Geology Exam Past Questions With Correct
Answers Graded A+
Which of the following is not one of the three primary ways minerals can form?
Erosion
Which of the following correctly lists the main soil horizons (in a well-developed soil profile) from the
bottom to the top?
C horizon, B horizon, E horizon, A horizon, O horizon
Submarine volcanos are called ________ and are most commonly composed of _________.
seamounts, basalt
Which of the following rocks would most likely experience sheeting?
granite
________ provided incredible information before and during the Mt. St. Helens eruptions of 1980 but
have had significant technological improvements since that time as they transitioned to digital data
transfer and recordings.
Seismometers
How is carbonic acid formed in nature?
Atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolves in raindrops.
Evidence of ancient climates such as ________ provide an observable fact for plate tectonics theory.
the Dwyka tillite in South Africa
________ weathering occurs when rock masses do not weather uniformly due to differences in
resistance or environmental factors.
Differential
Which of the following would decrease the viscosity of magma?
an increase in temperature
Why are soils in tropical rain forests not well suited for intensive farming?
Soluble materials and nutrients are severely leached from the soil.
The Dust Bowl had profound ________.
all of the above
The __________ is a cool, rigid outer shell that overlies the __________, which is softer and weaker
than the ___________.
lithosphere, asthenosphere, lithosphere
Which volcanic hazard can collapse sturctures and alter Earth's climate?
, Volcanic ash
A hypothesis _______.
may be supported or unsupported by experimental results
is an untested or tentative explanation
may need to be tested again after data is analyzed
________ is a mineral's resistance to deformation while ________ is (are) the tendency of a mineral
to break along a flat plane of weak bonding and _________ fracture describes how a rough surface is
formed when a mineral does not have a plane of weakness.
Tenacity, clevage, irregular
In general, where do volcanoes form in subduction zones?
on the overriding plate, away form the convergent boundary
________ is when iron particles in lavas align their magnetic fields with magnetic north, preserving a
record of that pole's location at that moment in time.
Paleomagnetism
Gravity-driven erosional agents include ___________.
water and glacial ice
What kind of tectonic boundary would have ultimately formed when the ancestral North American
tectonic plate collided with the ancestral African plate as Pangea formed 250-300 million years ago?
continental-continental convergent
A relatively flat expansive region above sea level composed of deformed igneous and metamorphic
rocks that are covered by sedimentary rocks is called a ________.
stable platform
The ________ is a layer of liquid nickel and iron that is believed to be responsible for generating the
Earth's magnetic field.
outer core
Vegetation type is the primary factor that causes differences among soils.
False
What hazards impacted the islands in the Pacific near the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano as a
result of the January 15, 2022 eruption?
tsunami
ash fall
Continental and Oceanic rifting occurs __________.
where hot mantle plumes move upwards
Answers Graded A+
Which of the following is not one of the three primary ways minerals can form?
Erosion
Which of the following correctly lists the main soil horizons (in a well-developed soil profile) from the
bottom to the top?
C horizon, B horizon, E horizon, A horizon, O horizon
Submarine volcanos are called ________ and are most commonly composed of _________.
seamounts, basalt
Which of the following rocks would most likely experience sheeting?
granite
________ provided incredible information before and during the Mt. St. Helens eruptions of 1980 but
have had significant technological improvements since that time as they transitioned to digital data
transfer and recordings.
Seismometers
How is carbonic acid formed in nature?
Atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolves in raindrops.
Evidence of ancient climates such as ________ provide an observable fact for plate tectonics theory.
the Dwyka tillite in South Africa
________ weathering occurs when rock masses do not weather uniformly due to differences in
resistance or environmental factors.
Differential
Which of the following would decrease the viscosity of magma?
an increase in temperature
Why are soils in tropical rain forests not well suited for intensive farming?
Soluble materials and nutrients are severely leached from the soil.
The Dust Bowl had profound ________.
all of the above
The __________ is a cool, rigid outer shell that overlies the __________, which is softer and weaker
than the ___________.
lithosphere, asthenosphere, lithosphere
Which volcanic hazard can collapse sturctures and alter Earth's climate?
, Volcanic ash
A hypothesis _______.
may be supported or unsupported by experimental results
is an untested or tentative explanation
may need to be tested again after data is analyzed
________ is a mineral's resistance to deformation while ________ is (are) the tendency of a mineral
to break along a flat plane of weak bonding and _________ fracture describes how a rough surface is
formed when a mineral does not have a plane of weakness.
Tenacity, clevage, irregular
In general, where do volcanoes form in subduction zones?
on the overriding plate, away form the convergent boundary
________ is when iron particles in lavas align their magnetic fields with magnetic north, preserving a
record of that pole's location at that moment in time.
Paleomagnetism
Gravity-driven erosional agents include ___________.
water and glacial ice
What kind of tectonic boundary would have ultimately formed when the ancestral North American
tectonic plate collided with the ancestral African plate as Pangea formed 250-300 million years ago?
continental-continental convergent
A relatively flat expansive region above sea level composed of deformed igneous and metamorphic
rocks that are covered by sedimentary rocks is called a ________.
stable platform
The ________ is a layer of liquid nickel and iron that is believed to be responsible for generating the
Earth's magnetic field.
outer core
Vegetation type is the primary factor that causes differences among soils.
False
What hazards impacted the islands in the Pacific near the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano as a
result of the January 15, 2022 eruption?
tsunami
ash fall
Continental and Oceanic rifting occurs __________.
where hot mantle plumes move upwards
