Geology Test

Front 1

Mechanical

Back 1

when physical forces break solid rock into smaller sediments

Front 2

Chemical

Back 2

when there is a chemical transformation of rock into other compounds

Front 3

What is not an agent of erosion?

Back 3

Heat

Front 4

What region is not likely to experience weathering via salt crystal growth?

Back 4

Subterranean cave passages

Front 5

What environmental condition is reduced on a batholith in order to generate weathering via sheeting?

Back 5

Pressure

Front 6

The most important agent of chemical weathering?

Back 6

Water

Front 7

Which acid is commonly responsible for the dissolution of limestone?

Back 7

Carbonic

Front 8

Which chemical weathering process is the primary method of weathering for feldspars?

Back 8

Hydrolysis

Front 9

Rainwater will combine with which atmospheric gas in order to create carbonic acid?

Back 9

Carbon Dioxide

Front 10

What are two chemical weathering products created in many metallic and coal mining regions and pose serious environmental hazards?

Back 10

Sulfuric acid; iron oxide

Front 11

During hydrolysis, what commonly decomposes into clay minerals, silica, and soluble constituents?

Back 11

Feldspars

Front 12

Which rocks will be the most resistant to weathering?

Back 12

Solid bedrock

Front 13

Which climate contains the optimum environment for chemical weathering?

Back 13

Warm and wet

Front 14

What kind of weathering occurs when differences in resistance or environmental factors produce uneven surfaces on rocks?

Back 14

Differential

Front 15

The upper few feet of regolith that contains minerals and organic matter, water and air and is capable of sustaining life

Back 15

Soil

Front 16

What is a common boundary where different part of a system interact?

Back 16

Interface

Front 17

Soil develops in response to interactions between which Earth spheres?

Back 17

Biosphere, Atmosphere, Geosphere, and Hydrosphere

Front 18

Which components of soil is usually in the greatest percentage?

Back 18

Mineral portion

Front 19

Decayed remains of plant and animal life

Back 19

Humus

Front 20

A soil that has bedrock as its parent material?

Back 20

Residual soil

Front 21

A soil that has unconsolidated sediment as its parent material

Back 21

Transported soil

Front 22

The primary source of organic matter in soils

Back 22

Plants

Front 23

Eluviation

Back 23

Transportation of fine clay particles

Front 24

Which horizons make up the solum?

Back 24

O, A, E, and B Horizons

Front 25

Which horizons make up the topsoil?

Back 25

O and A Horizons

Front 26

Term for stored-up energy released by earthquakes

Back 26

Seismic

Front 27

Definition of the epicenter

Back 27

The location on the Earth's surface directly above the point of slippage

Front 28

Definition of the focus

Back 28

The exact location on the fault where slippage occurs

Front 29

Researcher who developed elastic rebound after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake

Back 29

H.F. Reid

Front 30

The elastic rebound associated with earthquakes is an an example of what kind of deformation?

Back 30

Elastic

Front 31

Smaller earthquakes of lesser magnitude that follow a major earthquake

Back 31

Aftershocks

Front 32

Which tectonic boundary is associated with megathrust faults?

Back 32

Convergent

Front 33

Slow, gradual displacement along a fault without the accumulation of significant strain?

Back 33

Fault creep

Front 34

A measurement of displacement on the fault surface

Back 34

Fault slip

Front 35

As of 2012, which of the following earthquakes has been observed to have the greatest fault slips?

Back 35

Tohoku, Japan

Front 36

Records of seismic waves

Back 36

Seismograms

Front 37

Instruments that sense earthquake waves and transmit them to a recording device

Back 37

Seismometers

Front 38

Which seismic wave will be released first during an earthquake?

Back 38

P-waves

Front 39

When going from a 5 to a 6 on the Richter Scale, what is the increase in amplitude of seismic waves?

Back 39

10 times

Front 40

Which seismic waves will have the greatest amplitude on a seismogram?

Back 40

Surface waves

Front 41

What is a seismic gap?

Back 41

Unusually quiet zones along typically active faults

Front 42

Measures the total energy released during an earthquake by determining the average amount of slip on the fault, the area of the fault surface that slipped, and the strength of the faulted rock.

Back 42

Moment Magnitude Scale

Front 43

Liquefaction will do what?

Back 43

Amplify the power of seismic waves

Front 44

What does NOT contribute to the destruction from seismic vibrations?

Back 44

Proximity to water sources

Front 45

As of 2012, which is the only ocean basin to have significant tsunami warning buoy coverage?

Back 45

Pacific Ocean

Front 46

You are monitoring a seismograph in Seattle. One morning, your instrument records an earthquake approximately 2,000 km away. From that information, can you predict where the earthquake occurred?

Back 46

No, because you would need information from more than one seismograph to plot the epicenter.

Front 47

What is the most dangerous location for a seiche to form in?

Back 47

Reservoir behind an earthen dam

Front 48

Where is the zone of greatest seismic activity on Earth?

Back 48

Circum-Pacific Belt

Front 49

Which plate boundary along the Circum-Pacific Blet is responsible for the majority of that belts earthquakes?

Back 49

Convergent

Front 50

Which tectonic plates are responsible for the majority of seismic activity in the Alpine-Himalayan Belt?

Back 50

Eurasian, African, and Indian Plates

Front 51

The downslope movement of rock, regolith, or soil under the direct influence of gravity

Back 51

Mass Wasting

Front 52

Non-geologic term commonly used to describe a sudden event in which large volumes of material move down steep slopes

Back 52

Landslide

Front 53

Location most likely to see large-scale, rapid mass wasting

Back 53

Rocky Mountains

Front 54

Which factor does not influence mass wasting?

Back 54

Geologic age

Front 55

Angle of repose

Back 55

the steepest angle at which a material remains at rest

Front 56

Sediment size that has the steepest angle of repose

Back 56

Gravel

Front 57

Which of the following with NOT oversteepen a slope and lead to mass wasting?

Back 57

a. Costal erosion b. Quarrying c. Construction

d. NONE OF THE ABOVE.

Front 58

Most stable slope composition

Back 58

Solid bedrock

Front 59

Fastest form of mass wasting

Back 59

Rockfall

Front 60

Slowest form of mass wasting?

Back 60

Creep

Front 61

The crescent shaped mark found at the top of a slump block?

Back 61

Scarp

Front 62

Which mass-wasting process, generated on Nevado del Ruiz, destroyed the city of Armero in 1985?

Back 62

Lahar

Front 63

What combination of factors was responsible for the Vaiont Dam disaster in Italy in October 1963?

Back 63

Heavy rains and the drawing down of the reservoir led to a landslide that filled the reservoir and displaced the water

Front 64

Sedimentary environment of deposition that will be controlled in part by debris flows

Back 64

Alluvial fan

Front 65

Which of the following types of flows will have the largest particle sizes?

Back 65

a. Debris flow b. Mudflow c. Quick Clary D. Earthflow

Front 66

Which factor exerts the greatest control over the velocity of debris flows and the distance they will travel?

Back 66

Water content

Front 67

Infiltration

Back 67

water soaking into the ground

Front 68

Describes teh path water takes as it moves between the land, the ocean and the atmosphere

Back 68

Hydrologic Cycle

Front 69

An elevational point that divides an entire continent into large drainage basins

Back 69

Continental divide

Front 70

The area at the headwaters of a stream where most of the sediment is derived

Back 70

Sediment Production

Front 71

Not one of the three zones of a river system

Back 71

Sediment Capacity Zone

Front 72

The wetted perimeter of a stream

Back 72

The amount of flow in contact with the banks and bed of the channel

Front 73

Longitudinal profile

Back 73

The cross-sectional area from the headwaters to the mouth

Front 74

How will channel velocity change along the longitudinal profile of a stream?

Back 74

Velocity will start low and gradually increase toward the mouth due to increasing discharge downstream

Front 75

What is the mouth of a stream?

Back 75

The location where streamflow ends

Front 76

Which bed would be easiest for a stream to erode?

Back 76

Lined with silt

Front 77

Which particle size is most likely to make up a stream's suspended load?

Back 77

Silt

Front 78

Which part of a stream's sediment load moves the slowest?

Back 78

Bed Load

Front 79

The maximum load of solid particles a stream can transport per unit time

Back 79

Capacity

Front 80

A measure of a stream's ability to transport particles based on size rather than quantity

Back 80

Competence

Front 81

What is NOT one of the three basic stream channel morphologies?

Back 81

Bedrock channel

Front 82

A stream that consist of a complex network of converging and diverging channels that weave around channel bars

Back 82

Braided stream

Front 83

A stream that is in equilibrium and is neither eroding or depositing material, but simply transporting it

Back 83

Graded stream

Front 84

What percentage of Earth's liquid freshwater is in the form of groundwater?

Back 84

94%

Front 85

The point in the subsurface where 100% of the pore spaces are filled with water

Back 85

Zone of Saturation

Front 86

How will the water table respond if it is a wet spring?

Back 86

Water table will rise

Front 87

Permeability

Back 87

Ability to transmit water

Front 88

In order for an aqufier to be useful for human consumption, what kind of porosity and permeability should it have?

Back 88

High porosity, high permeability

Front 89

19th Century scientist who developed the equation that determines the discharge of an aqufier

Back 89

Henri Darcy

Front 90

Term used to describe how the water table around a well becomes lower as water is taken from the subsurface

Back 90

Drawdown

Front 91

Term used to describe the hypothetical line the water in a confied aquifer would rise to if it weren't trapped

Back 91

Potentiometric surface

Front 92

Which of the following regions is famous for its artesian wells?

Back 92

Western South Dakota

Front 93

What mineral substance makes up most geyser deposits?

Back 93

Sinter

Front 94

Term for bacteria that are found in the high temperature, chemical-rich geothermal features like Octopus Pool at Yellowstone National Park

Back 94

Extremophiles

Front 95

Which region inspired the term karst topography?

Back 95

Republic of Slovenia, in the former Yugoslavia

Front 96

Which acid is responsible for most karst topography?

Back 96

Carbonic

Front 97

Which of the following scenarios will be able to maintain the steepest angle of repose?

Back 97

Dry sand

Front 98

A piece of gravel is resting on a slope. Which of the following best describes how the gravitational force pulling the gravel downward will vary with the inclination of the slope?

Back 98

Gravitational force will decrease as the slope angle decreases

Front 99

A stream is flowing over a hill composed of clay-rich soil. The stream us eventually blocked to create a small pond in order to free land downhill for construction. What will happen to the strength and cohesion of the soil in the area around this pond?

Back 99

Strength and cohesion will decrease

Front 100

A stream is cutting into a valley wall. Which of the following is the most likely trigger for a mass-wasting event?

Back 100

The stream erodes the toe of the slope, which results in the slope becoming over steepened