Course Introduction
Historical Geology Exam Review
Historical Geology explores the origin and development of Earth and its life forms through geological time. The course examines the processes that have shaped the planets surface, the evolution of continents and oceans, and the history of life as interpreted from the fossil record. Students learn to analyze rock strata, fossils, and geologic events to reconstruct past environments and understand significant events such as mass extinctions, continental drift, and climate change. This foundational knowledge provides insight into Earth's dynamic history and the natural processes still influencing our world today.
Recommended Textbook
Essentials of Geology 3rd Edition by Stephen Marshak
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19 Chapters
739 Verified Questions
739 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/study-set/1699
Page 2
Chapter 1: The Earth in Context
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50 Verified Questions
50 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/33659
Sample Questions
Q1) The thickness of Earth's crust varies from ____________.
A) 100 to 500 m
B) 1 to 10 km
C) 5 to 500 km
D) 7 to 70 km
Answer: D
Q2) The shape of Earth's magnetic field is approximately that of a ____________.
A) monopole
B) dipole (such as that produced by a bar magnet)
C) torus, a donut-shaped ring parallel to Earth's equator
Answer: B
Q3) Chemically,the Moon is quite similar to ____________.
A) seawater
B) Earth's crust
C) Earth's mantle
D) Earth's core
Answer: C
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Chapter 2: The Way the Earth Works: Plate Tectonics
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60 Verified Questions
60 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) At a convergent plate boundary,two opposed plates ____________.
A) move toward one another
B) move away from one another
C) slide past one another
Answer: A
Q2) The thickness of oceanic lithosphere is ____________.
A) uniformly 100 km
B) greatest at the geographic poles and least near the equator
C) greatest near the mid-ocean ridges and thins out away from the ridges
D) least near the mid-ocean ridges and thickens away from the ridges
Answer: D
Q3) Mid-ocean ridges are ____________.
A) convergent plate boundaries
B) divergent plate boundaries
C) transform plate boundaries
Answer: B
Q4) Broad,sediment-covered continental shelves are found along ____________.
A) active margins
B) passive margins
Answer: B
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Chapter 3: Patterns in Nature: Minerals
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35 Verified Questions
35 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Trace amounts of impurity in a mineral can commonly produce significant differences in ____________ among individual crystals of this mineral.
A) color
B) specific gravity
C) luster
D) streak
Answer: A
Q2) In which type of silicate are the greatest proportion of oxygen atoms shared by pairs of adjacent tetrahedra?
A) chain silicates
B) framework silicates
C) sheet silicates
D) Sharing of oxygen atoms does not occur in silicates.
Answer: B
Q3) Minerals utilized by humans as a source of metal are termed ____________.
A) metallic minerals
B) ore minerals
C) source minerals
Answer: B
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Up From the Inferno: Magma and Igneous Rocks
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35 Verified Questions
35 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) If a body of magma is subjected to fractional crystallization,the rock that results is expected to be ____________.
A) identical in chemical composition to the magma
B) more mafic than the magma
C) more felsic than the magma
Q2) When rock is melted within Earth,typically the entire volume of rock is transformed from a solid state to a liquid.
A)True
B)False
Q3) As compared to coarse-grained igneous rocks,all fine-grained igneous rocks
A) cool and solidify more quickly
B) cool and solidify more slowly
C) solidify at higher temperatures
D) solidify at lower temperatures
Q4) When rock is partially melted,the chemistry of the melt is ____________.
A) more mafic than the original chemistry of the rock that was partially melted
B) more felsic than the original chemistry of the rock that was partially melted
C) identical to the original chemistry of the rock that was partially melted
D) completely unpredictable (it could be more mafic or more felsic)
Page 6
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Chapter 5: The Wrath of Vulcan: Volcanic Eruptions
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Mt.St.Helens killed a geologist studying the volcano because ____________.
A) the geologist disregarded orders to keep a safe distance from the vent
B) the eruption produced a greater volume of ash than anyone predicted
C) a landslide produced a lateral blast of volcaniclastic debris that no one anticipated
D) lahars swept down all sides of the volcano and buried all towns within 100 km
Q2) Olympus Mons,the largest known volcano in the Universe,is found on ___________.
A) Earth
B) Mars
C) Neptune
D) Io, a moon of Jupiter
Q3) The difference between tephra and tuff is that ____________.
A) tephra is created in ash falls, whereas tuff is created in pyroclastic flows
B) tephra is unlithified, whereas tuff is lithified
C) tephra is always silicic, whereas tuff is always basaltic
D) all of the above
Q4) Mt.Fuji in Japan is an example of a ____________.
A) stratovolcano
B) cinder cone
C) shield volcano
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Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks
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39 Verified Questions
39 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which environment would most likely produce sedimentary deposits characterized by poorly to moderately sorted,angular to subangular grains that consist of feldspar,quartz,and lithics (rock fragments)?
A) river
B) glacier
C) beach
D) alluvial fan
Q2) Physical precipitation of gypsum due to evaporation of seawater produces which kind of sedimentary rock?
A) biochemical
B) chemical
C) clastic
D) organic
Q3) Clastic sedimentary rocks are primarily classified on the basis of ____________.
A) grain size
B) degree of sorting
C) angularity
D) mineral composition
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Chapter 7: Metamorphism: a Process of Change
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50 Verified Questions
50 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A primary difference between phyllite and schist is ____________.
A) schist contains mica, but phyllite contains only clay
B) phyllite contains mica, but schist contains only clay
C) mica crystals within schist are larger than those within phyllite
D) mica crystals within phyllite are larger than those within schist
Q2) Dynamothermal metamorphism produces ____________.
A) foliated rocks only
B) nonfoliated rocks only
C) both foliated and nonfoliated rocks
Q3) The process of high-grade metamorphic rocks being altered to form low-grade metamorphic rocks is termed ____________ metamorphism.
A) foliated
B) prograde
C) retrograde
D) dynamic
Q4) Regional metamorphism ____________.
A) takes place at cool temperatures and low pressure
B) takes place at cool temperatures but high pressure
C) is another name for thermal metamorphism
D) is another name for dynamothermal metamorphism
Page 9
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Chapter 8: A Violent Pulse: Earthquakes
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Vertical motion seismographs record earthquakes through the production of a squiggly diagram called a ____________.
A) wave sheet
B) seismogram
C) pictogram
D) camera lucida
Q2) The point within Earth where an earthquake takes place is termed the ____________.
A) hypocenter (focus)
B) epicenter
C) eye of the fault
D) vertex
Q3) The greatest earthquake ever recorded by seismograph equipment measured ____________ on the moment-magnitude scale and had an epicenter off the coast of ____________.
A) 9.1; Indonesia
B) 9.5; Chile
C) 9.7; California
D) 9.9; Alaska
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Page 10
Chapter 9: Crags, cracks, and Crumples: Crustal
Deformation and Mountain Building
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In a ____________ fault,the fault plane is less than 30° from horizontal and the hanging-wall block moves upward relative to the footwall block.
A) detachment
B) normal
C) reverse
D) thrust
Q2) The balance between the weight of a mountain range and the buoyancy provided by the underlying mantle is termed ____________.
A) punctuated equilibrium
B) homeostatic equilibrium
C) isostatic equilibrium
D) osmotic equilibrium
Q3) Continental crust is typically 35 km thick,but may be up to ____________ thicker under mountain ranges.
A) 20%
B) 50%
C) 100%
D) 200%
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Chapter 10: Deep Time: How Old Is Old
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45 Verified Questions
45 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which method of correlation is more reliable for determining age equivalence among bodies of rock that are physically isolated by vast distances?
A) lithologic correlation
B) fossil correlation
Q2) The correct answer to question 30 illustrates the principle of ____________.
A) baked contacts
B) cross-cutting relationships
C) original horizontality
D) inclusions
Q3) Two atoms of a single element that differ in number of neutrons are said to represent two distinct ____________ of that element.
A) isomers
B) isotopes
C) isotherms
D) atomic species
Q4) When an unstable isotope decays,the daughter isotope that results is always a stable isotope.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 11: A Biography of Earth
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Cambrian Period is a time in Earth history when ____________.
A) the first abundant shelly organisms appear in the fossil record
B) Earth's interior was so hot that a solid outer crust, if present, was likely being extensively remelted
C) stable continental interiors, termed cratons, first formed
D) the dinosaurs appeared and came to dominate large-scale terrestrial life
Q2) The late Proterozoic Grenville orogen is an event related to the ____________.
A) uplift of the modern Rocky Mountains
B) uplift of the Ancestral Rockies
C) assembly of the supercontinent Pangaea
D) assembly of the supercontinent Rodinia
Q3) When did the human genus,Homo first appear on Earth?
A) 200 million years ago
B) 2.4 million years ago
C) 100,000 years ago
D) 10,000 years ago
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13
Chapter 12: Riches in Rock: Energy and Mineral Resources
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Congress has proposed storing nuclear waste beneath ____________.
A) Teapot Dome, Wyoming
B) Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
C) Yucca Mountain, Nevada
D) Camel Rock, New Mexico
Q2) The stereotypical gold rush prospector panning for gold in a stream bed is exploiting ____________.
A) magmatic deposits
B) placer deposits
C) residual mineral deposits
D) sedimentary deposits
Q3) Which of the following is a renewable resource?
A) coal
B) oil
C) wind
D) natural gas
Q4) Most metals used by society are obtained from ____________.
A) native metals
B) ore minerals
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Chapter 13: Unsafe Ground: Landslides and Other Mass Movements
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20 Verified Questions
20 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The principal difference between a debris flow and a debris slide is ____________.
A) the shape of the path taken by the moving mass
B) the grain size of the moving mass
C) that the former mass contains abundant water whereas the latter is dry
D) that the former mass contains pyroclastic debris from a volcanic eruption
Q2) The principal difference between a debris slide and a debris avalanche is ____________.
A) the shape of the path taken by the moving mass
B) the grain size of the moving mass
C) that the former mass contains abundant water whereas the latter is dry
D) that the former mass contains pyroclastic debris from a volcanic eruption
Q3) For dry sediments,the angle of repose is approximately ____________ degrees.
A) 10
B) 15
C) 20
D) 30
Q4) Mass wasting always involves a sudden movement of material downslope.
A)True
B)False
Page 15
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Chapter 14: Running Water: the Geology of Streams and Floods
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) All flooding events occur so rapidly that there is no time to alert people in harm's way.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The deltas of all major rivers consist of multiple radiating lobes of sediment in a "bird's foot" configuration,similar to the Mississippi River delta.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Ultimately,the base level of a stream valley can be no lower than ____________.
A) the average elevation of the continent on which it is found
B) sea level
C) the average elevation of the ocean basins
Q4) Which river threatens to capture the flow of the Mississippi River?
A) Old Muddy River
B) New River
C) Atchafalaya River
D) Zydeco River
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Chapter 15: Restless Realm: Oceans and Coasts
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) As waves approach shore in shallow water their speed ____________.
A) increases
B) decreases
Q2) If currents are largely directed toward shore,the area is likely to experience
A) upwelling
B) downwelling
Q3) At the equatorial ocean basins,sea surface temperatures may reach 30°C or greater; at the sea floor 5 km below,the temperature is ____________.
A) slightly warmer (33°C)
B) about room temperature (25°C)
C) cool (10-15°C)
D) near freezing (2-4°C)
Q4) Most of the igneous rocks within oceanic abyssal plains are ____________.
A) exposed at the surface of the sea floor
B) covered by sand and gravel introduced by rivers at deltas
C) covered by clay and the skeletal remains of microplankton
D) covered by limestones made up of the fragments of large invertebrate shells
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Chapter 16: A Hidden Reserve: Groundwater
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Sample Questions
Q1) The majority of large cave and karst systems have resulted from ____________ etching into ____________.
A) carbonic acid; limestone
B) ascorbic acid; dolostone
C) phosphoric acid; shale
D) sea water; rock salt
Q2) Bioremediation of contaminated groundwater involves ____________.
A) introducing laboratory-cultured viruses that can dissolve the plume
B) pumping oxygen and nutrients into a contaminant plume to help local bacteria metabolize the plume
C) pumping out the contaminated groundwater and using it to irrigate genetically modified crops
Q3) As a rule,groundwater always flows from areas ____________.
A) of greater elevation to those of lesser elevation
B) of greater water pressure to those of lesser water pressure
C) of greater hydraulic head to those of lesser hydraulic head
D) near streams to areas beneath mountain ranges
Q4) A dry well will result whenever the base of the well is above the water table.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 17: Dry Regions: the Geology of Deserts
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25 Verified Questions
25 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The highest recorded temperature on Earth was in a ____________.
A) tropical rainforest in Brazil
B) low-latitude, high-elevation desert in Mexico
C) high-latitude, high-elevation desert in Mongolia
D) low-latitude, low-elevation desert in Libya
Q2) The Atacama of Chile is a desert primarily because it is located ____________.
A) in the subtropics
B) near the geographic south pole
C) near the center of a large continent
D) next to a cold ocean current
Q3) Most regions that are now deserts have ____________.
A) been deserts throughout the geologic past
B) experienced other climates in the geologic past
Q4) Most hot deserts ____________.
A) retain their high temperatures throughout the night, because there is no vegetation to absorb heat from the sediment at the surface
B) cool off greatly at night, because of sparse vegetation and little cloud cover
C) cool off slightly at night, by no more than 10°C
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Page 19
Chapter 18: Amazing Ice: Glaciers and Ice Ages
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Sample Questions
Q1) Cape Cod,Massachusetts,and Long Island,New York,are both examples of Pleistocene glacial ____________ that have been further built up by wave-deposited sands.
A) drumlins
B) kettles
C) eskers
D) end moraines
Q2) Areas on the southern margins of the continental glaciers of the northern hemisphere were much ____________ during Plio-Pleistocene glaciations than they are today,as suggested by evidence of large ____________ during this time.
A) warmer; tropical rainforests
B) wetter; tropical rainforests
C) drier; deserts
D) wetter; pluvial lakes
Q3) The current interglacial interval began a little more than ____________ years ago.
A) 1000
B) 10,000
C) 100,000
D) 1,000,000
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Chapter 19: Global Change in the Earth System
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20 Verified Questions
20 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following types of global change is not part of a cycle of change,and thus irreversible?
A) orogenic uplift
B) melting and crystallization of sedimentary rock to form igneous rock
C) evolution of life on Earth
D) flooding of the continents due to global warming
Q2) Pollen has changed over time through evolution,but the pollen of individual species cannot be used to interpret ancient environments because most species inhabit all environments.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The hole in the ozone layer has been brought about by anthropogenic emissions of
A) carbon dioxide
B) methane
C) chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
D) polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
Q4) All changes within the Earth system are unidirectional and cannot be reversed.
A)True
B)False
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