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1 | |
The rugged character of mountain landscapes around the world can be the direct result of any combination of the following factors except |
| | A) | faulting. |
| | B) | chemical precipitation. |
| | C) | volcanic activity. |
| | D) | glacier erosion. |
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2 | |
Which is not true of geologic faults? |
| | A) | They are surfaces along which the motion of rocks has taken place. |
| | B) | They tend to form fairly straight lines through sedimentary layers and other geologic structures. |
| | C) | Finely powdered crushed rock may be found along a fault. |
| | D) | Faults and the affects of faults are almost never observed in the field since they generally occur only deep in the earth's crust. |
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3 | |
Folding in rocks |
| | A) | tends to occur in a series of sudden displacements. |
| | B) | folding is never expressed at the surface of the earth since it occurs deep in the crust. |
| | C) | may indirectly allow parallel ridges and valleys to develop as tilted beds are exposed. |
| | D) | can only occur in coastal regions with sufficient wave action. |
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4 | |
Which of the following lists the successive stages of mountain building in their most likely order? |
| | A) | Crumpling of igneous rocks, folding of sedimentary rocks underneath, and collapse of a volcanic cone. |
| | B) | Deposition of thick sequences of sedimentary strata; tectonic compression causing crumpling, folding, and uplift of the rocks; stream erosion. |
| | C) | Stream erosion of sedimentary rocks followed by slow sinking and down warping. |
| | D) | Landslides followed by continental glaciation and ultimately retreat of the glaciers. |
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5 | |
About 200 million years ago the landmass of Pangaea began to break apart into |
| | A) | South America and Africa. |
| | B) | the Tethys Sea and Gondwana. |
| | C) | Gondwana and Laurasia. |
| | D) | Australia and Antarctica. |
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6 | |
Portions of what was once the Tethys Sea survive today as |
| | A) | the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Sea. |
| | B) | the East China Sea. |
| | C) | along the coast of South America. |
| | D) | the Mediterranean, Caspian, and Black Seas. |
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7 | |
A region about 100 km thick under the lithosphere composed of "weak" rock is the |
| | A) | asthenosphere. |
| | B) | outer core. |
| | C) | lithosphere. |
| | D) | Moho. |
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8 | |
The youngest parts of the ocean floors are |
| | A) | still hundreds of millions of years old. |
| | B) | much older than most continental rocks. |
| | C) | found along oceanic ridges. |
| | D) | easily dated by the human remains they contain. |
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9 | |
The first real proof of ocean-floor spreading |
| | A) | was found in the trenches that rim the Pacific Ocean. |
| | B) | was found in the observation of magnetization patterns on either side of ocean ridges. |
| | C) | was discovered by Alfred Wegener just before his death in 1930. |
| | D) | was the direct measurement of continental displacement using extremely accurate satellite surveys. |
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10 | |
Which of the following plates does not contain a large continental land mass? |
| | A) | Pacific Plate |
| | B) | African Plate |
| | C) | Antarctic Plate |
| | D) | South American Plate |
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11 | |
A transform fault |
| | A) | is a type of plate boundary where the edges of two plates slide past each other. |
| | B) | delineates an area along which earthquakes are common. |
| | C) | is a large-scale version of a strike-slip fault. |
| | D) | all of the above are true. |
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12 | |
Concerning continental plate collisions, |
| | A) | neither plate is forced beneath the other initially, although one will eventually subduct. |
| | B) | the classic example is the Andes, which have result from such collisions. |
| | C) | the compression and buckling of the plates will form a mountain range. |
| | D) | most such collisions occur in deep ocean trenches. |
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13 | |
"I see no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end." This statement |
| | A) | was used by George Cuvier to support his notion that earth history was a series of catastrophes. |
| | B) | was used by James Hutton and essentially adopted and reformulated by Charles Lyell. |
| | C) | was refuted in the 1960s with the discovery of continental drift. |
| | D) | is a quote from the Bible in support of the origin of the earth in 4004 B.C. |
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14 | |
In a sequence of horizontal sedimentary rocks |
| | A) | the oldest rocks generally occur at the top of the sequence. |
| | B) | the oldest rocks generally occur at the bottom of the sequence. |
| | C) | there is no correlation between the age of the rocks and their position in the sequence. |
| | D) | without an igneous layer it is impossible to figure out which rocks might be older or younger. |
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15 | |
Radiocarbon (carbon 14) dating |
| | A) | is applicable only to inorganic materials. |
| | B) | has been used to establish that the oldest rocks on earth are over 10 billion years old. |
| | C) | has a half-life of about 5700 years and therefore is only useful for geologically recent material such as archaeological remains. |
| | D) | has been challenged in recent years when it was found that scientists had prematurely adopted the notion of uniformitarianism. |
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16 | |
Which of the following is not necessary for an unconformity to form? |
| | A) | deposition of the oldest strata |
| | B) | formation of fossils |
| | C) | erosion of elevated strata |
| | D) | deposition on the eroded surface |
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17 | |
The oldest known rocks found on earth have been dated to |
| | A) | six thousand years ago. |
| | B) | about 2 million years ago. |
| | C) | about 4 billion years ago. |
| | D) | about 10 billion years ago. |
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18 | |
The division of geologic time into eras and periods is based upon all of the following except |
| | A) | correlations between large-scale changes in the earth's crust and the biological record. |
| | B) | incidents of divine intervention. |
| | C) | biological extinction and evolution. |
| | D) | major climatic and landscape changes. |
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19 | |
Which of the following is in the correct order from oldest to youngest? |
| | A) | Precambrian, Mesozoic, Paleozoic, Cenozoic |
| | B) | Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Precambrian, Cenozoic |
| | C) | Precambrian, Paleozoic, Cenozoic, Mesozoic, |
| | D) | Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic |
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20 | |
Fossils |
| | A) | do not support the idea of evolution. |
| | B) | generally are of little use when it comes to dating and correlating rock strata. |
| | C) | can be used to help reconstruct ancient environments. |
| | D) | are so rare that they are primarily the domain of extremely wealthy collectors. |
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21 | |
During Precambrian time |
| | A) | life did not exist. |
| | B) | at least two glacial periods took place. |
| | C) | monkeys first evolved. |
| | D) | igneous rocks were limited to deep intrusive rocks. |
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22 | |
The oldest abundant fossils |
| | A) | are of early Paleozoic marine invertebrates. |
| | B) | are found in the coal beds of Pennsylvania. |
| | C) | are of dinosaurs which could be easily preserved due to their large size. |
| | D) | are found along ancient river beds. |
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23 | |
Concerning petroleum, it is currently believed that |
| | A) | most was formed during the Paleozoic. |
| | B) | it comes from the decay, burial, and chemical modification of organic debris from algae and plankton. |
| | C) | it has no relationship chemically or in terms of its formation to natural gas. |
| | D) | most of it originated from weathered granitic rocks. |
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24 | |
The extinction of the dinosaurs |
| | A) | may have been the result of an asteroid impact. |
| | B) | occurred during the middle of the Cenozoic Era. |
| | C) | correlates with the beginning of the breakup of Pangaea. |
| | D) | occurred before the evolution of the earliest known mammals. |
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25 | |
The human species |
| | A) | dates back to the early Cenozoic. |
| | B) | have been increasing at an ever faster rate over the last several centuries. |
| | C) | went extinct during the last Ice Age, only to evolve again from a few chimpanzees that were able to survive in southern Africa. |
| | D) | first evolved in Australia and spread out from there. |
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