1. What is the approximate distance from the surface to the center of the Earth?

a. 1,000 miles
b. 4,000 miles
c. 10,000 miles
d. 40,000 miles

2. When seismic waves pass across the boundary between two different materials, ___________.
a. the waves refract
b. the waves reflect
c. the waves change in velocity
d. all of the above

3. Which region in the Earth is about 85% iron?

a. A
b. B
c. C
d. D
4. Which region in the Earth molten?
a. A
b. B
c. C
d. D
5. In which region of the Earth is conduction the dominant heat transfer mechanism?
a. A
b. B
c. C
d. D
6. How long does it take a P-wave to travel through the Earth?
a. 1 minute
b. 5 minutes
c. 5 minutes
d. 20 minutes
7. Which of the following statements is false?
a. the P-wave shadow zone is larger than the S-wave shadow zone.

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 b. Seismic waves follow curved paths through the interior of the Earth
c. P waves travel more slowly in the outer core than in the lower mantle
d. Liquids do not transmit S waves
8. The S wave shadow zone is caused by the _________ .
a. the crust-mantle boundary
b. the outer core
c. the lower mantle
d. the inner core
9. The S-wave shadow zone extends from _____ to 180 o angular distance from the earthquake focus on one
side and from ______ to 180o on the other.
a. 45 degrees
b. 75 degrees
c. 105 degrees
d. 145 degrees
10. The boundary between the mantle and the core lies at a depth of approximately ________ .
a. 300 kilometers
b. 1000 kilometres
c. 3000 kilometers
d. 5000 kilometers

11. Continental crust can be up to ______ kilometers thick.

a. 5
b. 35
c. 65
d. 100
12. Which of the following statements about the Moho is false?
a. seismic waves speed up as they pass across the Moho heading downward
b. the Moho separates denser rocks below from less dense rocks above
c. the Moho separates the crust from the mantle
d. the Moho marks the top of a partially molten layer
13. The mechanical transfer of heat by vibration of atoms and molecules is called __________ .
a. radiation
b. conduction
c. magnetism
d. convection
14. What drives plate tectonics?
a. thermal convection
b. thermal conduction
c. solar energy
d. erosion
15. Where is the Earth's magnetic field generated?
a. in the crust
b. in the mantle
c. in the outer core
d. in the inner core

16. The Earth's magnetic field reverses itself roughly every ________ .
a. 50 years
b. 5,000 years
c. 500,000 years
d. 50 million years
17. Which of the following rock types would be most likely to record the magnetic field at the time the rock
formed?
a. an alluvial conglomerate
b. a basaltic lava flow
c. evaporite deposit of halite

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 d. a schist
18. Which one of the following lists most accurately describes oceanic crust?
a. basaltic - density of 3.0 g/cm3
b. granitic - density of 3.0 g/cm3
c. quartz arenites - density of 2.6 g/cm3
d. basaltic - density of 2.6 g/cc
19. The Moho separates:
a. the outer core from the inner core
b. the lithosphere from the asthenosphere
c. the asthenosphere from the Mesosphere
d. the crust from the mantle
20. Which one of the following term associations is FALSE?
a. asthenosphere --- plastic behavior
b. lithosphere --- rigid solid
c. outer core --- right solid
d. continental crust --- rigid solid
21. The lithosphere includes:
a. crust and uppermost, rigid mantle

b. outer core and inner core

c. asthenosphere and mesosphere
d. outer core and lower mantle
22. A cooling magnetic material _________ its magnetic character at its Curie temperature:
a. gains
b. looses
c. a and both
d. neither of these happens
23. What region of the Earth takes up the greatest volume?
a. the crust
b. the outer core
c. the inner core
d. the mantle
24. The continental crust consists mainly of _________.
a. granitic rocks
b. basaltic rocks
c. ultramafic rocks
d. gabbroic rocks
25. The mantle consists mainly of _________.
a. granitic rocks
b. basaltic rocks
c. ultramafic rocks
d. gabbroic rocks
26. The lithosphere is approximately _________ kilometers thick
a. 25
b. 100
c. 250
d. 2900
27. The sharp increase in velocity of S-waves at 400 and 670 kilometers depth in the mantle are probably
caused by ___________.
a. changes to more compact mineral structures
b. changes in the composition of the mantle
c. changes in the temperature of the mantle
d. changes in the pressure of the mantle
28. What element makes up most of the Earth's core?
a. silicon
b. oxygen

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 c. iron
d. nickel
29. Which of the following is not a mineral?
a. olivine
b. limestone
c. calcite
d. quartz
30. Which geologic concept is described by "the present is the key to the past"?
a. biblical prophesy
b. uniformitarianism
c. Aristotelian logic
d. catastrophism
31. What mineral is the hardest known substance in nature?
a. graphite
b. native gold
c. diamond
d. muscovite
32. Visible quartz and potassium feldspar grains are the main constituents in a ____________.
a. granite
b. gabbro
c. basalt
d. rhyolite
33. Which of the following minerals would crystallize early from a cooling silicate magma?
a. biotite
b. quartz
c. olivine
d. muscovite
34. which of the following silicate minerals are most resistant to chemical weathering?
a. quartz
b. olivine
c. hornblende
d. potassium feldspar
35. Which of the following is the most common type of chemical sedimentary rock?
a. Limestone
b. Chert
c. Phosphate rock
d. Quartz sandstone
36. What are the two most abundant elements in the earth's crust?
a. .iron, magnesium
b. nitrogen, oxygen
c. silicon, calcium
d. oxygen, silicon
37. Which rock type has fossils embedded inside?
a. Igneous
b. Sedimentary
c. Metamorphic
d. Boulders
38. Which of the following sedimentary rocks indicate long-distance transportation of the sediments?
a. Breccias
b. Arkose
c. quartz sandstone
d. none
39. The most common extrusive igneous rock is ___
a. Basalt
b. Granite
c. Gneiss

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 d. Gabbro
40. How are metamorphic rocks formed?
a. pressure and chemical cementation
b. cooling and solidification
c. weathering, erosion, and deposition
d. heat and pressure
41. What is the molten liquid rock inside of a volcano called?
a. Lava
b. Magma
c. ash
d. igneoue
42. Which of the following is the most common type of chemical sedimentary rock?
a. chert
b. phosphate rock
c. limestone
d. quartz sandston
43. Which of the following forms at the highest grade of regional metamorphism?
a. gneiss
b. schist
c. slate
d. phyllite
44. Marble is formed from _
a. metamorphism of limestone
b. metamorphism of sandstone
c. weathering of limestone
d. lithification of sand grains
45. Quartz is a member of ___.
a. silicates
b. oxides
c. sulfides
d. carbonates
46. Oxygen accounts for what percent by weight of all matter in earth's crust?
a. 12%
b. 24%
c. 36%
d. 47%
47. The angle at which a sedimentary bed is inclined from the horizontal is called the _____.
a. anticline
b. stike
c. Syncline
d. dip
48. Which of the following is not a tectonic force responsible for folding or faulting rocks?
a. compressive force
b. tensional force
c. shear force
d. all of these are tectonic forces
49. The two sides of a fold are called its ________ .
a. anticlines
b. synclines
c. Limbs
d. axial planes
50. What types of faults are associated with shearing forces?
a. normal faults
b. reverse faults
c. strike-slip
d. all of these

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51. The structure shown above is a(n) ________.
a. anticline
b. syncline
c. basin
d. dome
52. What type of fault is characterized by movement both along strike and along dip?
a. oblique-slip
b. strike slip
c. Reverse
d. normal
53. The Red Sea is an example of an _________.
a. anticline
b. strike-slip fault basin
c. rift valley
d. horst block mountain
54. Fenster and windows are the landforms produced by ..
a. folding
b. faulting
c. erosion on faults
d. none of the above
55. Jura mountain is an example of..
a. Normal relief by folding
b. inversion of relief on folded structure
c. normal relief on faulting
d. inversion of relief on faulted structure

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