Deck 14: The Internal Processes

Question 1

The current interest in continental drift was started with the notion of sea-floor spreading, which was propounded by Hess and Dietz in the ________.

A) 1700s
B) 1850s
C) 1890s
D) 1960s
E) 1990s

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Wegener's early proposal of continental drift was not taken seriously because of his ________.

A) failure to provide a plausible cause
B) lack of attention to Earth's species distribution
C) lack of scientific research
D) training as a meteorologist
E) inability to read and write

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Where is one plate being subducted under another plate?

A) the middle of North America
B) the middle of the Atlantic Ocean
C) the middle of the Arctic Ocean
D) along the Aleutian Trench
E) along the Hawaiian Islands

Answer 3

D

Question 4

How long ago did the Atlantic start to form as Pangaea started to rift apart?

A) 1 million years
B) 20 million years
C) 200 million years
D) 2.0 billion years
E) 4.6 billion years

Question 5

Consider the location of New York City. In terms of crustal plates, New York City is ________.

A) not on a plate
B) on a convergent boundary
C) on a divergent boundary
D) not on a plate boundary
E) on a transform boundary

Question 6

A ________ plate boundary is associated with lateral slippage, conservation of existing crust, and the San Andreas fault system.

A) convergent
B) fault scarp
C) divergent
D) subducting
E) transform

Question 7

If you travel away from a midocean ridge you will find ________.

A) increasingly older rocks
B) increasingly younger rocks
C) the seafloor is drifting opposite to your direction of motion
D) more and more earthquakes
E) little evidence of paleomagnetic reversals of the poles

Question 8

The Glomar Challenger proved ________.

A) the Earth is round
B) the poles reverse their polarities
C) the seafloors are spreading
D) continental drift has stopped
E) mountains exist under the sea

Question 9

Presently, the North American and Eurasian plates are moving ________.

A) toward each other
B) away from each other
C) toward the North Pole
D) toward the Equator
E) nowhere

Question 10

The first person to write about the possibility of continental drift was ________.

A) Hess
B) Wegener
C) Ortelius
D) Einstein
E) Aristotle

Question 11

Currently, the rate of sea-floor spreading in the Atlantic is thought to be ________,

A) 0 centimeters per year (stopped)
B) less than 1 centimeter per year
C) 10 meters per year
D) 100 meters per year
E) 1 kilometer per year

Question 12

Which of the following is NOT one of the reasons scientists strongly believe in plate tectonics?

A) the ability to explain oceanic trenches
B) the ability to explain midoceanic ridges
C) the ability to explain many volcanic zones
D) the ability to explain many earthquake zones
E) the ability to explain Earth's crust is rigid

Question 13

Which of the following is postulated as the ultimate source of energy causing continental drift?

A) gravity
B) the Sun
C) volcanism
D) radioactive decay
E) diastrophism

Question 14

Earth's crust appears to be composed of ________ major plates and an equally number of intermediate ones.

A) two
B) seven
C) a dozen
D) about seventy five
E) over one hundred

Question 15

Research since the 1970s has identified the cause of plate tectonics to be ________.

A) diastrophism
B) convection
C) sun spots
D) warping
E) uniformitarianism

Question 16

Crustal plates are on the order of ________ kilometer(s) thick.

A) 1
B) 10
C) 100
D) 1,000
E) 10,000

Question 17

The first comprehensive theory of continental drift was propounded by ________.

A) Darwin
B) Köppen
C) Wegener
D) Wallace
E) Sagan

Question 18

Over the past 100 million years of Earth history, it is known that the magnetic poles have reversed themselves ________ times.

A) 0
B) 2
C) 10
D) 25
E) many

Question 19

In terms of plate tectonics, Indian is a part of the ________ plate.

A) African
B) Indo-Australian
C) Arabian
D) Eurasian
E) Tasmanian

Question 20

Which of the following concepts does not belong with the others?

A) plasticity
B) continental drift
C) midocean ridge
D) plate tectonics
E) a rigid crust with fixed continents

Question 21

The Pacific "ring of fire" refers to the ________.

A) flood basalts
B) the Hawaiian Islands
C) volcanoes around the Pacific Ocean
D) Azores Island
E) subduction zones on the ocean floor

Question 22

A chain of mountains encompassing many ranges is known as a(n) ________.

A) first-order landform
B) island arc
C) mantle plume
D) hot spot
E) cordillera

Question 23

The world system of interconnected ocean bottom ridges comes to a total of about ________ kilometers.

A) 6
B) 60
C) 6,000
D) 60,000
E) 600,000

Question 24

The vast majority of North America is moving ________,

A) up
B) down
C) to the west
D) to the east
E) so slowly that the direction is unknown

Question 25

The Unzen volcanic complex is a composite of overlapping composite volcanoes and has had recent pyroclastic flows, lazars, and loss of life. This complex is in the country of ________.

A) Australia
B) Japan
C) South Africa
D) Canada
E) Russia

Question 26

Where would one find a convergent plate boundary?

A) in the middle of North America
B) at the midocean ridge of the Atlantic Ocean
C) along a transform plate boundary
D) in the middle of Antarctica
E) along the Pacific coast of South America

Question 27

The plate boundaries which are ________ are likely to make island arcs.

A) divergent between continental plates
B) convergent between continental plates
C) divergent between oceanic plates
D) convergent between oceanic plates
E) transducive boundaries between oceanic and continental plates

Question 28

Oceans are being created and removed from the Earth on a cycling time of about ________.

A) 1 million years
B) 100 million years
C) 500 million years
D) 2.5 billion years
E) 4.6 billion years

Question 29

Which of the following is NOT closely associated with the large system of ridges on the ocean floors?

A) seafloor spreading
B) transform faults
C) island arcs
D) upwelling of magma
E) rift zones

Question 30

The original large continental mass containing all of the present continents prior to separation millions of years ago has been named ________.

A) Laurasia
B) Gondwanaland
C) Pangaea
D) Transcurrent
E) Subduction

Question 31

Hot, plastic material of the asthenosphere is most conspicuous at ________.

A) oceanic trenches
B) the centers of the continents
C) divergent plate boundaries
D) subduction zones
E) areas in which mountains are being built

Question 32

Which of the following is most closely associated with a mantle plume?

A) the lower Mississippi River Valley
B) the Hawaiian Islands
C) the Florida peninsula
D) Southern California
E) Western Europe

Question 33

Which of the following was the single "supercontinent" which existed before individual continents broke apart from it a quarter of a billion years ago?

A) Asia
B) Pangaea
C) India
D) Laurasia
E) Gondwanaland

Question 34

Which two terms are usually used to refer to the SAME plate boundary?

A) terrane, trench
B) divergent, constructive
C) convergent, constructive
D) divergent, destructive
E) subduction, constructive

Question 35

Where UNDER the surface of the Earth would one expect a convection current directed towards the surface?

A) under continents
B) under subduction zones
C) in the core
D) under midocean ridges
E) under plates

Question 36

Which of the following is termed "conservative"?

A) a convergent plate boundary
B) a divergent plate boundary
C) a transform plate boundary
D) an oceanic trench
E) an oceanic ridge

Question 37

"Shortly" BEFORE the existence of Pangaea, ________.

A) Earth had formed
B) there was a single continent called "Micronesia"
C) the supercontinent Rodinia had existed
D) there was no continental drift
E) the Atlantic Ocean formed

Question 38

The Himalayas were formed by crumpling of plate edges in a ________ zone.

A) transcurrent
B) divergent
C) convergent
D) rift
E) basalt

Question 39

There is a prominent oceanic trench off of ________.

A) the west coast of the continental United States
B) the east coast of the continental United States
C) the Gulf Coast of the continental United States
D) the coast of Lake Michigan
E) the coast of Alaska's Aleutian Islands

Question 40

The Indian subcontinent was originally attached to ________.

A) Laurasia
B) Gondwanaland
C) Sial
D) Sima
E) Tasmania

Question 41

In Hawaii, the direction of movement of the "hot spot" means that the ________ is the oldest part of the island chain.

A) northwestern islands
B) center islands
C) southeastern islands
D) largest island
E) rainiest island

Question 42

The nature of a volcanic eruption is determined largely by the ________ of the magma.

A) pressure
B) color
C) density
D) chemistry
E) temperature

Question 43

The island of Krakatau disappeared in a volcanic explosion. Krakatau was located in the ________.

A) ocean off of California
B) Gulf of Alaska
C) Java Sea
D) Mediterranean Sea
E) Arctic Ocean

Question 44

Of the states below, which has the greatest number of volcanoes (active or inactive)?

A) New York
B) Florida
C) Arizona
D) Louisiana
E) Alaska

Question 45

The totality of materials ejected from a volcano, including liquid material, ashes and dust is termed ________.

A) lava
B) magma
C) silica
D) granite
E) pyroclastic material

Question 46

What is the term for a piece of crust which has been in a collision along a convergent crustal boundary and become accreted to another crustal plate?

A) loxodrome
B) terrane
C) midoceanic ridge
D) terracette
E) none of the above

Question 47

Which of the following is NOT an intrusive volcanic landform?

A) caldera
B) vein
C) dike
D) sill
E) batholith

Question 48

Flood basalts cover much of the ocean floor, India, and in North America, the ________.

A) Columbia Plateau
B) Colorado Plateau
C) Newfoundland area
D) Florida region
E) Ozark area

Question 49

The origins of which of the following are less well understood than the other features on the list?

A) Ocean trenches
B) Ocean ridges
C) Mountains in the middle of plates
D) Convergent plate boundaries
E) Divergent plate boundaries

Question 50

The state having the greatest extent of flood basalts is ________.

A) Arizona
B) Idaho
C) California
D) Washington
E) Arkansas

Question 51

Which of the following is NOT true of the terranes of North America?

A) Some of them have origins south of the Equator.
B) Several dozen exist.
C) They are associated with accretion.
D) They are the largest of the crustal plate types.
E) They have rocks that were too buoyant to be subducted.

Question 52

Relatively cooler magma in an erupting volcano is apparently the result of ________.

A) the amount of water present
B) depth of magma formation
C) position of astronomical bodies
D) surface salinity
E) a high amount of silica present

Question 53

Worldwide, volcanic eruptions are ________.

A) mostly explosive
B) a thing of the past
C) rare
D) mostly underwater
E) rarely fatal to those around them

Question 54

The mechanism of formation of the Hawaiian Islands is directly responsible for the ________ island being the youngest and having current volcanic activity.

A) center
B) northwestern-most
C) southeastern-most
D) smallest
E) terrane-covered

Question 55

Mt. St. Helens is ________.

A) dead
B) scheduled to erupt in the year 2050
C) likely to vigorously erupt again
D) the largest volcano in the world
E) the world's best example of intrusive vulcanism

Question 56

________ is the part of the United States where one could see terranes.

A) Florida
B) The Midwest
C) Maine
D) Arizona
E) Alaska

Question 57

Evidence of former surface volcanic activity is often found in the vast accumulations of lava called ________.

A) hot spots
B) flood basalts
C) magma
D) calderas
E) pyroclastic

Question 58

Which is formed on top of Earth's crust?

A) dike
B) vein
C) sill
D) batholith
E) flood basalt

Question 59

Which of the following numbers is CLOSEST to the number of active volcanoes on Earth's land surface?

A) 5
B) 55
C) 550
D) 5,500
E) 55,000

Question 60

Which of the following are waves generated by earthquakes?

A) lahars
B) monoclines
C) plutons
D) pyroclastic flows
E) tsunamis

Question 61

Crater Lake, Oregon, is an example of a volcanic ________.

A) lava flow
B) peak
C) caldera
D) batholith
E) neck

Question 62

The most massive form of igneous intrusion is a ________.

A) stock
B) sill
C) batholith
D) laccolith
E) caldera

Question 63

A(n)________ is the same thing as a pyroclastic flow.

A) steam explosion
B) nuée ardente
C) earthquake
D) flood basalt
E) landslide

Question 64

The most widespread of all intrusive forms is the ________.

A) batholith
B) stock
C) lava flow
D) dike
E) volcano

Question 65

A(n) ________ detects swelling and possible eruption in a volcano.

A) tiltmeter
B) anemometer
C) seismograph
D) ceilometer
E) frightened graduate student

Question 66

Volcanic activity that takes place deep under the crust is termed ________.

A) subduction
B) intrusive
C) plutonic
D) metamorphic
E) pyroclastic

Question 67

Lava flows often create ________.

A) volcanoes
B) flat plains
C) dikes
D) batholiths
E) volcanic necks

Question 68

Radial walls extending outward from a volcano are ________.

A) sills
B) dikes
C) plugs
D) veins
E) clay pans

Question 69

Which of the following is NOT a landscape caused by faulting?

A) grabens
B) horsts
C) the Swiss Alps
D) the Sierra Nevada
E) Crater Lake, Oregon

Question 70

Crater Lake, Oregon, is a remnant of a larger volcano named ________.

A) Mt. St. Helens
B) Paricutin
C) Mt. Whitney
D) Mt. Mazama
E) Mt. McKinley

Question 71

Similar in nature to a batholith but much smaller in size is a ________.

A) dike
B) sill
C) vein
D) stock
E) flood basalt region

Question 72

________ is an area of extensive flood basalts.

A) The Columbia Plateau
B) The South Carolina Coastal Plain
C) The Amazon River watershed
D) Western Europe
E) New England

Question 73

Mount Saint Helens exploded in 1980. Which of the following is NOT true?

A) It is a volcano.
B) It is in the State of Washington.
C) It caused salmon to change their spawning habits.
D) It is quite unlike the other mountains near it.
E) It had been dormant for over 100 years.

Question 74

A volcanic mud flow is known as a(n) ________.

A) tsunami
B) mantle plume
C) mafic form of lava
D) lahar
E) horst

Question 75

The ________ is an igneous intrusion which has a surface area of at least 100 square kilometers.

A) laccolith
B) batholith
C) vein
D) stock
E) butte

Question 76

The Black Hills, South Dakota, is a dome-shaped mass which is built over a ________.

A) dike
B) batholith
C) laccolith
D) stock
E) vein

Question 77

The major batholiths of North America occur on which part of the continent?

A) northern
B) southern
C) eastern
D) western
E) central

Question 78

Shield volcanoes are ________ than composite volcanoes.

A) wider
B) taller
C) steeper
D) more explosive
E) more widespread

Question 79

Which of the following was NOT associated with the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens?

A) the filling in of the River shipping channel
B) the end of life in the local ecosystem for at least 1,000 years
C) the change of rivers to which salmon come to spawn
D) the deaths of 70 people
E) the destruction of many lakes

Question 80

A ________ is another name for a volcanic mudflow.

A) landslide
B) pyroclastic flow
C) laccolith
D) bornhardt
E) lahar