PHYSICAL GEOLOGY TEST

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1. List the three major layers of the Earth. Which is the most dense, and which is the least
dense?
2. Compare and contrast the properties of the terrestrial planets with those of the Jovian
planets.
3. How old is the Earth?
4. How did the Sun form? How is its composition different from that of the Earth? Explain
the reasons for this difference.
5. Compare and contrast internal processes with surface processes.
6. Explain how the theory of the evolution of the Solar System explains the following
observations: a. All the planets in the Solar System are orbiting in the same direction. b.
All the planets in the Solar System except Pluto are orbiting in the same plane. c. The
chemical composition of Mercury is similar to that of the Earth. d. The Sun is composed
mainly of hydrogen and helium but also contains all the elements found on Earth. e.
Venus has a solid surface, whereas Jupiter is mainly a mixture of gases and liquids with
a small, solid core.
7. Jupiter is composed of solids such as rock, iron, and nickel; a vast amount of liquid
hydrogen; and gases such as hydrogen, helium, ammonia, and methane. From your
knowledge of the formation and structure of the Earth, which compounds do you
predict would make up Jupiters core, mantle, and outer shell?
8. Why are the oldest sea-floor rocks only about 200 million years old, whereas some
continental rocks are 3.96 billion years old?
9. Why would a lithospheric plate floating on the asthenosphere suddenly begin to sink
into the mantle to create a new subduction zone?
10. Why do most major continental mountain chains form at convergent plate boundaries?
What topographic and geologic features characterize divergent and transform plate
boundaries in continental crust? Where do these types of boundaries exist in
continental crust today?
11. How many supercontinents have formed in Earths history?
12. How many major tectonic plates exist? List them.
PHYSICAL GEOLOGY TEST

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13. Diamond and graphite are two minerals with identical chemical compositions, pure
carbon (C). Diamond is the hardest of all minerals, and graphite is one of the softest. If
their compositions are identical, why do they have such profound differences in
physical properties?
14. Quartz is SiO2. Why does no mineral exist with the composition SiO3?
15. If you were given a crystal of diamond and another of quartz, how would you tell
which is diamond?
16. Describe each of the three main geologic environments in which magma forms in large
quantities.
17. What is the most important concept described by the rock cycle?
18. Why do magmas begin to rise through the Earths outer layers as soon as they form?
19. What are the most common minerals in igneous rocks? Why?
20. What type of igneous rock is the most abundant constituent of continental crust? What
type makes up most oceanic crust?
21. Describe the mineralogy, texture, and common geologic occurrence of the following
types of igneous rocks: granite, rhyolite, basalt, gabbro, andesite, and peridotite.
22. Why is oceanic crust predominantly basalt, whereas continental crust is mainly of
granitic composition?
23. Explain why feldspar is the most abundant mineral in the Earths crust and yet is nearly
completely absent from the peridotite of the upper mantle.
24. What is pumice, and how does it form?
25. How does welded tuff form?
26. How does a caldera form?
27. Explain the difference between a dike and a sill.
28. How do columnar joints form in a basalt flow?
29. How and why does pressure affect the melting point of rock and, conversely, the
solidification temperature of magma? How does the explanation differ for basaltic and
granitic magma?
30. Why does water play an important role in magma generation in subduction zones, but
not in the other two major environments of magma generation?
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31. How could you distinguish between a sill exposed by erosion and a lava flow?
32. Explain why limestone dissolves very slowly in pure water. Why does it dissolve more
rapidly in strong acids? Why does it dissolve in rainwater?
33. What is hydrolysis? What happens when granitic rocks undergo hydrolysis? What
minerals react? What are the reaction products?
34. What types of weathering would predominate on the following fictitious planets?
Defend your conclusions. a. Planet X has a dense atmosphere composed of nitrogen,
oxygen, and water vapor with no carbon dioxide. Temperatures range from a low of
10C in the winter to 75C in the summer. Windstorms are common. No living
organisms have evolved. b. The atmosphere of Planet Y consists mainly of nitrogen and
oxygen with smaller concentrations of carbon dioxide and water vapor. Temperatures
range from a low of 60C in the polar regions in the winter to 35C in the tropics.
Windstorms are common. A lush blanket of vegetation covers most of the land surfaces.
35. The Arctic regions are cold most of the year, and summers are short there. Thus
decomposition of organic matter is slow. In contrast, decay is much more rapid in the
temperate regions. How does this difference affect the fertility of the soils?
36. Discuss the similarities and differences between salt cracking and frost wedging.
37. Why do sedimentary rocks cover more than 75 percent of the Earths land surface
when they compose only 5 percent of the volume of the continental crust?
38. Why is the maximum size of particles transported by wind finer than the maximum
size transported by streams?
39. Why are most sandstones made up predominantly of quartz?
40. In what geologic environment does arkose form?
41. How do shale, sandstone, and limestone differ from one another?
42. What does cross-bedding in a sandstone tell you about depositional environment?
43. What types of sedimentary structures would you expect to find under the following
circumstances? a. A catastrophic flood washes a huge amount of mixed sediment into a
lake. b. Sand accumulates in a dry, windy environment. The prevailing wind direction
shifts periodically, over a few million years. c. Mud collects on the bottom of a large,
shallow, inland sea.
PHYSICAL GEOLOGY TEST

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44. Field geologists sometimes come upon large sections of sedimentary rocks that have
been turned upside down by tectonic activities. How would you use sedimentary
structures to determine whether a sequence of sedimentary rocks is upright or
overturned?
45. On a field trip you discover a sequence of sedimentary rocks composed of thin black
shales containing marine fossils interbedded with layers of gypsum and halite. What
can you deduce about the depositional environment of these rocks?
46. Explain how deformation produces foliated textures in metamorphic rocks.
47. What rock types might form by contact metamorphism of limestone?
48. How does contact metamorphism differ from regional metamorphism?
49. What is a metamorphic facies?
50. What types of metamorphic rocks would you expect to find in the following
environments? a. adjacent to a hot spring in Yellowstone Park; b. in the Appalachian
Mountains, which is an old region of mountain building caused by collision of two
tectonic plates; c. at a depth of 6000 meters beneath southern Louisiana.
51. Some radioactive isotopes are useful for measuring relatively young ages, whereas
others are useful for measuring older ages. Why is this true?
52. What geologic event is actually measured by a radiometric age determination of an
igneous rock or mineral?
53. Why is the Phanerozoic Eon separated into so many subdivisions in contrast to much
longer Precambrian time, which has few subdivisions?
54. Give an example of how the principle of original horizontality might be used to
determine the order of events affecting a sequence of folded sedimentary rocks.
55. How does the principle of superposition allow us to determine the relative ages of a
sequence of unfolded sedimentary rocks?
56. Explain the principle of crosscutting relationships and how it can be used to determine
age relationships among sedimentary rocks.
57. Explain the differences among unconformities, disconformities, angular unconformities,
and nonconformities.
PHYSICAL GEOLOGY TEST

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58. Suppose that you landed on the Moon and were able to travel in a vehicle that could
carry you over the lunar surface to see a wide variety of rocks, but that you had no
laboratory equipment to work with. What principles and tools could you use to
determine relative ages of Moon rocks?
59. Imagine that one species lived between 538 and 505 million years ago and another
lived between 520 and 245 million years ago. What can you say about the age of a rock
that contains fossils of both species?
60. Suppose that you measured and described a sequence of Middle Paleozoic sedimentary
rocks in northern Ohio and later did the same with a sequence of the same age in
Wyoming. How would you correlate the two sections?
61. What is the Moho? How was it discovered?
62. Why do most earthquakes occur at the boundaries between tectonic plates? Are there
any exceptions?
63. Define focus and epicenter.
64. Discuss the differences between P waves, S waves, and surface waves.
65. Mortality was high in the India earthquake in 1993 because the quake occurred at
night when people were sleeping in their homes. However, mortality in the Northridge
earthquake was low because it occurred early in the morning rather than during rush
hour. Is there a contradiction in these two statements?
66. Explain why a continental shelf is made up of a foundation of granitic crust, whereas
the deep ocean floor is composed of basalt.
67. Why are turbidity currents often associated with earthquakes or with large floods in
major rivers?
68. Explain the origins of and differences between seamounts and island arcs.
69. How and why does an oceanic trench form?
70. At what type of tectonic plate boundary would you expect to find normal faults?
71. What mountain chain has formed at a divergent plate boundary? What are the main
differences between this chain and those developed at convergent boundaries? Explain
the differences.
PHYSICAL GEOLOGY TEST

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72. Explain why erosion initially causes a mountain range to rise and then eventually
causes the peak heights to decrease.
73. Describe the similarities and differences between an island arc and the Andes. Why do
the differences exist?
74. Describe the similarities and differences between the Andes and the Himalayan chain.
Why do the differences exist?
75. Why are thrust faults,reverse faults,and folds commonly found together?
76. Why do most major continental mountain chains form at convergent plate boundaries?
What topographic and geologic features characterize divergent and transform plate
boundaries in continental crust? Where do these types of boundaries exist in
continental crust today?
77. What types of mass wasting (if any) would be likely to occur in each of the following
environments? a. A very gradual (2 percent) slope in a heavily vegetated tropical
rainforest. b. A steep hillside composed of alternating layers of conglomerate, shale, and
sandstone, in a region that experiences distinct dry and rainy seasons. The dip of the
rock layers is parallel to the slope. c. A hillside similar to that of b, in which the rock
layers are oriented perpendicular to the slope. d. A steep hillside composed of clay in a
rainy environment in an active earthquake zone.
78. Why is mass wasting common in deserts and semiarid lands?
79. Compare and contrast creep, debris flow, and mudflow.
80. Distinguish among the three types of stream erosion: hydraulic action, solution, and
abrasion.
81. How is an alluvial fan similar to a delta? How do they differ?
82. Give two examples of natural features that create temporary base levels. Why are they
temporary?
83. How can a stream become rejuvenated? Give an example of a landform created by a
rejuvenated stream.
84. Explain the difference between an antecedent and a superposed stream.
85. Gold dust settles out in regions where stream velocity slows down. If you were panning
for gold, would you look for a. a graded stream or one with many temporary base
PHYSICAL GEOLOGY TEST

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levels? b. the inside or the outside of a stream bend? c. a rocky stream bed or a sandy
stream bed? d. a steep gradient or a shallow gradient portion of a stream? Give reasons
for each of your choices.
86. What type of drainage pattern would you expect in the following geologic
environments? a. Platform sedimentary rocks. b. A batholith fractured by numerous
faults. c. A flat plain with a composite volcano in the center. Defend your answers.
87. Describe the difference between porosity and permeability. Can soil or rock be porous
and not permeable? Permeable but not porous? Explain how caverns, speleothems, and
sinkholes form.
88. What is karst topography? How can it be recognized? How does it form?
89. Describe three types of heat source for a hot spring.
90. A neighbors underground fuel tank develops a leak. You live downhill from the
neighbor, and fuel oil floats to the surface in your yard. The tank was buried 3 meters
deep; your well is 50 meters deep. Your neighbors lawyer makes the following three
statements: (a) The fuel oil in your yard may have come from a more distant source and
may not be his clients responsibility; (b) even if his clients (your neighbors) tank did
leak, the tank capacity was only 1000 liters, so the total quantity of oil spilled would be
relatively small; (c) because oil floats, any spilled fuel would be unlikely to contaminate
your drinking water. Evaluate each of these statements.
91. Imagine that you live on a hill 25 meters above a nearby stream. You drill a well 40
meters deep and do not reach water. Explain.
92. Compare and contrast desert plateaus, mesas, and buttes.Describe the formation of each.
93. Compare and contrast pediments and bajadas.
94. Why are many deserts concentrated along zones at 30 latitude in both the Northern
and Southern Hemispheres?
95. Discuss two types of tectonic change that could produce deserts in previously humid
environments.
96. What type of dunes form under the following conditions? (a) Relatively high vegetation
cover, sand supply, and wind strength. (b) Low vegetation and sand supply.
PHYSICAL GEOLOGY TEST

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97. What type of environment would produce fossilized seashells embedded in lithified
sand dunes?
98. Explain the differences among a mid-oceanic current, a tidal current, a rip current, a
longshore current, and beach drift.
99. Compare and contrast a beach, a barrier island, and a spit.
100. What is a groin? How does it affect the beach in its immediate vicinity? How does it
affect the entire shoreline?
101. During World War II, few maps existed of the underwater profile of shore lines. When
planning amphibious attacks on beaches of the islands in the Pacific, Allied
commanders needed to know how deep the water was adjacent to the shore. Explain
how this information could be deduced from aerial photographs of breaking waves and
surf.
102. Imagine that an oil spill occurred from a tanker accident. Discuss the effects of mid
ocean currents, longshore currents, storm waves, and tides on the dispersal of the oil.
103. In evaluating flood danger, hydrologists use the concept of the 100-year flood. Would a
similar concept be useful in planning coastal development?
104. Discuss the formation of marine evaporites and banded iron formations.
105. Explain why the availability of mineral resources depends on the availability of energy,
on other environmental issues, and on political considerations.
106. If you were searching for petroleum, would you search primarily in sedimentary rock,
metamorphic rock, or igneous rock? Explain
107. If you were a space traveler abandoned on an unknown planet in a distant solar system,
what clues would you look for if you were searching for fossil fuels?
108. Is an impermeable cap rock necessary to preserve coal deposits? Why or why not?
109. Why does recent and modern volcanic activity along the west coast of North America
occur only north of the San Andreas fault?
110. What are the main geologic structures of the Basin and Range province? Why are they
the most common structures?
111. Why are boundaries between the provinces of the craton commonly intensely sheared
and faulted?
PHYSICAL GEOLOGY TEST

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112. What is a microcontinent? What is a supercontinent?
113. What were the most important tectonic events that built the Appalachian mountain
chain?
114. Platform sediments overlie the craton in much of the central portion of North America.
How and when did they form?
115. The oldest known rocks in North America are gneisses. What does the fact that they are
metamorphic rocks tell you about the maximum age of rocks of the craton?
116. Discuss how microcontinents might have formed.
117. Discuss how and why supercontinents form.



SELAMAT BEKERJA
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