Mars is an example of a (     ) planet.

A) terrestrial 

B) Jovian

Saturn is an example of a (     ) planet. 

A) terrestrial

B) Jovian

The oceans are part of the Earth's:

A) biosphere

B) Hydrosphere

C) Lithosphere

D) Mesosphere

E) Atmosphere

An explanation for some natural phenomenom that is testable and is supported by a large body of evidence:

A) Hypothesis

B) Scientific law

C) Transgression

D) Principle

E) Theory

Cyanobacteria (blue-green bacteria) are part of the:

A) Biosphere

B) Hydrosphere

C) Lithosphere

D) Mesosphere

E) Atmosphere

The outer, rigid part of the Earth consisting of the upper mantle, oceanic crust, and continental crust; this layer is divided into plates:

A) Lithosphere

B) Asthenosphere

C) Atmosphere

D) Biosphere

E) Mesosphere

Part of the upper mantle that behaves as a plastic and flows:

A) Lithosphere

B) Asthenosphere

C) Crust

D) Atmosphere

E) Core

The inner core is:

A) solid

B) liquid

C) gas

The outer core is:

A) solid

B) liquid

C) gas

The principle asserting that processes operating in the present world can be used to interpret events of the past; the present is the key to the past:

A) Catastrophism

B) Uniformitarianism

C) Lithification

D) Unconformity

E) Weathering

Proposed the concept of natural selection:

A) Hutton

B) William Smith

C) Darwin

D) Werner

E) Wegener

A mechanism accounting for differential survival and reproduction among members of a species; survival of the fittest:

A) Neptunism

B) Stratigraphy

C) Formation

D) Natural Selection

E) Orogeny

Scientific evidence suggests that Earth formed approximately (      ) ago.

A) 4.6 trillion years

B) 4.6 million years

C) 4.6 billion years

D) 4600 years

E) 460 years

A combination of related parts that interact in an organized manner:

A) system

B) hypothesis

C) theory

D) uniformitarianism

E) scientific method

The study of the origin and evolution of Earth, its continents, oceans, atmosphere, and life:

A) physical geology

B) scientific method

C) cosmology

D) historical geology

E) solar nebula

The division of the Earth that exists below the crust and above the core is the:

A) innersphere

B) lithosphere

C) mantle

D) convection center

E) molten zone

Which of the following statements about the asthenosphere is not true?

A) It lies beneath the lithosphere

B) It is a rigid rock layer

C) It behaves plastically

D) It acts like a lubricating layer allowing plates to move

E) It has the same composition as the lower mantle

The ocean crust is composed mostly of:

A) granite

B) peridotie

C) basalt

D) rhyolite

E) gneiss

Organic evolution is supported by a multitude of evidence. It is predictive, supported by a multitude of evidence, and offers a good explanation of observed phenomena. Organic evolution, therefore, is considered a:

A) hypothesis

B) law

C) theory

D) unifying concept

E) working model

Any rock altered in the solid state from pre-existing rocks by any combination of heat, pressure, and chemically active fluids:

A) metamorphic rock

B) igneous rock

C) sedimentary rock

Sedimentary rock formed by inorganic precipitation from evaporating water (for example, rock salt and rock gypsum):

A) evaporite

B) extrusive

C) lava

D) coal

E) pyroclastic

 A naturally occuring, inorganic, crystalline solid, having characteristic physical properties and a narrowly defined chemical composition:

A) rock

B) gem

C) mineral

D) glass

E) magma

The process by which loose sand from a beach or desert is converted into a solid rock called sandstone is an example of:

A) lava

B) evaporite

C) lithification

D) mafic

E) metamorphism

Granite is an example of a coarse-grained (     ) rock.

A) extrusive

B) intrusive

Metamorphism taking place adjacent to a body of magma (a pluton) or beneath a lava flow from heat and chemically active fluids:

A) orogeny

B) contact metamorphism

C) burial metamorphism

D) nonconformity

E) regional metamorphism

You are hiking in the desert in Namaqualand in South Africa and you notice an area covered with white sedimentary deposits. You taste the deposits and they taste salty. This is most likely an example of:

A) volcanic rock

B) metamorphic rock

C) detrital sedimentary rock

D) pyroclastic rock

E) evaporite

An adjective describing fragmental materials, such as ash, explosively erupted from volcanoes:

A) metamorphic

B) intrusive

C) pyroclastic

D) cementation

E) sedimentary

The number of protons in an atom's nucleus:

A) orogeny

B) atomic mass

C) atom

D) nucleus

E) atomic number

A strong chemical bond in which electrons are shared rather than transferred or exchanged:

A) covalent bond

B) metallic bond

C) malleable

D) orogeny

E) ionic bond

An uncharged particle in the nucleus of an atom:

A) neutron

B) proton

C) ion

D) isotope

E) electron

A type of metamorphic rock that results from the recrystallization of limestone or dolostone:

A) quartzite

B) marble

C) gneiss

D) anthracite

E) slate

A type of metamorphic rock that results from the recrystallization of quartz sandstone:

A) marble

B) slate

C) gneiss

D) anthracite

E) quartzite

A type of metamorphic rock that results from the heating and compression of coal:

A) quartzite

B) marble 

C) gneiss

D) anthracite

E) slate

Isotopes of the same element have:

A) different numbers of protons, but the same number of neutrons

B) different numbers of electrons, but the same number of protons

C) different numbers of neutrons, but the same number of protons

D) different numbers of electrons, but the same number or neutrons

E) different numbers of protons and neutrons

Which of the following rock types can be metamorphosed?

A) igneous rocks

B) sedimentary rocks

C) metamorphic rocks

D) a and b

E) all of the above

For a neutrally-charged atom to become a positively-charged ion of the same element it must:

A) lose a proton

B) lose an electron

C) gain a proton

D) gain an electron

E) b and c

When an atom becomes positively charged, it is called a/an:

A) electron

B) neutron

C) ion

D) isotope

E) positron

You observe a dark colored igneous rock with very fine crystals that are only visible under magnification. What can you say about this rock?

A) It cooled slowly in a magma chamber

B) It cooled quickly in a magma chamber

C) It cooled slowly on Earth's surface

D) It cooled quickly on Earth's surface

E) It was ejected as a fine ash and later cemented together

The Himalaya Mountains are an example of:

A) an oceanic-continental convergent plate boundary

B) a transform plate boundary

C) an oceanic-oceanic divergent plate boundary

D) a continental-continental convergent plate boundary

The Andes Mountains are associated with:

A) a transform plate boundary

B) a convergent plate boundary

C) a divergent plate boundary

Alfred Wegener's name for a Late Paleozoic supercontinent made up of most of Earth's landmasses:

A) Gonwanaland

B) Pangaea

C) Werner

D) transgression

E) Glossopteris

New oceanic crust is formed at:

A) subduction zones

B) transform faults

C) meandering rivers

D) glacial striations

E) mid-ocean ridges

Localized (and commonly thought to be stationary) zone of melting below the lithosphere:

A) orogeny

B) hot spot

C) lava

D) ionic

E) strata

A mid-ocean ridge is an example of:

A) a continental-continental convergent plate boundary

B) a transform plate boundary

C) an oceanic-oceanic divergent plate boundary

D) a continental-continental divergent plate boundary

E) an oceanic-continental convergent plate boundary

A subduction zone is an example of:

A) a convergent plate boundary

B) a divergent plate boundary

C) a transform plate boundary

Proposed the concept of continental drift, a precursor to plate tectonics:

A) Hutton

B) William Smith

C) Darwin

D) Werner

E) Wegener

The Japan Trench represents:

A) an oceanic-continental convergent plate margin

B) an oceanic-oceanic convergent plate margin

C) an oceanic divergent plate margin

D) a continental divergent plate margin

E) a continental-continental convergent plate margin

The unique group of plant fossils represents important evidence supporting plate tectonics:

A) Pangaea

B) Gondwana

C) Glossopteris flora

D) Cynognathus

E) Curie point

The oldest oceanic crust is slightly less than (    ) years old. 

A) 300,000

B) 4.6 billion

C) 70,000

D) 180 million

E) 3.96 billion

The East African Rift is an example of a (     ) plate boundary:

A) convergent

B) divergent

C) transform

Magma that is formed at subduction zones by partial melting in the descending plate commonly has a/an (    ) composition.

A) basaltic

B) granitic

C) andesitic

D) glassy

E) carbonate

A lithospheric plate boundary where two plates slide laterally past one another:

A) convergent

B) divergent

C) transform

The study of paleomagnetism is possible because:

A) the magnetic minerals in rocks create Earth's magnetic field

B) most rocks contain no magnetic minerals

C) the magnetic minerals in rocks disrupt Earth's magnetic field

D) the magnetic minerals align toward the north magnetic pole at the Curie Point

E) none of the above

Developed the principle of uniformitarianism:

A) Hutton

B) William Smith

C) Darwin

D) Werner

E) Wegener

The time necessary for one-half of the original number of radioactive atoms of an element to decay to a stable daughter product:

A) extrusive

B) stratigraphy

C) half-life

D) strata

E) relative age

Placing geologic events in a sequential order as determined from their positions in the geologic record:

A) relative dating

B) absolute dating

Determining specific, quantitative dates for rock units or events expressed in years before the present:

A) relative dating

B) absolute dating

This person calculated the date of creation of the Earth based upon Old Testament genealogy:

A) James Ussher

B) Alfred Wegener

C) Charles Darwin

D) James Hutton

E) William Smith

States that in an undisturbed succession of sedimentary rock layers, the oldest layer is at the bottom and the youngest layer is at the top:

A) principle of inclusions

B) principle of superposition

C) principle of cross-cutting relationships

D) principle of lateral continuity

E) principle of original horizontality

You are hikng in the mountains and you come across a cliff in which a vein of igneous rock is cutting across the layers of sedimentary rock in the area. The igneous rock is (     ) than the sedimentary rock.

A) younger

B) older

After three half-lives, a radioactive element will have (    ) of its original parent atoms. 

A) 1/2

B) 1/6

C) 1/3

D) 1/8

E) 1/32

The half-life of carbon-14 is (    ) years. 

A) 5,730

B) 40,000

C) 4.5 billion

D) 48.8 billion

E) 704 million

Argues that the same processes seen today have operated throughout geologic time (i.e., the present is the key to the past):

A) catastrophism

B) neptunism

C) plutonism

D) uniformitarianism

E) communism

Any rock altered in the solid state from pre-existing rocks by any combination of hear, pressure, and chemically active fluids:

A) metamorphic rock

B) igneous rock

C) sedimentary rock

Sedimentary rock formed by inorganic precipitation from evaporating water (for example, rock salt and rock gypsum):

A) evaporite

B) extrusive

C) lava

The process by which loose sand from a beach or desert is converted into a solid rock called sandstone is an example of:

A) lava

B) evaporite

C) lithification

Metamorphism taking place adjacent to a body of magma (a pluton) or beneath a lava flow from heat and chemically active fluids:

A) orogeny

B) contact metamorphism

C) burial metamorphism

You are hiking in the desert in Namaqualand in South Africa and you notice an area covered with white sedimentary deposits. You taste the deposits and they taste salty. This is most likely an example of:

A) an evaporite

B) a metamorphic rock

C) a detrital sedimentary rock

A type of metamorphic rock that results from the recrystallization of limestone or dolostone:

A) Quartzite

B) Marble

C) Gneiss

A type of metamorphic rock that results from the recrystallization of quartz sandstone:

A) marble

B) gneiss

C) quartzite

A type of metamorphic rock that results from the heating and compression of coal:

A) quartzite

B) gneiss

C) anthracite

Which of the following rock types can be metamorphosed?

A) igneous rock

B) sedimentary rocks

C) metamorphic rocks

D) a and b

E) all of the above

Remains or traces of prehistoric organisms preserved in rocks:

A) fossil

B) formation

C) mineral

Any indication of prehistoric organic activity such as tracks, trails, burrows, and nests (e.g., worm tubes); does not include any remains of body parts:

A) trace fossil

B) cast

C) permineralization

A break or gap in the geologic record resulting from erosion or nondeposition or both; the surface separating younger from older rocks where a break in the geologic record is present:

A) inclusion

B) formation

C) unconformity

The basic lithostratigraphic unit; a mappable unit of strata with distinctive upper and lower boundaries:

A) series

B) formation

C) biozone

A fundemental geologic principle holding that sedimentary rocks in a vertical sequence formed one on top of the other so that the oldest layer is at the bottom whereas the youngest is at the top:

A) principle of cross-cutting relationships

B) principle of inclusions

C) principle of super position

An unconformity in which stratified sedimentary rocks overlie an erosion surface cut into igneous or metamorphic rocks:

A) nonconformity

B) guide fossil

C) angular unconformity

Surfaces that separate individual strata from one another:

A) biozones

B) bedding planes

C) systems

The branch of geology that is concerned with the composition, origin, age relationships, and geographic extent of sedimentary rocks especially, but also other kinds or rocks:

A) marine transgression

B) stratigraphy

C) cosmology

Demonstration of the physical continuity of stratigraphic units over an area; matching up time-equivalent events in different areas: 

A) correlation

B) trace fossil

C) geologic range

A general term referring to all biostratigraphic units such as range zones and concurrent range zones:

A) cast

B) biozone

C) system

The fundamental unit in the hierarchy of time units; part of geologic time during which the rocks of a system were deposited:

A) formation

B) period

C) nonconformity

An easily identified fossil with a wide geographic distribution and short geologic range; useful for determining relative ages of strata in different areas:

A) guide fossil

B) system

C) conformable

The branch of geology that focuses on understanding layered rocks is called:

A) Petrology

B) Stratigraphy

C) Geomorphology

An erosional surface that separates strata that are parallel with one another is called a/an:

A) angular unconformity

B) nonconformity

C) disconformity

An erosional surface that separates tilted strata below from flat lying strata above is called a/an:

A) angular unconformity

B) nonconformity

C) bedding plane

An erosional surface that separates older metamorphic or igneous rocks from younger overlying sedimentary rocks is called a/an:

A) angular unconformity

B) disconformity

C) nonconformity

What is the correct order of sedimentary facies, from shoreline toward open water?

A) Shale, mud, sand

B) sandstone, shale, limestone

C) mud, sandstone, shale

The statement that "the same facies following one another in a conformable vertical sequence will also replace one another laterally" is known as:

A) Gressley's principle

B) Smith's Law of Conformity

C) Walther's Law

Which of the following is a trace fossil?

A) Mammal tooth

B) ripple mark

C) dinosaur footprint

The process used to demonstrate that two rock strata are equivalent is called:

A) equivalency

B) extrapolation

C) correlation

A long sand body more or less parallel with a shoreline but separated from it by a lagoon:

A) delta

B) barrier island

C) drift

A deposit of sediment where a stream or river enters a lake or the ocean: 

A) alluvial fan

B) dune

C) delta

Till deposits are associated with:

A) lakes

B) glaciers

C) sand dunes

An example of an evaporite deposit:

A) sandstone

B) limestone

C) rock salt

The degree to which detrital particles have had their sharp edges and corners smoothed off by abrasion:

A) varve

B) sorting

C) rounding

Large scale cross-beds (greater than 10 ft in height) commonly indicate a (     ) sedimentary environment. 

A) lake

B) desert dune

C) delta

The city of New Orleans is located on this geologic feature:

A) alluvial fan

B) barrier island

C) delta

A sediment layer in which grain size decreases from the bottom up:

A) graded bedding

B) mud cracks

C) bioturbation

The churning of sediments by organisms that burrow through it:

A) drift

B) sorting

C) bioturbation

A sedimentary deposit that contains fragments of oyster shells is most likely:

A) continental

B) transitional

C) marine

The marine environment closest to the beach:

A) continental shelf

B) continental slope

C) continental rise

Sand-rich sediments are especially common in (     ) marine environments. 

A) shallow

B) deep

Limestone deposits are most likely to form in these environments:

A) alluvial fans

B) fluvial environments

C) carbonate reefs

Outwash deposits are most commonly associated with these depositional environments:

A) braided streams

B) lacustrine deposits

C) delta deposits

If all of the grains in a sedimentary rock are about the same size, the rock can be characterized as:

A) cemented

B) cross-bedded

C) well sorted

Deposits made directly by a glacier consist of:

A) clay

B) sand

C) poorly sorted sediments

Graded bedding forms when:

A) erosion planes off a portion of the sea bottom

B) turbidity currents deposit first coarse sediment then fine sediment

C) turbidity currents deposit first fine sediment then coarse sediment

Fluvial is a term referring to:

A) waves and wave deposits

B) river activity and river deposits

C) chemical processes and evaporites

Elongate sand bodies paralleling a shoreline but separated from the shoreline by a lagoon are:

A) barrier islands

B) turbidites

C) deltas

Metamorphic rocks with elongate or platy minerals aligned in the same direction are said to be:

A) well-sorted

B) plutonic

C) foliation

The processes whereby sediment is bound together to form sedimentary rocks are:

A) crystallization and contact metamorphism

B) compaction and cementation

C) bonding and carbonization

Which of the following is a time unit:

A) member

B) system

C) period

The geologic column and relative geologic time scale were established in the 1840s based on:

A) superposition and faunal succession

B) the theory of organic evolution

C) the principle of unconformities

A concurrent range zone is a type of:

A) biostratigraphic unit

B) formation

C) numerical dating method

The degree to which all the particles in a detrital sedimentary rock are about the same size is referred to as:

A) lithification

B) sorting

C) compaction

Which of the following do geologists use to determine ancient current directions:

A) varves

B) cross-bedding

C) glacial drift

Any sediment deposited directly by glacial ice is called:

A) fluvial

B) outwash

C) till

Many limestones are made up of sand and gravel sized particles and calcium carbonate mud called;

A) drift

B) micrite

C) varves

Oolitic limestones form in:

A) playa lakes

B) abyssal plains

C) tropical lagoons