Reference no: EM132849144

QUESTION 1

The largest catchment in the United States drains into the _____.

• Pacific Ocean
• Great basin
• Atlantic Ocean
• Hudson Bay
• Arctic Ocean
• Gulf of Mexico

QUESTION 2
Which of the following can result in eustatic sea level rise?

• Reverse faulting along a subduction tone.
• Local subsidence due to sediment compaction.
• A decline in seafloor spreading rates.
• Melting of glaciers and ice sheets.

QUESTION 3

Imagine you have a time machine Mat brings you back to when Earth was 1.5 billion years old. Which of the following would you NOT be able to see/experience?

• continents
• an atmosphere with little or no oxygen
• oceans
• multicellular life
• the moon

QUESTION 4 Imagine that you collected a sediment core from a riverbank. This sediment core, which contains mostly sand and slit records the last 500 years of the river's depositional history. Upon careful examination, you identify free distinct layers of gravel which you are confident represent separate flooding events. Based on this flooding frequency, what is the probability (in percent) that within the next year, this over will experience a flood of a simitar magnitude to the floods that deposited these gravel layers?

QUESTION 5 Why are earthquakes in continents most likey to occur above the brittle-plastic transition?

• below this depth. rocks are memo
• below this depth. there is no continental Crust

QUESTION 6
if the angle of Earth's bit (obliquity)were to decrease, what would happen to Connecticut's seasons?

• Both summers and winters would be cooler.
• Both summers and winters would be warmer.
• Summers would be warmer, winters would be cooler.
• Summers would be cooler, winters would be warmer.
• Both summer and winter temperatures would stay roughly the same.

QUESTION 7
Use the diagram below to answer this question (note the key of rock names and the labeled fault). Which of the following statements is true regarding the inclusions of limestone (w) inside the granite pluton (Z)?

• The inclusions are younger than the pluton
• The relative ages of the inclusions and the pluton cannot be determined
• The inclusions are the same age as the pluton
• The inclusions are older than the pluton

QUESTION 8
In the diagram below, the sedimentary beds comprising the fold limbs dip in opposite directions. The oldest rock unit is exposed at the surface M the middle of this structure. The structure can be described as a _____.

• horizontal anticline
• plunging anticline
• horizontal syncline
• plunging syncline

QUESTION 9
Which of the following best describes the direction that glaciers and ice sheets can flow?

• In the direction that its surface slopes
• In the direction that P downhill for the land surface under the Pe.
• Toward the coldest Mr temperatures
• From areas of high snowfall to areas of low snowfall

QUESTION 10

Radiometric ages measured from mineral grains in sedimentary rocks generally ____.

• represent a point m time after sedimentary deposition
• represent the pc int in time when the sediments were generated/weathered tram the protolith 0 have no geological significance
• represent a point in t me before sedimentary deposition
• represent the pc int in time when the sediments became lithified

QUESTION 11

After continental ice sheets retreat ______ occurs in/upon the underlying lithosphere.

• subsidence
• subduction
• uplift
• rifting
• eustatic sea level fall

QUESTION 12

Structures-like jetties, groins, and breakwaters-that are designed to prevent beach erosion_____.

• have the added benefit of allowing organic coasts to develop
• are temporary solutions that decrease beach erosion in some places and increase it in others
• must be built in conjunction with beach nourishment
• are permanent solutions that p rote, erosional beaches

QUESTION 13

Consider the image of the waterfall in the following photo of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (taken by Ben). What rock characteristic allowed for the formation of the cliff and therefore the waterfall?

• High permeahillty.
• High porosity.
• Fine grain size.
• A high resistance to erasion.

QUESTION 14
The Mllankovitch cycles describe the change in _____ caused by cyclical changes in the Earth's orbit around the Sun.

• greenhouse gasses
• ocean circulation
• solar Insolation
• atmospheric circulation
• biological diversity

QUESTION 15

In any geologic material, how much of a radioactive parent isotope will remain after two half lives have passed?

• This cannot be predicted
• one eighth
• All
• one fourth
• none
• one half

QUESTION 16
What is the most effective and realistic means of mitigating the risk of a slope failure for the slope shown in the image below?

• installing riprap
• recrystallizatia
• dewatering (drying out) the slope
• installing rock bolls
• revegetating with new plants

QUESTION 17

How is stress different from strain?

• Strain only occurs during plastic deformation.
• Stress is the change in shape of a rockdue to applied strain.
• Strain is the change in shape of a rock due to applied stress.
• They are not different: stress and strain mean the same thing.
• Strain is a measure of the total displacement along a fault.

QUESTION 18
Which letter corresponds to the furthest reach of the glacier in the figure below?

• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G

QUESTION 19

The Coriolis Effect is one of the primary reasons that the prevailing wind direction across the contiguous Chilled States is west to east. In what direction must the surface air currents initially he moving?

• north to south
• south to north
• the winds could be coming from any direction, they will always end up moving in an east to west direction

QUESTION 20

At which stage in this hypothetical evolution of a karst is stalagmite formation likely occur?

• Uplift of limestone out of marine depositional setting
• Water table sits near surface, caves form
• Water table drops, leaving caves empty
• Caves collapse and are exposed by sinkholes

QUESTION 21
There is a record of marine sediment deposition extending back to 3.8 Ga. This means that____has/have also existed since that time.

• photosynthetic algae
• volcanism
• partial melting
• oceans

QUESTION 22

The figure below is a cross section of the rocks exposed in the Grand Canyon. The contact between the Unkar Group and the Tapeals Sandstone is a( n) _______ (angular unconformity/disconformity/nonconformity) and the contact between the Vishnu Schist and the Tapeats Sandstone is a(n) ______ (angular unconformityklisconformity/nanconformity).

QUESTION 23

Study of the fossil record has revealed that species go extinct and new species evolve

• only during times of continental rifting
• at the same rates for all types of organisms
• at slower and slower rates after each mass extinction
• very slowly most of the time, with short periods of rapid evolution

QUESTION 24

Consider the cross section image below. The movement of sand up the windward face of a dune and down the slip face causes the formation of _____

• desert pavement
• cross-bedding
• dust storms
• caliche
• lithification

QUESTION 25

Consider the plot below. It shows the variations in Earth, surface temperature {relative to todays temperature) over the last 450,000 years. During this time, glacial time intervals are _____ in duration relative to interglacial intervals.

• Shorter
• longer
• equal
• undefined

QUESTION 26

Which pie chart most accurately represents the percentage of total time for the four named divisions of geologic time shown in the key below?

• A
• B
• C
• D

QUESTION 27

What distinguishes weather from climate?

• Weather is the day-to-day conditions of the atmosphere; climate is the range of likely conditions that have occurred over at least 30 years.
• Weather involves temperature and humidity levels: climate involves is patterns and precipitation amounts.
• Weather and climate are essentially the same.
• Weather is the local conditions of the atmosphere: climate is the average of conditions across the entire globe,
• 'Weather is based on interpretations; climate is predicted by models

QUESTION 28
Why is radiocarbon dating rarely applied in geological work?

• Carbon-14 is destroyed by the heat of magma (temperatures greater than SOCFQ.
• The half-life of carbon-14 is so short that it can only be used to date materials that are less than 40-60,000 years old.
• The half-life of carbon-14 is so long (5,730 years) that it is effectively a stable isotope.
• No substances on the Earth contain significant amounts of carbon-14.

QUESTION 29
Why is an organism more likely to be preserved if it dies in sn anoxic {oxygen-poor) environment?

• Anoxic environments contain abundant amounts of amber.
• The organism will die more quickly without oxygen.
• The organism decays slowly in an anoxic environment.
• Oxygen decreases the rate of permineralization and petrification.

QUESTION 30

A desert may form along a coastline because a ______.

• cool current cools and dries the air
• marine organisms
• warm current warms and dries the air
• cold current warms forces hot air inland
• insect

QUESTION 31

Consider the figure below. Uluru (Ayers Rock), an inselberg in central Australia, represents an exposed _____ (fault srarplfold hinge/fold limb/shear zone), which was a part of a larger structure formed during a previous episode &tectonic ______ (compression/extension).

QUESTION 32
The figure below is a cross section of the rocks exposed in the Grand Canyon. Which of the following describes the succession of rock types that best represents the landward migration of the coastline, also known as marine transgression?

• Note that: sh=shale, ss=sandstone, and Is=muddy/fine-grained limestone
• Muav Ls, Redwall Ls, Surprise Canyon Formation (ss)
• Tapeatss; Bright Angel Sh; Muav Ls
• Hermit (sh + ss); Coconino Sandstone: Toroweap Formation (sh + ss)
• Unkar Grp. (a combination of Is+sh+ss); Tapeats Ss; Bright Angel Sh

QUESTION 33

Continental interior deserts occur because _____.

• continent interiors are located at low latitudes where air rises
• continental interiors are always hotter than coastal regions
• atmospheric circulation in the interior of continents is characterized by dry sinking air masses
• air masses lose much of their moisture before reaching continent interiors
• there are no rivers in the Interior of continents to provide water vapor

QUESTION 34

Consider the plot below. It shows the variations in Earth's surface temperature (relative to today's temperature) over the last 450,000 years. This plot indicates that glacial retreat happened at a _____ rate compared to glacial advance.

• slower
• faster
• equal
• undefined

QUESTION 35

At the time of its crystallization, a mineral grain formed with 40,000 atoms of a radioactive parent isotope. Currently, the mineral has 35,000 atoms of the radlogenic daughter isotope. If the length of the parent isotope, half-life is 5 million years, how old is the mineral? Assume that the mineral initially contained zero atoms of the daughter isotope, and that after crystallization, no parent or daughter isotopes diffused into or cut of this mineral grain.

• 2.5 million years old
• 5 million years old
• 10 million years old
• 15 million years old
• 20 million years old

QUESTION 36

Normal faulting is most often associated with the mountains and topographici/bathymetric features that occur along (divergent/convergent/transform) boundaries, whereas reverse faulting is generally observed at (divergent/convergent/transform) boundaries.

QUESTION 37

Tree trunk that have a pronounced curvature at their base are indicative of _____.

• a Slump
• Solifluction
• creep
• an avalanche
• an impending sinkhole

QUESTION 38

The long finger-like bays with deep water bounded by steep cliffs that characterize fjords were created by the erosive action of ____.

• V-shaped
• at low latitudes
• below sea level/the local water table
• open to the ocean
• formed by rivers

QUESTION 39

Glacial ice exhibits ______ (brittle/plastic/elastic) behavior near the top of the glacier and ______ (brittle/plastic/elastic) behavior at depths of more than 60 to beneath the glacier's surface.

QUESTION 40

Use the diagram below to answer this question (note the key of rock names and the labeled fault). Order the rock units listed here in order of oldest (1) to youngest (6). We recommend that you start with either the oldest for youngest unit and order ALL of the units from oldest to youngest.