Atoms that have a variable number of neutrons in their nuclei are regerred to as what?
C. isotopes
Atoms that have gained or lost electrons in order to achieve a stable configuration in their orbitals are known as what?
A. ions
What is the name of the positively charged sub-atomic particle in an atom?
D. proton
What are the two main types of bonding?
B. ionic and covalent
What is the name of the negatively charged sub-atomic particle in an atom?
A. electron
Which of the following is not a mineral?
C. glass
What is specific gravity?
B. a comparison of a mineral's weight in air and water
What is cleavage?
A. tendency of a mineral to break along planes of weakness
Which of the following is not one of the key parts for the definition of a mineral?
A. ionically bonde
What mineral resource is used in manufacturing of drywall?
A. gypsum
What is the principal mineral resource used in manufacturing cement?
A. calcite
What is the number one material mined from earth by volume?
D. crushed stone
Which of the following minerals is commonly used as an abrasive?
C. quartz
Which of the following minerals is an iron ore?
B. hematite
Which of the following minerals is an lead ore?
A. galena
What is the state mineral of missouri?
C. galena
What mineral has four directions of cleavage and is used as flux for welding?
C. flourite
What mineral reacts (bubbles) when dilute hydrochloric acid is applied to it (it also has rhombohedral cleavage)?
A. calcite
What mineral has a distinctive red-brown streak?
D. hematite
What mineral commonly is referred to as fool's gold?
D. pyrite
What is the name of the scientist who discovered the systematic way in which silicate minerals crystallize from a magma?
B. bowen
What are the three main types of rock?
D. igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary
What does phaneritic mean?
D. you can see the crystals that compose the rock
What does porphyritic mean?
A. it has two sizes of crystals
What inferences can one make from a rock that has porphyritic texture?
D. it had two stages of cooling
What igneaous rock is phaneritic and mafic?
A. gabbro
What igneous rock is aphanitic and felsic?
D. rhyolite
What is the difference between a conglomerate and a breccia?
B. breccia has angular clasts and conglomerate has rounded
Which of the main categories of sedimentary rock is associated with the rock gypsum?
B. chemical
What main category of sedimentary rock is associated with the rock chert?
D. chemical
What main characteristic is used for classifying detrital rocks, for example conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, shale?
A. grain size
Of what material is coal composed?
C. carbonized plant debris
What is the name of one chemical contaminents that was mentioned in the movie A civil action?
B. trichloroethylene
What mineral has a hardness of 10 on Moh's scale?
D. diamond
What mineral tastes like salt?
D. halite
What are the two types of luster?
C. metallic and non-metallic
Which of the following is not considered to be and agent of metamorphism?
C. gravity
What type of metamorphism is associated with "the roots of mountains"?
D. regional metamorphism
Which of the following metamorphic rocks typically is not foliated?
B. marble
What is the parent rock of slate?
A. shale
What is the parent rock of marble?
C. limestone
What is the parent rock of quartzite?
D. quartz sandstone
What geologic concept states "the present is the key to the past"?
A. uniformitarianism
What geologic concept relates that younger strata overlie older strata?
A. superposition
What geologic principle states that sedimentary rocks generally are deposited on a flat, planar surface and that sediments will extend laterally until they either pinch out or encounter a barrier of some sort?
B. original horizontality
What geologic concept concerns the matching of tock layers or fossils from one area to another?
A. stratigraphic correlation
How old is the earth?
D. 4.56 Ga
Which of the follwoing plate boundaries typically is not associated with volcanoes?
A. continent to continent convergent plate boundary
What is the name for a failed arm of a triple junction?
C. aulacogen
What is another name for a continent to continenet divergent plate boundary?
D. rift zone
What geographic location is an example of continenet to continent plate convergence?
C. himalayan mountains
What geographic location is an example of a continental rift zone?
D. ethiopia and kenya
What geographic location is an example of a mid-ocean ridge spreading center?
B. icelend
What geographic locatin is an example of ecean to ocean plate convergence?
A. japan
Who argued that the distributions of glossopteris and lystrosaurus on the southern continents was eidence of continental drift?
A. wegener
Who discovered the earthquakes occurred at greater depth away from an oceanic trench near tonga and near japan?
B. benioff and wadati
What is an earthquake?
D. sudden release of seismic energy along a fault
In the earthquake with the largest number of fatalities, how many people were killed?
A. more that 800,000
Where do earthquakes originate?
D. foci
What type of fault is the san andreas fault?
D. right lateral strike slip fault
What type of seismic wave travels fastest?
D. p wave
What is the name of the area between 1050 and 1400 away from a seismic event, where seismic waves are not recorded?
B. p wave shadow zone
What is the name of an instrument that records earthquakes?
a. seismometer
bh. seismogram
c. geometer
d. magnetometer
a. seismometer
How many seismic stations does it commonly take to determine the epicenter of a seismic event?
C. at least three
At what speed to tsunamis travel across the open ocean?
C. 1000 km/hr
In the movie erin brockovich what was the overall amount of the settlement distributed among the plaintiffs?
B. $333 mill
Who discovered that the outline of south america fits into west africa?
D. ortelius
Which of the following is the least explosive type of volcanic eruption?
D. hawaiian
What type of tectonic setting is associated with volcanoes on the island of Hawaii?
D. hot spot
Which of the following types of volcanoes is the most dangerous to human populations?
B. stratovolcano
About how many volcanoes are there on earth?
B. 1500
What is the main difference between the distribution of earthquake epicenters and volcanoes?
C. volcanoes do not usually occur along transform or contient to continent convergetn plate boundaries
What is the nickname for the area of volcanic activity around the pacific ocean?
A. the ring of fire
What is viscosity?
B. the resistance to flow
Which of the following hazards poses the greatest volcano related threat to hawaiians?
B. massive submarine landslides and tsunamis
What type of lava flows form underwater?
D. pillow basalts
What type of volcanic features form from the interaction of ground water and magma?
c. lava deltas
A. maars
What is the name given to fiery volcanic ash clouds that travel downslope during plinian eruptions?
A. nuee ardentes
What if the name fiven to hot volcanic mudflows?
A. lahars
The eruption of what volcano in 1815 was associated with the year without a summer?
D. tambora
The eruption of what volcano in 1883 was associated with the tsunami that struck java?
B. krakatoa
Which of the following is not considered a supervolcano?
B. mauna loa
Newspapers commonly report mass wasting events as what?
D. landslides
What type of mass wasting event involves rock material flowing rapidly?
B. rock avalanche
What is the critical angle of repose for clean dry well rounded fine sand?
D. 340
What force must be overcome to initiate a mass wasting event?
C. coefficient of friction
What type of mass wasting event involves rock and debris material flowing slowly downhill?
C. creep
What type of processes are acive in keeping a rick avalanche flowing?
A. dispersive pressure and acoustic fluidization
What city in the united states spends more money per capita dealing with mass wasting events?
B. cincinnati, ohio
What is the name of the flooding phenomenon that affects venice?
A. agua alto
What are the two types of weathering?
D. mechanical and chemical
Which of the following processes is associated with the action of carbon dioxide and carbonic acid on carbonate rocks?
D. dissolution
Which of the following silicate minerals is least susceptible to weather?
B. quartz
What is the state soil of missouri?
A. menfro soil
In the idealized soild profile what is the typical structure from bottom to the surface?
C. bedrock, rogolity, c horizon, b horizon, a horizon, o horizon
What was the name of the historical event that resulted in major changes in agricultural practices?
C. dust bowl
At the time of filming the movie an inconvenient truth what proportion of carbon dioxide was produced annually by the united states?
A. one fourth
Which of the following is not considered to be a greenhouse gas?
a methane
b. carbon dioxide
c. water vapor
d. argon
d. argon
Which of the following statements about the greenhouse effect is incorrect?
D. an ozone hole has opened in the polar regions as a result of the greenhouse effect
Who won an oscar for his appearance in the movie an inconvenient truth?
a george bush
b. al gore
c. bill clinton
d. dick cheney
b. al gore
Which of the following processes are not considered to be an imortant part of the hydrologic cycle
C. sublimation
Which of the following human induced agents can greatly affect water quality?
D. all of the above
What lake holds about 20% of earth's surface fresh water?
B. lake baikal
What is stream discharge?
B. the volume of flow past a given point over a given period of time
Which of the following characteristics are typically not associated with youthfull streams?
C. development of a floodplain
What federal agency eventually forced clean up of areas around wells G and H in woburn massachussetts?
C. epa
What movie was based on the environmental catastrophe at woburn massachusetts?
A. a civil action
What was the principal contaminant in woburn massachusetts?
C. tricholorethylene (tce)
What was the principal contaminant in hinkley california?
D. chromium (cr+6)
What company was held responsible in the civil case at hindley california?
A. pacific gas and electric (pg&e)
What movie was based on the environmental catastrophe at hinkley california?
A. erin brockovich
What was the principal contaminant in times beach missouri?
A. dioxin
The lack of what trace element as a dietary supplement can lead to hyperthyroidism?
B. iodine
What is the naturally toxic trace element that has commonly been found in bangladesh and in semi arid southwest united states?
A. arsenic
What type of artificially constructed features help to protect coastlines and prevent beach loss?
C. groins
What is the water depth where wave orbitals impinge on the sea floor?
D. one half the wavelength
What is the name of the equipotential gravitational surface that is responsible for the height of water in the world's oceans?
hydraulic head
b. geoid
c. subsidence
d. tides
b. geoid
When do neap tides occur?
D. during first and third quarter moon phases
What effect do winter storms have on coastal beaches in california?
B. they tend to move sand offshore decreasing the sizes of beaches
What type of geologic structure is shown in the diagram below?
a. basin
b. dome
a. basin
Which of the following is not considered to be a rule for interpreting geolofic structures?
C. anticlines plunge in the firection they open
What type of material behavior is associated with floding?
C. ductile
Which of the following is most commonly associated with accumulations of oil and gas in the subsurface?
