Exam 2 Practice Test

_____ is considered the most influential control of soil formation.

Climate

How does physical weathering change the surface area of rocks and affect the rate of chemical weathering?

Increases surface area and thereby increases chemical weathering

Yellowstone was mostly effusive lava flows, while Kilauea is mostly explosive volcanism.

False

Along which tectonic boundary will chains of stratovolcanoes be located?

Convergent

_____ is the process in which new larger mineral crystals form as a result of metamorphism.

Recrystallization

Which low-grade metamorphic rock displays thin, parallel layers and contains very fine grains of mica?

Slate

What is the difference between a crater and a caldera?

A crater is a small, funnel-shaped depression; a caldera is a large depression that has a diameter of over 1 km.

What can you do to a solution to have a greater concentration?

Add more solute

What is the most important agent of chemical weathering?

Water

What is the driving force behind pyroclastic flows?

Gravity

What is the most important factor driving metamorphism?

Heat

What is a good method to reduce soil erosion as a result of strong winds?

Plant rows of trees and shrubs

What is the most important transporting medium of sediment?

Streams

What materials are you likely to find in a soil horizon from the surface down?

Organics, leached materials, weathered parent material

_____ can produce intricately folded rocks.

Differential stress

What is the texture of a conglomerate?

Rounded fragments; poorly sorted

_____ is a material’s resistance to flowing.

Viscosity

List these metamorphic rocks in order form lowest metamorphic grade to highest: Gneiss, Slate, Schist, and Phyllite

Slate, Phyllite, Schist, Gneiss

Determine the extent of these factors that would result in the most erosion: Agricultural population, Rainfall, Winds

Large agricultural population, abundant rainfall, and strong average winds

Which rock type is most likely to contain fossils?

Sedimentary rock

Which tectonic boundary is associated with regional metamorphism?

Subduction zone

What kind of volcanic hazard can be triggered by the collapse of a lava dome?

Pyroclastic flow

Predict the quality of soils in a tropical rainforest.

Low quality due to high levels of leaching

_____ weathering is when forces break rock into smaller pieces.

Physical

_____ is an organic chemical sedimentary rock that often forms in carbonate reefs.

Coquina

What method of transportation will result in the best degree of sorting?

Wind

What can we use to infer original depositional environment of sedimentary rocks?

Shape and size of grain

The largest of the volcanic cones is the _____.

Shield volcano

_____ occur when sea level rises and the shoreline migrates over the formerly exposed land surface.

Transgressions

Chemical weathering takes place most rapidly in environments that are…

warm and wet

Which of the following igneous compositions make up 90% of the total volume of lava erupted on Earth?

Basaltic

_____ is pulverized rock, lava fragments, and ash erupted from a volcano.

Tephra

Fine sediment that are held up by water and carried throughout the water column is known as…

suspended load

_____ is the portion of regolith that supports plant growth and contains some fraction of minerals, organic matter, water, and air.

Soil

GPS units, satellites, and lasers are some of the tools used to monitor the _____ of the volcanic flanks, which indicates magma accumulating in the magma chamber.

inflation

Which of the following is incorrect about cross-bedding?

a. We can infer the rough direction of wind or water current in ancient times.

b. It shows that the area went through a dramatic change in depositional setting from deep ocean to desert.

c. It is an example of uniformitarianism.

b. It shows that the area went through a dramatic change in depositional setting from deep ocean to desert.

Which style of metamorphism will be generated by a magma pluton?

Contact (thermal)

A coarse-grained, banded metamorphic rock in which elongated minerals predominate is called _____.

gneiss

What is a protolith?

The original parent rock that was altered by metamorphism.

What are the two types of sediment?

Clastic and dissolved