Practice Material
for Spring 2007 Exam I
Course material covered:
Textbook: Chapters 1, 2 and 3
Lecture
topics: Environmental Geology
Introduction; Earth Composition; Systems and Cycles; Rocks and Minerals; Plate
Tectonics; Keweenaw Peninsula Geology
Format: mainly
multiple choice; bring calculators
Questions: may involve basic math calculations; will include
material from the text as well as material covered in lectures
Example test
from 2005:
GE2100 Environmental Geology - Spring 2005
Exam 1
There are 50 questions, worth 2 points each
1. Plate tectonics is unrelated to the rock cycle and, in fact, has made the rock-cycle concept obsolete.
2. Earthquakes occur at subduction zones, but volcanoes do not because the subducted lithosphere is pushed deep into the mantle.
3. The Himalaya Mountains were formed by repeated volcanic eruptions over a zone of hot spots.
4. Along a transform fault, between offset segments of a spreading ridge, two plates are moving together in the same direction.
5. Rifting occurs at oceanic spreading ridges, but not within continents, because continents are so thick and strong.
6. Plate boundaries are located, in part, by the occurrence of linear belts of volcanoes and earthquakes.
7. The grain size of an igneous rock is generally related to how quickly the melt cooled: the slower the cooling, the coarser the crystals.
8. Clastic sedimentary rocks are classified or named on the basis of the size of the fragments that form the rock.
9. Diamond and graphite have the same crystal structure; their properties are different because of differences in chemical composition.
10. The physical properties of a mineral are often closely related to its internal atomic arrangement, or crystal structure.
11. The massive size of continents contributes to their permanence; they have remained stable and virtually unchanged since they formed.
12. The earth's core consists mainly of iron; the least dense minerals are found in the crust.
13. It is impossible to know the internal composition or structure of the earth because geologists cannot sample the interior.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
14. Typical rates of plate movement are
A) 2 to 10 centimeters per year.
B) 2 to 10 meters per year.
C) 2 to 10 kilometers per year.
D) 2 to 10 miles per year.
15. The locations and ages of islands in the Hawaiian Island chain can be used to show
A) the direction of drift of North America.
B) the rate and direction of movement of the Pacific Plate.
C) the size of earthquakes to be expected in the Pacific Ocean.
D) all of the above
16. At a convergent plate boundary,
A) sea floor is produced.
B) high mountains may be built during continent-continent collision.
C) there are very few earthquakes.
D) all of the above
17. Which of the following is not a feature of divergent plate boundaries?
A) rising magma
B) subduction
C) transform faults
D) earthquakes
18. With increasing distance from an oceanic ridge,
A) the rocks become older.
B) the rocks become younger.
C) the rocks' ages alternate between younger and older.
D) all of the above; different patterns occur at different ridges.
19. Evidence for plate tectonics includes all of the following except
A) polar-wander curves.
B) magnetic ÒstripesÓ on the sea floor.
C) fossil correlation between continents.
D) the fact that earth's magnetic field reverses polarity from time to time.
20. Oceanic lithosphere
A) is made of alternating bands of rocks of different compositions.
B) is made of alternating bands of rocks of two different ages.
C) records magnetic ÒstripesÓ of normally and reversely magnetized rocks.
D) moves gradually toward the midocean ridges, where it is consumed.
21. According to plate-tectonic theory, plates of rigid, elastic __________ move over a weak layer below.
A) lithosphere
B) asthenosphere
C) mantle
D) core
22. Stress tending to pull objects apart is __________ stress.
A) compressive
B) tensile
C) shearing
D) elastic
23. Metamorphic rocks
A) may be formed only from preexisting sedimentary rocks.
B) must be heated sufficiently to melt.
C) are rocks changed through the effects of heat and pressure in the earth.
D) all of the above
24. An example of a chemical sedimentary rock is
A) granite.
B) limestone.
C) basalt.
D) graphite.
25. Clastic sedimentary rocks are formed
A) from the broken-up fragments of preexisting rocks.
B) from chemicals dissolved in solution.
C) at very high temperatures because the grains must be fused together to make rock.
D) all of the above
26. Which of the following is an igneous rock?
A) salt
B) limestone
C) granite
D) gneiss
27. Magma that is erupted at the earth's surface is
A) lava.
B) coarse-grained.
C) sedimentary.
D) granite.
28. An igneous rock
A) has crystallized from a melt.
B) has formed at high temperatures.
C) consists of tightly interlocking crystals.
D) all of the above
29. A group of silicates that includes minerals used in ceramics, construction, and oil drilling is
A) the clays.
B) the ferromagnesians.
C) the sulfides.
D) the slates.
30. Which of the following is a sulfide mineral?
A) quartz
B) pyrite
C) feldspar
D) mica
31. Which of the following is not a type of silicate?
A) quartz
B) feldspar
C) mica
D) diamond
32. Silicates rich in iron and/or magnesium are termed
A) cations.
B) feldspars.
C) ferromagnesian.
D) magnetite.
33. Native elements are those elements that
A) do not have more than one isotope.
B) are all those found naturally in the earth.
C) are common in rocks of the United States.
D) occur as minerals consisting of a single element.
34. The most common minerals in the crust are
A) carbonates.
B) silicates.
C) sulfates.
D) sulfides.
35. Which of the following is not a mineral?
A) quartz
B) mica
C) ice
D) oil
36. The main type of copper ores mined in the Keweenaw region were
A) copper sulfides
B) copper silicates
C) native copper
D) copper carbonates
37. In interactions between people and their geologic environment,
A) the environment has supplied valuable resources but also has posed hazards.
B) humans have little or no impact on the environment; the earth is large, and humans are small.
C) geologic hazards have posed equally serious threats throughout history because such catastrophic events as floods, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes cannot be controlled, predicted, or avoided.
D) all of the above
38. Life has existed on earth, in some form, for approximately _____ years.
A) one thousand
B) one million
C) ten million
D) one billion
39. Sources of heat in the early Earth included
A) compression by gravity.
B) the impact of colliding particles as they came together to form the earth.
C) decay of radioactive elements.
D) all of the above
40. The age of the earth is approximately
A) 450,000 years.
B) 4.5 million years.
C) 4.5 billion years.
D) 45 billion years.
41. Which rock represents the lowest energy depositional system?
A) Portage Lake Volcanics
B) Jacobsville Sandstone
C) Nonesuch Shale
D) Copper Harbor Conglomerate
42. Proposed solution mining at MichiganÕs White Pine Mine did not succeed because:
A) there was very little copper left to mine
B) the acid treatment was ineffective at extracting copper
C) there was too much competition from other Upper Peninsula copper mines
D) economic issues were too difficult, as the cost of copper was too low to make new mining efforts profitable
43. Carbon dioxide has been accumulating in the EarthÕs atmosphere over the past 100 years because:
A) the natural flux of carbon is accelerated by human use of fossil fuels
B) the rock reservoir has stabilized
C) the sunÕs energy is gradually decreasing
D) all of the above
44. Which of the following cities is located nearest an active plate boundary?
A) Houghton, MI
B) Honolulu, HI
C) New York City, NY
D) Anchorage, AK
45. Portions of the Pacific plate are subducting at a rate of 10 cm/yr. After 1000 years, waste material buried in the plate would subduct (theoretically):
A) 1 meter
B) 10 meters
C) 100 meters
D) 1000 meters
46. Calculate the atomic weight of one molecule of carbon dioxide, knowing the atomic weight of a carbon atom is 12, oxygen is 16, and hydrogen is 1.
A) 28
B) 29
C) 44
D) 45
47. From oldest to most recent, what is the order of the major processes involved in the formation and exposure of copper ores in the Keweenaw Peninsula?
A) glaciation, rifting, compression, subduction
B) subduction, fluid migration, metamorphism, glaciation
C) rifting, compression, fluid migration, glaciation
D) compression, rifting, metamorphism, glaciation
48. Fossil fuel burning has added 150 *109 metric tons of carbon to the atmosphere. If an engineering process removed carbon from the atmosphere at a rate of (3 *109 tons/year flux) how long would it take to return atmospheric carbon to pre-industrial levels, assuming no more carbon is added in the meantime?
A) 150 years
B) 50 years
C) 30 years
D) 3 years
49. Earthquake and volcanic activity can vary at subduction zones because
A) the subducted materials (e.g., rocks) vary in composition
B) subduction angles vary
C) subduction rates vary
D) all of the above
50. The Faint Young Sun problem showed that to maintain livable surface temperatures, the Earth needs an atmosphere with significant amounts of
A) methane and ammonia
B) hydrogen and carbon
C) water vapor and carbon dioxide
D) carbon and sulfur dioxide