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1

Name: _____________________________________ Lab Section: _______ GTID: ______________

Exam is scheduled for 80 minutes. Test will begin at the beginning of class and ALL remaining exams
will be promptly collected at the end of class time. Nothing but the exam and writing instruments are
allowed on the desk. Please remove all bags, notes, computers, pencil cases from your desk. If you have
a question it is preferred that you raise your hand, and a TA or Professor will come to answer your
question.
1. Older rocks crop out in the core of which of the structures listed below?
I. anticline II. syncline III. dome IV. basin
A) structures I and II
B) structures I and III
C) structures III and IV
D) structures II and IV
2. Which of the following is associated with a divergent plate boundary?
A) earthquakes
B) volcanism
C) rifting
D) all of the above
3. The Hawaiian volcanoes are __________.
A) located at a convergent plate boundary
B) located at a divergent plate boundary
C) located at a transform plate boundary
D) not located at a plate boundary
4. Which of the following marks the boundary between the crust and the mantle?
A) a decrease in P-wave velocity and a change in rock type
B) an increase in P-wave velocity and a change in rock type
C) a decrease in P-wave velocity, but no change in rock type
D) an increase in P-wave velocity, but no change in rock type
5. Oil is commonly trapped in ______.
A) structural basins
B) structural domes
C) synclines
D) all of the above
6. Reverse faults form in response to ______ forces.
A) compressive
B) shearing
C) tensional
D) torsional

7. In which of the following regions is new material currently being added to the crust?
A) the Appalachian Mountains
B) the Cascade Range
C) the Canadian Shield
D) the Rocky Mountains
8. On average, the Earth's lithosphere is approximately ____ km thick.
A) 4
B) 20
C) 100
D) 500
9. Isochrons (lines of the same age) on the seafloor are roughly __________ the ridge axis along which
they were created.
A) parallel to and symmetric about
B) perpendicular to and symmetric about
C) parallel to, but not symmetric about
D) perpendicular to, but not symmetric about
10. Which of the following planets has a significant amount of oxygen in its atmosphere?
A) Earth
B) Mars
C) Mercury
D) Venus
11. Which planet is surrounded by a hot atmosphere comprised of carbon dioxide and clouds of sulfuric
acid?
A) Mars
B) Saturn
C) Mercury
D) Venus
12. Which of the following types of seismic waves arrive at a seismograph first?
A) P waves
B) S waves
C) surface waves
D) All of these waves arrive at the same time.
13. Which of the following is not a cause of epeirogenic movement?
A) glacial rebound
B) lithospheric cooling
C) lithospheric heating
D) ocean-continent convergence

14. Who proposed the theory of continental drift?

A) Charles Darwin
B) Harry Hess
C) Alfred Wegener
D) J. Tuzo Wilson
15. Which of the following statements about the solar system is correct?
A) All the planets and their moons have atmospheres.
B) Ices are more abundant outside than inside the asteroid belt.
C) The inner planets are larger than the outer planets.
D) All the planets have at least two moons.
16. When a deep-sea trench is located next to a continent, where would you expect to find active
volcanoes?
A) on the ocean side of the trench
B) in the deep-sea trench
C) on the continent side of the trench
D) on both the ocean side and continent side of the trench
17. The Cordillera of western North America formed as a result of __________.
A) the collision of a large continental landmass with western North America
B) the extension of the western North American continental crust
C) the collision of numerous terranes with western North America
D) motion along the San Andreas Fault
18. Exploring the Earth's interior using seismic tomography is analogous to exploring the human body
using _________.
A) a CAT scanner
B) a scalpel
C) a stethoscope
D) all of the above
19. How old are the earliest fossil remains?
A) about 65 million years old
B) about 2200 million years old
C) about 540 million years old
D) about 3500 million years old
20. Seismic tomography has revealed that seismic waves in the uppermost mantle are relatively
__________.
A) fast beneath both mid-ocean ridges and subduction zones
B) fast beneath mid-ocean ridges and slow beneath subduction zones
C) slow beneath mid-ocean ridges and fast beneath subduction zones
D) slow beneath both mid-ocean ridges and subduction zones

21. Which of the following statements about convection is true?

A) Heat is transferred from hot material to cool material without inducing a flow.
B) Hot material flows upward and displaces cool material.
C) Cool material flows upward and displaces hot material.
D) Random circulation occurs.
22. Over geologic time, most of the heat lost from the Earth's interior has been transported by ______.
A) conduction
B) convection
C) radioactive decay
D) solar radiation
23. Approximately how deep (below sea level) are the deepest deep-sea trenches?
A) 3 km
B) 10 km
C) 30 km
D) 100 km
24. What causes the sharp increases in the velocity of S waves at 400 and 660 kilometers depth in the
mantle?
A) changes in the composition of the mantle
B) changes in the mineral structures
C) changes in the pressure of the mantle
D) changes in the temperature of the mantle
25. When was the supercontinent of Pangaea assembled?
A) approximately 100 million years ago
B) approximately 1.0 billion years ago
C) approximately 250 million years ago
D) approximately 2.5 billion years ago
26. Which of the following types of tectonic forces tends to push two sides of a body in opposite
directions so that they slide horizontally past one another?
A) compressive forces
B) tensional forces
C) shearing forces
D) torsional forces
27. The Earth's magnetic field shields the surface of the Earth from _________.
A) asteroids
B) solar winds
C) intergalactic radio waves
D) all of the above

28. A diagram representing a vertical slice through the Earth's crust is called a _________.
A) geologic map
B) geologic model
C) subsurface picture
D) geologic cross section
29. What type of volcano has the largest and most violent eruptions?
A) cinder cones
B) resurgent calderas
C) fissure eruptions
D) shield volcanoes
30. What type of seismic waves are S waves?
A) compressional waves
B) shear waves
C) surface waves
D) tsunami waves
31. Which of the following Earth layers contains the least amount of?
A) crust
B) mantle
C) outer core
D) inner core
32. How can volcanic eruptions endanger commercial air traffic?
A) Airplanes can get struck by large volcanic bombs.
B) Volcanic ash lofted into the air can damage engines.
C) Large plumes of volcanic gas can cause an airplane to lose lift.
D) Clouds of volcanic ash can reduce visibility.
33. The volcanism at spreading centers occurs as a result of ________ melting.
A) fluid-induced
B) decompression
C) convection
D) conduction
34. Which of the following statements about Mars is false?
A) Mars has a thin, cold atmosphere.
B) Mars has networks of valleys and dry river channels.
C) Mars has liquid water and a corrosive atmosphere.
D) Mars has a land surface much older than that of the Earth.

35. An eruption of lava that pours out of vertical cracks along the flank of a volcano is referred to as a
__________.
A) central eruption
B) phreatic eruption
C) lateral eruption
D) fissure eruption
36. What drives plate tectonics?
A) magnetic reversals
B) mantle convection
C) solar energy
D) volcanism
37. Which of the following mountain belts formed as a result of a collision between two continents?
A) the Appalachians
B) the Andes
C) the Sierra Nevada
D) all of the above
38. The east coast of North America is __________.
A) a convergent plate boundary
B) a transform plate boundary
C) a divergent plate boundary
D) not a plate boundary
39. Which of the following statements about the scientific method is false?
A) A scientific theory is never considered finally proved.
B) Data used to generate a hypothesis may come from observations, experiments, and chance findings.
C) A theory that has accumulated a substantial body of experimental support is called a hypothesis.
D) A scientific model represents some aspect of nature based on a set of hypotheses and theories.
40. Which of the following is not a dip-slip fault?
A) a normal fault
B) a reverse fault
C) a right-lateral fault
D) a thrust fault
41. What is the name of the principle which argues that present geologic processes we observe today are
comparable to those that have operated in the past?
42. How old are the oldest rocks on the seafloor?
43. What is an example of an active spreading center within the interior of the continent?
44. Throughout recorded history, what type of volcanic flow is responsible for the most fatalities?

45. Which part of the continents have the thickest lithosphere?

46. What type of plate boundary occurs along the San Andreas Fault?
47. Tensional forces create what type of dip-slip fault?
48. At approximately what depth is the core-mantle boundary?
49. How old is the Earth?
50. How old is our solar system?
51. Which planet is commonly referred to as Earth's Sister Planet?
52. Where in the earth is the magnetic field generated?
53. The oceanic crust and strong mantle immediately below it make up what?
54. What is a the approximate rate at which seafloors spread annually?
55. How old are the oldest rocks on the surface of the continents?
56. The mechanism that describes the flowing of the mantle and outer core to dissipate heat is called
what?
57. What is the name of the volcanic feature that the arrow is pointing to in Figure 1?
58. What is the name of the geologic structure depicted in Figure 2?
59. What is the name of the geologic province in the western US outlined in Figure 3?
60. What is the planetary body identified in Figure 4?

Figure 1:

Figure 2:

Figure 3:

Figure 4: