ESC1000 Unit 2 Exam Study Prep

The Basin and Range Province in the United States is a rift-related orogeny. What types of faults are most likely to be present in such an area?

normal

What type of deformation formed this structure?

plastic

**G**enerated during orogeny, can be different at various locations.

stress

Which area is a craton?

B

You're looking at a fault trace in the field. You observe a polished surface with linear grooves on it, and fine powder next to it. In more technical terms, what are you seeing?

slickensides, slip lineations, and fault gouge

If you see small, angular fragments of shattered rock along a linear boundary between two masses of rock, you are looking at

fault breccia

The crust in the Basin and Range Province of Nevada, Utah, and Arizona is stretching; therefore, fault movement in this region must generally be

normal

What type of fault does the diagram show?

dip-slip fault, normal

What type of fault does the diagram show? 

left-lateral strike-slip fault

Identify the structure in the image.

syncline

The Andes Mountains are an example of mountains formed by

subduction

The Himalayas formed by

collision

As material that once covered the Sierra Nevada eroded, rock that had been buried deep within the crust rose toward the surface. What process has helped enable the Sierra Nevada range to reach such high elevations?

isostasy

The Sierra Nevada is a linear chain of mountains, whereas the Basin and Range Province is composed of multiple linear ranges. What accounts for this difference?

The Basin and Range area has undergone stretching of the crust.

Igneous rock can form during mountain building when

 flux melting occurs at convergent boundaries

Continental lithosphere that has not experienced a mountain-building event in at least one billion years is called a

craton

The structure labeled B in the figure is

an anticline

Observe the west coasts of North and South America.  Mountain ranges dominate the landscape along these coastlines. What is the most likely tectonic boundary to have created these ranges?

convergent

The North American craton consists of a

shield and platform

The process of mountain belt formation is called

orogeny

Depending on the direction of force (red arrows in the diagrams), stress is categorized as compression, tension, shear, or pressure. Which of the following diagrams shows tension?

B

Mountain building at convergent margins produces several distinct geologic settings. This diagram represents an orogeny in which one continent has already collided with another continent. Where on the image is a suture located?

B

A series of anticlines and synclines forms as a result of

compression

According to the principle of isostasy, tall mountains

have deep roots

What is the change in shape produced by stress called?

strain

Aftershocks are

much weaker than the mainshock.

Interpret the travel-time curve shown. Approximately how many minutes elapsed between the arrival of the first P-wave and the arrival of the first S-wave at Station 3?

7

The locations of major earthquakes

are usually along plate boundaries.

A tsunami

may be just a broad, gentle swelling out at sea but grows as it approaches shore.

Liquefaction

can affect sand layers below the ground surface and cause them to erupt as sand volcanoes or sand boils.

Earthquake prediction is not highly reliable, but geologists do know that

more earthquakes happen along plate boundaries than happen at intraplate locations.

Long-term earthquake predictions

are based on the study of historic recurrence intervals.

Examining sedimentary bedding in a particular geologic area reveals disrupted layers that formed 260, 820, 1,200, 2,100, and 2,300 years ago.

Assuming that all the earthquakes that have occurred in this area are represented by these disrupted layers, what is the recurrence interval of earthquakes in this area?

510 years

The 2010 Haiti earthquake was so destructive because

of poor construction standards that caused many buildings to collapse.

Which represents the epicenter of the earthquake?

A

Which letter represents the P-wave arrival?

A

When a fault slips and the rock units on either side return to their original shape by generating vibrations, it is called

elastic rebound.

The Modified Mercalli Intensity scale measures

earthquake damage.

Which type of wave is a compressional body wave?

P-wave

Which of the following is a good technique for building safer structures in an earthquake zone?

use wood-frame construction

To find the location of an earthquake’s epicenter, you need to calculate the distance from the epicenter to ____ different seismometer stations.

3

How does the time between P- and S-wave arrival correlate to distance from the epicenter?

The longer the time between P- and S-wave arrival, the farther the distance from the epicenter.

Andrija Mohorovičić discovered the crust-mantle boundary, which is now named after him, because he realized that

P-waves were refracted at the boundary.

The S-wave shadow zone indicates

the outer core is liquid.

An earthquake occurs! Figurines fall from shelves and break. The ceiling fans sway and a bookshelf falls over. What is the most likely MMI for this experience?

V: Most people awakened; some dishes and windows break; unstable objects tip over; trees and poles sway.

The earthquake foci pattern east of Australia and just north of New Zealand indicates which tectonic setting?

convergent plate boundary

How long did it take the 2004 tsunami to reach Africa?

7 hours