Deck 19: Geology of the Solar System

Question 1

What is the dominant character of the four outer planets?

A)all are blue-green
B)they are large and gas rich
C)all are cold and icy world
D)they lack associated moons
E)each has a form of plate tectonics

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT one of the inner terrestrial planets?

A)Mercury
B)Venus
C)Mars
D)Saturn

Answer 2

D

Question 3

What are some observed variations between different planets in the Solar System?

A)every planet contains some amount of ice
B)each planet has a thick atmosphere
C)impact craters are the dominant feature on some planets and moons
D)the Earth is the only planet that shows evidence of tectonics
E)the Earth is the only planet that shows features carved by running water

Answer 3

C

Question 4

What is the current theory for the formation of our Solar System?

A)the Sun and planets condensed from a cloud of gas and dust
B)the Sun exploded during the Big Bang
C)the four outer planets were all captured from another solar system
D)none of these

Question 5

What is the main control on whether a planet or moon has active tectonics and volcanism?

A)whether it is composed of rocks or ice
B)whether it contains water on its surface
C)the size of an object
D)the distance that the object is from the Sun

Question 6

Which of the following characteristics of Earth are not shared by many other planets?

A)abundant water exists on the surface in liquid,vapor,and solid phases
B)moving water and ice currently erode the land and deposit sediment
C)it generates enough heat to allow plate tectonics to operate
D)it contains abundant life
E)all of these

Question 7

What are the dominant features on the surface of Mercury?

A)large canyons cut by running water
B)large dark burn marks because of the proximity to the Sun
C)impact craters of various sizes
D)pools of highly reflective liquid mercury

Question 8

What do these channels indicate about past events on Mars?

A)there were explosive volcanic eruptions
B)strong winds eroded into a series of volcanic layers
C)the surface once had running water that eroded and deposited sediment
D)glaciers once covered the entire planet

Question 9

Which of the following is NOT an aspect that we can learn from remotely observing another planet or moon?

A)how they reflect different types of electromagnetic energy,such as ultraviolet
B)whether their surface is smooth or rough
C)how quickly a surface cools off
D)whether a rock contains fossils

Question 10

This type of crater,which is very abundant on most moons and solid planets,is formed by:

A)the collapse of a limestone cave
B)an explosive volcanic eruption
C)a nonexplosive volcanic eruption
D)impact from a meteoroid or other object from space

Question 11

Which feature on Earth's moon is the oldest and consists of heavily crater,feldspar rich,igneous rock?

A)1,the mare
B)2,lunar highlands
C)3,rayed crater
D)the polar ice caps

Question 12

What does this curved feature,which contains a point bar,indicate about past events on Mars?

A)there were explosive volcanic eruptions
B)strong winds eroded into a series of volcanic layers
C)the surface once had running water that eroded and deposited sediment
D)glaciers once covered the entire planet

Question 13

Which of the following are present on Earth but not on any other planet?

A)ice
B)features interpreted to have formed by flowing water
C)volcanoes
D)dust storms
E)none of these

Question 14

The surface of this planet is obscured by an atmosphere of thick clouds and toxic gases.What planetary body is it?

A)Mercury
B)Earth
C)Earth's moon
D)Mars
E)Venus

Question 15

The colors in this thermal infrared image indicate:

A)temperatures of the rocks
B)the presence of ice in the crater
C)the presence of water in the crater
D)the presence of methane in the crater

Question 16

What was the main technique used to study the solid surface of Venus?

A)visible-light telescopes
B)small rovers that drive around on the planet
C)photographs taken at different times of the day
D)radar images
E)none of these

Question 17

What types of surfaces appear dark on a radar image taken by a satellite?

A)a surface that is rough
B)a surface that slopes toward the satellite
C)a surface that is smooth or slopes away from the satellite
D)a surface that contains quartz and feldspar

Question 18

What does this photograph,which is representative of most of Mercury,indicate about the planet?

A)the surface is covered by impact craters
B)the planet does not have tectonic or volcanic activity
C)the planet lacks wind or water
D)all of these

Question 19

This radar image of a crater on Venus shows:

A)an area of light-colored,smooth rocks around the crater
B)that the crater contains dark-colored,rough rocks
C)a central area of dark-colored hematite surrounded by light-colored feldspar
D)the roughness of the materials,but does not indicate whether the rocks are light or dark colored

Question 20

This planet has bedrock,reddish dust,and ice caps.What planetary body is it?

A)Mars
B)Venus
C)Earth's moon
D)Mercury
E)Neptune

Question 21

Which of these numbered areas on Enceladus,a moon of Jupiter,is probably the oldest?

A)1,a heavily cratered terrain
B)2,tectonic belts that cut across the cratered terrain
C)3,less cratered plains
D)there is not enough information to tell

Question 22

Which feature on Earth's moon is the oldest?

A)1,the mare
B)2,lunar highlands
C)3,rayed crater
D)the polar ice caps

Question 23

What does this photograph indicate about the ages between the light-colored area on the right versus the dark-colored area on the left?

A)the area on the right is younger because light-colored rocks are usually younger than dark colored ones
B)the area on the left is older because these rocks have darkened over time
C)the dark-colored area is older because it contains some craters like those on the right
D)the area on the right is older because it contains more craters than the area on the left

Question 24

Which of the following are NOT present on the Moon?

A)light-colored areas called the lunar highlands
B)areas with abundant impact craters
C)dark,fairly smooth areas
D)large impact craters with light-colored rays radiating out from the center
E)all of these are present

Question 25

Which feature on Earth's moon is the youngest?

A)1,the mare
B)2,lunar highlands
C)3,rayed crater
D)the polar ice caps

Question 26

Dark mare on the moon formed by?

A)running water deposited hematite-rich sediments in low areas
B)basalt flows filled previously existing impact craters
C)volcanic calderas released hot water and hydrothermal minerals
D)shallow magma baked the overlying rocks

Question 27

What did the Cassini spacecraft and its Huygens probe discover on the surface of Titan,the largest of Saturn's moons?

A)the surface was nearly completely covered by impact craters
B)there was a large impact crater that nearly blasted the moon apart
C)networks of drainages apparently carved by liquids
D)none of these

Question 28

This figure shows the moon at four different positions,representing four different times,as it orbits around Earth.At which position would there be a full moon as seen from Earth?

A)1
B)2
C)3
D)4

Question 29

The visible surface of Uranus and Neptune are bluish-green because they consist of:

A)oceans of liquid water
B)blue glacial ice
C)methane and other gases
D)materials that are very cold because they are very far from the Sun

Question 30

Which part of the Moon is the oldest and why?

A)the dark circular maria because they have had more time to darken
B)the dark circular maria because they have had more time to be eroded and smoothed off
C)the light-colored lunar highlands because they are lighter in color from longer weathering
D)the light-colored lunar highlands because they contain a higher density of craters per area
E)none of these

Question 31

Which of the following are unusual about Uranus?

A)ice on its surface has an unusual bluish-green color
B)its axis of rotation,orientation of rings,and orbits of its moons are perpendicular to those of every other planet in the Solar System
C)it has been reclassified as a dwarf planet
D)its orbit sometimes takes it closer to the Sun than Mars
E)none of these

Question 32

These craters on the moon formed when:

A)meteoroids and other objects impacted on the surface
B)caves formed in a widespread limestone layer collapsed
C)when numerous volcanoes erupted at nearly the same time
D)groundwater dissolved an underground layer of salt

Question 33

The rings of Saturn are largely composed of:

A)purple and green metallic substances
B)icy chunks the size of sand,pebbles,and boulders
C)drops and blobs of liquid water
D)all of these

Question 34

What largely determines the level of volcanic and tectonic activity on the Galilean moons?

A)whether the crust is light- or dark-colored,which controls how much of the Sun's heat it retains
B)the composition of the crust of each moon
C)the amount of wind and water on each moon's surface
D)proximity to Jupiter and its extreme tidal forces

Question 35

This figure shows the moon at four different positions,representing four different times,as it orbits around Earth.At which position would there be a new moon as seen from Earth?

A)1
B)2
C)3
D)4

Question 36

What are the dark areas of the Moon interpreted to be?

A)dark-colored sediment that filled in low areas
B)rocks that are dark and fine-grained because they were smashed by many impacts
C)large areas of the iron-oxide mineral hematite
D)large areas covered by basalt

Question 37

What causes the phases of the Moon?

A)the Earth's shadow obscures different amounts of the Moon during the year
B)the Earth's shadow obscures different amounts of the Moon over 28 days
C)the relative positions of the Sun,Moon,and Earth cause us to see different amounts of the Moon's lighted side
D)a partial eclipse causes the lighted part of the moon to grow and shrink over time

Question 38

Which of the following is a characteristic of Saturn?

A)it is closer to the Sun than Jupiter
B)it is the largest planet in the Solar System
C)the atmosphere is hydrogen and helium
D)the feature for which it is best know is a large red spot on the surface
E)the appearance of the planet is dominated by large impact craters

Question 39

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of Jupiter?

A)it is farther from the Sun than Mars
B)it is the largest planet in the Solar System
C)the atmosphere is nitrogen and oxygen,like the atmosphere of the Earth
D)it has a wide variety of geologically interesting moons
E)most of its outer parts are gas

Question 40

Which of the four Galilean moons is the most volcanically active object in the Solar System,erupting sulfur-rich lava?

A)Io
B)Europa
C)Ganymede
D)Callisto

Question 41

Which of the following features attracted geologists' attention on Mars?

A)small spherical objects,nicknamed blueberries,that contain the mineral hematite
B)a meteorite resting on the Martian surface
C)layered rocks in the walls of several craters
D)a large area with abundant hematite discovered before the rovers landed
E)all of these

Question 42

Which of the following have NOT been discovered on Mars?

A)a huge canyon system that began as a large rift
B)the largest volcano in the Solar System
C)channels cut by running water
D)examples of slope failure
E)Mars contains all of these features

Question 43

Based on the image from the Investigation,which terrain is composed of basalt with a few impact craters?

A)Western Terrain (W)
B)Dark Terrain (D)
C)Sedimentary Terrain (S)
D)Polar Ice (P)
E)none of these

Question 44

Why do comets have a tail?

A)they are balls of fire and the tail are flames that trail behind the comet
B)they are balls of fire and the tail is smoke trailing from the burning comet
C)solar wind strips off gas and dust,forming a tail pointing away from the Sun
D)comets do not have a tail,but most dogs do

Question 45

Based on the image from the Investigation,which of the terrains or features is the youngest of the ones listed?

A)Western Terrain (W)
B)Dark Terrain (D)
C)Chasm (C)
D)Sedimentary Terrain (S)

Question 46

Which of the following is true about Pluto?

A)it is a small icy object,even smaller than Earth's Moon
B)its orbit is very elliptical
C)it is similar to a number of objects farther out from the Solar System
D)astronomers recently classified it to dwarf-planet status
E)all of these

Question 47

Which of the following terrains is probably the oldest terrain on the alien world in the Investigation?

A)Western Terrain (W)
B)Dark Terrain (D)
C)Chasm (C)
D)Sedimentary Terrain (S)
E)Polar Ice (P)

Question 48

The presence of dunes in the middle Victoria Crater on Mars indicates that:

A)Mars has an atmosphere
B)volcanic eruptions produced abundant sand
C)glaciers once covered most of Mars
D)seas once covered this area,leaving behind the dunes

Question 49

What do these channels indicate about past events on Mars?

A)there were explosive volcanic eruptions
B)strong winds eroded into a series of volcanic layers
C)the surface once had running water that eroded and deposited sediment
D)glaciers once covered the entire planet