Final Exam Questions

TYPICAL MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS (Correct answers in parentheses).

[C] Which of the following was not among the early scientific attempts to determine Earth's age?

A. the cooling rate of a molten iron sphere of Earth's diameter
B. the rate of sediment deposition
C. the rate at which water precipitation accumulated in the ocean
D. the geologic principles and the inferred rates of change necessary to explain the fossil record
E. the rate of salt accumulation in the ocean
[C] The time equivalence of strata is determined by
A. correlation of unusual lithologies.
B. correlation of key beds.
C. correlation of fossils.
D. lateral tracing.
E. superposition.
[C] If an isotope has a half-life of 50 million years, and 1/8 of the sample remaining consists of that isotope, the age of the rock from which it was taken is
A. 400 million years.
B. 300 million years.
C. 150 million years.
D. 800 million years.
E. none of the above
[E] According to the elastic rebound theory
A. rocks will bend before they break.
B. rocks will snap back into their original shape after faulting.
C. rocks will break when their capacity to store energy of deformation has been exceeded.
D. A and C
E. all of the above
[B] The angle of dip of a Benioff Zone is a reflection of
A. the presence or absence of a subduction zone.
B. the angle of dip of subducting oceanic crust.
C. the angle of convergence between two descending plates.
D. B and C
E. all of the above
[B] How many earthquakes strong enough to be felt by someone are recorded by seismographs each year?
A. 15,000
B. 150,000
C. 9,000
D. 900,000
E. 90,000
[C] The magnitude of an earthquake is another term for
A. its intensity.
B. the damage created.
C. the energy released.
D. the duration of trembling.
E. A and C
[E] Seismic discontinuities permit
A. the recognition of petroleum and ore deposits.
B. the identification of interior structural layers.
C. the identification of differing compositions and properties.
D. B and C
E. all of the above
[E] Turbidity current deposits are
A. poorly sorted mixtures of mud and sand.
B. known as turbidites.
C. built-up to form submarine fans.
D. caused by slumps induced by earthquakes.
E. all of the above
[B] One of the most general conclusions to be drawn from plate tectonic theory is that
A. Earth is continually losing heat.
B. Earth's geography has continually changed.
C. Earth is slowly expanding.
D. Earth is slowly shrinking.
E. the ocean basins are continually enlarging.
[E] If the continents were once joined together, rocks and mountain ranges on the margins of each
A. should have formed under the same conditions.
B. should have formed in the same sequences.
C. should have formed at the same time.
D. should have the same structural trends and forces.
E. all of the above
[B] Studies of paleomagnetism showed that
A. the northern and southern hemispheres had many times reversed position.
B. the ocean basins were young.
C. each continent had once had its own magnetic north pole.
D. the continents remained fixed and the north magnetic pole has moved.
E. all of the above
[B] At divergent plate boundaries, the forces operating are
A. compressional.
B. tensional.
C. lateral shearing (transform).
D. thrusting.
E. normal.
[E] A transform plate boundary may connect
A. a spreading ridge and subduction zone
B. two spreading ridges
C. two subduction zones
D. A and C
E. all of the above
[B] Continents grow and evolve by addition of felsic and mafic crust; a process known as
A. addition
B. accretion
C. concretion
D. convergence
E. conformation
[D] Oceanic-continental plate orogenesis can be recognized in the geological record by
A. an accretionary wedge containing ophiolites
B. a landward belt of volcanoes and batholiths
C. an inland zone of block faults
D. A and B
E. all of the above
[E] Wind is a very effective agent of
A. erosion
B. deposition
C. sorting
D. rounding
E. C and D
TYPICAL TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS (Correct answers in parentheses).

A. TRUE
B. FALSE

[A] _____ The type of building construction and population density in the area of an earthquake are factors which
                can affect the intensity on the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale
[B] _____ Trenches and abyssal plains tend to consist of or be filled with clay and biologically derived sediments.
[A] _____ The west coast of South America is a convergent boundary.
[B] _____ A transform plate boundary underlies the Alps in southern Europe.
[B] _____  The Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are examples of basins between converging plates (African and Arabian).
[B] _____ Most folding of rocks occurs near the surface.
[A] _____ In North America, microplates have been identified only in the North American Pacific northwest.
[B] _____ Wind is as effective an agent of erosion and deposition as water.
[B] _____ Wave size depends entirely on wind velocity and duration.
[B] _____ Opening of large crevasses is a significant source of danger created by earthquakes.
[B] _____ The odd behavior of many kinds of animals is a scientifically accepted method used to predict earthquakes.
[A] _____ The continental crust is always thicker than the oceanic crust.
[B] _____ All dunes have crests oriented perpendicular to the direction of wind movement.
[A] _____ Alluvial fan sediment is deposited by flashflood, sheetflow, mudflow and debris flow.

TYPICAL MATCHING QUESTIONS (Correct answers in parentheses).

Match the gravity anomaly (positive/negative) with the local geological conditions described.

A. Positive anomaly
B. Negative anomaly

[A] _____ an ore deposit
[A] _____ a subduction zone
[B] _____ a petroleum deposit

Match the descriptions with the appropriate regions of continental margins:

A. Continental shelf
B. Continental slope
C. Continetal rise

[A] _____ its deeper edge lies at an average of 135 m
[B] _____ it slopes seaward at 2-4 degrees on  averages, sometimes as much as 25 degrees
[A] _____ contains glacial sediments, fossil mammoths, trees and archeological remains
[C] _____ sediments here are largely deposited by turbidity currents

Match the appropriate topographic-geologic feature of the sea floor with the geographic region cited.

A. abyssal plain
B. passive margin
C. active margin
D. oceanic trenches
E. spreading ridges

[A] _____ region between the North Atlantic spreading ridge and the continental shelf of the United States
[D] _____ the regions offshore, and east of, Japan and the Philippine Islands
[B] _____ the region offshore of, and  surrounding Great Britain
[D] _____ the feature containing the deepest  site in all the oceans
[B] _____ the region off the east coast of Argentina

 Match the following geologic/geographic features with the type of plate boundary which is associated with each.

A. convergent plate boundary
B. divergent plate boundary
C. transform plate boundary

[A] _____ The Himalayan Mountains and Tibetan Plateau
[B] _____ The Gulf of California
[B] _____ The Gulf of Aden
[A] _____ The Philippine Islands and Japan
[A] _____ The Aleutian Islands
 

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

Several questions will be on the final that duplicate the 'Friday Question' given weekly. These questions will be posed in one of the three forms given above (multiple choice, matching or true-false).