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Geo 101 midterm 1
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Q: What is geology? | A: The study of Earth’s materials, structure, and processes; integrates physics, chemistry, and biology. |
| Q: What is environmental geology? | A: The application of geologic knowledge to human–environment interactions. |
| Q: What are hazard‑based challenges? | A: Challenges involving natural hazards (earthquakes, tsunamis) and human‑caused hazards (pollution, climate change). |
| Q: What are resource‑based challenges? | A: Issues involving minerals, fossil fuels, water, soil, and other natural resources. |
| Q: What is carrying capacity? | A: The maximum population an environment can sustainably support. |
| Q: What are major environmental concerns? | A: Water resources/contamination, waste/pollution, climate change, atmospheric changes, energy resources, deforestation, soil degradation, natural hazards, population growth. |
| Q: How do geologists assess earthquakes? | A: They assess using seismographs, likelihood, affected areas, and help with planning and resilience. |
| Q: What causes harmful algal blooms? | A: Human development. |
| Q: How do geologists study harmful algal blooms? | A: They monitor water quality and bloom extent. |
| Q: How do geologists evaluate resource extraction? | A: They locate resources and evaluate environmental impacts. |
| Q: What is risk assessment? | A: Evaluating probability and consequences of events. |
| Q: What is a sporadic tempo? | A: Random, discrete events like tsunamis or floods. |
| Q: What is an incremental tempo? | A: Slow, continuous change like deforestation or global warming. |
| Q: Why do humans underestimate long‑term or rare events? | A: Human perception is biased toward short timescales. |
| Q: What is the Law of Superposition? | A: Oldest layers are at the bottom. |
| Q: What are cross‑cutting relationships? | A: Features that cut others are younger. |
| Q: What is absolute dating? | A: Dating using radiometric isotopes. |
| Q: What is a half‑life? | A: The time for half of a parent isotope to decay. |
| Q: What are the steps of the scientific method in geology? | A: Observations → Hypotheses → Predictions → Testing → Refinement. |
| Q: What is a hypothesis? | A: A testable explanation. |
| Q: What is a theory? | A: A well‑tested explanation that unifies multiple hypotheses. |
| Q: What is a scientific law? | A: A description of natural phenomena without explaining why. |
| Q: What did Wegener propose? | A: Continental Drift — continents once formed Pangaea. |
| Q: What evidence supported continental drift? | A: Fossil similarities, ancient climate indicators, continental fit. |
| Q: Why was Wegener rejected? | *A: He lacked a mechanism. |
| Q: What discovery in the 1950s supported wegener idea? | A: Mid‑ocean ridges. |
| Q: What did Hess propose? | A: Seafloor spreading driven by mantle convection. |
| Q: What are Earth’s four spheres? | A: Geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere. |
| Q: How do Earth systems interact? | A: Example: plate tectonics → mountains → erosion → soil → vegetation → CO₂ removal → climate cooling. |
| Q: How do humans influence Earth systems? | A: Through land use, emissions, and resource consumption. |
| Q: What is the traditional model of Rapa Nui (easter island)? | Overshoot and collapse due to deforestation, soil loss, and water depletion |
| Q: What factors contributed to the traditional model in easter island? | A: Construction needs, agriculture, invasive rats. |
| Q: What does new evidence suggest in easter island? | A: Sustainable resource management. |
| Q: What was the likely peak population in easter island? | A: 2,000–3,000. |
| Q: What may have caused the decline? | A: European diseases. |
| Q: What does environmental geology integrate? | A: Natural processes with human impacts. |
| Q: Why is geologic time important? | A: It is essential for evaluating risk. |
| Q: Why is plate tectonics important? | A: It explains Earth’s dynamics. |
| Q: What is the lithosphere? | A: The crust + upper mantle. |
| Q: What drives plate motion? | A: Mantle convection. |
| Q: What is convection? | A: Hot, less‑dense material rises; cool, denser material sinks. |
| Q: How much heat does Earth release? | A: ~46 terawatts. |
| Q: Where does hot mantle rise? | A: Mid‑ocean ridges. |
| Q: Where is old crust recycled? | A: Subduction zones. |
| Q: What is Earth’s conveyor belt? | A: Crust creation at ridges and destruction at subduction zones. |
| Q: What are Earth’s heat sources? | A: Accretion, differentiation, moon‑forming impact, radioactive decay. |
| Q: Why was early Earth hotter? | A: More heat from formation and impacts. |
| Q: How do seismic waves reveal Earth’s interior? | A: They refract and reflect at boundaries. |
| Q: What does Snell’s Law describe? | A: How waves bend when entering materials with different densities. |
| Q: What is continental crust like? | A: Thick, old, less dense. |
| Q: What is oceanic crust like? | A: Thin, young, denser. |
| Q: What is the mantle made of? | A: Peridotite. |
| Q: What is the core made of? | A: Iron‑nickel (outer molten, inner solid). |
| Q: What is the lithosphere? | A: Rigid, brittle layer. above asthenosphere |
| Q: What is the asthenosphere? | A: Weak, plastic layer plates move over. below lithosphere |
| Q: Why is oceanic crust youngest at ridges? | A: New crust forms there, seafloor spreading like a book, up and out |
| Q: What causes magnetic striping? | A: Polarity reversals recorded in cooling lava. |
| Q: What is a normal fault? | A: Crust pulled apart. |
| Q: What is a reverse fault? | A: Crust pushed together. |
| Q: What is a strike‑slip fault? | A: Horizontal sliding. |
| Q: What happens at divergent boundaries? | A: Plates move apart; ridges and grabens form. |
| Q: What happens at ocean–continent convergence? | A: Subduction and volcanic arcs. |
| Q: What happens at ocean–ocean convergence? | A: Island arcs. |
| Q: What happens at continent–continent convergence? | A: Large mountain belts. |
| Q: What happens at transform boundaries? | A: Plates slide past each other. |
| Q: How does plate tectonics affect hazards? | A: It controls earthquakes and volcanoes. |
| Q: How does society affect climate? | A: Continental drift influences ocean currents. |
| Q: What is stress? | A: Forces acting on rock. |
| Q: What is strain? | A: Deformation caused by stress. |
| Q: What is elastic behavior? | A: Rock returns to original shape. |
| Q: What is brittle behavior? | A: Rock breaks after elastic limit. |
| Q: What is ductile behavior? | A: Rock flows or bends permanently. |
| Q: What is a fault? | A: A fracture where rocks move past each other. |
| Q: What is creep? | A: Slow, continuous movement along a fault. |
| Q: What is rupture? | A: Sudden break producing an earthquake. |
| Q: What is the focus? | A: Point of rupture inside Earth. |
| Q: What is the epicenter? | A: Point on surface above the focus. |
| Q: What determines earthquake strength? | A: Rupture area and duration. |
| Q: What are foreshocks? | A: Smaller quakes before the main event. |
| Q: What are aftershocks? | A: Adjustments after the main rupture. |
| Q: What are P‑waves? | A: Fast compressional waves; travel through solids and liquids. |
| Q: What are S‑waves? | A: Shear waves; travel only through solids. |
| Q: What are surface waves? | A: Slowest waves with largest amplitude; cause most damage. |
| Q: What does a seismometer measure? | A: Ground motion in 3 directions. |
| Q: What is a seismogram? | A: A record of seismic waves. |
| Q: How is distance determined? | A: Using P–S arrival time difference. |
| Q: Why are three stations needed? | A: For triangulation. To calculate precise location or epicenter of earthquake |
| Q: Why is the Richter scale outdated? | A: It is based only on wave amplitude. |
| Q: What is moment magnitude? | A: Magnitude based on seismic moment. |
| Q: What is seismic moment? | A: Rupture area × slip distance × rock rigidity. |
| Q: What is intensity? | A: Shaking at a location. |
| Q: What affects intensity? | A: Magnitude, distance, ground type, crustal structure. |
| Q: What is liquefaction?c | A: Ground behaving like a liquid in saturated sediment. |
| Q: Why does old crust transmit energy farther? | A: It is thick and cold. |
| Q: Can earthquakes be predicted exactly? | A: No. |
| Q: What are recurrence intervals? | A: Average time between natural events such as earthquakes . |
| Q: What are seismic gaps? | A: Quiet segments where strain is building. |
| Q: What do seismic hazard maps show? | A: Probability of significant ground motion. |
| Q: What engineering reduces shaking? | A: Base isolators, tapered buildings, reinforced pillars. |
| Q: What do early warning systems detect? | A: P‑waves before strong shaking. |
| Q: What is an element? | A: A substance made of atoms with the same number of protons. |
| Q: What is an isotope? | A: Atoms of the same element with different numbers of neutrons. |
| Q: What defines a mineral? | A: Naturally occurring, inorganic, solid, crystalline, defined chemical composition. |
| Q: Why is coal not a mineral? | Q: Why is coal not a mineral? |
| Q: Why is volcanic glass not a mineral? | A: It is not crystalline. |
| Q: What minerals dominate the crust? | A: Feldspars, quartz, pyroxenes, amphiboles, micas, clays, calcite. |
| Q: What minerals dominate the mantle? | A: Olivine and pyroxene. |
| Q: What is a rock? | A: An aggregate of one or more minerals. |
| Q: What are the three rock types? | A: Igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic. |
| Q: How do igneous rocks form? | A: From cooling magma/lava. |
| Q: What controls crystal size? | A: Cooling rate. |
| Q: What is physical weathering? | A: Breakdown by frost wedging, root growth, crystal growth, thermal expansion, abrasion. |
| Q: What is chemical weathering? | A: Dissolution, hydrolysis, oxidation/reduction. |
| Q: What are detrital sedimentary rocks? | A: Rocks made of fragments of pre‑existing rocks. |
| Q: What are chemical sedimentary rocks? | A: Rocks formed from precipitation of dissolved ions. |
| Q: What is metamorphism? | A: Alteration by heat and pressure without melting. |
| Q: What is foliation? | A: Alignment of minerals under directional pressure. |
| Q: What is volcanism? | A: The movement of magma toward or onto Earth’s surface. |
| Q: What is the difference between magma and lava? | A: Magma is underground; lava is magma at the surface. |
| Q: Where is magma generated? | A: In the mantle. |
| Q: Where does magma accumulate before eruptions? | A: In magma chambers. |
| Q: What is the basic eruption sequence? | A: Pressure builds → cracks open → magma rises → eruption. |
| Q: What is viscosity? | A: Resistance to flow. |
| Q: How does temperature affect viscosity? | A: Higher temperature → lower viscosity(less resistance to flow). |
| Q: How does silica content affect viscosity? | A: Higher silica → higher viscosity. |
| Q: What are the main volcanic gases? | A: Mostly H₂O and CO₂. |
| Q: How does gas behavior change as pressure decreases? | A: Gas expands as pressure decreases. |
| Q: How does magma volume affect eruptions? | A: Larger magma chambers produce larger, longer eruptions. |
| Q: How does high silica affect magma? | A: Strong bonding of silica tetrahedra → thick, sticky magma. |
| Q: How does low silica affect magma? | A: Fewer bonds → runny magma. |
| Q: What are the properties of basaltic magma? | A: Low viscosity, gases escape easily, non‑explosive. |
| Q: What are the properties of andesitic magma? | A: Intermediate viscosity, variable gas escape, mixed explosivity. |
| Q: What are the properties of rhyolitic magma? | A: High viscosity, gas trapped, highly explosive. |
| Q: At what plate boundaries are most volcanoes found? | A: Convergent boundaries. |
| Q: What magma type is typical of ocean–ocean subduction? | A: Basaltic magma. |
| Q: What magma types are typical of ocean–continent subduction? | A: Andesitic and rhyolitic magma. |
| Q: How does continental crust interaction affect magma? | A: Rising magma melts silica‑rich continental crust, increasing magma’s silica content. |
| Q: What are hot spots? | A: Mantle plumes. |
| Q: What magma type is typical of oceanic hot spots? Give an example. | A: Basaltic; example: Hawaii. |
| Q: What magma types are typical of continental hot spots? Give an example. | A: Andesitic/rhyolitic; example: Yellowstone. |
| Q: What are cinder cones like? | A: Small, steep, basaltic–andesitic. |
| Q: What are stratovolcanoes like? | A: Medium size, layered lava and ash, found at subduction zones. |
| Q: What are shield volcanoes like? | A: Large, broad, basaltic, low viscosity. |
| Q: What are continental calderas? | A: Massive eruptions at continental hot spots. |
| Q: What are flood basalts? | A: Huge, low‑viscosity basalt flows from fissures. |
| Q: What are lava flows? | A: Molten rock moving downslope; usually slow. |
| Q: What are pyroclastic materials? | A: Ash, pumice, volcanic bombs, obsidian. |
| Q: What are pyroclastic flows? | A: Fast, hot, ground‑hugging mixtures of gas and fragments. |
| Q: What are typical properties of lava flows? | A: Low viscosity, low explosivity. |
| Q: What are typical properties of pyroclastic materials? | A: High viscosity, gas‑rich, explosive. |
| Q: How fast can pyroclastic flows travel? | A: About 50–200 km/hr. |
| Q: Why are pyroclastic flows dangerous? | A: They are fast, hot, deadly, and can cross water. |
| Q: What are lahars? | A: Volcanic mudflows made of ash and water. |
| Q: When can lahars occur? | A: During or long after an eruption. |
| Q: What are some impacts of ash and aerosols? | A: Roof collapse, crop failure, aviation hazards, climate cooling. |
| Q: How can volcanic gases like CO₂ be hazardous? | A: CO₂ can accumulate and flow downhill, displacing air and suffocating life. |
| Q: How dangerous are lava flows compared to other hazards? | A: Destructive but usually avoidable. |
| Q: What happened at Mount St. Helens in 1980? | A: A bulge, earthquakes, landslide, and explosive blast. |
| Q: What happened at Nevado del Ruiz in 1985? | A: Lahars killed over 21,000 people due to ignored warnings. |
| Q: What happened at Lake Nyos in 1986? | A: A CO₂ release killed over 1,700 people. |
| Q: How can large eruptions affect global climate? | A: They inject aerosols and ash, reducing sunlight and causing cooling. |
| Q: What are examples of eruptions with major atmospheric effects? | A: Tambora (1815) and Krakatoa (1883). |
| Q: How can gas emissions help forecast eruptions? | A: Gas emissions often increase before eruptions. |
| Q: What is remote sensing used for in volcanology? | A: Monitoring heat, deformation, and imagery. |
| Q: How does seismic monitoring help with volcanoes? | A: It detects earthquakes and tremors related to magma movement. |
| Q: What are deformation measurements used for? | A: Measuring ground changes with GPS and tiltmeters. |
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