Earth Science Second Test Samples Questions – Flashcards

When an earthquake occurs, energy radiates in all directions from its source region, called the ________, the spot in Earth's crust where a fault slips. A. Seismic zone B. Scarp C. Hypocenter D. Epicenter

If accumulation exceeds ablation in a glacial budget, which of the following will happen? A. The glacier will begin to flow uphill. B. The terminus will move downhill ("advance"). C. The terminus will shift uphill ("retreat"). D. The glacier will melt away due to climate change.

Linear, magnetic patterns associated with mid-ocean ridges are configured as ________. A. Normal and reversed magnetized strips roughly perpendicular to the ridge axis B. Reversed magnetizations along the rift valleys and normal magnetizations on the ridge C. Normal and reversed magnetized strips roughly parallel to the ridge D. Concentric circles about a rising plume of hot, mantle rocks and magma

Three of the following statements are wrong. One is correct. Which of the following statements is correct? A. P and S waves travel through liquids, but P waves do not travel through solids. B. S waves travel through solids, but only P waves travel through liquids. C. P waves travel through solids; S waves do not. D. P and S waves travel through liquids, but S waves do not travel through solids.

Which one of the following is NOT true of glaciers? A. They exist only in the Northern Hemisphere. B. They originate on land. C. They form from the recrystallization of snow. D. They show evidence of flow (either in the present or in the recent past).

Ten million years from now, the East African rift valley system will most closely resemble the modern ________. A. Peru-Chile Trench B. San Andreas Fault C. Appalachian Mountains D. Red Sea

Where do crevasses form? A. Below the zone of fracture B. At the terminus C. In icebergs D. In the zone of fracture

Under typical conditions, glaciers flow ________. A. Throughout the entire glacial ice mass B. At a rate between 1.6 to 8 kilometers per hour (1 and 5 miles per hour) C. Only when the snow is falling D. At a rate between 2 meters (6.5 feet) and 800 meters (2600 feet) per year

You are dropped off by helicopter at a site on the land. You are told that it is a plate boundary. Almost immediately, you feel an earthquake. You look around and note the absence of volcanoes, but you notice an offset stream channel, and find a vertical fault with two kinds of rock on either side of it. What sort of plate boundary are you most likely on? A. Divergent B. Plate interior (hot spot) C. Transform D. Convergent

On a typical seismogram, ________ will show the highest amplitudes. A. S waves B. Surface waves C. Body waves D. P waves

Ephemeral streams ________. A. Flow all the time B. Are a major agent of erosion in desert regions C. Are limited to rainshadow deserts D. Are a major agent of erosion in areas of ground moraine

Alfred Wegener included all of the following lines of evidence as supporting his "continental drift" hypothesis except one. Which was NOT part of Wegener's evidence? A. The geometrical fit between South America and Africa B. Similar fossils on widely-separated continents C. Late Paleozoic glacial features D. Stripes of reverse magnetism on either side of oceanic rides

A volcanic island arc is the result of ________. A. Subduction of continental crust underneath continental crust B. Subduction of oceanic crust underneath continental crust C. Subduction of continental crust underneath oceanic crust D. Subduction of oceanic crust underneath oceanic crust

The distance between a seismological recording station and the earthquake source is determined from the ________. A. Intensity of the earthquake B. Length of the seismic record C. Arrival times of P and S waves D. Earthquake magnitude

Imagine that you were given a ship equipped with a device that could measure how deep the water is. You are asked to use this ship to find a subduction zone. What would you look for as you sailed around the world's oceans? A. A mountain range B. A deep-ocean trench C. A continental rift D. An oceanic ridge

Among the following choices, the closest match for the East Pacific Rise is ________. A. The San Andreas Fault B. The Appalachian Mountains C. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge D. The Mariana Trench

When new oceanic lithosphere is generated at an oceanic ridge, what happens to the plate it's attached to? A. The plate gets larger. B. The plate sinks into the lower mantle. C. The plate gets smaller. D. The plate stays the same size.

Which one of the following statements about the crust is NOT true? A. Oceanic crust has an average composition of granite. B. It is the thinnest of the major subdivisions. C. Continental rocks are compositionally different than oceanic rocks. D.It is thickest where prominent mountains exist.

A global positioning system (GPS) locator at site A reveals that it is moving at 2.1 centimeters per year to the east. A second GPS locator is tracking site B, which is moving at 2.0 centimeters per year to the west. What sort of plate boundary is this? A. Transform B. Divergent C. Convergent D. Impossible to tell based on this information alone

In the early part of the twentieth century, ________ argued forcefully for the idea of continental drift. A. James Hutton B. Harry Hess C. Alfred Wegener D. Richard Wagner

How is desert different from steppe? A. Steppe occurs at subtropical latitudes, but not at mid-latitudes in continental interiors. B. Desert is more humid than steppe. C. Desert occurs at subtropical latitudes, but not at mid-latitudes in continental interiors. D. Steppe is more humid than desert.

Which of the following statements about the mantle is TRUE? A. The asthenosphere and lower mantle are made of roughly the same composition material, only it behaves differently in the asthenosphere. B. The upper mantle is liquid, but the lower mantle is solid. C. The lithospheric mantle moves independently of the overlying plates. D. The lower mantle is significantly less dense than the upper mantle.

________ are erosional features produced by valley (alpine) glaciers. A. Eskers B. Cirques C. Moraines D. Drumlins

Where are drumlins formed? A. In fiords B. In areas of ground moraine C. In areas of alpine glaciation D. In areas of glacial plucking

Which of the following lakes formed over an immense area of the northern United States and southern Canada during the Quaternary Ice Age? A. Great Salt Lake B. Lake Agassiz C. Lake Bonneville D. Walden Pond

How do glaciers move? A. They slide along their bottoms, over the bedrock beneath. B. They flow internally, like Silly Putty. C. Both A and B D. Neither A nor B

A rainshadow desert forms ________. A. In places where mountain ranges act as barriers to the movement of water vapor B. In cold, polar regions C. When dry air descends from high in the atmosphere between 20° and 30° latitude D. Near the equator, where moist air rises (because it is hot and less dense) up, away from Earth's surface