Environmental Science Practice Exam
Course Introduction
Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary field that explores the complex relationships between humans and the natural environment. This course covers foundational topics including ecosystems, biodiversity, climate change, pollution, conservation, and sustainable resource management. Students will examine scientific principles, current environmental issues, and the social, economic, and political factors that influence environmental decision-making. Through hands-on activities and case studies, learners gain practical skills to analyze environmental problems and evaluate strategies for creating a more sustainable future.
Recommended Textbook
Essentials of Oceanography 6th Edition by Tom S. Garrison
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15 Chapters
675 Verified Questions
675 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: The Origin of the Ocean
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Sample Questions
Q1) Planets other than Earth with liquid on or near the surface are _______.
A) nonexistent
B) less rare than we thought
C) extremely common but only in the form of water
D) extremely common but only as ice
Answer: B
Q2) Describe the primary (or traditional) branches of oceanography and give an example of how modern technology has been used to advance our knowledge in the field.
Answer: Like most disciplines of science today, marine science integrates diverse fields of study including biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, engineering and geology. Marine scientists currently use technology to study questions that are directly relevant to humAnswer: the origins of the ocean basins, the relationship between the ocean and the atmosphere, global climate change and the nature of biodiversity in the ocean just to name a few. Although most marine scientists specialize within their given disciplines, most agree that the study of the ocean and the understanding of processes occurring in the ocean are extremely important.
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Chapter 2: A History of Marine Science
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Sample Questions
Q1) A cartographer makes charts and maps.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) The Navy Officer who first compiled information about winds and currents was:
A) Edward Forbes.
B) Charles Darwin.
C) Matthew Maury.
D) Tim Folger
Answer: C
Q3) Edward Forbes was an Edinburgh professor who thought that:
A) life was plentiful in the deep sea.
B) there was an easy route to the orient from Europe.
C) no life existed in the deep sea because of high pressure and no light.
D) the Pacific Ocean was much smaller than it truly is.
Answer: C
Q4) Captain Cook was the first scientist to drift in the ice pack of the Arctic.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Page 4
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Chapter 3: Earth Structure and Plate Tectonics
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe the Wilson Cycle. How can this cycle be used to explain plate tectonics?
Answer: The Wilson cycle is a descriptive synthesis that explains the movement and the nature of the Earth's surface. The cycle describes that over great periods of time ocean floors are created and destroyed, mountains erode, sediments subduct and continents rebuild all in a stepwise fashion. Stage 1 is considered embryonic where the left flanks of a rift valley uplift and right valleys subside. Stages 2 and 3 are represented by divergence followed by convergence and seduction and uplifting. In the final stage called suturing convergence and uplift form mountains as two continental masses collide.
Q2) Subduction zones are areas where new seafloor is created.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) The Emperor Seamounts were formed:
A) as islands formed over a hot spot.
B) as an island arc that formed along a trench.
C) as islands formed over a spreading center
D) islands formed at a convergent zone.
Answer: A
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Ocean Basins
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is a submarine canyon and how are they formed?
Q2) The deepest parts of the Pacific Basin are located:
A) in the center of the Pacific Ocean near the Hawaiian Islands.
B) in the eastern part of the basin, off North America.
C) in the rift valley of the East Pacific Rise.
D) near the margins of South America, Japan, and the Marianas Islands.
Q3) The landscape of the seafloor could best be described as:
A) a featureless plain.
B) a smooth descent with the deepest portions farthest from land.
C) similar in rock type, sediment thickness, and erosional processes to those found on the land.
D) huge abyssal plains containing ridges, trenches, seamounts.
Q4) An example of a continental rise that is extraordinarily wide is found:
A) in the Red Sea.
B) in the Pacific at the active margin called the "Ring of Fire."
C) in the Bay of Bengal.
D) off the east coast of Florida.
Q5) Continental shelves can be made of either granite crust, basalt crust or both.
A)True
B)False
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Ocean Sediments
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Sample Questions
Q1) A layer of sediment that contains a mixture of sediments with various sizes is referred to as:
A) homogeneous.
B) poorly sorted.
C) well-sorted.
D) eroding sediments.
Q2) Sand is classified as sediment that has a diameter no larger than:
A) 4 mm.
B)0.2 mm.
C) 2 mm.
D)0.004 mm.
Q3) Manganese nodules were discovered during the Challenger expedition and are hydrogenous sediments.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which of the following is the most abundant sediment in neritic deposits?
A) terrigenous sediments
B) biogenous sediments
C) hydrogenous (or authigenic) sediments
D) cosmogenous sediments
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Chapter 6: Water
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Sample Questions
Q1) The ocean is stratified with respect to:
A) density
B) temperature
C) salinity
D) all of these
Q2) Residence time is:
A) the same for all elements in the ocean.
B) the average length of time an element spends in the ocean.
C) the length of time it takes an element to dissolve in the ocean.
D) the same as mixing time.
Q3) Heat and temperature both measure random vibrations of an atom or a molecule.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Frozen water is more dense than liquid water.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The salinity of seawater is a measure of the amount of sodium and chloride in a water sample.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 7: Atmospheric Circulation
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Sample Questions
Q1) Hadley atmospheric circulation cells are found at mid-latitudes.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Air is a fluid that is never completely dry.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What is a hurricane and how are they formed?
Q4) Explain how the relationship between the atmosphere and the ocean affects weather and climate.
Q5) Most of the damage caused by hurricane Katrina was due to:
A) the storm surge arriving at low tide.
B) the storm surge arriving at high tide.
C) the low winds.
D) the high temperatures.
Q6) Extratropical cyclones typically form:
A) near the equator.
B) at high latitudes, at the north or south pole.
C) at high latitudes, at the junction between the polar cells and the Ferrel cells.
D) in the tropics.
Page 9
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Chapter 9: Waves
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Ramapo wave is unique because:
A) many lives were lost when it struck the shore.
B) it is the largest wave ever observed by people.
C) it is the largest wave accurately measured by direct observation.
D) it was captured alive and brought to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1933 where it is presently on display. Tickets are hard to obtain.
Q2) Rogue waves are best described as:
A) the highest waves of a tsunami.
B) a breaking internal wave.
C) a strong rocking motion within a harbor.
D) a single massive wave that develops in the open ocean.
Q3) The best place to study the effects of a seiche is:
A) on a shallow beach at the edge of the Pacific.
B) in a harbor or lake.
C) near tropical islands in the Pacific or Atlantic.
D) in the open sea.
Q4) A tsunami is a shallow water wave that moves at high speeds.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What is fetch and how does it influence wind wave development?
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Chapter 10: Tides
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Sample Questions
Q1) Tidal bores usually occur:
A) in rivers or long narrow bays.
B) in open ocean far from land.
C) around islands.
D) in enclosed basins such as the Mediterranean.
Q2) The height of the ocean averaged over a few years' time is called:
A) mean high water.
B) mean low water.
C) tidal datum.
D) mean sea level.
Q3) Slack water:
A) occurs at high tide.
B) occurs at low tide.
C) occurs when the current is changing direction.
D) occurs midway between high and low tide.
Q4) Which of the following statements best characterizes neap tides?
A) Neap tides occur when the moon, Earth and sun form a right angle.
B) Neap tides represent extreme tidal ranges.
C) Neap tides occur at the new and full moons every month.
D) Neap tides correspond with the timing of spring tides.
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Coasts
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Sample Questions
Q1) A longshore bar is a vertical wall of sand delineating the low-tide mark.
A)True
B)False
Q2) If a beach is wide, gently sloping with fine sands, we would expect to see:
A) very heavy wave action.
B) a beach facing into Arctic storms.
C) generally small waves winter and summer.
D) high-energy waves all year around.
Q3) The single most influential agent changing the shore and coast is:
A) wave action.
B) the tidal range.
C) alternate freezing and thawing of coastal cliffs.
D) prevailing winds.
Q4) The Florida Keys is an example of how living organisms such as corals can influence coastlines.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What is an estuary and how are they unique ecosystems?
Q6) Define the term coast and describe the factors that shape coastlines.
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Q7) How have human activities influenced coastal processes? Give a specific example.
Chapter 12: Life in the Ocean
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe how energy is distributed through ecosystems and define the different trophic levels into which marine organism can be classified.
Q2) Which of the following statements best characterizes natural selection?
A) Natural selection is the mechanism by which predetermined adaptations are passed to offspring from parents.
B) Natural selection is the differential survivorship and reproduction of organisms that have favorable adaptations.
C) The natural environment is not involved with the process of natural selection; the heritability of traits is what drives evolution..
D) For natural selection to occur, mutations have to be embedded in the genome.
Q3) In the ocean as a whole, the limiting factor for primary productivity is: A) oxygen.
B) light.
C) carbon dioxide.
D) carbohydrates.
Q4) What is a limiting factor and how do they affect the distribution of primary producers?
Q5) Describe how energy enters biological ecosystems in the ocean.
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Chapter 13: Pelagic Communities
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Sample Questions
Q1) Single-celled plant-like organisms are called:
A) plankton
B) meroplankton
C) holoplankton
D) phytoplankton
Q2) Sharks have skeletons made of cartilage, not bone.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following groups of animals includes only pinnipeds?
A) dolphins, whales and manatees
B) seals, sea lions and walruses
C) sea lions, sea cows and dugongs
D) walruses, polar bears and otters
Q4) Which of the following groups include manatees and sea cows.?
A) Cetacea
B) Pinnipedia
C) Sirenia
D) Copepoda
Q5) Explain the properties of water that have led to the evolution of a "torpedo" shaped body in most open water fish.
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Chapter 14: Benthic Communities
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Sample Questions
Q1) Deep sea vent communities depend on specialized photoautotrophs that extract the exceedingly dim light that filters down to that depth.
A)True
B)False
Q2) All of the following represent benthic communities EXCEPT:
A) phytoplankton.
B) kelp forest.
C) coral reef.
D) hydrothermal vent communities.
Q3) Interstitial animals are very small and live between sand grains.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Seaweeds are:
A) vascular plants.
B) unicellular algae.
C) muticellular algae.
D) zooxanthellae.
Q5) Estuaries are nutrient rich environments that foster very high biodiversity.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 15: Uses and Abuses of the Ocean
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Q1) Many of today's fisheries are not sustainable. Explain some of the factors that must be considered in maintaining healthy fisheries.
Q2) An example of a fishing technique that is particularly disruptive is:
A) hook and line.
B) drift nets.
C) mid-water trawl.
D) spear fishing.
Q3) About ____ of the crude oil used by humans is derived from the seabed.
A) 3/4
B) 1/2
C) 1/3
D) all
Q4) The desalination method that is done by forcing seawater against a semi permeable membrane at high pressure is called:
A) high pressure desalination.
B) distillation.
C) freezing.
D) reverse osmosis desalination.
Q5) Define "Bycatch" and explain how it is damaging to marine populations.
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