

Question 24

New seafloor is created at plate boundaries.

A) hot spot
B) transform
C) divergent
D) convergent

Question 25

The process by which magmas cool and solidify to rock is termed .

A) plutonism
B) thermal metamorphism
C) volcanism
D) crystallization

Question 26

The asthenosphere is actually a part of the of the Earth.

A) crust
B) outer core
C) mantle
D) inner core

Question 27

According to Wegener, where was southern Africa located during the Late Paleozoic?

A) 30° south of the equator
B) over the south pole
C) up by the north pole
D) along the equator

Question 28

Compared to the age of Earth accepted as correct today, how did 17th and 18th century proponents of catastrophism envision the Earth's age?

A) They believed Earth to be much older than it really is.
B) They believed Earth to be a few hundred years younger than it really is.
C) They accepted Bishop Ussher's calculation but explained the differences in landforms and geology by violent catastrophes.
D) They were right on the money, give or take a few million years.

Question 29

Observing Earth from beyond the moon's orbit, the most apparent features are .

A) vast areas of ocean and swirling cloud patterns
B) plumes of erupting volcanoes
C) the boundaries between the continents and the oceans
D) white polar ice caps, green rain forests and brown deserts

Question 30

The continental crust extends .

A) beneath about half of the ocean basins wherever it is shallow
B) only to where their shorelines occur; beyond that is oceanic crust
C) deep into the mantle wherever there are subduction zones
D) beneath the continental shelf through to the toe of the continental slope

Question 31

, a popular natural philosophy of the 17th and early 18th centuries, was based on a firm belief in a very short geologic history for Earth.

A) Uniformitarianism
B) Catastrophism
C) Exoschism
D) Ecospherism

Question 32

In addition to the dominant iron and nickle, the core is thought to contain .

A) minor amounts of oxygen, silicon and sulphur
B) minor amounts of heavy metals such as gold, lead, and uranium
C) major amounts of oxygen, silicon and sulphur
D) large resources of diamonds

Question 33

The , about 100 km thick, is the coldest, most rigid, and most brittle layer in the Earth.

A) inner core
B) lithosphere
C) mesosphere
D) asthenosphere

Question 34

The theory is the leading hypothesis that describes the formation of the Sun, Earth, and other planets of the solar system.

A) solar flareup
B) nebular
C) planoassemblar
D) astrostellar

Question 35

The total length of the spreading ridge system in the world's ocean basins is about .

A) 70,000 km
B) 700 km
C) 700,000 km
D) 7,000 km

Question 36

The most prominent features on the ocean floor are the .

A) oceanic ridges
B) lava plateaus
C) seamounts
D) deep- ocean trenches

Question 37

Which of the following paleoclimatic evidence supports the idea of the late Paleozoic super continent in the Southern Hemisphere?

A) tillites in South Africa and South America
B) lithified loess deposits in the deserts of Chile, Australia, and Africa
C) thick sediments in the Amazon and Congo deltas of South America and Africa
D) cold water fossils in the deep- water sediments of the South Atlantic abyssal plain

Question 38

Shallowest to deepest, the primary compositional layers within the Earth are .

A) crust, mantle and core
B) basalt, crust, mantle, asthenosphere, core
C) lithosphere, asthenosphere, mesosphere, outer core, inner core
D) sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous

Question 39

rocks form by crystallization and consolidation of molten magma.

A) Indigenous
B) Primary
C) Sedimentary
D) Igneous

Question 40

The is thought to be the only molten, metallic portion in the Earth's interior.

A) lithosphere
B) mantle
C) outer core
D) inner core

Question 41

Today, of all the continents, is closest to the same geographic position it occupied during the Late Paleozoic.

A) India
B) Australia
C) Antarctica
D) South America

Question 42

"The present is the key to the past" is the uniformitarian concept that .

A) the rates of geologic processes (erosion, sedimentation, volcanism) are invariant
B) geologic processes give rise to the same types of products and features
C) each mountain that is eroding today to produce river sediment has always done so
D) rivers, seas, mountains, etc. are perpetual features of an unchanging landscape

Question 43

Compared to the age of the Universe of about 14 billion years, the currently accepted age of Earth is about years as determined by using radioactivity for dating rocks and minerals.

A) 13.7 billion
B) 4.6 thousand
C) 5.4 million
D) 4.6 billion

Question 44

was never proposed as evidence supporting the existence of the Pangaea supercontinent.

A) Late Paleozoic glacial features
B) Geometric fit between South America and Africa
C) The Glossopteris flora
D) Islands of Proterozoic rocks along the Mid- Atlantic Ridge

Question 45

The idea that all of the tremendous geologic changes in Earth's history were concentrated in a few brief millennia is termed .

A) uniformitarianism
B) Ussherism
C) gradualism
D) catastrophism

Question 46

Tethys was .

A) a huge mountain range formed when Africa pushed northward into Europe in Eocene time
B) a super continent that formed in the late Paleozoic and broke apart in Triassic time
C) a large, ocean basin that opened in the Triassic and closed in the Paleocene
D) a large, Precambrian shield area in Africa and South America that broke apart late in the Proterozoic Eon

Question 47

Of the hydrosphere, 97% is contained in .

A) lakes and streams
B) groundwater
C) the oceans
D) glaciers

Question 48

In geologic theory, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, landslides, floods, and tsunamis are all

A) divine punishments sent to discourage us of our evil ways
B) unique phenomena that can neither be predicted nor understood
C) exceptions to the theory of uniformitarianism
D) naturally recurring geologic hazards from ongoing physical processes

Question 49

is often paraphrased as "the present is the key to the past."

A) Biblical prophecy
B) Uniformitarianism
C) Catastrophism
D) Aristotelian logic

Question 50

Pangaea was .

A) a huge mountain range that formed when Africa pushed northward into Europe in Eocene time
B) a large, ocean basin that opened in the Triassic and closed in the Paleocene
C) a large, Precambrian shield area in Africa and South America that broke apart late in the Proterozoic Eon
D) a super continent that formed in the late Paleozoic and broke apart in Triassic time

Question 51

Rocks that have been recrystallized under stress, or changing conditions of heat and pressure are termed .

A) metamorphic
B) rudimentary
C) igneous
D) sedimentary

Question 52

used the Bible to calculate that the Earth was created in 4004 B.C.

A) Saint Torquemada
B) Father Hutton
C) Bishop Ussher
D) Brother Lyell

Question 53

includes the study of how rocks and minerals form and change according to physical, chemical, and biologic processes which affect everything from Earth's internal structures and tectonic plates to landscape evolution and crystal forms.

A) Manifest destiny
B) Historical geology
C) Teleology
D) Physical geology
E) Catastrophism

Question 54

In the rock cycle, the transported natural chemical and mechanical residues of weathering are termed .

A) turbidites
B) soils
C) debitage
D) sediments

Question 55

A geologic understanding of natural resources includes of extraction or usage for water, soil, metallic, non- metallic, and energy resources.

A) the conditions of formation and the environmental impact
B) the size of deposits and cost
C) the current corporate or political objective and most expedient means
D) the economic value and geographic location

Question 56

Molten silicate material that forms at appropriate conditions of temperature and pressure for rocks to melt within the earth is called .

A) magma
B) vesuvianite
C) ignimbrite
D) obsidian

Question 57

Sir William Edmond Logan was appointed the first Director of The Geological Survey of Canada in 1842 and is noted for his observations and maps of .

A) gold in Prince Edward Island
B) sandstones in Nunavut
C) granites in Saskatchewan
D) coal beds in Wales, Nova Scotia, and copper deposits in Ontario

Question 58

The proposes that the bodies of our solar system formed at essentially the same time from a rotating cloud of gases and dust.

A) Heliocentric theory
B) Nebular hypothesis
C) Big Bang theory
D) Plate Tectonics theory

Question 59

Earth's human population now is best described by which one of the following statements?

A) larger than it has ever been and increasing at a very high rate
B) increasing very rapidly in advanced, western countries and falling rapidly in third- world areas such as Latin America and Africa
C) larger than it has ever been but will stabilize within the next 10 years
D) just beginning to approach the world's population before the Second World War

Question 60

Which sequence is in the correct order through time for "fossil succession" assuming strata successively from: Late Precambrian, Cambrian, Silurian, Jurassic, Tertiary

A) land plants, insects, marine plants, trilobites, humans
B) multicelled organisms, hardbodied marine invertebrates, first land plants, dinosaurs, mammals
C) one- celled organisms, first fishes, first amphibians, reptiles, dinosaurs
D) flowering plants, birds, reptiles, first trees, first fishes, blue green algae

Question 61

In sedimentary rocks, lithification includes .

A) crystallization and cooling
B) compaction and transportation
C) compaction and cementation
D) cementation and weathering

Question 62

In the rock cycle, the series of processes that transform unconsolidated sediment into sedimentary rocks is termed .

A) compaction
B) lithification
C) cementation
D) dewatering

Question 63

The mantle is made of dense rock called .

A) ~3.3 g/cm3, peridotite
B) <3.0 g/cm3, basalt
C) <2.9 g/cm3, granite
D) >3.4 g/cm3, shergottite

Question 64

The word "Geology" is derived from Greek meaning .

A) rocks form all lands
B) geographic theology
C) the logic of rocks
D) discourse of the Earth

Question 65

Canada's highest mountain is .

A) Mount Waddington in the Coast Mountains of B.C.
B) Mount Washington on Vancouver Island
C) Mount Logan 5959 m elevation in the southwest corner of Yukon
D) Mount Rundle in the Canadian Rockies

Question 66

Early during Earth's history what two things contributed heat that led to the internal melting and formation of the core?

A) a hotter proto- sun and the burning off of Earth's early hydrogen atmosphere
B) tidal forces and friction between moving unconsolidated meteorite debris
C) chemical reactions between early unstable elements
D) kinetic energy of impacts from nebular debris and decay of radioactive elements

Question 67

The natural chemical and mechanical decomposition of rocks at Earth's surface is termed .

A) weathering
B) decrepitation
C) de- lithification
D) solifluction

Question 68

Most geologic processes like erosion, sedimentation, uplift, and plate motion .

A) occur quickly in fits and starts, but mostly nothing is happening
B) take place gradually but don't add up to much change in the long run
C) take place during cataclysmic floods and violent upheavals that transform Earth
D) take place gradually but given the vastness of geologic time add up to big effects

Question 69

The world population is currently growing at about + people per year.

A) 10 million
B) 10 billion
C) 100 million
D) 1 billion

Question 70

Which one of the following statements is not correct?

A) Sedimentary rocks may weather to igneous rocks.
B) Metamorphic rocks may melt to magma.
C) Magmas crystallize to form igneous rocks.
D) Igneous rocks can undergo metamorphism.

Question 71

Fossils of armour headed fishes and trilobites would be found in marine sedimentary rocks of

A) the Proterozoic Eon
B) the Mesozoic Era
C) the lower part of the Paleozoic Era
D) the Carboniferous Period

Question 72

Which one of the following observations and inferences is most consistent with the idea of uniformitarianism?

A) The number of erupting volcanoes is constant throughout geologic time, so this is not a big influence on changing climates.
B) Sand rolls along a stream bottom at the same rate every hour, every day, year in, year out.
C) Meteorite impacts always occur at regular intervals and this has forced biologic evolution.
D) Mountains are dissolved and/or eroded mechanically one ion and one mineral grain at a time and carried down to the sea.

Question 73

The biggest driving force for natural resource development is .

A) the size of the deposit
B) exponential population increase and human expectations for goods and profits
C) finding local deposits to meet each country's needs
D) local needs for employment and viable industry

Question 74

What age plant and animal fossils were identical for the southern hemisphere continents, causing Wegener to hypothesize Pangaea?

A) Late Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic
B) Late Mesozoic and Early Cenozoic
C) Early and Late Proterozoic
D) Hadean and Earliest Archean

Question 75

What is the age of most of the continental crust, especially the exposed shield areas in continental interiors?

A) Precognition
B) Younger than the ocean basins because it is still high
C) Precambrian; with parts exceeding 4 billion years.
D) Paleozoic and younger

Question 76

The refers to the sum total of all life on Earth.

A) biosphere
B) asthenosphere
C) atmosphere
D) hydrosphere

Question 77

Which of the following best describes the fundamental concept of superposition?

A) Older strata generally are deposited on younger strata without intervening, intermediate age strata.
B) Strata with fossils are generally deposited on strata with no fossils.
C) Any sedimentary deposit accumulates on older rock or sediment layers.
D) Older fossils in younger strata indicate a locally inverted geologic time scale.

Question 78

What are the basic differences between the disciplines of physical and historical geology?

A) Physical geology involves the study of rock strata, fossils, and deposition in relation to plate movements in the geologic past; historical geology charts how and where the plates were moving in the past.
B) Physical geology is the study of fossils and sequences of rock strata; historical geology is the study of how rocks and minerals were used in the past.
C) Historical geology involves the study of rock strata, fossils, and geologic events, utilizing the geologic time scale as a reference; physical geology includes the study of how rocks form and of how erosion shapes the land surface.
D) None; physical geology and historical geology are essentially the same.

Question 79

was the first to clearly formulate the concept of uniformitarianism.

A) Charles Playfair
B) Charles Darwin
C) James Hutton
D) Sir James Ussher

Question 80

The law of superposition establishes .

A) the relative ages in a layered sedimentary or volcanic sequence
B) the absolute age of any strata
C) the oldest deposits are always on top
D) why the oldest rocks are never found in the bottoms of deep canyons