Geology Midterm Practice answered questions 2022

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The age of Earth - 4.6 billion years - is determined by numerical age-dating of meteorites. a) True b) False - ANSWER a The history of past rises and falls of sea level can be interpreted from s ... ystematic changes in the depositional environments of sequences of sedimentary rock. a) True b) False - ANSWER a What is the youngest unit or feature in this figure? a)1 b)2 c)3 d)4 e) there is no way to tell - ANSWER 4 The picture below shows an outcrop of crossbedded sandstone in Zion National Park (note the tree for scale). Which description below best describes how the cross bedding in these rocks formed? a) multiple episodes of tilting and erosion of the sedimentary beds b) deposition of receding flood waters along the banks of a river c) sand grains cascading down the downwind slope of a large sand dune d) deposition in a low energy, deep lagoon - ANSWER a The Kaibab Limestone in the Grand Canyon is an example of a biochemical sedimentary rock. Such biochemical sedimentary rocks can be recognized by: a) the lack of horizontal layering or stratification, which are present only in clastic sedimentary rocks b) the fact they are composed primarily of shells of organisms and the fine lime mud generated by breakdown of these shells c)the presence of mineral and rock fragments derived from other rocks d) the fact that biochemical sediments rarely contain fossils - ANSWER b On a topographic map, a mountain peak would be represented by: a) concentric contours b) tightly spaced parallel contours c) widely spaced parallel contours d) a series of parallel "V" shaped contours - ANSWER a During deposition of the Red wall Limestone (now exposed in the Grand Canyon), the environment of the American West had: a) vast, windswept deserts with high sand dunes b) waves lapping against a sandy beach along a seashore c) dense swamps and tropical forests with accumulation of rotting plant material d) abundant hard-shelled creatures living in a warm, shallow, tropical sea e) fine mud deposited at the mouth of a river in a delta - ANSWER d The two common lava types in Hawaii, pahoehoe and a'a, may be distinguished by: a) the smooth surface of a'a flows b) the lower viscosity, and therefore flow velocity of a'a c) the pillow structures formed exclusively in a'a lava d) the blocky surface of the more viscous a'a flows - ANSWER d Which of the following is NOT involved in turning some sediment into sedimentary rock? a) burial b) compaction c) cementation d) metamorphism e) all of these are involved - ANSWER d You are rafting down the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park and, as you approach a particularly wild set of rapids, your friend says "I wonder how the Grand Canyon was formed?" Not having much time, you might say nervously all of the following brief responses except the one answer that is false: a) Differential erosion! b) Downcutting by the Colorado River! c) Landslides and rockfalls! d) Uplift of the Colorado Plateau! e) Huge floods during the Paleozoic! - ANSWER e The two main classifications of sedimentary rocks are: a) limestone and sandstone b) inorganic and biogenic c) inorganic and fossiliferous d) marine and terrigenous e) clastic and biochemical - ANSWER e Which type of map or diagram would best indicate absolute elevation of the land surface? a) shaded-relief map b) satellite image c) topographic map d) stratigraphic section - ANSWER c Fossils reveal all of the following pieces of information about the sedimentary rocks in which they're found except: a) the depositional environment of the rock b) the relative age of the rock, based on faunal succession c) the evidence for the evolution of life through time d) the age of weathering and erosion of the rock - ANSWER d In places in the Grand Canyon, gently ti [Show More]

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