Earth Science Test Preparation
Course Introduction
Earth Science is a multidisciplinary course that explores the physical characteristics, processes, and history of the Earth. It covers foundational concepts in geology, meteorology, oceanography, and astronomy, examining topics such as the structure of the Earth, plate tectonics, minerals and rocks, earthquakes, volcanoes, weather patterns, climate change, ocean currents, and the Earths place in the solar system. Students gain an understanding of how Earth's systems interact, the impact of natural events on human societies, and how scientific methods are used to study our planets dynamic environment. The course prepares students to appreciate the complexity of Earth and the importance of its preservation.
Recommended Textbook
Earth An Introduction to Physical Geology 4th Canadian Edition by Edward J. Tarbuck
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20 Chapters
3286 Verified Questions
3286 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Geology and Plate Tectonics
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198 Verified Questions
198 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The ________ is the layer between Earth's rigid crust and its largely liquid core.
Answer: mantle
Q2) ________ are the places where most sediments are ultimately deposited.
A)Dunes
B)Floodplains
C)Swamps
D)Oceans
Answer: D
Q3) A conservative plate boundary where two plates slide laterally in opposite directions is a ________ boundary.
Answer: transform
Q4) The statement "the present is the key to the past," describes what basic geologic concept or doctrine?
Answer: uniformitarianism
Q5) The lithosphere, asthenosphere, and mesosphere are all layers of Earth defined by their composition.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 2: Minerals: The Building Blocks of Rocks
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185 Verified Questions
185 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following denotes the purity of gold used in jewelry?
A)carnot
B)carette
C)karat
D)carlot
Answer: C
Q2) Which one of the following is a typical product of chemical weathering of other silicates?
A)micas
B)ferromagnesians
C)feldspars
D)clays
Answer: D
Q3) The external expression of the internal arrangement of atoms in a mineral is called what?
Answer: crystal habit
Q4) Coal is a rock formed mostly from fine grained carbon minerals.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Page 4
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Chapter 3: Igneous Rocks
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Sample Questions
Q1) Porphyritic rocks rarely contain any visible phenocrysts.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) The large variety of igneous rock types indicates a large number of different primary magmas exist.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) In a porphyritic volcanic rock, which mineral grains are the last to crystallize?
A)phenocrysts
B)vesicles
C)pegmatites
D)matrix or groundmass
Answer: D
Q4) The most common volcanic rock type is rhyolite.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 4: Volcanoes and Volcanic Processes
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Sample Questions
Q1) Gas rich andesitic magmas generate composite volcanoes made up of ________.
A)abundant basalt dykes and thick accumulations of low viscosity flows
B)conical shaped lava flows
C)abundant coarse pyroclastics and short, thick, viscous lava flows
D)multiple overlapping rhyolite domes rimming a central caldera
Q2) Oxidized, reddish, vesicle rich, mafic lapilli that pile up to form cinder cones are called ________.
A)blocks
B)bombs
C)pumice
D)scoria
Q3) What is the dominant lava type erupted along mid-ocean ridges?
A)mafic
B)felsic
C)andesitic
D)ultramafic
Q4) What volcanic rock, typically of rhyolitic composition, forms by compaction and squeezing together of particles in a hot, pyroclastic-flow deposit?
Q5) Vents that emit only hot gases and vapors are called ________.
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Chapter 5: Weathering and Soil
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157 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The natural decomposition of limestone through chemical weathering mostly produces solid, insoluble calcium hydroxide.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Very fine-sized, clay mineral particles move downward from the A to the B horizon of some soils.What is this process called?
Q3) What is the common soil formed in semi-arid grassland with alkali and salt tolerant plants as in SE Alberta and SW Saskatchewan?
A)solonetzic and pedocal
B)cryosol
C)chernozem
D)luvisol
Q4) Very fine-grained, iron oxide particles account for nearly all red, yellow, and brown soil colours.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Like most other liquids, water decreases in volume when it freezes.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 6: Sedimentary Rocks
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234 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What material would be best suited to preserve original organic tissues?
A)amber, permafrost, or tar
B)breccias and conglomerates
C)muds and silts
D)sands
Q2) Which of the following is the most common type of chemical sedimentary rock?
A)limestone
B)chert
C)phosphate rock
D)quartz sandstone
Q3) The only Canadian deposits of Anthracite occur in mountainous fold belts of British Columbia and Yukon.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What is the most characteristic, original, depositional feature preserved in sedimentary rocks?
Q5) Where would hummocky, mound shaped piles and ridges of poorly sorted boulders to clays occur?
Q6) What use is there in tracing out a single sedimentary unit laterally and observing its facies changes?
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Metamorphism and Metamorphic Rocks
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the opposite of brittle deformation and give an example of a texture that forms this other way?
Q2) Ductile deformation occurs at low stress rates.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What is another term for gneissic texture?
Q4) How would you correctly refer to the metamorphic grade of a rock that contains abundant chlorite as its highest temperature mineral such as a greenschist or phyllite?
A)"C grade"
B)high grade > 600° C
C)intermediate grade
D)low grade < 200° C
Q5) Which rock forms by contact metamorphism of fine grained mudstones, shales, and volcanics?
A)hornfels
B)limestone
C)gneiss
D)phyllite
Q6) Regional metamorphism is most intense where ________ collide.
9
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Chapter 8: Geologic Time
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143 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Choose the option that does not fit the pattern.
A)Uranium-238
B)Rubidium-87
C)Carbon-14
D)Potassium-40
Q2) An unconformity is a buried ________.
A)fault or fracture with older rocks above and younger rocks below B)surface of erosion or non-deposition separating younger strata above from older strata below
C)fault or fracture with younger strata above and older strata below D)surface of erosion with older strata above and younger strata below
Q3) What catastrophic event has been proposed as the most likely explanation as to why the dinosaurs became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period?
Q4) Isotopes of what element are the stable, end products of both uranium decay series?
Q5) Carbon-14 is produced by cosmic rays reacting with nuclei of iron atoms in the Earth's core.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 9: Crustal Deformation
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Sample Questions
Q1) Compressional stresses are responsible for most normal faulting.
A)True
B)False
Q2) What is the cause of most earthquakes?
A)folding deep under active mountain belts
B)nuclear weapons tests in secret underground locations
C)sudden movements from elastic strain release and rupture along pre-existing faults on or near to plate boundaries
D)volcanic eruptions
Q3) Evidence demonstrating the enormous forces within the Earth includes thousands of kilometres extent of rock layers that are ________.
Q4) Weak differential stresses which are unable to deform solid rock initially, may still cause rock to flow like putty if applied for a sufficiently extended period of time.
A)True
B)False
Q5) A graben is an upraised block bounded by two reverse faults.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 10: Earthquakes and Earth's Interior
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185 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What does a P wave do to the rock it passes through?
A)It lifts it up and down in a wavelike motion (perpendicular to the advancing wave front), distorting the rock's shape while holding its volume (and density)constant.
B)It alternately compresses and expands the rock (like the bellows of an accordion)along the direction of the advancing wave.
C)It causes the rock to wiggle from side to side as the wave advances.
D)It causes the rock to move in little vertical circles as the wave advances.
Q2) What is an earthquake?
Q3) An earthquake of magnitude 6.5 releases about how much more energy than one of magnitude 5.5?
Q4) Which is the correct relationship for the relative velocities of the different types of seismic waves?
A)P = 1.7 X S and L = 0.9 X S
B)L X 0.9 = S = P X 1.7
C)P X 0.9 = L X 1.7 = S
D)S = 1.7P and S = 0.9 X L
Q5) Briefly relate large earthquakes to pre-existing faults.
Q6) The ________ discontinuity marks the boundary between the crust and mantle.
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Chapter 11: The Ocean Floor
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172 Verified Questions
172 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) How do guyots form?
Q2) Name three criteria for the formation of living, active coral reefs.
Q3) On average, the slope across a continental shelf is about ________.
A)0.001°
B)0.1°
C)1.5°
D)5°
Q4) Which one of the following is not connected in any way with submarine, hot spring vents?
A)sediment rich in metallic sulphides
B)ecological communities living without photosynthesis
C)thick turbidites on the continental rise
D)black smokers on a mid-ocean ridge
Q5) ________ are underlain by about 500 metres of pelagic sediments and turbidites covering tilted and faulted blocks of basalt and gabbro.
Q6) ________ are where active volcanism and earthquakes are the rarest.
Q7) A low lying, coral limestone island with a central lagoon is called an ________.
Q8) Submarine canyons are eroded at least in part by ________.
Page 13
Q9) Which ocean basin did the H.M.S.Challenger fail to visit or sound in its 127,500 km voyage?
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Page 14
Chapter 12: Plate Tectonics: The Framework for Modern Geology
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162 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The volcanoes of Hawaii are localized above a deep mantle plume and hot spot; they are not part of the East Pacific Rise.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following is not part of the accepted driving mechanism of plate tectonic motions?
A)All of the heat for the mantle convection comes from small amounts of radioactive elements in the inner core.
B)The Earth's unequal distribution of internal heat is what drives the mantle convection and provides the heat engine.
C)Oceanic plates descend and constitute the downward-moving portion of Earth's internal convective flow.
D)Solid state convective flow in the rocky mantle, warm regions rising and cold regions sinking, is the basic driving force for plate motions.
Q3) Name one of the six intermediate sized plates.
Q4) What is measured with GPS for measuring plate tectonic separations?
Q5) Name two different locations on continental crust today, that are or were continental rifts?
Page 15
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Chapter 13: Mountain Building and Continental Frameworks
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161 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following geologic products or processes is not a result of mountain building?
A)building of a deep sea fan of turbidites offshore from a convergent continent-ocean margin
B)downdropped extensional grabens with playa lakes
C)exposure of belts of high pressure, Precambrian, igneous and metamorphic rocks within continental shield areas
D)subsided sedimentary basins in the middle of continental cratons
Q2) Overthickened crust continues to slowly rise, even though its thickness is gradually being reduced by erosion.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Mountains and mountain building processes have little direct influence upon regional climate.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What must happen to a region of crust for it to undergo a dramatic change in elevation?
Q5) Fault-block mountains occur in regions dominated by ________ faulting.
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Chapter 14: Mass Wasting: The Work of Gravity
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131 Verified Questions
131 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the chief mass wasting concern associated with permafrost?
A)Debris flows of ice and soils occur frequently.
B)Frozen soils fail and slide like fractured bedrock.
C)Ice in the frozen soils is low density and low strength, failing by fracture under any applied load.
D)Manmade structures tip, sag, and slide when the permafrost melts because of insulation or heating associated with the structures.
Q2) Why is water saturation of slope materials a bad thing?
Q3) The angle of repose in unconsolidated materials varies from ________ depending on the size and cohesion of particles.
A)2.5° to 4.0°
B)5° to 14°
C)25° to 40°
D)50° to 90°
Q4) What kind of feature is commonly found at the base of slump blocks?
A)Debris flow
B)Talus slope
C)Creep ridge
D)Earthflow
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Chapter 15: Running Water
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139 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A(n)________ stream pattern develops where the same bedrock or regolith layer forms the land surface so that erosion rates are relatively uniform throughout the area.
A)radial
B)trellis
C)elliptical
D)dendritic
Q2) ________ are formed by swirling eddies with rock particles that drill into stream beds.
Q3) Choose the option that does not fit the pattern.
A)ultimate base level
B)local base level
C)normal base level
D)temporary base level
Q4) A ________ stream consists of a complex network of converging and diverging channels that weave around channel bars.
A)Straight channel
B)Meandering stream
C)Braided stream
D)Bedrock channel
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Chapter 16: Groundwater
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Sample Questions
Q1) The mechanical removal or diminution of unwanted substances such as bacteria, viruses, or mineral turbidity from groundwater is termed ________.
A)aqua-cleansing
B)filtration
C)derriereation
D)dolomitization
Q2) What feature originates where the water table intersects the land surface?
Q3) Which of the following geologic materials would have the highest groundwater velocities and be least effective in removing unwanted pollutants from the water?
A)a sandy loam soil with high organic carbon content
B)limestone with numerous solution channels and fractures widened by dissolution
C)lakebeds consisting of unconsolidated very fine-grained sand and silt
D)sandstone; well-cemented with a few, widely spaced vertical fractures
Q4) Provide two means of dealing with polluted groundwater.
Q5) During gravity drainage, the portion of the groundwater that is retained on sediment particle and rock fracture surfaces is called the specific yield.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 17: Glaciers and Glaciation
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Sample Questions
Q1) A horn is made of ________.
A)rock
B)till
C)sand and gravel
D)mud
Q2) Choose the option that does not fit the pattern.
A)drumlin
B)cirque
C)esker
D)moraine
Q3) Drumlin fields contain ________.
A)smooth, tapering, asymmetric ridges of till usually formed and shaped beneath a continental ice sheet
B)bowl-shaped depressions eroded largely by frost action and glacial plucking
C)mounds of outwash deposited by meltwater streams at the snout of a glacier
D)smooth, striated, bedrock ridges shaped and polished by a glacier's erosive action
Q4) What general term denotes the wastage of a glacier when combined mechanisms for loss of ice is greater than the input from its head?
Q5) Glaciers erode underlying bedrock in which two main ways?
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Chapter 18: Deserts and Winds
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Sample Questions
Q1) Choose the option that does not fit the pattern.
A)pitted stone
B)yardang
C)ventifact
D)steppe stone
Q2) The tips of a barchan dune point downwind.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which desert occupies Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in central Asia and what is its cause?
Q4) Blowouts are broad, shallow depressions excavated by deflation.
A)True
B)False
Q5) A dry climate is one in which yearly precipitation is not as great as the potential loss of water by evaporation.
A)True
B)False
Q6) At what latitudes are most rain shadow deserts located?
Q7) What is the source of loess in the Chinese loess plateau?
Q8) What do barchan and parabolic dunes have in common?
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Chapter 19: Shorelines
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Sample Questions
Q1) Waves are forms of ________ that move through the water, not the water itself.
Q2) What is beach drift?
Q3) Defined by breaking waves in the surf zone, which two terms describe the directions of water movement associated with a wave breaking on the beach?
Q4) A(n)________ current forms during an incoming or rising tide.
A)flood
B)drift
C)rip
D)ebb
Q5) ________ are built more or less parallel to the beach.
A)Seawalls
B)Groins
C)Jetties
D)Caissons
Q6) Compared to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and landslides, coastal environments are safe and have only a minor chance of any geologic hazards or sudden environmental changes.
A)True
B)False
Page 22
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Chapter 20: Mineral and Energy Resources
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Sample Questions
Q1) The world's population reached ________ people in 2012, placing increasing demands on fixed natural resources.
A)70 billion
B)7 billion
C)70 million
D)7 million
Q2) Which one of the following best describes how talc deposits might form?
A)dehydration of gypsum and limestone during contact metamorphism
B)reaction of olivine and pyroxene with hydrothermal fluids during regional metamorphism
C)reaction of hydrothermal fluids with quartz-rich sandstones during contact metamorphism
D)high pressure metamorphism associated with impact of an asteroid or large meteorite
Q3) Which of the following is not a bad effect of using fossil fuels?
A)air pollution
B)stream siltation
C)global warming
D)acid precipitation
Q4) Name a country that has well-established geothermal power plants.
Page 23
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