Physical Geography
Exam Preparation Guide
Course Introduction
Physical Geography explores the natural features and processes that shape the Earths surface, including landforms, climate, vegetation, soils, and water systems. This course examines the complex interactions between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere, helping students understand the dynamic systems that govern our planets physical environment. Through analyzing maps, satellite imagery, case studies, and fieldwork, students will gain insight into topics such as plate tectonics, weather patterns, biomes, and human impacts on the environment. The foundational knowledge from this course provides the tools necessary for further study in environmental science, ecology, and earth sciences.
Recommended Textbook
Earth An Introduction to Physical Geology 4th Canadian Edition by Edward J. Tarbuck
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20 Chapters
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Page 2
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Geology and Plate Tectonics
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Sample Questions
Q1) Time scales and intervals of importance to geologic processes ________.
A)range from less than a millisecond to billions of years
B)range only from days to millions of years
C)must be at least as long as the epochs in the geologic time scale
D)must be shorter than seismic wave vibrations or longer than mantle convection cycles but nothing in between
Answer: A
Q2) List the two, broad, traditional subject areas of geologic study.
Answer: physical and historical geology
Q3) What type of rock comprises most of the exposed surface of Earth (roughly 75%)?
Answer: sedimentary
Q4) List three possible ways that land animals could have travelled from one continent to another in the distant geologic past.
Answer: any three: 1)rafting, 2)land links like an isthmus, 3), island hopping, or 4)continental rifting and drifting since they were all together
Q5) Seafloor spreading is the dominant process at convergent plate margins.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 2: Minerals: The Building Blocks of Rocks
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Sample Questions
Q1) Cleavage is determined by ________ and ________ well formed planes of weakness in a stressed mineral structure
A)the iridescence, shape of
B)the hardness, thickness of C)the number, angles between
D)the twinning, separation of
Answer: C
Q2) Which of the following is not a fundamental particle found in atoms?
A)neutron
B)selectron
C)electron
D)proton
Answer: B
Q3) Which group of minerals are the most abundant in the Earth's crust?
A)sulphides
B)carbonates
C)silicates
D)chlorides
Answer: C
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Igneous Rocks
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Sample Questions
Q1) The large variety of igneous rock types indicates a large number of different primary magmas exist.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Tabular sills and lava flows often have regular geometric grids of vertically oriented, thermal shrinkage cracks called ________.
A)arthritic joints
B)columnar joints
C)hot flashes
D)honeycomb fractures
Answer: B
Q3) What term denotes the larger mineral grains in a porphyritic igneous rock?
Answer: phenocryst
Q4) ________ is the term for the liquid portion of magma.
Answer: Melt
Q5) Which process describes how the removal and isolation of early-formed mineral grains can cause the composition of the remaining magma to change?
Answer: crystal settling
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Chapter 4: Volcanoes and Volcanic Processes
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Sample Questions
Q1) Obviously large volumes of lava and pyroclastic debris pose serious hazards to humans.What are some of the more indirect hazards associated with volcanic eruptions? Which of these indirect hazards are more likely to be overlooked when planning for potential eruptions in a given area? Why?
Q2) What volcanoes have the highest elevations?
A)composite volcanoes
B)shield
C)cinder cones
D)stratospheric
Q3) What type are the volcanoes of the Cascades and Alaska's Aleutian Islands?
A)composite volcanoes
B)shield
C)cinder cones
D)stratospheric
Q4) Mafic magma is more likely to erupt explosively and form pyroclastic deposits than felsic or andesitic magma.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What is the most abundant gaseous component dissolved in most magmas?
Page 6
Q6) What term describes a liquid's characteristic stiffness and resistance to flow?
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Chapter 5: Weathering and Soil
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Sample Questions
Q1) Frost wedging is the major weathering process contributing to the formation of which regolith material?
A)tropical laterites
B)talus slopes
C)C soil horizons
D)lunar soils
Q2) What two factors speed up rates of chemical reaction and weathering in rocks and soils?
A)low temperatures; very dry
B)low temperatures; very moist
C)high temperatures; very dry
D)warm temperatures; very moist
Q3) Weathering only acts on naturally occurring rocks and minerals, not on man made substances like concrete, glass, metal, or plastic.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What are the environmental effects of acid rain?
Q5) List three possible sources of acidity to promote the natural chemical weathering of minerals.
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Chapter 6: Sedimentary Rocks
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Sample Questions
Q1) What kind of rocks have the lowest porosity and permeability?
Q2) Which is the most common, chemical, sedimentary rock?
Q3) Where would you expect turbidites to form?
A)on sandy beaches
B)at the base of the continental slope
C)limestone reefs and banks
D)out the rear end of a dinosaur
Q4) The chemical sedimentary rock, conglomerate, is composed of gravel-size, rounded, calcite oolites.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Flint, jasper, and travertine are microcrystalline forms of calcite.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Flint and jasper are microcrystalline forms of ________.
Q7) How can crystalline chemical sedimentary rocks be distinguished from igneous rocks?
Q8) Travertine is a specific form of what common mineral?
Q10) What type of sandstone contains a clay-rich matrix? Page 8
Q9) How are sedimentary environments categorized or distinguished from each other?
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Page 9
Chapter 7: Metamorphism and Metamorphic Rocks
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Sample Questions
Q1) Three major factors involved in metamorphism are elevated temperature, elevated pressure, and the chemical action of hot fluids.
A)True
B)False
Q2) ________ is a strong, parallel alignment of coarse mica flakes and/or of different mineral bands in a metamorphic rock.
A)Rock cleavage
B)Foliation
C)Brecciation
D)Shear stress
Q3) A large block of sedimentary rock that has fallen into the top of a magma chamber and become metamorphosed is called ________.
A)an astrobleme
B)an inverted aureole
C)an amphibolite boudin
D)a roof pendant
Q4) What is the opposite of brittle deformation and give an example of a texture that forms this other way?
Q5) What three factors or processes govern the development of foliation?
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Chapter 8: Geologic Time
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Sample Questions
Q1) Monotids and inoceramids are planktonic microfossils useful for zoning the Cenozoic Era.
A)True
B)False
Q2) What is the useful range of ages that can be determined using the C-14 dating method?
Q3) Assume that human recorded history can be stretched back to 4600 years before the present.This is approximately what fraction of geologic time?
A)one ten-thousandth
B)one millionth
C)one billionth
D)one hundred-thousandth
Q4) 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
Q5) Name the two Quaternary Epochs.
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Chapter 9: Crustal Deformation
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Sample Questions
Q1) The oldest, sedimentary rock strata are exposed along the axial parts of deeply eroded anticlines.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Quartzite or marble is more likely to exhibit brittle behaviour?
Q3) The ________ in California is the boundary between the North American and Pacific lithospheric plates.
A)San Andreas strike-slip fault
B)Garlock left-lateral strike-slip fault
C)Moine thrust fault
D)Queen Charlotte-Fairweather right-lateral strike-slip fault
Q4) Since the San Andreas fault started moving about 29 million years ago it has moved a total distance of 560 kilometres.How many centimetres does it move per year on average?
A)0.193 cm/yr
B)0.518 cm/yr
C)1.93 cm/yr
D)5.18 cm/yr
Q5) Which types of rocks are the easiest in which to recognize and map structures and why is this so?
Page 12
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Chapter 10: Earthquakes and Earth's Interior
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Sample Questions
Q1) The most damaging type of earthquake wave for buildings and engineering structures on top of the ground is a surface wave with horizontal motion back and forth parallel to the passing wave front.Which description fits this type of surface wave?
A)The little parcel of rock rotates about its own location in an ellipse until the wave passes.
B)The little parcel of rock shimmies from side to side as the wave passes, with the greatest motion at the Earth's surface, dying out with depth.
C)The volume of the rock stays fixed, but it shears back and forth, distorting the rock's internal shape as the wave passes through.
D)The rock moves toward and away from the earthquake as the volume of the material alternately expands and contracts, changing the rock's density while the compression-rarefaction wave passes through.
Q2) What are the smaller magnitude quakes that follow a major earthquake?
A)aftershocks
B)airshocks
C)hyposhocks
D)epishocks
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Page 13
Chapter 11: The Ocean Floor
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Sample Questions
Q1) If the seafloor is all made at the mid-ocean ridge system, and there its topography is rough, how do the abyssal plains get so very flat?
Q2) The geologic process responsible for the most rugged relief on the seabed of a passive continental margin is ________.
A)active explosive submarine volcanism
B)deposits of major river deltas
C)dredging and bottom dragging in shelf fisheries for scallops and groundfish
D)glacial erosion and deposition modified by rising sea levels.
Q3) ________ is/are most soluble in cold seawater at ocean depths in excess of 4500 metres.
A)Clay minerals
B)Quartz
C)Calcite
D)Manganese oxides
Q4) Where are the greatest number of deep ocean trenches found?
A)along the western edge of North America
B)along the western edge of the Pacific
C)along the eastern margins of the Atlantic
D)around the rim of the Arctic
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Chapter 12: Plate Tectonics: The Framework for Modern Geology
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the most likely explanation for why there are no islands, only deep seamounts and guyots NW of Kauai towards Midway?
A)The seafloor farther from the current hot spot has aged and cooled off, so the volcanoes eroded and sank below sea level.
B)The hot spot was less vigorous from 27 to 65 million years than subsequently.
C)The Pacific plate moved much faster during the period in question and there wasn't time to build tall volcanoes over the Hawaiian hot spot.
D)The intervening seafloor is thinner so it sat higher and eroded off all the volcanoes.
Q2) ________ the west coast of South America
A)convergent
B)transform
C)divergen
Q3) The magnetic inclination of a lava flow that originally cooled near the equator is shallow.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What is measured with GPS for measuring plate tectonic separations?
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Chapter 13: Mountain Building and Continental Frameworks
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Sample Questions
Q1) Mountain belts formed in several stages by the opening and closing of the Iapetus Ocean in the Paleozoic, include the ________.
A)Appalachians and Caledonians
B)European Alps
C)East African rift
D)NE edge of Indian Ocean
Q2) The placement of hotter than average mantle weakens the mantle's ability to support the continental crust and the crust founders and sags down, reducing its regional elevation.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What ocean basin was destroyed and finally had its last sliver obducted to make the ophiolite between the Humber Zone and the Gander Terrane?
A)Iapetus
B)Atlantic
C)Arctic
D)Fundy
Q4) What are two broad ideas on the pace of evolution of continents?
Q5) What does the Trans Hudson Orogen represent?
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Chapter 14: Mass Wasting: The Work of Gravity
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the physical mechanism that drives creep?
A)erosion and sedimentation
B)freeze/thaw or wet/dry cycles
C)gravity fluctuations during earthquakes
D)overbearing slopes
Q2) Choose the option that does not fit the pattern.
A)rate of movement
B)material
C)motion
D)age
Q3) Choose the option that does not fit the pattern.
A)slope angle
B)water
C)vegetation
D)earthquake
Q4) What term denotes the exposed slip (fracture)surface beneath a slump block?
A)scoop
B)sole
C)toe
D)scarp
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Chapter 15: Running Water
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Sample Questions
Q1) Braided streams commonly form when their sediment loads exceed their competence or capacity.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Where turbulent water flows around irregularities on the stream flow, ________ commonly form.
Q3) How can a stream "lengthen" its course?
Q4) ________ is the sediment transport mode in which sand grains alternately bounce up into the water column, sink and roll, or skip along the bottom before bouncing again.
Q5) Are there any alternative flood control measures other than structural dams, levees, and channelization?
Q6) In a ________ drainage pattern that is generally developed in areas underlain by tilted or folded strata, tributary streams flow along outcrop areas of the softer strata.
A)trellis
B)dendritic
C)rectangular
D)radial
Q7) ________ refers to unconsolidated sediments deposited from streams.
18
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Chapter 16: Groundwater
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Sample Questions
Q1) Groundwater is not susceptible to any lasting or persistent pollution because it is turned over and replaced so quickly.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which would be the most prone to surface contamination from runoff and infiltration?
A)an aquifer with a thick, overlying, unsaturated vadose zone
B)deep confined aquifers directly below contaminated sites
C)shallow aquifers with thin soils or unconsolidated coarse overburden
D)wells a few hundred metres uphill from septic systems in rugged mountainous terrain
Q3) Excessive groundwater withdrawals can cause ________.
A)uplift through expansion of the dewatered aquifer
B)the water table to decline in elevation and land to subside
C)porosity in the aquifer to increase as the water is removed
D)the cone of depression to invert
Q4) Most caves and caverns originate by dissolution of limestone, enlarging fractures and bedding planes.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 17: Glaciers and Glaciation
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Sample Questions
Q1) Crevasses are short, narrow cracks in the plastic flow zone of a glacier that alternately open and close as the ice flows along.
A)True
B)False
Q2) All unconsolidated glacial sediments irrespective of grain size, sorting, or depositional process are referred to as till.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What are two problems with Paul Hoffman's "Snowball Earth Hypothesis"?
Q4) Briefly describe the three processes that lead to the formation of a glacier.
Q5) Alpine glaciers form in pre-existing stream valleys at high altitudes.
A)True
B)False
Q6) A(n)________ represents a former meltwater channel or tunnel on, in, or beneath glacial ice, that became filled with sand and gravel.
A)drumlin
B)esker
C)kettle
D)valley train
20
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Chapter 18: Deserts and Winds
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Sample Questions
Q1) The tips of ________ dunes point upwind and commonly result from persistent, onshore winds in certain coastal areas.
A)parabolic
B)barchan
C)longitudinal
D)transverse
Q2) Choose the option that does not fit the pattern.
A)desert floor dust
B)bare bedrock
C)fresh stratified drift
D)fresh ground moraine
Q3) ________ have rainfall amounts and soil moisture contents between those of true deserts and humid lands.
A)Tundras
B)Steppes
C)Shelves
D)Sabkhas
Q4) Sand dunes cover more than 50 percent of most desert lands.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 19: Shorelines
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Sample Questions
Q1) Spits and tombolos are deposited by reversing tides or wave generated currents.
A)True
B)False
Q2) ________ is the turbulent water created by breaking waves.
A)Translatory wave motion
B)Refracted wave
C)Tombolo
D)Surf
Q3) If the distance from one wave crest to the next is 10 metres, what will the depth to the wave base be?
A)2 metres
B)5 metres
C)11 metres
D)20 metres
Q4) Incoming waves slow down and rotate toward an orientation of being parallel to the shoreline.This process is known as ________.
A)refluxing
B)refraction
C)reflection
D)relaxing
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Chapter 20: Mineral and Energy Resources
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Sample Questions
Q1) From trapping ocean water, the world's largest tidal power plant for generating electricity is ________.
A)in Iceland on the mid Atlantic ridge
B)on the isle of Islay in Scotland
C)in La Rance River estuary, Brittany, along the Atlantic coast of France
D)at the Annapolis Tidal Power Generating Station on the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia
Q2) 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
Q3) Choose the option that does not fit the pattern.
A)coal-bed methane
B)wind
C)tidal
D)landfill methane
Q4) Chalcopyrite and bornite are sulphide ore minerals of ________.
Q5) Put a star around any two cumulate or primary magmatic ore deposits.
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