The Geosci Motherload

The Geosci Motherload
Unit 1 - Science!

|1. |The US government, and most other governments of the world, provide support for scientists but not for astrologers, palm readers, or telephone |
| |“psychics”. Why do governments support scientists? |
| |A. |
| |Scientists are amazingly sexy, and government functionaries simply cannot control themselves in the presence of such overwhelming sexiness and |
| |throw money at the scientists (sometimes tucking tens and twenties into the pockets of the scientists’
lab coats). |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Scientists use a careful method, and governments are always committed to supporting the use of careful methods. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Scientists help humans do useful things, which makes the humans healthier, wealthier, etc., and governments often like to support health and |
| |wealth. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Scientists all drink Diet Pepsi because they think it makes them look sexy, and governments are all controlled by the powerful Pepsi |
| |Corporation and so the governments support the Diet-Pepsi-drinking scientists.
|
| | |
| |E. |
| |Scientists learn the Truth, and governments are always deeply committed to learning the truth. |
| |
|

The government is often interested in seeing people live longer, or improving the economy, or having better and more-accurate explosive devices for the military, or in many other things that improve our lives, and science plus engineering and scientific medicine are better than any other human activity at delivering these. A cynic might say that politicians are often not all that interested in finding the Truth. And a realist would note that science is being improved all the time, and because you cannot improve on the Truth, science has not (yet?) learned the Truth. There are many methods in the world, some of them are careful, and many of them are not funded by the government. Some of our spouses or significant others may think that some scientists are sexy, but many other sexy persons are not funded by the government. One of the professors has been known to drink a competitor of Pepsi on occasion, and some scientists refrain from soft drinks entirely.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|2. |What is an accurate description of the job of a scientist? |
| |A. |
| |The scientist does only things that require high-tech equipment. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The scientist invents new ideas, and goes on to show that some of those ideas are false. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The scientist learns the Truth through careful application of the scientific method. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The scientist does only things that show how sexy being a scientist really is, causing down-trodden non-scientists to lose control of |
| |themselves with carnal lust for the scientist. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The scientist Invents new ideas, and then goes on to prove that some of those ideas are True. |
| | |

Much of the fun in science is coming up with great new ideas (hypotheses, if you like fancy words). But for your new idea to “win”, you have to show that it does better than old ideas, so you have to prove those old ideas false (or incomplete, or not-quite-right, or whatever “nice” word you might prefer). The scientific method is a powerful way for humans to learn to do things, and learn what does and doesn’t work, but the results of science are always open to improvement, so are not claimed to be Truth, and probably are not Truth. Some scientists still use pencils and look at things, and there are probably a few non-sexy scientists around somewhere.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|3. |Newton’s ideas on physics “won”, and Aristotle’s ideas were kicked out of science and over into history. Why? |
| |A. |
| |Newton’s ideas appealed to dead white European males, whereas Aristotle’s didn’t because Aristotle wore a toga all the time. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Newton’s ideas did a better job of predicting how nature would behave. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Newton’s ideas appealed to dead white European males, whereas Aristotle’s didn’t. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Newton’s ideas were more elegant, and so were intellectually favored. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Newton won the Nobel prize. |
| | |

Unlike painting or literature, scientific inquiry has a well-defined procedure for figuring out if Newton's ideas are better or if Aristotle had it right all along.
In looking at a painting, we can ask different people what they think, or we can make up our own mind on whether we like it or not, and that is perfectly valid. In science, we have to ask: does the idea fit with the way the world works? Can I predict the speed of a falling object better using Newton's ideas or Aristotle's? As it turns out, Aristotle’s ideas didn’t predict things very well, and Newton’s did.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B
|
|4. |Scientists often speak of consensus—the scientific community agrees that a particular theory is better than the competitors. What is such |
| |scientific consensus based on? |
| |A. |
| |The insistence of a single scientist that he or she is correct. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A number of different experiments by different people that all had outcomes that were predicted accurately by the favored theory and not by |
| |the competitors. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Statements in the old textbooks that the scientists studied when they were in school. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The decision of the Nobel prize committee to give the inventor of the idea a lot of money. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A single experiment had an outcome that was predicted accurately by the favored theory and not by the competitors. |
| | |

Agreement on scientific theories is a contentious, drawn-out, and sometimes acrimonious business. Scientists are no better (and no worse!) than everybody else: we think we are right and those who disagree with us are dunderheads! I put forward my idea, and the experiments that I did that show the idea is a good one... then everybody else piles on and pooh-poohs my idea. BUT, they go out and do experiments that try and show my ideas are wrong... and they can't do it! So eventually all those experiments accumulate, and finally people agree that my idea is a good one. (Sometimes accompanied by a sneer: "...but of course I knew that all along. I just didn't bother to publicize it..." I told you, scientists are no better and no worse than the rest of the world.)
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|5. |Your job depends on you finding the best available information on a particular technical topic. Where should you concentrate your search if |
| |you want to do it right and keep your job? |
| |A. |
| |Watch cola commercials on football bowl games. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Locate articles in weekly news magazines analyzing the views of public officials on the technical issue, as reported in the newspapers. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Get on the web and go looking for the pages posted by “think-tanks” headquartered near Washington. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Scan databases of newspaper articles to find the views of public figures on the technical issue. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Find and study refereed scientific articles in learned journals. |
| | |

No source of information is perfect, but the refereed articles in learned journals put immense effort into “getting it right”. The web has reliable information, of course, but probably most of the information on the web is not especially reliable. The web is very inexpensive, and lots of people put junk on it. Think tanks also often are pushing an agenda, and try to “spin” information their way. Most newspapers are around for the long haul, and try to make the news fairly accurate, although some newspapers do have agendas, and the editorial pages are not especially accurate. But, if the report is on the views of a public figure, the newspaper may accurately report what the public figure said, but what the public figure said may be less than completely accurate. Some magazines are quite good and careful, but many are pushing a belief or just overhyping things to tease you into buying the magazine. And while you are welcome to believe that drinking a particular cola makes you sexy… don’t count on it.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|6. |Before they can be published, scientific papers must be peer-reviewed. This means that: |
| |A. |
| |Some other scientific experts read the papers and guarantee that they are True. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Some other scientific experts read the papers and provide quality control by eliminating many mistakes. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Government bureaucrats read the papers, to be sure that the papers do not insult the political positions of the current officeholders. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Everyone in the world is given the opportunity to comment on the papers through a specially maintained blog. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |An editor reads the papers, to make sure that all the semicolons are in the correct places. |
| | |

Reviewers work hard to identify errors of any sort, almost always identify many, and then the reviewers and editors insist that those errors be fixed before publication. Review is done voluntarily by scientists; this is part of the cost of being a member of this great human undertaking. Science doesn’t claim Truth; although science strives to be as accurate as humanly possible, that is often well short of Truth.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|7. |What is more accurate about the Earth? |
| |A. |
| |The Earth is formed of flat, vertical layers; one runs from the North Pole to the South Pole, and then others are layered on to the sides of |
| |that. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The Earth is formed of flat, horizontal layers, a little cap at the South Pole, then a layer above that, and a layer above that, all the way |
| |up to a little cap at the North Pole. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The Earth is formed of concentric layers (something like an onion--a central ball with a shell around it, and a shell around that…), but with |
| |a giant hole on one side where the moon-making collision blasted pieces off. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The Earth is homogeneous; when it melted, it got all mixed up. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The Earth is formed of concentric layers (something like an onion--a central ball with a shell around it, and a shell around that…); when the |
| |planet melted, it separated into layers. |
| | |

The planet is onion-like, with an inner core, then an outer core, a mantle (which has several sub-layers), and a crust. The moon-making collision did happen, but the planet got hot enough to separate again. The planet separated after melting largely or completely, with the densest stuff falling to the center and the lowest-density stuff floating to the top.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
| | |
|8. |Geologists get to play with chemistry, physics, biology… and history! And what a history you will meet as you work your way through the |
| |course. Starting at the beginning, the textbook provides the scientifically accepted start of the story… and promises that you’ll get to |
| |explore some of the evidence for that scientific view, later in the semester. Meanwhile, which is more nearly correct of the scientifically |
| |accepted view? |
| |A. |
| |The Earth is eternal, having been here forever and promising to be here forever. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The Earth formed from the falling together of older materials, about 4.6 billion years ago. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The Earth formed in the Big Bang, about 6000 years ago. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The Earth was assembled by gigantic space beavers, which gnawed down the primordial tree of life and piled its branches together to form the |
| |planet. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The Earth formed when the Big Bang caused older materials to fall together, about 14 billion years ago. |
| | |

The Big Bang is estimated as having occurred about 14 billion years ago. Stars that eventually formed in the wake of the Big Bang led to production of elements such as iron and silicon that are common in the Earth—we are formed from second-generation stardust, which “got it together” to make the planet about 4.6 billion years ago.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|9. |National Parks are: |
| |A. |
| |Regions containing key biological resources that have been set aside for the enjoyment of future generations. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Regions containing key geological resources that have been set aside for the enjoyment of the present generation. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Regions containing key cultural resources that have been set aside for the enjoyment of the present generation and future generations. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Regions containing key biological, geological or cultural resources that have been set aside for the enjoyment of the present generation and |
| |future generations. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Regions containing key roller coasters that have been set aside for the enjoyment of you and your immediate friends. |
| | |

Old Faithful, the giant sequoias, and Mesa Verde’s cliff dwellings are waiting for you, and your grandchildren.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|10. |You find two neutral atoms. Each has 8 protons in its nucleus, but one has 7 neutrons, and the other has 8 neutrons. It is correct |
| |to state that: |
| |A. |
| |The two atoms are from two different elements. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The two atoms are from the same element, but are different ions of that element. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The two atoms are from the same cola, but presented in different packaging. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The two atoms are from the same element, but are different isotopes of that element. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The two atoms are from the same element, but are different isopleths of that element. |
| | |

The element is determined by the number of protons, so if each atom has the same number of protons, the atoms are the same element. Changing the number of neutrons primarily affects the weight, giving a different isotope of the same element. (Changing the number of neutrons too much can introduce radioactivity, so the isotope won’t hang around forever.) Ions are made by gaining or losing electrons. Isopleths are lines on a map connecting places with the same concentration of something that someone has measured, not exactly relevant here. And cola requires making atoms into molecules, and then mixing molecules of several sorts (water, sweetener, coloring agent, flavoring agent, perhaps caffeine) to make cola.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|11. |You get some stuff, and start taking it apart. But, you are restricted to the use of “ordinary” means (fire, sunlight, your digestive|
| |system) and you cannot use atom smashers or atom bombs. What is the smallest piece that you are likely to be able to produce: |
| |A. |
| |A quark |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A nucleus |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A proton. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |An atom |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A neutron. |
| | |

We can break matter down into atoms (Greek for “not cuttable” because the Greeks didn’t have atom smashers or other exotic tools that would allow cutting atoms into smaller pieces). All of the wrong answers here are smaller pieces of atoms, but cannot normally be isolated by “ordinary” tools.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|12. |Ignoring good manners, you start rooting around in the nucleus of a poor, unsuspecting atom, to see what is in there. What are you |
| |most likely to find? |
| |A. |
| |Only neutrons. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Neutrons, usually with some electrons hanging around among the neutrons. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Protons, usually with some electrons hanging around among the protons. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Protons, usually with some neutrons hanging around among the protons. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Only protons. |
| | |

The simplest nucleus is the single proton in “ordinary” hydrogen. All other nuclei include protons and neutrons. Electrons make the cloud around the nucleus.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|1. |What is an accurate description of the job of a scientist? |
| |A. |
| |The scientist invents new ideas, and goes on to show that some of those ideas are false. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The scientist learns the Truth through careful application of the scientific method. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The scientist Invents new ideas, and then goes on to prove that some of those ideas are True. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The scientist does only things that show how sexy being a scientist really is, causing down-trodden non-scientists to lose control of |
| |themselves with carnal lust for the scientist. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The scientist does only things that require high-tech equipment. |
| | |

Much of the fun in science is coming up with great new ideas (hypotheses, if you like fancy words). But for your new idea to “win”, you have to show that it does better than old ideas, so you have to prove those old ideas false (or incomplete, or not-quite-right, or whatever “nice” word you might prefer). The scientific method is a powerful way for humans to learn to do things, and learn what does and doesn’t work, but the results of science are always open to improvement, so are not claimed to be Truth, and probably are not Truth. Some scientists still use pencils and look at things, and there are probably a few non-sexy scientists around somewhere.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Your Response: |B |
|1. |Most Americans support science because: |
| |A. |
| |The scientific method allows scientists to learn the Truth. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |All scientists are sexy. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |All Americans are bored silly by science. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |All Americans are fascinated by science. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Science has helped make our lives easier, safer, etc. |
| | |

Without science and technology, the great majority of us would be dead, so we tend to be supporters of science. Although we know that science works, we’re never sure that it is completely right. Students so often discover things that professors missed, or that professors got wrong, that scientists would be silly to claim Truth. Comparing the TV ratings of the latest hit to the ratings of the latest science program on public broadcasting shows that many Americans are not fascinated by science, but the science-show ratings are above zero, so some people are fascinated by science. And hope as we might, it is unfortunately clear that not every scientist is sexy (just most of them are…).
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
| | |
|2. |What is an accurate description of the job of a scientist? |
| |A. |
| |The scientist invents new ideas, and goes on to show that some of those ideas are false. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The scientist learns the Truth through careful application of the scientific method. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The scientist does only things that show how sexy being a scientist really is, causing down-trodden non-scientists to lose control of |
| |themselves with carnal lust for the scientist. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The scientist does only things that require high-tech equipment. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The scientist Invents new ideas, and then goes on to prove that some of those ideas are True. |
| | |

Much of the fun in science is coming up with great new ideas (hypotheses, if you like fancy words). But for your new idea to “win”, you have to show that it does better than old ideas, so you have to prove those old ideas false (or incomplete, or not-quite-right, or whatever “nice” word you might prefer). The scientific method is a powerful way for humans to learn to do things, and learn what does and doesn’t work, but the results of science are always open to improvement, so are not claimed to be Truth, and probably are not Truth. Some scientists still use pencils and look at things, and there are probably a few non-sexy scientists around somewhere.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|3. |The final arbitrator between two alternate theories (for example Aristotle’s and Newton’s ideas) is: |
| |A. |
| |A public opinion poll conducted by Gallup, ABC News, and Fox News. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Nature, and experiments conducted to test each idea. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A committee of "wise men" who gather twice a year to arbitrate such disputes. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The Nobel Prize Committee in Stockholm, Sweden. |
| | |

Unlike painting or literature, scientific inquiry has a well-defined procedure for figuring out if Newton's ideas are better or if Aristotle had it right all along. In looking at a painting, we can ask different people what they think, or we can make up our own mind on whether we like it or not, and that is perfectly valid. In science, we have to ask: does the idea fit with the way the world works? Can I predict the speed of a falling object better using Newton's ideas or Aristotle's? As it turns out, Aristotle’s ideas didn’t predict things very well, and Newton’s did.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|4. |When scientists agree that a particular scientific theory is a good one, and the scientists use that theory to help make new things, cure |
| |diseases, etc., that "agreement" came about because: |
| |A. |
| |A single experiment had an outcome that was well-predicted by that theory. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A single, well-respected scientist put forward the idea. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |That's what it says in all the books. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The Nobel prize committee gave the inventor of the idea a lot of money. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A number of different experiments by different people all had outcomes that were well-predicted by the theory. |
| | |

Agreement on scientific theories is a contentious, drawn-out, and sometimes acrimonious business. Scientists are no better (and no worse!) than everybody else: we think we are right and those who disagree with us are dunderheads! I put forward my idea, and the experiments that I did that show the idea is a good one... then everybody else piles on and pooh-poohs my idea. BUT, they go out and do experiments that try and show my ideas are wrong... and they can't do it! So eventually all those experiments accumulate, and finally people agree that my idea is a good one. (Sometimes accompanied by a sneer: "...but of course I knew that all along. I just didn't bother to publicize it..." I told you, scientists are no better and no worse than the rest of the world.)
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|5. |Which is more likely to contain reliable information? |
| |A. |
| |A web page posted by an independent “think-tank”. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A magazine article summarizing recent newspaper and television reports. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A refereed article in a learned journal. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The views of public figures reported in a newspaper article. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A cola commercial. |
| | |

No source of information is perfect, but the refereed articles in learned journals put immense effort into “getting it right”. The web has reliable information, of course, but probably most of the information on the web is not especially reliable. The web is very inexpensive, and lots of people put junk on it. Think tanks also often are pushing an agenda, and try to “spin” information their way. Most newspapers are around for the long haul, and try to make the news fairly accurate, although some newspapers do have agendas, and the editorial pages are not especially accurate. But, if the report is on the views of a public figure, the newspaper may accurately report what the public figure said, but what the public figure said may be less than completely accurate. Some magazines are quite good and careful, but many are pushing a belief or just overhyping things to tease you into buying the magazine. And while you are welcome to believe that drinking a particular cola makes you sexy… don’t count on it.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|6. |What is accurate about peer review of scientific papers? |
| |A. |
| |It insures that they are True. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |It almost always leads to the recommendation that the papers be published without changes. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |It is why we call scientific papers “primary sources”. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |It provides quality control by eliminating many mistakes. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |It is primarily done by government bureaucrats hired for that purpose. |
| | |

Reviewers work hard to identify errors of any sort, almost always identify many, and then the reviewers and editors insist that those errors be fixed before publication. Review is done voluntarily by scientists; this is part of the cost of being a member of this great human undertaking. Science doesn’t claim Truth; although science strives to be as accurate as humanly possible, that is often well short of Truth. Asking grandpa what school was like in his childhood gives you a primary source (grandpa), even if he insists that he walked 20 miles through neck-deep snow, uphill both ways. Some primary sources have selective memories.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|7. |The Earth is layered. Most geologists believe that this layering originated primarily because: |
| |A. |
| |The denser material fell together from space first, and then the less-dense material fell in later. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The Earth partially or completely melted soon after it formed, and the denser materials fell to the center. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Graham Spanier decreed that it be, so it was. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The Earth has been separating bit-by-bit for billions of years as the cold oceanic slabs sink all the way to the center and pile up. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The Moon flew out of the Earth after a great collision with a Mars-sized body, causing the Earth to spin faster and separate. |
| | |

Melting allows things to sort out more easily. Think of the rocks and snow and ice and salt and squirrel parts that stick on the bottom of your car when you drive in a snowstorm, and how they sort themselves out when they melt in the garage or in the spring. Much evidence points to early separation of the Earth into layers, before the collision with a Mars-sized body that blasted out the material that made the moon, although a little bit of separating may still be going on. The type of material falling together to make the planet may have changed as the planet formed, but this doesn’t seem to have been too important in controlling things. And mighty as Graham Spanier is, this was a bit before his time.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|8. |The Earth has a fascinating history, which this class has just begun to explore. Which is more nearly correct, according to the scientific |
| |interpretation presented in the text? |
| |A. |
| |The Earth has been here forever. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The Earth formed in the great Pepsi flood, when Graham Spanier’s private reservoirs burst open and flooded Pennsylvania. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The Earth formed in the Big Bang, about 4.6 billion years ago. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The Earth formed about 4.6 billion years ago, well after the Big Bang, as materials made in stars fell together to form the planet. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The Earth formed in the Big Bang, about 6000 years ago. |
| | |

The Big Bang is estimated as having occurred about 14 billion years ago. Stars that eventually formed in the wake of the Big Bang led to production of elements such as iron and silicon that are common in the Earth—we are formed from second-generation stardust, which “got it together” to make the planet about 4.6 billion years ago.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |C |
|9. |National Parks are: |
| |A. |
| |An invention of the Romans, to overcome the “tragedy of the commons” that caused them to invade the food-service buildings of the neighboring |
| |Greeks. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |An invention of the United States that has spread around much of the world, as a way of protecting some of the finest parts of the world. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A U.S. government program to provide roller-coaster rides for disadvantaged grandparents. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |An invention of the United States, which has been routinely ignored by the rest of the world because they really don’t like us. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |An invention of Greenlandic people, who set aside the northeastern part of the island as the world’s first national park. |
| | |

Yellowstone was the first National Park, but now you can find National Parks scattered across the planet, preserving key areas for the enjoyment of this generation and for future generations.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|10. |You find two neutral atoms. Each has 8 protons in its nucleus, but one has 7 neutrons, and the other has 8 neutrons. It is correct |
| |to state that: |
| |A. |
| |The two atoms are from the same cola, but presented in different packaging. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The two atoms are from the same element, but are different isopleths of that element. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The two atoms are from the same element, but are different ions of that element. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The two atoms are from two different elements. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The two atoms are from the same element, but are different isotopes of that element. |
| | |

The element is determined by the number of protons, so if each atom has the same number of protons, the atoms are the same element. Changing the number of neutrons primarily affects the weight, giving a different isotope of the same element. (Changing the number of neutrons too much can introduce radioactivity, so the isotope won’t hang around forever.) Ions are made by gaining or losing electrons. Isopleths are lines on a map connecting places with the same concentration of something that someone has measured, not exactly relevant here. And cola requires making atoms into molecules, and then mixing molecules of several sorts (water, sweetener, coloring agent, flavoring agent, perhaps caffeine) to make cola.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|11. |You get some stuff, and start taking it apart. But, you are restricted to the use of “ordinary” means (fire, sunlight, your digestive|
| |system) and you cannot use atom smashers or atom bombs. What is the smallest piece that you are likely to be able to produce: |
| |A. |
| |A neutron. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |An atom |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A proton. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A nucleus |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A quark |
| | |

We can break matter down into atoms (Greek for “not cuttable” because the Greeks didn’t have atom smashers or other exotic tools that would allow cutting atoms into smaller pieces). All of the wrong answers here are smaller pieces of atoms, but cannot normally be isolated by “ordinary” tools.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|12. |Chemical reactions involve: |
| |A. |
| |The sharing or trading of partons. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The sharing or trading of quarks. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The sharing or trading of protons. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The sharing or trading of neutrons. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The sharing or trading of electrons. |
| | |

The clouds of electrons around the nuclei of atoms serve as the Velcro of the universe. Atoms gain or lose electrons and then stick together by static electricity, or else share electrons and stick together inside the shared cloud. The nuclei with their protons and neutrons (which are themselves composed of quarks, which also were called partons at one time) are the things held together by the electronic Velcro of chemistry.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |

|1. |Ignoring good manners, you start rooting around in the nucleus of a poor, unsuspecting atom, to see what is in there. What are you most likely |
| |to find? |
| |A. |
| |Neutrons, usually with some electrons hanging around among the neutrons. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Only neutrons. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Protons, usually with some neutrons hanging around among the protons. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Protons, usually with some electrons hanging around among the protons. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Only protons. |
| | |

The simplest nucleus is the single proton in “ordinary” hydrogen. All other nuclei include protons and neutrons. Electrons make the cloud around the nucleus.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Your Response: |C |
|2. |Opinion polls show most residents of the US do not believe they understand science very well, but they do favor more government support of |
| |science. Why do most US residents favor government support of science? |
| |A. |
| |Scientists are so breath-takingly sexy that most people are drawn through sheer carnal lust to support the scientific enterprise. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Science is so boring that almost everyone uses public-broadcasting science programming as a sleep aid, and government funding is needed to |
| |insure a steady supply of boredom. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Science has helped make our lives healthier, wealthier, easier, safer, etc., and people hope that more funding of more science will provide |
| |even more health, wealth, ease, safety, etc. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Science is simply so fascinating that almost everyone can’t wait to see what will be discovered next. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Scientists apply their scientific method, which allows them to learn the Truth. |
| | |

Without science and technology, the great majority of us would be dead, so we tend to be supporters of science. Although we know that science works, we’re never sure that it is completely right. Students so often discover things that professors missed, or that professors got wrong, that scientists would be silly to claim Truth. Comparing the TV ratings of the latest hit to the ratings of the latest science program on public broadcasting shows that many Americans are not fascinated by science, but the science-show ratings are above zero, so some people are fascinated by science. And hope as we might, it is unfortunately clear that not every scientist is sexy (just most of them are…).
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Your Response: |C |
|3. |In chemistry, the type of an atom (what element it is) is determined by: |
| |A. |
| |The number of electrons it exchanges with its neighbors. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The number of protons it has in a cloud around the nucleus. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The number of neutrons it has in a cloud around the nucleus. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The number of neutrons it contains in its nucleus. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The number of protons it contains in its nucleus. |
| | |

Physicists change the name when the number of charged, massive protons in the nucleus changes. Adding one proton makes a HUGE difference to how an atom behaves, and so deserves a new name. The neutrons hang around in the nucleus to keep the protons from kicking each other out. Exchanging electrons is important, but doesn’t change the element type.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Your Response: |E |
|4. |What is an accurate description of the job of a scientist? |
| |A. |
| |The scientist Invents new ideas, and then goes on to prove that some of those ideas are True. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The scientist does only things that show how sexy being a scientist really is, causing down-trodden non-scientists to lose control of |
| |themselves with carnal lust for the scientist. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The scientist learns the Truth through careful application of the scientific method. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The scientist does only things that require high-tech equipment. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The scientist invents new ideas, and goes on to show that some of those ideas are false. |
| | |

Much of the fun in science is coming up with great new ideas (hypotheses, if you like fancy words). But for your new idea to “win”, you have to show that it does better than old ideas, so you have to prove those old ideas false (or incomplete, or not-quite-right, or whatever “nice” word you might prefer). The scientific method is a powerful way for humans to learn to do things, and learn what does and doesn’t work, but the results of science are always open to improvement, so are not claimed to be Truth, and probably are not Truth. Some scientists still use pencils and look at things, and there are probably a few non-sexy scientists around somewhere.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Your Response: |A |
|5. |What is more accurate about the Earth? |
| |A. |
| |The Earth is formed of concentric layers (something like an onion--a central ball with a shell around it, and a shell around that…); when the |
| |planet melted, it separated into layers. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The Earth is formed of flat, vertical layers; one runs from the North Pole to the South Pole, and then others are layered on to the sides of |
| |that. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The Earth is formed of flat, horizontal layers, a little cap at the South Pole, then a layer above that, and a layer above that, all the way |
| |up to a little cap at the North Pole. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The Earth is formed of concentric layers (something like an onion--a central ball with a shell around it, and a shell around that…), but with |
| |a giant hole on one side where the moon-making collision blasted pieces off. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The Earth is homogeneous; when it melted, it got all mixed up. |
| | |

The planet is onion-like, with an inner core, then an outer core, a mantle (which has several sub-layers), and a crust. The moon-making collision did happen, but the planet got hot enough to separate again. The planet separated after melting largely or completely, with the densest stuff falling to the center and the lowest-density stuff floating to the top.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Your Response: |E |

|1. |The US government, and most other governments of the world, provide support for scientists but not for astrologers, palm readers, or telephone |
| |“psychics”. Why do governments support scientists? |
| |A. |
| |Scientists all drink Diet Pepsi because they think it makes them look sexy, and governments are all controlled by the powerful Pepsi |
| |Corporation and so the governments support the Diet-Pepsi-drinking scientists. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Scientists help humans do useful things, which makes the humans healthier, wealthier, etc., and governments often like to support health and |
| |wealth. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Scientists are amazingly sexy, and government functionaries simply cannot control themselves in the presence of such overwhelming sexiness and |
| |throw money at the scientists (sometimes tucking tens and twenties into the pockets of the scientists’ lab coats). |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Scientists use a careful method, and governments are always committed to supporting the use of careful methods. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Scientists learn the Truth, and governments are always deeply committed to learning the truth. |
| | |

The government is often interested in seeing people live longer, or improving the economy, or having better and more-accurate explosive devices for the military, or in many other things that improve our lives, and science plus engineering and scientific medicine are better than any other human activity at delivering these. A cynic might say that politicians are often not all that interested in finding the Truth. And a realist would note that science is being improved all the time, and because you cannot improve on the Truth, science has not (yet?) learned the Truth. There are many methods in the world, some of them are careful, and many of them are not funded by the government. Some of our spouses or significant others may think that some scientists are sexy, but many other sexy persons are not funded by the government. One of the professors has been known to drink a competitor of Pepsi on occasion, and some scientists refrain from soft drinks entirely.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|2. |You hang around with the professor, who is a scientist when he’s not teaching. You observe that the professor learns a lot about how certain |
| |parts of the world behave, and the professor then uses that information to successfully predict the outcome of an experiment. What does this |
| |demonstrate? |
| |A. |
| |The professor’s knowledge is True; the professor couldn’t have made the successful prediction without knowing exactly what is going on. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The professor was lucky; no professor could ever know what is going on, so a professor who successfully predicted something must be really |
| |lucky. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The professor’s knowledge is close to being True; no professor really knows what is going on, but some professors are sort of close to knowing|
| |what is going on. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The professor cheated; no professor could get anything right without cheating. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Unless the professor was cheating, the professor either has true knowledge, or was lucky, or has knowledge that is at least close to being |
| |correct, but you cannot tell which. |
| | |

If you guessed “heads” before a coin flip, and it came up heads, that would NOT prove that you can predict all coin flips; you will get half of such guesses correct by chance. You might be cheating, you might be lucky, or you might have figured something out.
|Correct Answer: | |
|Your Response: |C |
|3. |The great scientist Alfred Wegener proposed that continents have moved, while other scientists such as T.C. Chamberlin argued |
| |against Wegener. Wegener’s ideas eventually won, and are now widely accepted, because: |
| |A. |
| |Wegener won the Nobel prize. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Wegener’s ideas did a better job of predicting the results of new observations and experiments. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Wegener’s ideas were more beautiful, and so were favored by the intellectual elite. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Wegener’s ideas appealed to dead white European males, whereas Chamberlin’s didn’t. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Wegener’s ideas appalled dead white European males, and we all know that in this politically correct era, dead white European |
| |males cannot get a fair shake. |
| | |

Unlike painting or literature, scientific inquiry has a well-defined procedure for figuring out if Wegener's ideas are better or if Chamberlin had it right all along. In looking at a painting, we can ask different people what they think, or we can make up our own mind on whether we like it or not, and that is perfectly valid. In science, we have to ask: does the idea fit with the way the world works? Can I predict the results of the next observation better using Wegener’s ideas or Chamberlin’s? As it turns out, Chamberlin’s ideas didn’t predict things very well, and Wegener’s did.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|4. |Science professors teach certain theories and not others (Newton’s physics, and not Aristotle’s, or Darwin’s evolution and not Lamarck’s). If |
| |you were to ask the professors why, a majority would tell you (more or less; not using exactly these words but with this meaning): |
| |A. |
| |“Well, we have to teach something in exchange for all those wads of cash you students pay, and this is more fun.” |
| | |
| |B. |
| |“Lamarck and Aristotle are so right-wing, and you know all of us professors are part of a vast left-wing conspiracy.” |
| | |
| |C. |
| |“Lamarck and Aristotle are so left-wing, and you know all of us professors are part of a vast right-wing conspiracy cleverly dressed up to |
| |look like a vast left-wing conspiracy.” |
| | |
| |D. |
| |“Nature has repeatedly been asked (through experiment) which is better, and we are teaching the ones that made successful predictions, and not|
| |teaching the ones that failed.” |
| | |
| |E. |
| |“Hey, I’m the professor, shut up.” |
| | |

You can be quite confident that the big-picture items in science class have been tested against reality and found to work. There still might be someone in academe who would reply with B (your professors remember a couple of their professors who could have said such a thing) (the technical term for anyone who would reply with the quote in B is “jerk”), but that is pretty rare today.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|5. |Your boss has assigned you to get the low-down on the latest wonder-drug, and to be darn sure to get it right. You would be wise to consult: |
| |A. |
| |The Wikipedia; everything they publish is up-to-date. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The web site of the manufacturer of the wonder drug; they know more about it than anyone else does. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The article in the Journal of the American Medical Society, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, reporting on the discovery and testing of the |
| |drug. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The web site in the email you received with the subject line “Grow your ***** naturally with new wonder drug”. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The New York Times article quoting the discoverer of the drug on how wonderful it is. |
| | |

No source of information is perfect, but the refereed articles in learned journals put immense effort into “getting it right”. The web has some reliable information, but probably most of the information on the web is not especially reliable. The web is very inexpensive, and lots of people put junk on it. The Wikipedia gets a lot of things right, but it is a distilled synopsis of the real stuff. Most newspapers are around for the long haul, and try to make the news fairly accurate, although some newspapers do have agendas, and the editorial pages are not especially accurate. But, if the report is on the views of a public figure, the newspaper may accurately report what the public figure said, but what the public figure said may be less than completely accurate. And while you are welcome to believe that an unsolicited email promising to grow your ***** will do so… don’t count on it.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|6. |The peer review process, in which scientists submit write-ups of their ideas and experiments to a set of colleagues who judge how good the |
| |ideas are before the ideas can be published, is: |
| |A. |
| |A useful and important, even if imperfect, mechanism of quality-control for the scientific literature. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A way to keep unpopular or dangerous ideas out of public circulation. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Always infallible. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The way all publications do business, including the popular press such as the New York Times, Centre Daily Times, National Enquirer, etc. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A way for the Scientific Establishment to maintain control over ideas and theories. |
| | |

The peer review process applies to scientific publications and works like this: I get an idea and do some experiments to test it and write down the results of the tests. I send the paper to a scientific journal (Nature, Journal of Geophysical Research, etc.) and the editor of the journal sends it to a number of other scientists who can best judge whether my methods are good, whether my results are new and interesting, and whether my paper ought to be published. They don't base their judgements on whether they like me or not or whether I'm a nice guy/gal or not (or at least they ought not base their judgments on that, though it does happen: we're human!). They don't base their judgements on whether my ideas are popular or unpopular. They are only supposed to ask: is this really new (i.e., did somebody else think of this and publish it already somewhere else?) and are the methods used accurate and repeatable?
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|7. |If you could drill a hole straight to the center of the Earth, and keep track of what the hole is going through, you would find: |
| |A. |
| |You would strike Diet Pepsi when you got to the center. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |If your hole started at the North Pole, you would go through different layers of different materials, but if your hole started at the equator,|
| |you would go through one sort of material all the way to the center. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |If your hole started at the equator, you would go through different layers of different materials, but if your hole started at the North Pole,|
| |you would go through one sort of material all the way to the center. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |You would go through one sort of material, and then a different, denser material, and then a still-different, still-denser material, because |
| |the planet is made of concentric layers, sort of like an onion. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |You would go through one sort of material all the way to the center, because the planet is all mixed up. |
| | |

The planet is onion-like, with an inner core, then an outer core, a mantle (which has several sub-layers), and a crust. The core is waaaaay too hot and high-pressure for Diet Pepsi.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|8. |The scientific study of the origin of the planet has taken a lot of effort, and still generates much discord outside the scientific community |
| |although almost no discord within the scientific community. The scientifically accepted history is: |
| |A. |
| |The Earth formed from older materials that fell together under gravity about 6000 years ago. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The Earth was formed from the deep-space wind, generated by the gas-passing activities of giant space marmots, about 4.6 billion years ago. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The Earth formed from older materials that fell together under gravity about 4.6 billion years ago. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The Earth formed three minutes after the Big Bang, as the cosmic microwave background radiation cooled off, about 14 billion years ago, as |
| |chronicled in Steven Weinberg’s famous book “The First Three Minutes”. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The Earth formed in the Big Bang about 6000 years ago. |
| | |

The Big Bang is estimated as having occurred about 14 billion years ago. Stars that eventually formed in the wake of the Big Bang led to production of elements such as iron and silicon that are common in the Earth—we are formed from second-generation stardust, which “got it together” to make the planet about 4.6 billion years ago.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|9. |National Parks are: |
| |A. |
| |Regions containing key biological resources that have been set aside for the enjoyment of the present generation. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Regions containing key geological resources that have been set aside for the enjoyment of future generations. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Regions containing key cultural resources that have been set aside for the enjoyment of the present generation. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Regions containing key biological, geological or cultural resources that have been set aside for the enjoyment of the present generation and |
| |future generations. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Regions containing key bumper-cars games that have been set aside for the enjoyment of the current presidential administration. |
| | |

Old Faithful, the giant sequoias, and Mesa Verde’s cliff dwellings are waiting for you, and your grandchildren.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|10. |You find an atom, and you want to learn what element it is (its fundamental type). If you are efficient, you first should: |
| |A. |
| |Count the number of protons contained in the nucleus of the atom. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Count the number of neutrons contained in the nucleus of the atom. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Count the number of protons contained in the cloud around the nucleus of the atom. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Count the number of neutrons contained in the cloud around the nucleus of the atom. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Count the number of electrons that the atom has exchanged with its neighbors. |
| | |

Physicists change the name when the number of charged, massive protons in the nucleus changes. Adding one proton makes a HUGE difference to how an atom behaves, and so deserves a new name. The neutrons hang around in the nucleus to keep the protons from kicking each other out. Exchanging electrons is important, but doesn’t change the element type.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|11. |Chemists recognize many different elements, such as gold, or oxygen, or carbon. Suppose you got some carbon, and started splitting |
| |it into smaller pieces. The smallest piece that would still be called “carbon” would be: |
| |A. |
| |A neutron |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A quark |
| | |
| |C. |
| |An electron |
| | |
| |D. |
| |An atom |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A proton |
| | |

We can break matter down into atoms (Greek for “not cuttable” because the Greeks didn’t have atom smashers or other exotic tools that would allow cutting atoms into smaller pieces). All of the wrong answers here are smaller pieces of atoms, but they wouldn’t be gold any more; you can make any of the elements out of these pieces.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|12. |You put some atoms together, and they share or trade some electrons. What just happened was: |
| |A. |
| |A proton reaction. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A neutron reaction. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A chemical reaction. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A parton reaction. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A quark reaction. |
| | |

The clouds of electrons around the nuclei of atoms serve as the Velcro of the universe. Atoms gain or lose electrons and then stick together by static electricity, or else share electrons and stick together inside the shared cloud. The nuclei with their protons and neutrons (which are themselves composed of quarks, which also were called partons at one time) are the things held together by the electronic Velcro of chemistry.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |

Unit 2 - Plate Tectonics I: Making Mountains, & Earthquakes
Park Visits: Death Valley & Yellowstone

|1. |Dave Janesko is explaining the great Sevier Fault to Dr. Alley and the CAUSE class. |
| | |
| |Dave has just informed everyone that the black rocks, which formed by cooling of a very hot lava flow, are much younger than the red rocks, |
| |which formed from sediments deposited in a lake. He has examined the red rocks and found that they have not been "cooked" by heat from the |
| |black rocks, so the red and black rocks must have been placed together after the black rocks cooled. And, he has examined the contact between |
| |red and black rocks and found that it is a fault that has been scratched by the motion of the rocks along the fault. It is likely that: |
| |A. |
| |The scratches make little curlicues, because motion on the fault screwed the two sides together. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The scratches are nearly vertical, because the black rocks were pushed up from below along a push-together fault to lie next to the red rocks. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The scratches are nearly vertical, because the black rocks were dropped down along a pull-apart fault to lie next to the red rock. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The scratches are all horizontal, because the red rocks moved over the black rocks in a landslide. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The scratches are nearly horizontal, because the black rocks were slid in from the side along a slide-past fault. |
| | |

The spreading that opened Death Valley affected a lot of the west, all the way over to Bryce Canyon in Utah. The Sevier Fault, just west of Bryce, formed as pull-apart action broke the rocks, allowing younger rocks including the black lava flow to drop down next to older rocks including the red lake sediments. The scratches are not too far from vertical, made as the rocks dropped down.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|2. |The processes that made Death Valley have been operating for millions of years, and continue to operate today. For this question, ignore the |
| |sand and gravel moved by water and wind, and think about the big motions of the rocks beneath. If you had visited Death Valley 1 million years|
| |ago, you would have found the valley then to have been (choose the best answer): |
| |A. |
| |Deeper than it is today. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The same width and depth as it is today. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Wider and deeper than it is today. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Narrower and shallower than it is today. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Wider than it is today. |
| | |

The pull-apart action that is spreading Death Valley and surroundings also involves uplift of mountains or downdrop of valleys, and Death Valley has dropped as its flanking mountains have moved apart. Thus, in the past the valley was narrower and shallower than it is now, and the motions have deepened and widened the valley.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|3. |The picture shows sand and gravel in the bottom of Death Valley, and layers of sand, gravel, or other loose things can be found across the |
| |entire floor of the valley. What happened here? |
| |A. |
| |The valley was raised by faulting, bringing up gravels from subterranean caves. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The sand and gravel were deposited by the river that carved the valley, before the recent drought dried up the river. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The sand and gravel were deposited by the glacier that carved the valley, before the recent warmth melted the glacier. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The valley was paved with gravels by a movie company for a really spectacular stunt in the Dukes of Hazzard movie, involving long-distance car|
| |chases and Daisy leaping the boys’ car across the entire park. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Gravels are being carried down from the mountains and spread across the valley by rivers, after faulting dropped the valley relative to the |
| |mountains. |
| | |

Faulting dropped the valley (or raised the mountains, or more likely both), and the melting snows of the mountains feed rivers that carry rocks down into the valley, slowly filling it up while lowering the mountains. There really are deep canyons that were carved by rivers or by glaciers, but as we saw in class and online, Death Valley is not one of them. And Daisy was more into shorts than into long jumps.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|4. |Geophysical evidence indicates that convection is occurring in the Earth’s mantle. What is the most likely physical explanation for why |
| |convection can occur in the mantle? |
| |A. |
| |The Earth is cooled deep inside, causing contraction that raises density, more-dense things tend to sink, and the mantle rocks are cold enough|
| |to flow slowly even though they are not melted. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The Earth’s outer core is completely melted, and this stirs the mantle to cause convection. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The magnetic field lines from the rotation of the Earth’s solid inner core induce torques in the mantle, causing convection. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Rocks deep in the Earth expand and so become lower in density and tend to rise as they are heated, and the deep rocks are warm enough to flow |
| |slowly even though they are mostly solid. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The Earth’s mantle is completely melted, and melting allows convection when heat from below causes expansion and drop in density of the deep |
| |liquid. |
| | |

Convection seems so easy, but describing it in words is not. For “ordinary” convection, one needs something capable of flowing (gas, liquid, or soft solid), heat below and cold above with expansion reducing density on heating and contraction increasing density on cooling, and then a bit of time and a perturbation of some sort to get the motion started. If you had something that expanded on cooling and contracted on heating, and you had cooling below and warming above, you could also make convection work. The mantle is mostly solid, the outer core can’t directly stir the mantle or cause convection, and Graham Spanier was solid and not melted the last time we checked.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|5. |Heat is moved around by convection, conduction and radiation (and by lemmings carrying space heaters, if lemmings ever carry space heaters). |
| |Which statement is more nearly correct? |
| |A. |
| |No matter where you are, convection always moves heat more efficiently than does conduction. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Convection moves heat efficiently through the soft, hot rocks of the Earth’s mantle, but is not efficient at moving heat through the space |
| |between the Sun and the Earth. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Convection moves heat efficiently through the space between the Sun and the Earth, but not through the soft, hot rocks of the mantle. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |No matter where you are, lemmings carrying space heaters are always moving more heat than convection is moving. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |No matter where you are, convection always moves heat more efficiently than does radiation. |
| | |

Heat from deep in the Earth is moved up through the soft bulk of the planet primarily by convection, but convection of rocks certainly does not continue beyond the planet, where radiation becomes dominant. In the shallowest, uppermost layers of the Earth, most of the heat transfer is by conduction. And the poor lemmings deserve a rest and a snack.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|6. |People visit Death Valley for all sorts of reasons. Some people even go there to study volcanoes. What is accurate about those Death Valley |
| |volcanoes? |
| |A. |
| |The volcanoes of Death Valley produce rocks that are similar in composition to the rocks made by volcanoes at undersea spreading ridges, |
| |because all volcanoes make lava of the same composition. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Death Valley has no volcanoes, and has never had volcanoes. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Death Valley has volcanoes that are erupting as this was typed, and have been erupting continuously for decades, so the next time you’re |
| |driving near Vegas, you can go see the lava flowing out. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The volcanoes of Death Valley produce rocks that are of a completely different composition than the rocks produced by volcanoes at undersea |
| |spreading ridges, because Death Valley is geologically completely unrelated to undersea spreading ridges. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The volcanoes near the edges of Death Valley produce rocks that are similar in composition to the rocks made by volcanoes at undersea |
| |spreading ridges, because Death Valley is in many ways geologically linked to undersea spreading ridges. |
| | |

Death Valley has spreading-ridge-type volcanoes, and if you go south from the Valley, you find the spreading ridge in the Gulf of California; Death Valley and the Gulf of California are geologically related. There have been recent eruptions in Death Valley (within the last centuries), but as of this writing, no volcanoes are currently erupting in Death Valley, nor have any erupted for over a century.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |A |
|7. |Dust and shells and fish poop and all sorts of things fall to the sea bed to make sediment. Across broad central regions of the ocean, the |
| |sediment accumulates at a uniform rate—piling up about as rapidly here as it does over there. And, in most places, the currents don’t move the|
| |sediment around much, so that it stays where it falls. Thus, the thickness of the sediment is related to the age of the rocks beneath the |
| |sediment. If you go around an ocean and measure the thickness of the sediment in lots of places, you are likely to find: |
| |A. |
| |The sediment thickness forms waves, thicker thinner thicker thinner thicker thinner, as you cross the ocean, but with no influence from |
| |spreading ridges. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The sediment is thin near spreading ridges, and thicker away from the ridges. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The sediment is the same thickness everywhere. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The sediment is thick near spreading ridges, and thinner away from the ridges. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The sediment thickness varies a lot from place to place, but the pattern is totally random. |
| | |

Sea floor is made at the spreading ridges, and moves away on both sides. Sediment piles up over time, and while there are variations in sedimentation rate, the huge difference in age of the sea-floor rocks (140 million years near the edges of some ocean basins, to essentially zero at the ridges) is the main controlling factor on sediment thickness. Fish actually poop wherever they travel, and tend to go all over the oceans.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|8. |Most earthquakes in the upper part of the Earth’s crust are caused by elastic rebound, according to geologists. What do those geologists mean |
| |when they say this? |
| |A. |
| |All rocks on a continent move in the same direction at the same speed, even if there is a fault splitting the continent. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Rocks compressed by volcanic eruptions “bounce back”, shaking their surroundings. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Rocks stretched by implosion of subducted slabs then “bounce back”, shaking their surroundings. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Rocks moving in opposite directions on opposite sides of a fault get stuck for a while and bend, then “snap back” when something breaks along |
| |the fault. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |High-pressure water in faults allows the rocks on opposite sides of a fault to move smoothly in opposite directions all the time, carrying |
| |halves of houses built on the faults in opposite directions and so slowly tearing the houses in half. |
| | |

Try sliding a boulder over the ground, and you’ll find the boulder gets stuck for a while. Lean harder, the boulder jerks forward suddenly, and you just had a tiny earthquake. Implosion earthquakes probably exist, but the rocks don’t bounce back to their original size, and such quakes only can happen deep. We have no information on Graham Spanier’s choice in socks, but his choice is unlikely to shake much beyond the immediate vicinity of University Park.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|9. |On the Richter scale of earthquake intensity: |
| |A. |
| |The ground is shaken 10 times less by a magnitude-8 quake than by a magnitude-7 quake. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The ground is shaken 8 times more by a magnitude-8 quake than by a magnitude-1 quake. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The ground is shaken twice as much by a magnitude-8 quake as by a magnitude-4 quake. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The ground is shaken 10 times less by a magnitude-7 quake than by a magnitude-8 quake. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A magnitude-7 quake is impossible; nothing that big can occur. |
| | |

One problem in describing earthquakes is that the ground shaking in the smallest one you can feel is 1,000,000,000 times smaller than the ground shaking in the largest quakes. We usually dislike having a scale that requires us to talk about an event of, say, size 100,000,000; instead, if a magnitude-1 quake moves the ground 10 units (say, 10 nanometers at some specified distance from the quake), than we say that a magnitude-2 quake moves the ground 100 units, and a magnitude-3 quake moves the ground 1000 units, and so on. You’ll notice that the magnitude is just the number of zeros after the 1; this is a logarithmic scale.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|10. |Most of the material moved by volcanoes is from the few, big ones rather then from the many, little ones. Most of the material moved |
| |downhill in landslides is in the many, little ones rather than the few, big ones. In comparing the importance of the few, big |
| |earthquakes to the many, little earthquakes, are earthquakes more like volcanoes (the few big ones matter most) or like landslides |
| |(the many little ones matter most)? |
| |A. |
| |The many, little earthquakes matter most (like landslides). |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Earthquakes don’t do any damage, just like volcanoes and landslides. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |All earthquakes have been retribution for the Simpsons. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The few, big earthquakes are just as important as the many, little earthquakes (halfway between volcanoes and landslides). |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The few, big earthquakes matter most (like volcanoes). |
| | |

An increase of 1 in earthquake magnitude increases ground shaking about 10-fold, increases energy release about 30-fold, and decreases frequency about 10-fold; the 30-fold increase in energy more than offsets the 10-fold decrease in frequency of occurrence. We wish earthquakes did no damage, but the millions of people who have been killed in earthquakes over the centuries would, if they could, testify to the damage done by earthquakes. And historical records of earthquakes clearly preceded the Simpsons.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|11. |The New Madrid Fault Zone in Missouri has had some surprisingly big earthquakes. A magneto-hydro-astronomer at a small university |
| |near the fault zone reports that the gravitational effects of the coming alignment of several planets, together with the weakening of|
| |the magnetic field, will cause a giant earthquake on the fault zone on Wednesday morning between 1 and 4 am. Based on materials |
| |presented in class, you would be wise to: |
| |A. |
| |Listen up; although the forecast is not certain, such forecasts are usually fairly accurate and should be heeded. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Go to St. Louis with your camera, to photograph the Gateway Arch when it falls during the quake, because the pictures will be worth a|
| |lot of money. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Go to California to get your valuable pictures; forecasts of when earthquakes will occur are more accurate than forecasts of where an|
| |earthquake will occur, California is more likely to have a quake, so you should be there Wednesday to see the damage from the giant |
| |quake. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Get back to whatever you were doing and ignore the forecast; although there might be a very small effect of planetary gravity or |
| |magnetic fields on earthquakes, no one has ever demonstrated the ability to make such detailed forecasts accurately, and many such |
| |forecasts have proven to be wrong. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Invest in the Pepsi Corporation; Pepsi stocks always go up after earthquakes, and an earthquake is highly likely at the time and |
| |place predicted. |
| | |

|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|12. |The picture above shows a fault in a place where mountains come down near the coast. |
| |What likely happened to form the ramp (also called a scarp) behind the person? |
| |A. |
| |Pull-apart forces pulled the rocks apart, making the break, and allowing one side to drop relative to the other. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Pull-apart forces shoved one side up over the other, making the break. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Slide-past forces shoved one side up over the other, making the break. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Slide-past forces pulled the rocks apart, making the break, and allowing one side to drop relative to the other. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Push-together forces shoved one side up over the other, making the break. |
| | |

The down-side dropped along the ramp compared to the up-side. (This is actually an interesting one; it formed in Alaska during the 1964 earthquake. That was a push-together quake, but it was so huge and moved so much rock in different directions that some of the rock ended up having pull-apart motions, such as this one.)
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|13. |The Earth includes: |
| |A. |
| |A solid inner core, a liquid outer core, and a mantle with a liquid asthenosphere. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A liquid inner core, a solid outer core, and a mantle with a liquid asthenosphere. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A liquid inner core, a solid outer core, and a mantle with a little liquid in a mostly solid asthenosphere. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A Pepsi inner core, a Coke outer core, and a mantle of Gatorade drinkers. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A solid inner core, a liquid outer core, and a mantle with a little liquid in a mostly solid asthenosphere. |
| | |

High pressure stabilizes solid in the inner core, but the slightly lower pressure on the outer core allows the iron there to be melted. The iron-silicate mantle is mostly solid, but a bit of melt occurs in the asthenosphere. And the great heat of the core would break down both natural and artificial sweeteners, so cola cannot be found there.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |A |
|14. |What is accurate about seismic waves moving through the Earth? |
| |A. |
| |Neither S-waves (also called shear-waves) nor p-waves (also called push-waves or sound waves) move through liquids. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |P-waves (also called push-waves or sound waves) move through solids, but s-waves (also called shear waves) don’t. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |P-waves (also called push-waves or sound waves) move through all liquids except Diet Pepsi, and s-waves (also called shear-waves) |
| |move through no liquids except Diet Pepsi. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |P-waves (also called push-waves or sound waves) move through liquids, but s-waves (also called shear waves) don’t. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |S-waves (also called shear-waves) and p-waves (also called push-waves or sound waves) both move through both liquids and solids. |
| | |

P-waves go through liquids and solids, because you can squeeze and release a liquid or a solid—push hear and it squeezes a bit, which squeezes what is next to you… and on in a wave. S-waves are a bit like waves on a rope—grab an end and move it sideways, which moves the neighboring part sideways… This works with solids, but not liquids, which cannot “grab” and move the neighboring part.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|15. |The above diagram is from one of the Geomations in the unit. It shows three possible fault styles. A and B are cross-sections, with a |
| |collapsed building on top to show you which way is up—the yellow band is a distinctive layer of rock that was broken by the earthquake that |
| |also knocked down the building. C is viewed from a helicopter, looking down on a road with a dashed yellow line down the middle; the road was |
| |broken by an earthquake along the green fault, and the earthquake knocked down a building to make the funky-looking brown pile in the upper |
| |right. What is accurate about the different earthquake styles? |
| |A. |
| |B is push-together, C is slide-past, and A is pull-apart. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |B is pull-apart, C is push-together, and A is slide-past. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |B is push-together, C is slide-past, and A is pull-apart. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |B is slide-past, C is push-together, and A is pull-apart. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |B is pull-apart, C is slide-past, and A is push-together. |
| | |

Imagine putting the image on paper, cutting out the blocks (one block on each side of the fault), and then sliding them back together to make the original, unbroken features. A and B stand up from the table, C lies down on the table. Now, slide them to make the picture as seen here. In A, you’ll be moving the right-hand block up and toward the other block, so it is push-together. In B, you’ll be moving the right-hand block down and away from the other block, so it is pull-apart. And in C, you’ll slide one past the other (geologists distinguish right-lateral and left-lateral motion for C, but you don't have to worry about that much detail).
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |

SECTION 2

|[pic] |
|1. |Dave Janesko is explaining the great Sevier Fault to Dr.|
| |Alley and the CAUSE class. |
| | |
| |Dave has just informed everyone that the black rocks, |
| |which formed by cooling of a very hot lava flow, are |
| |much younger than the red rocks, which formed from |
| |sediments deposited in a lake. He has examined the red |
| |rocks and found that they have not been "cooked" by heat|
| |from the black rocks, so the red and black rocks must |
| |have been placed together after the black rocks cooled. |
| |And, he has examined the contact between red and black |
| |rocks and found that it is a fault that has been |
| |scratched by the motion of the rocks along the fault. It|
| |is likely that: |
| |A. |
| |The scratches are nearly vertical, because the black |
| |rocks were pushed up from below along a push-together |
| |fault to lie next to the red rocks. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The scratches are nearly vertical, because the black |
| |rocks were dropped down along a pull-apart fault to lie |
| |next to the red rock. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The scratches make little curlicues, because motion on |
| |the fault screwed the two sides together. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The scratches are all horizontal, because the red rocks |
| |moved over the black rocks in a landslide. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The scratches are nearly horizontal, because the black |
| |rocks were slid in from the side along a slide-past |
| |fault. |
| | |

The spreading that opened Death Valley affected a lot of the west, all the way over to Bryce Canyon in Utah. The Sevier Fault, just west of Bryce, formed as pull-apart action broke the rocks, allowing younger rocks including the black lava flow to drop down next to older rocks including the red lake sediments. The scratches are not too far from vertical, made as the rocks dropped down.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |A |
|2. |The processes that made Death Valley have been operating for millions of years, and continue to operate today. For this question, ignore the |
| |sand and gravel moved by water and wind, and think about the big motions of the rocks beneath. If you had visited Death Valley 1 million years|
| |ago, you would have found the valley then to have been (choose the best answer): |
| |A. |
| |The same as it is today. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Wider and deeper than it is today. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Shallower than it is today. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Narrower than it is today. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Narrower and shallower than it is today. |
| | |

The pull-apart action that is spreading Death Valley and surroundings also involves uplift of mountains or downdrop of valleys, and Death Valley has dropped as its flanking mountains have moved apart. Thus, in the past the valley was narrower and shallower than it is now, and the motions have deepened and widened the valley.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|3. |The picture above shows river gravels in the bottom of Death Valley. |
| | |
| |Based on the lesson materials for this unit, a likely explanation for this occurrence of river gravels in the valley bottom is: |
| |A. |
| |The valley was dropped relative to the mountains by faulting, and rivers now are carrying gravels down from the mountains into the valley. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The valley is deep because it was carved by a river, which later dried up when the desert formed, leaving the gravels behind. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The valley was raised by faulting, bringing up gravels from subterranean caves. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The valley was paved with gravels by a movie company for a really spectacular stunt in the Dukes of Hazzard movie, involving long-distance car|
| |chases and Daisy leaping the boys’ car across the entire park. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The valley was dropped relative to the mountains by faulting; these gravels had been deposited on mountain tops by rivers before the faulting |
| |started, and then the gravels were dropped down by the faulting. |
| | |

Faulting dropped the valley (or raised the mountains, or more likely both), and the melting snows of the mountains feed rivers that carry rocks down into the valley, slowly filling it up while lowering the mountains. There really are deep canyons that were carved by rivers, but as we saw in class and online, Death Valley is not one of them. Rivers don’t run on the tops of mountains to deposit gravels. And Daisy was more into shorts than into long jumps.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|4. |We believe that convection occurs in the Earth’s mantle because: |
| |A. |
| |The Earth is cooled deep inside, causing contraction that raises density, more-dense things tend to sink, and the mantle rocks are cold enough|
| |to flow slowly even though they are not melted. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The Earth is heated deep inside, causing expansion that reduces density, less-dense things tend to rise, and the mantle rocks are hot enough |
| |to flow slowly even though they are not melted. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The Earth’s outer core is completely melted, and this stirs the mantle to cause convection. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Graham Spanier is completely melted, and he drives convection in the mantle. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The Earth’s mantle is completely melted, and melting allows convection. |
| | |

Convection seems so easy, but describing it in words is not. For “ordinary” convection, one needs something capable of flowing (gas, liquid, or soft solid), heat below and cold above with expansion reducing density on heating and contraction increasing density on cooling, and then a bit of time and a perturbation of some sort to get the motion started. If you had something that expanded on cooling and contracted on heating, and you had cooling below and warming above, you could also make convection work. The mantle is mostly solid, the outer core can’t directly stir the mantle or cause convection, and Graham Spanier was solid and not melted the last time we checked.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|5. |Heat transfer by convection is: |
| |A. |
| |Efficient through hot, soft rocks but inefficient through space. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Always more efficient than heat transfer by conduction. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Always less efficient than heat transfer by lemmings. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Efficient through space but inefficient through hot, soft rocks. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Always more efficient than heat transfer by radiation. |
| | |

Heat from deep in the Earth is moved up through the soft bulk of the planet primarily by convection, but convection of rocks certainly does not continue beyond the planet, where radiation becomes dominant. In the shallowest, uppermost layers of the Earth, most of the heat transfer is by conduction. And the poor lemmings deserve a rest and a snack.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|6. |Volcanoes in Death Valley: |
| |A. |
| |Produce rocks with similar composition to the rocks made at undersea spreading ridges, because Death Valley is geologically related to |
| |spreading ridges. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Do not exist, and have never existed. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Produce rocks with similar compositions to those of undersea spreading ridges, because all volcanoes produce rocks of the same composition. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Produce rocks of composition completely unlike rocks of undersea spreading ridges, because Death Valley has no geological similarities to |
| |undersea spreading ridges. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Are erupting all the time, so you can drive out from Vegas and be sure to see a few in action. |
| | |

Death Valley has spreading-ridge-type volcanoes, and if you go south from the Valley, you find the spreading ridge in the Gulf of California; Death Valley and the Gulf of California are geologically related. There have been recent eruptions in Death Valley (within the last centuries), but as of this writing, no volcanoes are currently erupting in Death Valley, nor have any erupted for over a century.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |B |
|7. |Geologists got their shorts tied in knots because they (the geologists, not the shorts or the knots) were so excited when they discovered what|
| |about the pattern of sediment thickness across undersea spreading ridges: |
| |A. |
| |The sediment is thin near the ridges, and thickens as you go away from the ridges, because the rocks near the ridges are young and have had |
| |little time to accumulate sediment, whereas rocks farther away are older and have had longer to accumulate sediment. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The sediment is thick near the ridges, and thins as you go away from the ridges, because the rocks near the ridges are oldest and have had the|
| |most time to accumulate sediment, whereas rocks farther away are younger and have not had as long to accumulate sediment. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The sediment is thick near the ridges, and thins as you go away from the ridges, because fish always poop over the ridges. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The sediment is the same thickness everywhere, showing that the rocks are all about the same age and accumulate sediment at the same rate |
| |everywhere. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The sediment is thin near the ridges, and thickens as you go away from the ridges, because fish don’t poop over the ridges. |
| | |

Sea floor is made at the spreading ridges, and moves away on both sides. Sediment piles up over time, and while there are variations in sedimentation rate, the huge difference in age of the sea-floor rocks (140 million years near the edges of some ocean basins, to essentially zero at the ridges) is the main controlling factor on sediment thickness. Fish actually poop wherever they travel, and tend to go all over the oceans.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|8. |When discussing earthquakes that happen in the upper part of the Earth’s crust, geologists believe that most are caused by elastic rebound. |
| |This means: |
| |A. |
| |Rocks on opposite sides of a break, or fault, move in the same direction at the same speed. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Rocks on opposite sides of a break, or fault, move in opposite directions, and move freely all the time because high-pressure groundwater |
| |lubricates motion. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Graham Spanier wears support hose. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Rocks taken down into the Earth by subduction are squeezed until they implode, and then they elastically rebound to their former size, shaking|
| |their surroundings. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Rocks on opposite sides of a break, or fault, move in opposite directions, get stuck against each other for a while, bend, then “snap back” |
| |when something breaks or gives along the fault. |
| | |

Try sliding a boulder over the ground, and you’ll find the boulder gets stuck for a while. Lean harder, the boulder jerks forward suddenly, and you just had a tiny earthquake. Implosion earthquakes probably exist, but the rocks don’t bounce back to their original size, and such quakes only can happen deep. We have no information on Graham Spanier’s choice in socks, but his choice is unlikely to shake much beyond the immediate vicinity of University Park.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|9. |On the Richter scale of earthquake intensity: |
| |A. |
| |The ground is shaken 3 times more by a magnitude-3 quake than by a magnitude-1 quake. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The ground is shaken twice as much by a magnitude-5 quake as by a magnitude-2.5 quake. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A magnitude-8.5 quake is impossible; nothing that big can occur. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The ground is shaken 10 times less by a magnitude-4 quake than by a magnitude-5 quake. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The ground is shaken 10 times less by a magnitude-3 quake than by a magnitude-2 quake. |
| | |

One problem in describing earthquakes is that the ground shaking in the smallest one you can feel is 1,000,000,000 times smaller than the ground shaking in the largest quakes. We usually dislike having a scale that requires us to talk about an event of, say, size 100,000,000; instead, if a magnitude-1 quake moves the ground 10 units (say, 10 nanometers at some specified distance from the quake), than we say that a magnitude-2 quake moves the ground 100 units, and a magnitude-3 quake moves the ground 1000 units, and so on. You’ll notice that the magnitude is just the number of zeros after the 1; this is a logarithmic scale.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|10. |Most of the material moved by volcanoes is from the few, big ones rather then from the many, little ones. Most of the material moved |
| |downhill in landslides is in the many, little ones rather than the few, big ones. In comparing the importance of the few, big |
| |earthquakes to the many, little earthquakes, are earthquakes more like volcanoes (the few big ones matter most) or like landslides |
| |(the many little ones matter most)? |
| |A. |
| |The few, big earthquakes matter most (like volcanoes). |
| | |
| |B. |
| |All earthquakes have been retribution for the Simpsons. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The few, big earthquakes are just as important as the many, little earthquakes (halfway between volcanoes and landslides). |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Earthquakes don’t do any damage, just like volcanoes and landslides. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The many, little earthquakes matter most (like landslides). |
| | |

An increase of 1 in earthquake magnitude increases ground shaking about 10-fold, increases energy release about 30-fold, and decreases frequency about 10-fold; the 30-fold increase in energy more than offsets the 10-fold decrease in frequency of occurrence. We wish earthquakes did no damage, but the millions of people who have been killed in earthquakes over the centuries would, if they could, testify to the damage done by earthquakes. And historical records of earthquakes clearly preceded the Simpsons.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |C |
|11. |You hear an astronomer on the evening news, pointing out a coming alignment of planets and predicting that the extra gravitational |
| |attraction is sure to trigger a huge earthquake in California during the few hours of alignment. Based on what you learned in class, a|
| |reasonable approach is to: |
| |A. |
| |Stay the heck out of California, because if you go, you will be trampled to death by all the scientists running to California to |
| |observe the quake. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Invest in the Pepsi Corporation; Pepsi stocks always go up after earthquakes, and an earthquake is highly likely at the time and place|
| |predicted. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Go to California with your camera to take pictures of the buildings falling down during the alignment so you can sell the pictures for|
| |lots of money. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Ignore it; although gravitational forces such as tides and planetary pulls might possibly exert a very small effect on earthquakes, no|
| |one has successfully predicted the where-and-when of earthquakes. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Take it seriously; maybe the quake isn’t certain, but a big quake is much more likely than not during those few hours. |
| | |

By keeping track of where earthquakes happen, combing written and oral histories of past earthquakes, looking at geological deposits to see where shaking has occurred and broken rocks or tree roots or caused sand boils, and measuring where rocks are moving and where they aren’t, good estimates can be made of earthquake hazards; but, we can’t figure out exactly when the next quake will hit. Planetary-alignment predictions have been made, and have failed miserably. The tiny effect of gravity of the planets on the Earth has not been shown to affect earthquakes at all, although it remains possible that some very small influence exists.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|12. |The picture above shows a view in the Earthquake Lake region just northwest of Yellowstone. |
| | |
| |The ramp or slope (often called a scarp) formed in an earthquake.What likely happened? |
| |A. |
| |Push-together forces shoved one side up over the other, making the break. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Slide-past forces shoved one side up over the other, making the break. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Pull-apart forces shoved one side up over the other, making the break. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Slide-past forces pulled the rocks apart, making the break, and allowing one side to drop relative to the other. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Pull-apart forces pulled the rocks apart, making the break, and allowing one side to drop relative to the other. |
| | |

The pull-apart forces west of Yellowstone are similar to those of Death Valley, and may be responding to the same broad spreading of the west that widens Death Valley. The two sides moved apart, and then one side dropped relative to the other.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |B |
|13. |The Earth includes: |
| |A. |
| |A breaks-rather-than-flows asthenosphere, and a solid outer core. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A solid inner core in direct contact with a liquid asthenosphere. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A breaks-rather-than-flows lithosphere, a flows-rather-than-breaks asthenosphere, and a solid inner core. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A Coke inner core, a Pepsi outer core, and a mantle of Bart Simpson Burger King glasses. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A liquid asthenosphere, a solid mantle, and a watery hydrosphere. |
| | |

High pressure stabilizes solid in the inner core, but the slightly lower pressure on the outer core allows the iron there to be melted. The iron-silicate mantle is mostly solid, but a bit of melt occurs in the asthenosphere. The uppermost part of the mantle and the crust are cold enough to break rather than flowing. And the great heat of the core would break down both natural and artificial sweeteners, so cola cannot be found there.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|14. |What is accurate about seismic waves moving through the Earth? |
| |A. |
| |S-waves (also called shear-waves) move through both solids and liquids. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |S-waves (also called shear-waves) move through solids but not liquids. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |S-waves (also called shear-waves) move through solids and all liquids except Diet Pepsi. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |S-waves (also called shear-waves) move through liquids but not solids. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |S-waves (also called shear-waves) move through neither solids nor liquids. |
| | |

S-waves are a bit like waves on a rope—grab an end and move it sideways, which moves the neighboring part sideways… This works with solids, but not liquids, which cannot “grab” and move the neighboring part.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|15. |The above diagram is from one of the Geomations in the unit. It shows three possible fault styles. A and B are cross-sections, with a |
| |collapsed building on top to show you which way is up—the yellow band is a distinctive layer of rock that was broken by the earthquake that |
| |also knocked down the building. C is viewed from a helicopter, looking down on a road with a dashed yellow line down the middle; the road was|
| |broken by an earthquake along the green fault, and the earthquake knocked down a building to make the funky-looking brown pile in the upper |
| |right. What is accurate about the different earthquake styles? |
| |A. |
| |B is slide-past, C is push-together, and A is pull-apart. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |B is pull-apart, C is slide-past, and A is push-together. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |B is push-together, C is pull-apart, and A is slide-past. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |B is push-together, C is slide-past, and A is pull-apart. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |B is pull-apart, C is push-together, and A is slide-past. |
| | |
| |[pic] |
|15. |The above diagram is from one of the Geomations in the unit. It shows three possible fault styles. A and B are cross-sections, with a |
| |collapsed building on top to show you which way is up—the yellow band is a distinctive layer of rock that was broken by the earthquake that |
| |also knocked down the building. C is viewed from a helicopter, looking down on a road with a dashed yellow line down the middle; the road |
| |was broken by an earthquake along the green fault, and the earthquake knocked down a building to make the funky-looking brown pile in the |
| |upper right. What is accurate about the different earthquake styles? |
| |A. |
| |B is push-together, C is slide-past, and A is pull-apart. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |B is pull-apart, C is slide-past, and A is push-together. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |B is slide-past, C is push-together, and A is pull-apart. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |B is push-together, C is slide-past, and A is pull-apart. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |B is pull-apart, C is push-together, and A is slide-past. |
| | |

Imagine putting the image on paper, cutting out the blocks (one block on each side of the fault), and then sliding them back together to make the original, unbroken features. A and B stand up from the table, C lies down on the table. Now, slide them to make the picture as seen here. In A, you’ll be moving the right-hand block up and toward the other block, so it is push-together. In B, you’ll be moving the right-hand block down and away from the other block, so it is pull-apart. And in C, you’ll slide one past the other (geologists distinguish right-lateral and left-lateral motion for C, but you don't have to worry about that much detail).
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |

Unit 3 - Plate Tectonics II: Making Mountains & Volcanism (Volcanoes)
Park Visits: Mt. St. Helens, Crater Lake, & Olympic

|1. |Which of the following is commonly expected near a “textbook” subduction zone (that is, near a subduction zone that is so perfect and free of |
| |confusing complications that you would use it in a textbook to teach students)? |
| |A. |
| |Slide-past (or transform, with horizontal but not vertical movement) earthquakes and faults, such as occur along the San Andreas Fault. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Basaltic mid-ocean-ridge-type volcanoes, such as are found at undersea spreading ridges. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Andesitic stratovolcanoes, such as Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Basaltic hot-spot-type volcanoes, such as at Hawaii Volcanoes. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Pull-apart earthquakes and faults, such as occur in Death Valley. |
| | |

Pull-apart earthquakes and faults often occur at pull-apart basaltic mid-ocean ridges, which are not subduction zones. Slide-past also occurs on the planet, but not primarily at subduction zones, which also are not hot spots. But subduction does lead to layered thick-lava-flow/blown-up-bits stratovolcanoes of andesitic composition.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|2. |Volcanoes occur above the downgoing slab of a subduction zone. Why? |
| |A. |
| |The downgoing slab rubbing along the overlying rocks makes a lot of heat, thus making the overlying rocks the hottest rocks in the mantle, |
| |which melts them to feed the volcanoes. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The downgoing slab causes earthquakes that weaken the mantle, allowing convection cells to come up along the slab and feed the |
| |mid-ocean-ridge-type basaltic volcanoes that are characteristic of subduction zones. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The downgoing slab weakens the mantle, allowing hot-spots to come up along the slab and feed the Hawaiian-type basaltic volcanoes that are |
| |characteristic of subduction zones. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The sediments scraped off the downgoing plate make a pile, such as the Olympic, and this pile channels the Earth’s magnetic field along the |
| |slab to cause melting. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The downgoing slab takes water and other things along, which lower the melting point down there enough to make melt that feeds the volcanoes. |
| | |

Throw a little dry flour in a warm oven, and not much happens. Add some water, or better, some water and some carbon dioxide from yeast, and things happen in a hurry. The subduction zone takes water, and carbon dioxide in shells and other things, down to lower the melting point and feed volcanoes. Friction does warm the down-going slabs, but slabs start off way colder than the rocks into which they move, and remain colder for a while. Sliding your cold feet along the sheets when you get into bed on a winter night may warm your toes a little by friction, but if you happen to share the bed with a significant other, putting your tootsies on that persons bare belly will tell you that frictional heating takes a while! The scraped-off pile of sediment traps a tiny bit of heat, but not too much; the downgoing slab makes the nearby mantle colder than normal, not warmer. And nature tends to separate regions where something is flowing one way from regions where the flow is reversed; if the flows are too close together, one will drag the other along and change its direction. Hot spots occasionally ride along on spreading ridges, because both involve rising, but not on subduction zones.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|3. |Look at the picture above, from the coast of Olympic National Park. What happened here? |
| |A. |
| |The pocket knife was confiscated by government agents when an absent-minded geologist tried to board an airline, and the government agents |
| |heaved it onto this rock. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The pocket knife was flushed out of an airline toilet by an absent-minded geologist. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Glaciers coming down from the high peaks of Olympic National Park ground over the surface of the rock, carving the grooves we see. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Earthquakes knocked loose undersea muds that raced down the slopes of the west coast into the subduction zone, making rocks that were then |
| |scraped off the downgoing slab to make part of Olympic National Park. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |First Mt. Mazama and then Mt. St. Helens blasted rocks and ash and dust through the air, which fell as layers, with coarse at the bottom, fine|
| |on top from the first eruption, then coarse and fine again from the next eruption, and so on. |
| | |

Olympic is the pile of scraped-off stuff, and some of it fell into the trench rather recently during earthquakes. There really are volcanic layers, and they can be sorted by size, but soils tend to form between the eruptions, and the different eruptions will make different-looking layers. There is a little bit of grooving across the rock face, from waves hitting the rock and some layers being softer than others, but this is a very non-glacial-looking deposit. Amazing numbers of pocket knives and other items are confiscated at airports, often from absent-minded geologists, but the government agents don’t litter with those confiscated items. Airline toilets flush into holding tanks on the plane, not onto people or rocks below, and very rarely have pocket knives because the knives are confiscated first.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|4. |The stiff basaltic rocks of the sea floor are bent as they enter subduction zones. This means that: |
| |A. |
| |Subduction zones produce Death-Valley-type down-faulted spreading valleys, which form the deepest parts of the ocean. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Bending of sea-floor rocks near the subduction zone of Oregon and Washington produced a deep trench, which has been filled with discarded |
| |Microsoft Windows CDs, thrown away by people sick of all the viruses. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Subduction zones produce sea-floor trenches, which may be filled with water or with sediment washed from nearby land. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Bending of sea-floor rocks at subduction zones produces high ridges, such as the coast ranges of California. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Erosion of continents by rivers near subduction zones produces deep troughs that include the deepest water in the ocean. |
| | |

As the rocks are bent entering a subduction zone, a trench forms. Trenches are sometimes water-filled, but if close to a continent, materials eroded by rivers or glaciers may fill the trenches. There probably are a few Windows CDs off Washington and Oregon, but not enough to fill the trench. Erosion by rivers doesn’t go below sea level (except very rarely, and then only down to close to the bottom of Death Valley, still not very deep).
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |E |
|5. |Rocks in continents are on average much older than sea-floor rocks. The likely explanation is: |
| |A. |
| |For a long time the Earth had continents but no sea floor; only recently, continents sank and allowed lakes to grow into oceans. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |So much undersea mining has been conducted to get valuable metals from old sea-floor rocks that all of the old ones have been ground up by |
| |people. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |For a long time the Earth had continents but no sea floor; only recently, Death-Valley-type spreading has split continents to make sea floor. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Old sea floor is recycled back into the deep mantle at subduction zones at the same rate that new sea floor is produced, but continents are |
| |not taken into the mantle and so remain on the surface for a long time. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Techniques used to estimate the age of the rocks all yield perfect ages for continental rocks but wild errors for sea-floor rocks, and |
| |sea-floor rocks are really as old as the continents. |
| | |

Subduction balances sea-floor production very very closely, so the planet retains the same size and density distribution over time. Continents have grown slowly, but once made, the low-density continental rocks stay on the surface, whereas sea-floor rocks are lost to the deep mantle at subduction zones. Geological evidence indicates that we have had ocean basins since just after the formation of the planet. And undersea mining so far has been very tiny and localized.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|6. |You see a hot-spot volcano on the surface of the Earth. What is under this volcano? |
| |A. |
| |A subduction zone, where volcanic arcs are made. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A Pepsi machine. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A rising tower of hot rock from deeper in the mantle, and perhaps all the way from the bottom of the mantle. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A subduction zone, which brings up rock from deep in the mantle. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A spreading ridge, where sea floor is made. |
| | |

Earthquakes make sound waves that go through the whole Earth, and go slower through hotter, less-dense rocks. By setting out listening devices called seismometers around the Earth, and listening to the waves from many earthquakes in many places, scientists can map the hotter regions, and find that towers of hot rock come up from way deep in the Earth in some places. But, some other hot spots, while clearly coming up from below, don’t seem to start quite as deep.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|7. |Most commonly, a hot-spot volcano: |
| |A. |
| |Is basaltic in composition, with gradual sides where the volcano projects above sea level, but steeper sides on undersea portions. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Is andesitic in composition, and shaped like a Pepsi can, with vertical sides below sea level. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Is mostly andesitic in composition, with steep sides where the volcano projects above sea level, but less-steep sides on undersea portions. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Is lower in silica than basalt, more like the mantle from which the hot-spot lava comes, with gradual sides where the volcano projects above |
| |sea level, but steeper sides on undersea portions. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Is mostly andesitic in composition, with gradual sides where the volcano projects above sea level, but steeper sides on undersea portions. |
| | |

The rising hot rock of hot spots feeds volcanoes. Both sea floor and hot-spot volcanoes come from melting a little of the very-low-silica mantle, pulling out the melt, and freezing it, and so are basaltic (low-silica) volcanoes. Note, though, that a few hotspots (such as Yellowstone) are not basaltic, because the basalt has been altered in getting through the continent. The melt probably started out as something that would make basalt, and indeed, the Yellowstone hot-spot track includes basaltic lavas such as those at the glorious Craters of the Moon National Monument. The hot-spot lavas are runny, and spread easily under the air to make volcanoes with gradual slopes, unlike the steep stratovolcanoes, although the slopes of hot-spot volcanoes are steeper under water because the water cools the lava so rapidly that it can’t spread far.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|8. |Look at the picture above. What happened here? |
| |A. |
| |A giant glacier used to sit here, and water flowing into a hole on the surface fell to the bed and hollowed out a great pothole, seen here. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |An immense marmot named George, shown here, dug the hole. |
| | |
| |[pic] |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A sharp bend in a river created a whirlpool that carved the hole now filled by a lake. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A great volcanic explosion occurred, spreading material across the landscape and leaving a hole. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Death-Valley-type faulting dropped the bottom, making space for the lake; during the Ice Age, Death Valley looked like this, too. |
| | |

Nature has many ways to make holes, and many other ways to make mountains. Part of this class is learning to read the clues, just as geologists do. We saw at Death Valley that the faults tend to make straight lines. Streams on glaciers are not nearly this big, nor are river bends. And while George is cute, he could never dig such a hole. This is the aftermath of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|9. |Major differences between Mt. St. Helens and Hawaiian volcanoes include: |
| |A. |
| |Mt. St. Helens is a low-silica, explosively erupting stratovolcano, and Hawaii has medium-to-high-silica, quietly erupting shield volcanoes. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Mt. St. Helens is a volcano, but Hawaii doesn’t have any volcanoes, and never has. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Mt. St. Helens is a medium-to-high-silica, quietly erupting shield volcano, and Hawaii has low-silica, explosively erupting stratovolcanoes. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Mt. St. Helens is a medium-to-high-silica, explosively erupting stratovolcano, and Hawaii has low-silica, quietly erupting shield volcanoes. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Mt. St. Helens is a low-silica, quietly erupting shield volcano, and Hawaii has medium-to-high-silica, explosively erupting stratovolcanoes. |
| | |

The low-silica lava from the Hawaiian hot spot flows easily without large explosions, so the lava spreads out to make broad, gentle volcanoes that look like shields of medieval warriors. Melt a little basaltic sea floor with some water and sediment, and you get silica-rich andesite feeding explosive, subduction-zone stratovolcanoes such as Mt. St. Helens. Hot spots and spreading ridges make low-silica, basaltic volcanoes, which don’t explode powerfully. Mt. St. Helens is a stratovolcano, but stratovolcanoes are steep, not broad and flat. Mt. St. Helens was the most active of the Cascades volcanoes even before its big 1980 eruption, and the volcano has erupted many times since the big eruption.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|10. |You get in your Magic School Bus, drive down the throat of a volcano, and find that you are driving through melted rock that does not|
| |make lumps but flows more easily than does most melted rock. It is likely that the melted rock you are driving through: |
| |A. |
| |Is especially cool compared to most melted rocks. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Is being stirred rapidly by Teletubbies. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Is especially poor in iron and other things that would get between silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, compared to most melted rocks. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Is especially rich in water and carbon dioxide compared to most melted rocks. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Is especially low in water and carbon dioxide compared to most melted rocks. |
| | |

The silicon-oxygen tetrahedra link up to make lumps, so anything that gets in the way of this linking will oppose lumping. Iron, water, carbon dioxide, or high heat that shakes the lumps apart can all oppose the lumping of polymerization.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|11. |Look at the picture above. Here is new land forming in Hawaii, where lava enters the sea. What is happening here? |
| |A. |
| |Lava is erupting from beneath the sea and squirting onto the black rock. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A giant marmot, named George, is taking a leak. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The Pacific Ring of Fire is forming in front of your eyes, as subduction produces volcanic eruptions of red-hot lava. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The lava flow has cooled on the sides and is draining out the middle. Eventually, if more lava is not supplied at the other end of |
| |the tubes to replace the lava that is draining out, the lava tubes may empty and leave caves. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Earthquakes are occurring, tearing the rocks open to let the lava out. |
| | |

Lava comes out of the volcano hot (roughly 2000 degrees F), but chills quickly where in contact with the air or with older, colder rocks. This typically makes the tops, sides, and bottoms of a flow colder than the middle. If the middle finds a way to flow out, a tube can be left behind.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|12. |High temperature and pressure tend to favor flow rather than breakage, so it is surprising that large, very deep earthquakes are |
| |sometimes observed, occurring in warm places where the pressure is high. What is accurate about these rare, deep earthquakes? |
| |A. |
| |They occur when volcanic bombs are set off by the rising heat of the Earth. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |They occur when nuclear bombs are set off by the rising political tensions of the Earth. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |They occur at hot spots, where the rising pressure on rock as it is buried by the growing volcano causes stick-slip/elastic-rebound |
| |faulting on the volcano flanks. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |They occur at spreading ridges, where the rising pressure on rock as it is brought up from below seems to cause “implosion” of |
| |minerals as they rearrange to take up less space. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |They occur at subduction zones, where the rising pressure on rock as it is taken deeper seems to cause “implosion” of minerals as |
| |they rearrange to take up less space. |
| | |

“Implosion” is the currently favored idea. As subduction zones take rocks deeper where pressure is higher, the building blocks tend to reorganize to take up less space, shifting from, say, a one-on-top-of-another pattern to a fit-in-the-space-between-those-below pattern. Sometimes, this seems to be delayed and then to happen all at once (I can’t move until my neighbor does…), giving an implosion. The biggest, deepest earthquakes happen where temperatures and pressures are so high that we don’t think rocks can break. Humans have never made a hole anywhere nearly as deep as the deeper earthquakes. We have mostly quit testing atomic bombs. And, a big earthquake is way bigger than a big atomic bomb.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|13. |Which of the following is not a hazard often associated with a single large, explosive volcanic eruption? |
| |A. |
| |Tsunamis. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Poisonous gases. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Pyroclastic flows, often called nuée ardentes. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Climatic warming. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Landslides and mudflows. |
| | |

This is one of those interesting cases where “slow” and “fast” are different. Volcanoes release carbon dioxide, and carbon dioxide warms. But carbon dioxide stays up a long time, and no single volcanic eruption puts up enough carbon dioxide to make a detectable difference to the concentration in the air and the temperature of the Earth. However, a single big eruption can put enough material into the stratosphere to block enough sunlight to cool the Earth by a degree or two for a year or two. So the climatic hazard from a single big volcanic eruption is cooling, not warming. Explosive volcanoes are often large and steep, and may have huge glaciers. As heat melts the ice, and as melted rock moving into the volcano bulges the sides, huge landslides and mudflows happen. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in single mudflows. Well over 100,000 people live on the deposit from one old mudflow from Mt. Rainier (and those who know about that Osceola Flow really hope it doesn’t happen again!). A tsunami is a big wave, caused by an earthquake, landslide, meteorite impact, or volcanic eruption that displaces sea water. Waves can be 100 feet high or more, and do incredible damage. A big eruption underwater can push a lot of water out of the way, making a tsunami. Pyroclastic flows are major volcanic hazards, and can kill lots of people quickly. Imagine a few-hundred-degree mixture of pulverized rock, glass and poison gas chasing you at a few hundred miles per hour! Volcanoes do put out poison gases, such as hydrogen sulfide or carbon dioxide (a little is good; too much is deadly!). When rocks melt a little, fluid- and gas-making materials preferentially end up in the melt rather than in the remaining rock, so eruptions commonly come with gases, and some of those gases are of types or in concentrations that are not good for nearby humans.
|[pic| Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|14. |The pictures show famous volcanoes, that we discussed in the class materials. Which statement is most accurate |
| |about these? |
| |A. |
| |Picture II shows a hot-spot-type shield volcano, and picture I shows a subduction-zone-type stratovolcano. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Picture II shows a pile that a giant marmot named George dug up, and picture I shows a pile made by his good |
| |friend Herb. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Picture II shows a head-of-hot-spot flood basalt, and picture I shows a subduction-zone-type throws-small-pieces|
| |cinder cone. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Picture II shows a head-of-hot-spot flood basalt, and picture I shows a throws-small-pieces cinder cone. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Picture II shows a subduction-zone-type flood basalt, and picture I shows a hot-spot-type stratovolcano. |
| | |

Picture I is the glorious stratovolcano Lassen Peak, in the Cascades of northern California, and picture II is the shield volcano of Mauna Loa, on the island of Hawaii.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|15. |The volcanoes of the island of Hawaii eventually will: |
| |A. |
| |Blow up as powerfully as the main eruptions of Yellowstone, 1000 times bigger than Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Last forever while nothing happens to them except for development of a protective layer of condominiums. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Blow up as powerfully as the main 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Drift off the hot spot and cease to erupt, while a new volcano grows to their southeast. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Rise above sea level as they cool and sink, and are eroded. |
| | |

As they drift off the hot spot, the Hawaiian chain volcanoes lose their source of melt and quit erupting. But, a new volcano grows. Indeed, the new one, Loihi Seamount, is already there and erupting underwater, building toward the surface. As they cool and sink, and are eroded, the Hawaiian volcanoes disappear below sea level. Hawaiian volcanoes are “friendly”, not having highly explosive eruptions. Yellowstone is an anomaly; the hot spot is not making a huge amount of melt, and that melt is modified in coming through the continent, so Yellowstone explodes despite being a hot spot. But most hot-spot volcanoes are not highly explosive. The “protective” layer of condominiums is developing in parts of Hawaii, but lots will happen to the volcanoes in addition—earthquakes and eruptions and drifting and more—and wait until next time when we learn about sides falling off!
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|1. |The deepest earthquakes are rare, and differ in some ways from the more-common type of quakes. These deepest earthquakes probably: |
| |A. |
| |Are caused by atomic-bomb testing. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Are caused by Coke drinkers kicking the Pepsi machines in Penn State buildings. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Are the shaking of the ground caused by “implosion” as minerals rearrange to denser forms as the pressure on them rises in downgoing |
| |slabs. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Are caused by Pepsi machines exploding after being kicked by Coke drinkers. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Are the shaking of the ground caused by elastic rebound of bent rocks when a fault breaks. |
| | |

“Implosion” is the currently favored idea. As subduction zones take rocks deeper where pressure is higher, the building blocks tend to reorganize to take up less space, shifting from, say, a one-on-top-of-another pattern to a fit-in-the-space-between-those-below pattern. Sometimes, this seems to be delayed and then to happen all at once (I can’t move until my neighbor does…), giving an implosion. The biggest, deepest earthquakes happen where temperatures and pressures are so high that we don’t think rocks can break. Humans have never made a hole anywhere nearly as deep as the deeper earthquakes. We have mostly quit testing atomic bombs. And, a big earthquake is way bigger than a big atomic bomb. Penn State students, being naturally even-tempered, don’t kick hard enough to actually explode Pepsi machines. And Penn State basements are not deep enough to account for the deeper earthquakes.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|2. |Old, cold ocean floor sinks at subduction zones. Why does this cause melting to feed volcanoes? |
| |A. |
| |Water taken down subduction zones lowers the melting temperature in and near the slabs. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Subduction zones weaken the mantle so that hot spots can rise along the downgoing slabs. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Slabs quickly become the hottest things in the mantle because of friction from the subduction. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Sediments scraped off downgoing slabs pile up, as at Olympic, trapping the Earth’s heat beneath and causing the rocks below to be warmer than |
| |elsewhere in the mantle. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Subduction zones weaken the mantle so that convection cells from the deep mantle can rise along the downgoing slabs. |
| | |

Throw a little dry flour in a warm oven, and not much happens. Add some water, or better, some water and some carbon dioxide from yeast, and things happen in a hurry. The subduction zone takes water, and carbon dioxide in shells and other things, down to lower the melting point and feed volcanoes. Friction does warm the down-going slabs, but slabs start off way colder than the rocks into which they move, and remain colder for a while. Sliding your cold feet along the sheets when you get into bed on a winter night may warm your toes a little by friction, but if you happen to share the bed with a significant other, putting your tootsies on that persons bare belly will tell you that frictional heating takes a while! The scraped-off pile of sediment traps a tiny bit of heat, but not too much; the downgoing slab makes the nearby mantle colder than normal, not warmer. And nature tends to separate regions where something is flowing one way from regions where the flow is reversed; if the flows are too close together, one will drag the other along and change its direction. Hot spots occasionally ride along on spreading ridges, because both involve rising, but not on subduction zones.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |B |
|3. |Serious scientists are studying the effects of volcanoes on climate. A single, large, explosive volcanic eruption affects climate by: |
| |A. |
| |Changing the rotation of the Earth a little bit, which changes the weather, stopping El Niño. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Putting so much Duff Beer into the stratosphere that it puts alcohol vendors out of business. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Putting so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that the climate warms for a while. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Putting enough particles up to block enough sunlight to cool the climate a degree or two for a year or two. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Making such loud “noises” (shock waves) that the atmospheric circulation is affected for the next years, stopping El Niño. |
| | |

The carbon dioxide from volcanoes affects the atmosphere over millions of years, but not nearly enough is put up from one volcano to matter. But the sun-blocking power of volcanic ejecta is well-known. Some people think that we could offset some global warming by “geoengineering” this effect, throwing pollution into the stratosphere to block the sun.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |C |
|4. |The great disaster at Lake Nyos in Cameroon, Africa, in which hundreds of people died, occurred when this material was released from the |
| |volcano: |
| |A. |
| |Hot gasses that burned the people. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Duff beer and Pepsi, which are an explosive mixture. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Carbon dioxide (CO2) that suffocated the people. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Hot ash and other pyroclastic materials that buried the people. |
| | |

Lake Nyos is in a volcanic crater. CO2 seeped into the lake and built up at depth within the lake. For some reason (earthquake or landslide) the lake was disturbed and vast quantities of CO2 were released, suffocating residents near the lake.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|5. |The volcanoes of the island of Hawaii eventually will: |
| |A. |
| |Drift off the hot spot and cease to erupt, while a new volcano grows to their southeast. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Last forever while nothing happens to them except for development of a protective layer of condominiums. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Blow up as powerfully as the main 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Rise above sea level as they cool and sink, and are eroded. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Blow up as powerfully as the main eruptions of Yellowstone, 1000 times bigger than Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |

As they drift off the hot spot, the Hawaiian chain volcanoes lose their source of melt and quit erupting. But, a new volcano grows. Indeed, the new one, Loihi Seamount, is already there and erupting underwater, building toward the surface. As they cool and sink, and are eroded, the Hawaiian volcanoes disappear below sea level. Hawaiian volcanoes are “friendly”, not having highly explosive eruptions. Yellowstone is an anomaly; the hot spot is not making a huge amount of melt, and that melt is modified in coming through the continent, so Yellowstone explodes despite being a hot spot. But most hot-spot volcanoes are not highly explosive. The “protective” layer of condominiums is developing in parts of Hawaii, but lots will happen to the volcanoes in addition—earthquakes and eruptions and drifting and more—and wait until next time when we learn about sides falling off!
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |D |

|1. |Which of the following is commonly expected near a “textbook” subduction zone (that is, near a subduction zone that is so perfect and free of |
| |confusing complications that you would use it in a textbook to teach students)? |
| |A. |
| |Slide-past (or transform, with horizontal but not vertical movement) earthquakes and faults. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Basaltic hot-spot-type volcanoes. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Basaltic mid-ocean-ridge-type volcanoes. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Pull-apart earthquakes and faults. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Piled-up mud and other things scraped off the descending slab. |
| | |

Pull-apart earthquakes and faults often occur at pull-apart basaltic mid-ocean ridges, which are not subduction zones. Slide-past also occurs on the planet, but not primarily at subduction zones, which also are not hot spots. But subduction does lead to scraping of mud off the descending slabs, making piles such as the Olympic Peninsula.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|2. |Much melting in the mantle occurs near subducting slabs primarily because: |
| |A. |
| |Convection cells from the deep mantle rise along subduction zones. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Sediments scraped off downgoing slabs pile up, trapping heat and causing the rocks below to be warmer than elsewhere in the mantle. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Hot spots come up subduction zones. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Water taken down subduction zones lowers the melting temperature in and near the slabs. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Slabs are the hottest things in the mantle because of friction from the subduction. |
| | |

Throw a little dry flour in a warm oven, and not much happens. Add some water, or better, some water and some carbon dioxide from yeast, and things happen in a hurry. The subduction zone takes water, and carbon dioxide in shells and other things, down to lower the melting point and feed volcanoes. Friction does warm the down-going slabs, but slabs start off way colder than the rocks into which they move, and remain colder for a while. Sliding your cold feet along the sheets when you get into bed on a winter night may warm your toes a little by friction, but if you happen to share the bed with a significant other, putting your tootsies on that persons bare belly will tell you that frictional heating takes a while! The scraped-off pile of sediment traps a tiny bit of heat, but not too much; the downgoing slab makes the nearby mantle colder than normal, not warmer. And nature tends to separate regions where something is flowing one way from regions where the flow is reversed; if the flows are too close together, one will drag the other along and change its direction. Hot spots occasionally ride along on spreading ridges, because both involve rising, but not on subduction zones.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|3. |Continents: |
| |A. |
| |Have grown in area over time primarily by hot spots erupting through continents to produce suspect terranes. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Have grown in area over time primarily because convection cells stretched and thinned continents but never pulled them apart to make new ocean|
| |basins. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Have not changed their areas over time. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Once covered the entire surface of the Earth, but have shrunk over time as convection cells pulled them apart to make ocean basins. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Have grown in area over time primarily by addition of island arcs, seamounts and sediments scraped off subducting slabs. |
| | |

Observations show that the continents have grown, as pieces were added to the continent sides; the centers of continents are very old, and then younger rocks occur in belts around the old cores. If you kept loading the conveyor-belt at the grocery store, but there were no baggers and you refused to bag your own, you’d end up with a giant clot of groceries mashed together at the end. That is not a bad model for how continents form. If a watermelon runs into a loaf of bread, you get a big mountain-building event! Hot spots poke through continents occasionally, but don’t cause much spreading so don’t cause much continental growth. “Suspect terrane” is an old geologic term for rocks that drifted in on a subducting slab and then mashed up onto a continent. Geologists long “suspect”ed that these “terranes” were weird, and eventually figured out the explanation, but named them before learning the explanation. Continents can be stretched and thinned at spreading centers, and some of those spreading centers do fail and leave a stretched continent that hasn’t broken to make an ocean, but more commonly the stretching continues until an ocean is made.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|4. |There is a deep trench in the sea floor off the Marianas volcanic arc of explosive, andesitic, Ring of Fire volcanoes in the South Pacific, |
| |but the water is not deep off the coast of Oregon and Washington near Mt. St. Helens and the Olympic, because: |
| |A. |
| |The trench off Oregon and Washington is filled with great basaltic lava flows from the hot spot that feeds the Cascades volcanoes. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The Marianas, Oregon and Washington have trenches, but the trench off Oregon and Washington is filled by discarded Microsoft Windows CDs that |
| |are obsolete because of all the virus problems. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The Marianas, Oregon and Washington have had the sea floor bent downward by subduction to make trenches, the trench off Oregon and Washington |
| |is filled by sediment eroded from the nearby continent, but the Marianas don’t have a nearby continent and so the trench there is not filled |
| |with sediment. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The Marianas are near a subduction zone, but Oregon and Washington are not. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Oregon and Washington are near a subduction zone, but the Marianas are not. |
| | |

The more rocks there are nearby, the easier it is for erosion to move some of those rocks. The trench off Oregon and Washington has Oregon and Washington nearby, with lots of rocks. Add in that Oregon and Washington have great rivers such as the Columbia, and huge glaciers that grind up the rocks such as the beautiful glaciers on Mt. Rainier, and there is lots of sediment to fill the trench and be scraped off the subduction zone to make Olympic National Park. The Marianas involve subduction of older, colder sea floor under younger, warmer sea floor, have less rock above sea level nearby to be eroded, are in a warm place without glaciers, and so haven’t filled the nearby trench with sediment. There probably are a few discarded floppy disks, as well as a lot of other human-produced material, in the trench off Oregon and Washington, but nature has been a lot more important than humans in filling the trenches. Humans did once talk about disposing of radioactive waste in the trenches, but then we found out that whatever goes down the trench comes back up, and may be squeezed and broken and squirted back up quickly, so we gave up on that idea. And the volcanoes of Oregon and Washington are subduction-zone volcanoes, not hot-spot volcanoes.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|5. |The sea floor that forms at spreading ridges and then moves away will: |
| |A. |
| |Be ground up by glaciers, blown away by wind, and eventually escape to space in the solar wind. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Be subducted, with most of the material going back into the mantle, balancing the material coming out to make the new sea floor. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Remain at the surface of the earth forever, resulting in the earth getting bigger and bigger every year. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Be bulldozed and used as construction material for the new building on campus. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Remain at the surface of the earth forever, but the earth isn't getting bigger because the insides of the earth are shrinking as they cool off|
| |rapidly. |
| | |

Seafloor rocks are generally not very old (perhaps 160 million years old at the most). By contrast, continental rocks are up to 4 billion years old. The reason is that seafloor rocks are created (at midocean spreading ridges) and then consumed (at subduction zones) continuously, and at about the same rate. Oceanic rocks are denser than continental rocks, so when the two types of rocks collide, oceanic rocks sink into the mantle and are recycled. A tiny bit of hydrogen escapes from the planet in the solar wind, but not much else.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|6. |Hot spots: |
| |A. |
| |Bring Pepsi from deep in the Earth to Penn State under an exclusive contract negotiated by President Spanier. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Are found only under oceans. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Are found only under continents. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Move around rapidly under the plates while the plates sit still. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Rise from as deep in the mantle as the core-mantle boundary to the surface of the Earth, bringing up heat and feeding volcanoes. |
| | |

Earthquakes make sound waves that go through the whole Earth, and go slower through hotter, less-dense rocks. By putting out listening devices called seismometers around the Earth, and listening to the waves from many earthquakes in many places, scientists can map the hotter regions, and find that towers of hot rock come up from way deep in the Earth in some places. But, some other hot spots don’t seem to start as deep. The hot spots don’t seem to move around much, but the lithospheric plates drift around over the hot spots. Hot spots come up beneath continents and oceans, and can poke through both. But no one has ever found Pepsi in a hot-spot plume.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|7. |Hot spots usually: |
| |A. |
| |Feed stratovolcanoes. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Feed volcanoes that have especially steep sides on the parts sticking above sea level. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Feed basaltic volcanoes (composition similar to sea floor). |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Are not associated with volcanoes. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Feed andesitic volcanoes (composition similar to continents). |
| | |

The rising hot rock of hot spots feeds volcanoes. Both sea floor and hot-spot volcanoes come from melting a little of the very-low-silica mantle, pulling out the melt, and freezing it, and so are basaltic (low-silica) volcanoes. Note, though, that a few hotspots (such as Yellowstone) are not basaltic, because the basalt has been altered in getting through the continent. The melt probably started out as something that would make basalt, and indeed, the Yellowstone hot-spot track includes basaltic lavas such as those at the glorious Craters of the Moon National Monument. The hot-spot lavas are runny, and spread easily under the air to make volcanoes with gradual slopes, unlike the steep stratovolcanoes, although the slopes of hot-spot volcanoes are steeper under water because the water cools the lava so rapidly that it can’t spread far.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|8. |Look at the picture above. What happened here? |
| |A. |
| |A giant glacier used to sit here, and water flowing into a hole on the surface fell to the bed and hollowed out a great pothole, seen here. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A great volcanic explosion occurred, spreading material across the landscape, and the hole left behind after the eruption later filled with |
| |water. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |An immense marmot named George, shown here, dug the hole. |
| | |
| |[pic] |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A sharp bend in a river created a whirlpool that carved the hole now filled by a lake. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Death-Valley-type faulting dropped the bottom, making space for the lake; during the Ice Age, Death Valley looked like this, too. |
| | |

Nature has many ways to make holes, and many other ways to make mountains. Part of this class is learning to read the clues, just as geologists do. We saw at Death Valley that the faults tend to make straight lines. Streams on glaciers are not nearly this big, nor are river bends. And while George is cute, he could never dig such a hole.

[pic]

This is the crater of Crater Lake, almost 2000 feet deep and 6 miles across, left by the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Mazama in Oregon.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|9. |Hawaiian volcanoes, where they emerge above sea level, are: |
| |A. |
| |Especially silica-rich, unlike the lower-silica rocks of Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |All clinkery-looking lava called aa, very different from the pahoehoe flows of Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |All ropy-looking lava called pahoehoe, very different from the aa of Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Broad, gentle shield volcanoes, much flatter than stratovolcanoes such as Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Steep, narrow stratovolcanoes, much steeper than shield volcanoes such as Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |

The low-silica lava from the Hawaiian hot spot flows easily, so the lava spreads out to make broad, gentle volcanoes that look like shields of medieval warriors. Some Hawaiian lava is clinkery aa (pronounced “ah-ah”), but some is ropy pahoehoe (pronounced “pa hoe ee hoe ee”), controlled by subtle differences in temperature, composition, etc. Mt. St. Helens is steeper, higher in silica, and generally has neither aa nor pahoehoe.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|10. |Silica tends to polymerize in lavas and make them thick and lumpy. Ways to reduce polymerization of silica in lava include: |
| |A. |
| |Making the lava very cool. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Making the lava very rich in water and carbon dioxide. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Making the lava very low in water and carbon dioxide. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Making the lava very poor in iron and very cool. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Making the lava very poor in iron. |
| | |

The silicon-oxygen tetrahedra link up to make lumps, so anything that gets in the way of this linking will oppose lumping. Iron, water, carbon dioxide, or high heat that shakes the lumps apart can all oppose the lumping of polymerization.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|11. |In the picture above, the pink and yellow arrows in front of Dr. Alley point to two rather different deposits from an eruption of the |
| |Hawaiian Volcano Kilauea. As described in the class materials, these materials are: |
| |A. |
| |Small pieces thrown through the air, and frozen "waterfalls" of lava that flowed quietly before freezing. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Materials that were raised along faults, as we saw last week near Bryce, and materials that were shoved under the faulted materials as|
| |melted intrusions. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Materials washed into place by giant waves when the side of the island fell off. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Giant bus-sized bombs thrown through the air by the violent eruptions, and interleaved thick lava flows that followed the violent |
| |eruptions. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Materials that were lowered along faults, as we saw last week near Bryce, and materials shoved under the faulted materials as melted |
| |intrusions. |
| | |

Mt. St. Helens and similar volcanoes make giant explosive eruptions that throw bus-sized blocks, but Kilauea in Hawaii usually doesn't (although rarely, water flashing to steam may move some big things!). Dr. Alley showed you the gravel-sized pieces of glass at the end of the pink arrow, and the frozen "waterfall" of lava at the end of the yellow arrow.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|12. |The deepest earthquakes are rare, and differ in some ways from the more-common type of quakes. These deepest earthquakes probably: |
| |A. |
| |Are caused by Coke drinkers kicking the Pepsi machines in Penn State buildings. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Are the shaking of the ground caused by “implosion” as minerals rearrange to denser forms as the pressure on them rises in downgoing|
| |slabs. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Are caused by atomic-bomb testing. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Are the shaking of the ground caused by elastic rebound of bent rocks when a fault breaks. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Are caused by Pepsi machines exploding after being kicked by Coke drinkers. |
| | |

“Implosion” is the currently favored idea. As subduction zones take rocks deeper where pressure is higher, the building blocks tend to reorganize to take up less space, shifting from, say, a one-on-top-of-another pattern to a fit-in-the-space-between-those-below pattern. Sometimes, this seems to be delayed and then to happen all at once (I can’t move until my neighbor does…), giving an implosion. The biggest, deepest earthquakes happen where temperatures and pressures are so high that we don’t think rocks can break. Humans have never made a hole anywhere nearly as deep as the deeper earthquakes. We have mostly quit testing atomic bombs. And, a big earthquake is way bigger than a big atomic bomb. Penn State students, being naturally even-tempered, don’t kick hard enough to actually explode Pepsi machines. And Penn State basements are not deep enough to account for the deeper earthquakes.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|13. |Some eruptions come out of volcanoes really rapidly and shoot really high because: |
| |A. |
| |As the melt nears the surface in subduction-zone volcanoes, the higher stresses from the nearby subduction zones squeeze the melt |
| |out faster. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The suction from the pull of spreading ridges makes the melt come out really rapidly. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Hot spots shove the melt out faster. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Giant marmots named George suck the melt out. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Dropping pressure as the melt rises allows volatiles including water vapor and carbon dioxide to make bubbles that lower the density|
| |and make the melt rise even faster. |
| | |

Just as uncapping a shaken soda bottle or champagne bottle allows a foaming “eruption”, it is the bubbles forming in rising lava that make it go fast. Although stomping on a fast-food ketchup package can cause a squeeze-driven “eruption”, real volcanoes are not primarily squeeze-driven, mostly because it takes a pretty big “stomp” to drive one, and the Earth doesn’t stomp hard enough (even in earthquakes!). (The squeezes that fold and break rocks to make mountains are actually rather slow.) Hot-spot volcanoes tend to erupt quietly, slowly, and not very high into the air. Spreading ridges don’t pull on their surroundings; the ridges actually push a little. And George surely can’t do that, even if he is cute.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|14. |Look at the picture above. What type of volcano is this? |
| |A. |
| |A subduction-zone-type, steep andesitic stratovolcano |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A head-of-hot-spot, mushroom-cloud-type plateau basalt |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The mound made when a giant marmot named George dug his hole |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A hot-spot-type, basaltic shield volcano |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A small, loose, thrown-rocks-type cinder-cone volcano |
| | |

This is Lassen Peak in Lassen Volcanic National Park, northern California. Lassen erupted between 1914 and 1921, near the south end of the Cascades chain of subduction-zone volcanoes, and was made a national park in 1916. Hot-spot volcanoes aren’t as steep, plateau basalts cover state-sized areas with very flat-lying flows, cinder-cone volcanoes are much smaller, and George’s piles are smaller yet.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|15. |The volcanoes of the island of Hawaii eventually will: |
| |A. |
| |Blow up as powerfully as the main eruptions of Yellowstone, 1000 times bigger than Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Rise above sea level as they cool and sink, and are eroded. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Last forever while nothing happens to them except for development of a protective layer of condominiums. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Blow up as powerfully as the main 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Drift off the hot spot and cease to erupt, while a new volcano grows to their southeast. |
| | |

As they drift off the hot spot, the Hawaiian chain volcanoes lose their source of melt and quit erupting. But, a new volcano grows. Indeed, the new one, Loihi Seamount, is already there and erupting underwater, building toward the surface. As they cool and sink, and are eroded, the Hawaiian volcanoes disappear below sea level. Hawaiian volcanoes are “friendly”, not having highly explosive eruptions. Yellowstone is an anomaly; the hot spot is not making a huge amount of melt, and that melt is modified in coming through the continent, so Yellowstone explodes despite being a hot spot. But most hot-spot volcanoes are not highly explosive. The “protective” layer of condominiums is developing in parts of Hawaii, but lots will happen to the volcanoes in addition—earthquakes and eruptions and drifting and more—and wait until next time when we learn about sides falling off!
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |

|1. |Which of the following is not expected very often near a “textbook” subduction zone (that is, near a subduction zone that is so perfect and |
| |free of confusing complications that you would use it in a textbook to teach students)? |
| |A. |
| |Stratovolcanoes. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Slide-past (or transform, with horizontal but no vertical movement) earthquakes and faults. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Explosive volcanoes. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Push-together earthquakes and faults. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Piles of sediment scraped off the downgoing slab. |
| | |

Most of the action at subduction zones is “push-together”, including push-together earthquakes and faults, scraping off of sediment to make piles as one side moves under the other side, and volcanic explosions that contribute to layered volcanoes, or “stratovolcanoes”. Slide-past motion is not dominant, intermediates between pure subduction and pure slide-past motion do exist, but are not “textbook” cases of subduction.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|2. |Melting happens in association with a subduction zone. What is going on to cause this? |
| |A. |
| |The immense friction between the downgoing slab and the overlying rocks makes the slab the hottest things in the mantle, causing much melting |
| |nearby. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The scraped-off pile from the subduction zone traps the Earth’s heat beneath, and the downgoing slab passes through this hot zone and melts in|
| |response. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The downgoing slab takes along water, and that water lowers the temperature at which rock melts to allow melting in and near the slab. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The motion of the downgoing slab weakens the mantle so that a hot spot from deep below can rise along the downgoing slab and cause melting. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The bending and friction associated with scraping off a pile of sediment, such as the Olympic Peninsula, makes the pile very hot, and the |
| |downgoing slab passes through the hot zone and melts in response. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|3. |The picture shows some rocks on the beach at Olympic National Park. The pocket knife is about 3 inches (or 8 cm) long. What is the story of |
| |these rocks? |
| |A. |
| |The pocket knife was flushed out of an airline toilet by an absent-minded geologist, and fell on the rock. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Earthquakes knocked loose undersea muds that raced down the slope into the subduction zone to make these layered rocks, which were scraped off|
| |the downgoing slab, part of the process by which continents grow as material is added to their edges at subduction zones. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The pocket knife washed overboard from a Chinese freighter in a storm, and floated to the beach on the currents; scientists use the |
| |distribution of such flotsam and jetsam to learn about the oceanic currents that drive plate tectonics. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Earthquakes knocked loose undersea muds that raced down the slope into the subduction zone to make these layered rocks, which were scraped off|
| |the downgoing slab, part of the process by which continents shrink as material is scraped off their edges at subduction zones. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The layering comes from different volcanic eruptions that piled material on the beach, as part of the process by which spreading zones tear |
| |apart continents, causing them to become smaller over time. |
| | |

Olympic is the pile of scraped-off stuff, and some of it fell into the trench rather recently during earthquakes. Build-up of material above subduction zones contributes to growth of continents over time, not shrinkage. There really are volcanic layers, but as described in the slide show, these are not volcanic layers, and continents grow over time rather than shrinking. Things do wash off freighters, and items such as rubber ducks and shoes have been used to trace ocean currents, but pocket knives sink, and ocean currents are not the driving force for drifting plates. Airline toilets flush into holding tanks on the plane, not onto people or rocks below, and very rarely have pocket knives because the knives are confiscated first.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |D |
|4. |Subduction zones produce an amazing variety of geological features. These include: |
| |A. |
| |Deep trenches in the sea floor, formed by the weight of discarded Microsoft Windows CDs and Starbucks coffee cups, heaved into the ocean from |
| |Seattle by angry consumers. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Deep trenches in the sea floor, formed by the bending of the downgoing plate, but filled with basaltic lava flows from the hot spots that feed|
| |the subduction-zone volcanoes. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Deep trenches in the sea floor, which are old river valleys eroded by the vigorous streams flowing down from the mountains. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Deep trenches in the sea floor, formed by the bending of the downgoing plate, and sometimes filled with sea water but sometimes filled with |
| |sediment eroded from nearby land. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Deep trenches in the sea floor, which are really fjords eroded by glaciers flowing down from the mountains and away from the coast out to sea.|
| | |

The deepest spots in the ocean are formed when downgoing slabs are bent downward to make deep trenches parallel to the shore. However, sometimes these trenches become sediment-filled. Microsoft CDs are a relatively small part of that sediment. Rivers don’t cut below sea level, and glaciers flowing away from the coast cannot cut a huge trench parallel to the coast.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |B |
|5. |You use highly accurate techniques to learn the time when lots and lots of different volcanic rocks solidified from melted rock. You do this |
| |for many different rocks across the continents, and many different rocks across the sea floor. You will find that (note that “older” rocks are|
| |those that solidified more years ago, and “younger” rocks are those that solidified fewer years ago.): |
| |A. |
| |The sea-floor rocks are typically older than the continental rocks, because the sea-floor rocks formed first and then they were melted to make|
| |the continental rocks. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The sea-floor rocks and the continental rocks are typically of about the same age. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The sea-floor rocks are typically older than the continental rocks, because the sea-floor rocks formed first and then the continental rocks |
| |fell on top of them as the planet grew. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The sea-floor rocks are typically younger than the continental rocks, because sea-floor rocks are taken back into the mantle at subduction |
| |zones about as rapidly as new sea-floor rocks are produced, while continental rocks are not taken back into the mantle at subduction zones. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The sea-floor rocks are typically younger than the continental rocks, because some of the older continental rocks were blasted away by the |
| |collision that made the moon, revealing the younger sea-floor rocks beneath. |
| | |

You can find young rocks on the sea floor and on the continents, but all of the old rocks on the planet are on continents—there are no old sea-floor rocks. The older sea floor has all been recycled at subduction zones.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|6. |Volcanoes of many different types can be observed at the surface of the Earth. Suppose you are looking at a hot-spot volcano. If you could see|
| |deep beneath that volcano, what would you find? |
| |A. |
| |A Pepsi machine, that has been shaken by earthquakes so that the bottles are exploding. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A rising tower of hot rock, coming up from below and perhaps from waaaaay below, down at the bottom of the mantle. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A volcanic-arc-producing, Ring-of-Fire type subduction zone. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A sea-floor-producing spreading ridge. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A scraped-off pile of material, heated by the off-scraping and melting in the middle to feed the volcano. |
| | |

Earthquakes make sound waves that go through the whole Earth, and go slower through hotter, less-dense rocks. By setting out listening devices called seismometers around the Earth, and listening to the waves from many earthquakes in many places, scientists can map the hotter regions, and find that towers of hot rock come up from way deep in the Earth in some places. But, some other hot spots, while clearly coming up from below, don’t seem to start quite as deep.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|7. |What is accurate about a typical volcano formed by eruptions from a hot spot? |
| |A. |
| |The lava of the volcano is mostly andesitic in composition, and the volcano itself has steep sides where projecting above sea level, but |
| |less-steep sides on undersea portions. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The lava of the volcano contains less silica than basalt has, and thus is like the mantle in composition because the melt comes from the |
| |mantle, and the volcano itself has uniformly sloping sides like the beautiful peak of Mt. St. Helens before the 1980 eruption. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The lava of the volcano is andesitic in composition, and the volcano itself is shaped like a Pepsi can, with vertical sides below sea level. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The lava of the volcano is mostly basaltic in composition, with gradual sides where the volcano projects above sea level, but steeper sides on|
| |undersea portions. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The lava of the volcano is mostly andesitic in composition, with gradual sides where the volcano projects above sea level, but steeper sides |
| |on undersea portions. |
| | |

The rising hot rock of hot spots feeds volcanoes. Both sea floor and hot-spot volcanoes come from melting a little of the very-low-silica mantle, pulling out the melt, and freezing it, and so are basaltic (low-silica) volcanoes. Note, though, that a few hotspots (such as Yellowstone) are not basaltic, because the basalt has been altered in getting through the continent. The melt probably started out as something that would make basalt, and indeed, the Yellowstone hot-spot track includes basaltic lavas such as those at the glorious Craters of the Moon National Monument. The hot-spot lavas are runny, and spread easily under the air to make volcanoes with gradual slopes, unlike the steep stratovolcanoes, although the slopes of hot-spot volcanoes are steeper under water because the water cools the lava so rapidly that it can’t spread far.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|8. |Look at the picture above. What happened here? |
| |A. |
| |A sharp bend in a river created a whirlpool that carved the hole now filled by a lake. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A great volcanic explosion occurred, spreading material across the landscape and leaving a hole. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Death-Valley-type faulting dropped the bottom, making space for the lake; during the Ice Age, Death Valley looked like this, too. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |An immense marmot named George, shown here, dug the hole. |
| | |
| |[pic] |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A giant glacier used to sit here, and water flowing into a hole on the surface fell to the bed and hollowed out a great pothole, seen here. |
| | |

Nature has many ways to make holes, and many other ways to make mountains. Part of this class is learning to read the clues, just as geologists do. We saw at Death Valley that the faults tend to make straight lines. Streams on glaciers are not nearly this big, nor are river bends. And while George is cute, he could never dig such a hole. This is the aftermath of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|9. |Major differences between Mt. St. Helens and Hawaiian volcanoes include: |
| |A. |
| |Mt. St. Helens is a medium-to-high-silica, quietly erupting shield volcano, and Hawaii has low-silica, explosively erupting stratovolcanoes. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Mt. St. Helens is a medium-to-high-silica, explosively erupting stratovolcano, and Hawaii has low-silica, quietly erupting shield volcanoes. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Mt. St. Helens is a volcano, but Hawaii doesn’t have any volcanoes, and never has. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Mt. St. Helens is a low-silica, quietly erupting shield volcano, and Hawaii has medium-to-high-silica, explosively erupting stratovolcanoes. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Mt. St. Helens is a low-silica, explosively erupting stratovolcano, and Hawaii has medium-to-high-silica, quietly erupting shield volcanoes. |
| | |

The low-silica lava from the Hawaiian hot spot flows easily without large explosions, so the lava spreads out to make broad, gentle volcanoes that look like shields of medieval warriors. Melt a little basaltic sea floor with some water and sediment, and you get silica-rich andesite feeding explosive, subduction-zone stratovolcanoes such as Mt. St. Helens. Hot spots and spreading ridges make low-silica, basaltic volcanoes, which don’t explode powerfully. Mt. St. Helens is a stratovolcano, but stratovolcanoes are steep, not broad and flat. Mt. St. Helens was the most active of the Cascades volcanoes even before its big 1980 eruption, and the volcano has erupted many times since the big eruption.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |E |
|10. |You get in your Magic School Bus, drive down the throat of a volcano, and find that you are driving through melted rock that flows |
| |with much greater difficulty than does most melted rock, because the melted rock you are driving through is lumpier than typical for |
| |melted rock. It is likely that the melted rock you are driving through is: |
| |A. |
| |Especially rich in iron and other things that would get between silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, compared to most melted rocks. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Especially low in water and carbon dioxide compared to most melted rocks. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Especially warm compared to most melted rocks. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Especially rich in Diet Pepsi compared to most melted rocks. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Especially rich in water and carbon dioxide compared to most melted rocks. |
| | |

The silicon-oxygen tetrahedra link up to make lumps, so anything that gets in the way of this linking will oppose lumping. Iron, water, carbon dioxide, or high heat that shakes the lumps apart can all oppose the lumping of polymerization. Diet Pepsi would break up lumps, too, although isn’t especially likely in melted rock.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|11. |These two pictures are from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, on the flanks of Kilauea Volcano. How are pictures I and II related? |
| |A. |
| |Lava flows chill on top and sides while the unchilled central part continues flowing as shown in II, and later after the central part |
| |chills too, it is dissolved more easily by acidic groundwaters because it froze later, leaving caves such as the one shown in I. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Subduction processes open tubes such as shown in I, and then later when volcanic eruptions happen, the lava uses those tubes as |
| |shortcuts to the sea, as shown in II. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Lava flows chill on top and sides while the unchilled central part continues flowing as shown in II, and later after the central part |
| |chills too, it is mined out by the Park Service because it is softer, making visitor-entertaining caves, such as the one shown in I. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Lava flows chill on top and sides while the unchilled central part continues flowing as shown in II, and if more lava is not supplied |
| |to keep the tubes filled, the tubes may drain to leave caves, such as the one shown in I. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Earthquakes open tubes such as shown in I, and then later when volcanic eruptions happen, the lava uses those tubes as shortcuts to |
| |the sea, as shown in II. |
| | |

2000-degree lava hits 70-degree air on top and sides, and 70-degree rock on the bottom, when the lava first flows out of the volcano, so the lava tends to freeze on all sides. Often, though, the lava will flow downhill away from the volcano fast enough that the leading edge will break as rapidly as it chills, and thus the end won’t get plugged, allowing the sort of lava flow seen in II. Stop the supply of melted rock to the volcano end of the tube, the tube drains out, and a cave is left, such as the beautiful one seen in II.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|12. |Earthquakes can be caused in many different ways. The best interpretation of the planet’s earthquakes is that: |
| |A. |
| |They are caused by Pepsi machines exploding after being kicked by Coke drinkers. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |They are caused by Coke drinkers kicking the Pepsi machines in Penn State buildings. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The deepest ones are caused by elastic rebound of bent rocks when a fault breaks, whereas shallower ones are almost all caused by |
| |collapse of natural caves such as Mammoth Cave. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Human-made atomic-bomb testing is responsible. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The rare, deepest ones are caused by “implosion” as minerals in downgoing slabs of subduction zones suddenly switch to a denser |
| |arrangement, wheråeas common shallower ones are caused by elastic rebound of bent rocks when a fault breaks. |
| | |

“Implosion” is the currently favored idea. As subduction zones take rocks deeper where pressure is higher, the building blocks tend to reorganize to take up less space, shifting from, say, a one-on-top-of-another pattern to a fit-in-the-space-between-those-below pattern. Sometimes, this seems to be delayed and then to happen all at once (I can’t move until my neighbor does…), giving an implosion. The biggest, deepest earthquakes happen where temperatures and pressures are so high that we don’t think rocks can break. Humans have never made a hole anywhere nearly as deep as the deeper earthquakes. We have mostly quit testing atomic bombs. And, a big earthquake is way bigger than a big atomic bomb. Penn State students, being naturally even-tempered, don’t kick hard enough to actually explode Pepsi machines. And Penn State basements are not deep enough to account for the deeper earthquakes.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|13. |Volcanic eruptions cause many hazards to humans, and many geologists are employed to study these hazards and warn people. For a |
| |single, large, explosive volcanic eruption such as Mt. St. Helens, which of the following is not a worry that these volcanic-hazards |
| |geologists would warn people about? |
| |A. |
| |Pyroclastics, including bus-sized pieces that could fall on people’s heads and kill them. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Tsunamis, or giant waves, that could drown people, if the volcano is in the ocean or a very large lake and the eruption moves a lot |
| |of water out of the way. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Climatic warming, with the volcano causing a sudden heat wave that would harm people living in big cities. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Mudflows and landslides that could bury people and buildings. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Poisonous gases, that could kill people who breathe them in. |
| | |

This is one of those interesting cases where “slow” and “fast” are different. Volcanoes release carbon dioxide, and carbon dioxide warms. But carbon dioxide stays up a long time, and no single volcanic eruption puts up enough carbon dioxide to make a detectable difference to the concentration in the air and the temperature of the Earth. However, a single big eruption can put enough material into the stratosphere to block enough sunlight to cool the Earth by a degree or two for a year or two. So the climatic hazard from a single big volcanic eruption is cooling, not warming. Explosive volcanoes are often large and steep, and may have huge glaciers. As heat melts the ice, and as melted rock moving into the volcano bulges the sides, huge landslides and mudflows happen. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in single mudflows. Well over 100,000 people live on the deposit from one old mudflow from Mt. Rainier (and those who know about that Osceola Flow really hope it doesn’t happen again!). A tsunami is a big wave, caused by an earthquake, landslide, meteorite impact, or volcanic eruption that displaces sea water. Waves can be 100 feet high or more, and do incredible damage. A big eruption underwater can push a lot of water out of the way, making a tsunami. Pyroclastic flows are major volcanic hazards, and can kill lots of people quickly. Imagine a few-hundred-degree mixture of pulverized rock, glass and poison gas chasing you at a few hundred miles per hour! Volcanoes do put out poison gases, such as hydrogen sulfide or carbon dioxide (a little is good; too much is deadly!). When rocks melt a little, fluid- and gas-making materials preferentially end up in the melt rather than in the remaining rock, so eruptions commonly come with gases, and some of those gases are of types or in concentrations that are not good for nearby humans.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|14. |The pictures show famous volcanoes, that we discussed in the class materials. Which statement is most accurate about these? |
| |A. |
| |Picture II shows a head-of-hot-spot flood basalt, and picture I shows a throws-small-pieces cinder cone. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Picture II shows a head-of-hot-spot flood basalt, and picture I shows a subduction-zone-type throws-small-pieces cinder cone. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Picture II shows a hot-spot-type shield volcano, and picture I shows a subduction-zone-type stratovolcano. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Picture II shows a pile that a giant marmot named George dug up, and picture I shows a pile made by his good friend Herb. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Picture II shows a subduction-zone-type flood basalt, and picture I shows a hot-spot-type stratovolcano. |
| | |

Picture I is the glorious stratovolcano Lassen Peak, in the Cascades of northern California, and picture II is the shield volcano of Mauna Loa, on the island of Hawaii.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|15. |The volcanoes of the island of Hawaii eventually will: |
| |A. |
| |Blow up as powerfully as the main 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Blow up as powerfully as the main eruptions of Yellowstone, 1000 times bigger than Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Drift off the hot spot and cease to erupt, while a new volcano grows to their southeast. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Rise above sea level as they cool and sink, and are eroded. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Last forever while nothing happens to them except for development of a protective layer of condominiums. |
| | |

As they drift off the hot spot, the Hawaiian chain volcanoes lose their source of melt and quit erupting. But, a new volcano grows. Indeed, the new one, Loihi Seamount, is already there and erupting underwater, building toward the surface. As they cool and sink, and are eroded, the Hawaiian volcanoes disappear below sea level. Hawaiian volcanoes are “friendly”, not having highly explosive eruptions. Yellowstone is an anomaly; the hot spot is not making a huge amount of melt, and that melt is modified in coming through the continent, so Yellowstone explodes despite being a hot spot. But most hot-spot volcanoes are not highly explosive. The “protective” layer of condominiums is developing in parts of Hawaii, but lots will happen to the volcanoes in addition—earthquakes and eruptions and drifting and more—and wait until next time when we learn about sides falling off!
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |

Unit 4 - Plate Tectonics III: Making Mountains, Obduction, & Tsunamis
Park Visits: Great Smoky Mountains & The Rockies

|1. |The main types of boundaries between different lithospheric plates are: |
| |A. |
| |Pull-apart and slide-past. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Push-together, pull-apart and slide-past. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Push-together and slide-past. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Hot spots. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Push-together, pull-apart, slide-past and hot-spot. |
| | |

There are three “end-member” behaviors that are possible with big plates that move around on the surface of the Earth. Intermediates exist, such as pushing together while sliding past. Hot spots poke through the plates, but don’t make boundaries of the plates.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|2. |What tectonic setting is primarily responsible for producing Mt. St Helens? |
| | |

Mt. St. Helens sits above a subduction zone, where one tectonic plate goes below another as they come together.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |Push-together Subduction |
|Your Response: |Push-together Subduction |
|3. |The mountain range that contains Mt. Nittany and the Great Smoky Mountains was raised to high elevation primarily: |
| |A. |
| |When the Atlantic Ocean formed, at a pull-apart boundary. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |When a hot spot erupted under the east coast, and the surrounding rocks slid down the hill it made and rumpled while sliding. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |When Death Valley opened, squeezing the east coast. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |When the proto-Atlantic ocean closed, at a push-together boundary. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |When a subduction zone formed under Oregon, rumpling the rocks to the east. |
| | |

Run a car into a brick wall and the front of the car is crunched and bent. Fly over the folded Appalachians and you’ll see the same pattern. There was a little Death-Valley-type uplift next to regions of down-dropping to the east of the Appalachians when the pull-apart happened, but the style of the Appalachians doesn’t look like Death Valley, and the mountains were already here when the pulling apart started. We can see that the rumpling from the subduction zone in Oregon extends only 100 miles or so in from the coast, and even the Rockies required a special explanation as to why they are so far inland; the Appalachians are too far away to have been affected by subduction under Oregon. We can see that the Appalachians don’t make a circle around a hot spot; they make a long belt parallel to the east coast. The Appalachians are way older than Death Valley, and with the Great Plains in-between, it is clear that the influence of Death Valley does not extend to rumpling rocks near the east coast.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|4. |Icebergs float in water and continents float above the mantle because: |
| |A. |
| |Icebergs/continents are colder than the stuff they float in. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Icebergs/continents are denser than the stuff they float in. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Icebergs/continents are filled with helium. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Icebergs/continents are less-dense than the stuff they float in. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Icebergs/continents are warmer than the stuff they float in. |
| | |

Flotation and buoyancy are driven by density differences. In general, less-dense objects float higher up than more-dense objects would. Sometimes the density differences are due to temperature, sometimes due to composition. In the case of icebergs, water is denser than ice, so ice floats. Similarly continental crust is less dense than the mantle.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|5. |The cartoon above illustrates a specific geologic process. Which of the additional geologic images DOES NOT feature this same process at |
| |work? |
| |A. |
| | |
| |[pic] |
| | |
| |B. |
| |[pic] |
| | |
| |C. |
| | |
| |[pic] |
| | |
| |D. |
| |[pic] |
| | |

The folded Appalachians, including the region around Penn State, the great Smokies, and the Blue Ridge, formed when Africa and Europe collided with the Americas, much as the two cars in the picture collided. Death Valley records different processes.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|6. |If two drifting continents run into each other: |
| |A. |
| |Neither will be subducted back into the deep mantle; instead, they will form an obduction zone. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The older, colder one will be subducted back into the deep mantle, forming a new subduction zone. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Both will be subducted back into the deep mantle, forming a new subduction zone. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The older, colder one will sink into a giant subterranean lake of Pepsi One. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The older, colder one will sink into the core. |
| | |

“The Unsinkable North America” might not make it as a vehicle for show tunes, but continents have floated around for 4 billion years and are unlikely to sink in the near future. Old, cold sea floor can sink into the mantle, but continents are lower in density than sea floor and cannot follow. A continent could sink into a subterranean lake of Pepsi One if such a thing existed, but no such thing exists.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|7. |What sort of rock is the dark material very close to the pink granite that Dr. Alley is pointing to in the picture above? |
| |A. |
| |Igneous; The layers were caused by flow processes during the eruption that released this. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Sedimentary; The layering was caused by changes in the flow velocity of the river that deposited the material |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Sediment that isn’t rock yet. The layers are alternating silt and sand from deposition from landslides off the Olympic Peninsula into the |
| |trench offshore. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Metamorphic; The rock separated into layers as it was cooked and squeezed deep in a mountain range. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Marmot #2 |
| | |

The large crystals, intergrown nature, and separate dark and light layers all point to metamorphism, deep inside a mountain range. Rapid cooling in volcanic eruptions gives tiny crystals, not the big, pretty ones here. You can see the former sand grains or other-sized pieces in sediment and sedimentary rocks. And marmot doo-doo consists of small, dark pellets, akin to big rabbit doots, and usually isn’t considered to be rock.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|8. |Which is most accurate about tsunamis? |
| |A. |
| |They are big waves caused by very rapid displacement of a lot of water, which may occur in response to an undersea landslide, earthquake, |
| |volcanic eruption, or other cause. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |They are big waves caused only by earthquakes. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |They are waves caused by big tides, such as the tidal bore at the Bay of Fundy in Canada. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |They are big waves caused by changes in the way the Earth rotates from day to day. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |They are primarily caused by belching belugas. |
| | |

|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|9. |Tsunamis: |
| |A. |
| |Are like tornadoes; they can be predicted with some accuracy seconds to hours before they strike in most cases, allowing quick warnings to |
| |save many lives. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Are like the seasons; they can be predicted accurately months in advance, allowing wise planning. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Are completely unpredictable on all time scales. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Are like the weather; they can be predicted fairly accurately days in advance, allowing wise planning. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Always are huge and destructive. |
| | |

Because tsunamis are triggered by earthquakes, among other things, and we cannot predict earthquakes accurately, we cannot make months-in-advance predictions of tsunamis. The p-waves from the earthquakes that cause the most common tsunamis move much more rapidly than the tsunamis do, allowing timely warnings; however, because the tsunamis get where they are going in hours or less typically, not much time is available. Water does go out before rushing in along some coasts, but comes in before going out along other coasts, waves have “up” and “down” parts, and some coasts get an “up” first while other coasts get a “down” first. Little earthquakes make little tsunamis; big earthquakes make big tsunamis.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|10. |The rocks in the above picture sit along the side of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. The layers started out horizontal, but now|
| |are vertical. |
| | |
| |What happened? |
| |A. |
| |Pull-apart forces acting in geologically recent times caused fault-block faulting, and as the valley dropped relative to the |
| |mountains, the rocks were tipped up on end. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Push-together forces when Africa and Europe ran into the Americas bent the rocks, tipping these up on end. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Graffiti artists painted the roadcut to look like a bunch of tipped rocks. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Slide-past forces moved the rocks from Tennessee to Virginia, and as the rocks piled up at a bend in a San-Andreas-type fault to form|
| |the Appalachians, the layers were tipped up. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Bulldozers tipped the rocks during the excavation of the road cut. |
| | |

A drive down the Blue Ridge is well worth your time. Stop frequently to admire the handiwork of a giant collision between the old world and the new.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|11. |At Cade's Cove in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, there is an unusual arrangement of rocks where older rocks are sitting on |
| |top of younger rocks, though neither layer has been overturned. This is because: |
| |A. |
| |The younger layer was injected as molten material under the older rock and then solidified. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The younger layer subducted under the older layer. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |George the Marmot did it. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The older layer was thrust over the younger layer by the forces of obduction. |
| | |

The Great Smokies are an example of obduction, as are the Ridge-and-Valley mountains around State College. However, up here the rocks were "rumpled up" but down in Cade's Cove, one set of rocks was thrust over another resulting in older rocks riding over younger rocks.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|12. |In the photo above, Dave and Kym are discussing a model of the Waterpocket Fold in Capitol Reef National Park. The Waterpocket |
| |probably formed in the same way as the Front Range of the Rockies. |
| |This involved: |
| |A. |
| |A subduction zone in western Utah squeezed eastern Utah (Capitol Reef) and Colorado (Front Range). |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Especially warm sea floor in the subduction zone off the west coast rubbed along under western North America and squeezed or wrinkled |
| |the rocks, folding them (probably with a push-together fault somewhat deeper under the fold). |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The low region, in Dave’s left hand, dropped relative to the high region, in Dave’s right hand, along a Death-Valley-type fault, and |
| |something similar happened in dropping Denver relative to the Front Range. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The spreading of Death Valley pinched Utah into Colorado. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |An obduction zone in western Utah squeezed eastern Utah (Capitol Reef) and Colorado (Front Range). |
| | |

We’re still arguing about the West, but it is clear that the west-coast subduction zone, which started with old, cold sea floor going down, slowly warmed as the subduction zone and the spreading ridge came closer together. Warmer sea floor would be more buoyant, and so would sink more slowly, or float better. And that would create more friction, squeezing and rumpling with the overlying continent. As the sea floor warmed, squeezed-up/rumpled-up features developed in the West. So we think this makes sense.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|1. |Weathering attacks a granite in Pennsylvania. The feldspar grains in the granite primarily: |
| |A. |
| |Are loosened from the rock but don’t change much, making rust in the soil. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Dissolve and wash away quickly, to react with sea-floor rocks in the ocean. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Are loosened from the rock but don’t change much, staying in the soil as quartz sand. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Are loosened from the rock and change a lot, making clay in the soil. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Dissolve and wash away quickly, helping grow shells in the ocean. |
| | |

Feldspar gives up some things that dissolve and wash away, but most of the material stays behind, rearranges its structure, and adds a bit of water, making clay that contributes to soil formation.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |B |
|2. |Most landslides happen when: |
| |A. |
| |The unconsolidated materials on hillslopes are very wet and thus heavy and slippery, and the water doesn’t have to “break” as the grains move.|
| | |
| |B. |
| |The unconsolidated materials on hillslopes are damp, so the grains are made slippery by the water. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The unconsolidated materials on hillslopes are dry, so the grains roll easily downhill. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The unconsolidated materials on hillslopes are paved with concrete. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The unconsolidated materials on hillslopes are paved with blacktop. |
| | |

Dry sand can move, but even very dry times on hillsides usually don’t cause landslides. But let a hurricane really saturate things, and all heck can break loose. Paving causes lots of changes, but landslides are not usually the result.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |C |
|3. |Chemical weathering of a continental rock such as granite in a climate such as that of Pennsylvania produces: |
| |A. |
| |Clays and rust, that do not wash away easily, and soluble ions, that do wash away easily |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Clays that dissolve and wash away easily |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Feldspar and dark-mineral grains, that do not wash away easily, and dissolved quartz that does wash away easily |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Soluble ions that do not wash away easily, and clays and rust that wash away easily |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Salt-laden soils (also called pedocals) |
| | |

Weathering of granite in Pennsylvania makes some things (clay, rust, and quartz sand) that stay behind to contribute to soil, and other things (soluble ions) that dissolve and wash away very quickly. In dry climates, not very much rainwater percolates downward and through rocks to streams; most rain soaks in a little bit, but is evaporated back to the atmosphere before soaking way down in soil. Very soluble things (sodium ions, for example) may wash away in the little water that reaches streams, but slightly less soluble things (which would wash away in Pennsylvania) such as calcium will be released from rocks but then accumulate in spaces in the soil as water evaporates. These give rise to pedocals, calcium-laden soils. But these are not expected in rainy Pennsylvania, and this isn’t a subject introduced in the course, so you really shouldn’t worry about it.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |B |
|4. |What is accurate about the planet’s climate system? |
| |A. |
| |The wind blows because heating near the equator drives convection cells in the atmosphere, and the winds appears to curve to the left or right|
| |over the surface of the planet because of friction produced by the spherical planet's rotation beneath the atmosphere. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The wind blows because heating near the equator drives convection cells in the atmosphere, and the winds appear to curve to the left or right |
| |over the surface of the planet because of the planet's spherical shape. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The wind blows because heating of the poles drives convection cells in the atmosphere, and the winds appear to curve to the left or right over|
| |the surface of the planet because of the planet's the planet is spherical shape. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The wind blows because of marmot flatulence. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The wind blows because heating near the poles drives convection cells in the atmosphere, and the winds appear to curve to the left or right |
| |over the surface of the planet because of friction produced by the spherical planet's rotation beneath the atmosphere. |
| | |

Heating near the equator causes pressure differences that drive the winds. On a rotating body, whether a flat merry-go-round or a spherical Earth, the rotation causes flows to curve. And very very very little of the wind is traceable to marmots.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |D |
|5. |As water from rain soaks through the soil, the water typically: |
| |A. |
| |Loses carbon dioxide (CO2) to plant roots, becoming more basic. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Gains carbon dioxide (CO2) from the soil, becoming more acidic. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Neither gains nor loses carbon dioxide (CO2). |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Gains humic compounds from the air, becoming a strong base. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |None of the other choices here is even close to being correct. |
| | |

CO2 is fairly soluble in water. Lots of things living in the soil emit carbon dioxide, and soils contain a lot of carbon dioxide that helps make water acidic. Humic compounds are picked up from soil by water, and make the water more acidic.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|1. |Which of the following is commonly expected near a “textbook” subduction zone (that is, near a subduction zone that is so perfect and |
| |free of confusing complications that you would use it in a textbook to teach students)? |
| |A. |
| |Slide-past (or transform, with horizontal but not vertical movement) earthquakes and faults. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Basaltic hot-spot-type volcanoes. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Basaltic mid-ocean-ridge-type volcanoes. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Pull-apart earthquakes and faults. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Piled-up mud and other things scraped off the descending slab. |
| | |

Pull-apart earthquakes and faults often occur at pull-apart basaltic mid-ocean ridges, which are not subduction zones. Slide-past also occurs on the planet, but not primarily at subduction zones, which also are not hot spots. But subduction does lead to scraping of mud off the descending slabs, making piles such as the Olympic Peninsula.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|2. |Much melting in the mantle occurs near subducting slabs primarily because: |
| |A. |
| |Convection cells from the deep mantle rise along subduction zones. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Sediments scraped off downgoing slabs pile up, trapping heat and causing the rocks below to be warmer than elsewhere in the mantle. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Hot spots come up subduction zones. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Water taken down subduction zones lowers the melting temperature in and near the slabs. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Slabs are the hottest things in the mantle because of friction from the subduction. |
| | |

Throw a little dry flour in a warm oven, and not much happens. Add some water, or better, some water and some carbon dioxide from yeast, and things happen in a hurry. The subduction zone takes water, and carbon dioxide in shells and other things, down to lower the melting point and feed volcanoes. Friction does warm the down-going slabs, but slabs start off way colder than the rocks into which they move, and remain colder for a while. Sliding your cold feet along the sheets when you get into bed on a winter night may warm your toes a little by friction, but if you happen to share the bed with a significant other, putting your tootsies on that persons bare belly will tell you that frictional heating takes a while! The scraped-off pile of sediment traps a tiny bit of heat, but not too much; the downgoing slab makes the nearby mantle colder than normal, not warmer. And nature tends to separate regions where something is flowing one way from regions where the flow is reversed; if the flows are too close together, one will drag the other along and change its direction. Hot spots occasionally ride along on spreading ridges, because both involve rising, but not on subduction zones.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|3. |Continents: |
| |A. |
| |Have grown in area over time primarily by hot spots erupting through continents to produce suspect terranes. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Have grown in area over time primarily because convection cells stretched and thinned continents but never pulled them apart to make new ocean|
| |basins. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Have not changed their areas over time. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Once covered the entire surface of the Earth, but have shrunk over time as convection cells pulled them apart to make ocean basins. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Have grown in area over time primarily by addition of island arcs, seamounts and sediments scraped off subducting slabs. |
| | |

Observations show that the continents have grown, as pieces were added to the continent sides; the centers of continents are very old, and then younger rocks occur in belts around the old cores. If you kept loading the conveyor-belt at the grocery store, but there were no baggers and you refused to bag your own, you’d end up with a giant clot of groceries mashed together at the end. That is not a bad model for how continents form. If a watermelon runs into a loaf of bread, you get a big mountain-building event! Hot spots poke through continents occasionally, but don’t cause much spreading so don’t cause much continental growth. “Suspect terrane” is an old geologic term for rocks that drifted in on a subducting slab and then mashed up onto a continent. Geologists long “suspect”ed that these “terranes” were weird, and eventually figured out the explanation, but named them before learning the explanation. Continents can be stretched and thinned at spreading centers, and some of those spreading centers do fail and leave a stretched continent that hasn’t broken to make an ocean, but more commonly the stretching continues until an ocean is made.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|4. |There is a deep trench in the sea floor off the Marianas volcanic arc of explosive, andesitic, Ring of Fire volcanoes in the South Pacific, |
| |but the water is not deep off the coast of Oregon and Washington near Mt. St. Helens and the Olympic, because: |
| |A. |
| |The trench off Oregon and Washington is filled with great basaltic lava flows from the hot spot that feeds the Cascades volcanoes. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The Marianas, Oregon and Washington have trenches, but the trench off Oregon and Washington is filled by discarded Microsoft Windows CDs that |
| |are obsolete because of all the virus problems. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The Marianas, Oregon and Washington have had the sea floor bent downward by subduction to make trenches, the trench off Oregon and Washington |
| |is filled by sediment eroded from the nearby continent, but the Marianas don’t have a nearby continent and so the trench there is not filled |
| |with sediment. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The Marianas are near a subduction zone, but Oregon and Washington are not. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Oregon and Washington are near a subduction zone, but the Marianas are not. |
| | |

The more rocks there are nearby, the easier it is for erosion to move some of those rocks. The trench off Oregon and Washington has Oregon and Washington nearby, with lots of rocks. Add in that Oregon and Washington have great rivers such as the Columbia, and huge glaciers that grind up the rocks such as the beautiful glaciers on Mt. Rainier, and there is lots of sediment to fill the trench and be scraped off the subduction zone to make Olympic National Park. The Marianas involve subduction of older, colder sea floor under younger, warmer sea floor, have less rock above sea level nearby to be eroded, are in a warm place without glaciers, and so haven’t filled the nearby trench with sediment. There probably are a few discarded floppy disks, as well as a lot of other human-produced material, in the trench off Oregon and Washington, but nature has been a lot more important than humans in filling the trenches. Humans did once talk about disposing of radioactive waste in the trenches, but then we found out that whatever goes down the trench comes back up, and may be squeezed and broken and squirted back up quickly, so we gave up on that idea. And the volcanoes of Oregon and Washington are subduction-zone volcanoes, not hot-spot volcanoes.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|5. |The sea floor that forms at spreading ridges and then moves away will: |
| |A. |
| |Be ground up by glaciers, blown away by wind, and eventually escape to space in the solar wind. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Be subducted, with most of the material going back into the mantle, balancing the material coming out to make the new sea floor. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Remain at the surface of the earth forever, resulting in the earth getting bigger and bigger every year. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Be bulldozed and used as construction material for the new building on campus. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Remain at the surface of the earth forever, but the earth isn't getting bigger because the insides of the earth are shrinking as they cool off|
| |rapidly. |
| | |

Seafloor rocks are generally not very old (perhaps 160 million years old at the most). By contrast, continental rocks are up to 4 billion years old. The reason is that seafloor rocks are created (at midocean spreading ridges) and then consumed (at subduction zones) continuously, and at about the same rate. Oceanic rocks are denser than continental rocks, so when the two types of rocks collide, oceanic rocks sink into the mantle and are recycled. A tiny bit of hydrogen escapes from the planet in the solar wind, but not much else.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|6. |Hot spots: |
| |A. |
| |Bring Pepsi from deep in the Earth to Penn State under an exclusive contract negotiated by President Spanier. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Are found only under oceans. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Are found only under continents. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Move around rapidly under the plates while the plates sit still. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Rise from as deep in the mantle as the core-mantle boundary to the surface of the Earth, bringing up heat and feeding volcanoes. |
| | |

Earthquakes make sound waves that go through the whole Earth, and go slower through hotter, less-dense rocks. By putting out listening devices called seismometers around the Earth, and listening to the waves from many earthquakes in many places, scientists can map the hotter regions, and find that towers of hot rock come up from way deep in the Earth in some places. But, some other hot spots don’t seem to start as deep. The hot spots don’t seem to move around much, but the lithospheric plates drift around over the hot spots. Hot spots come up beneath continents and oceans, and can poke through both. But no one has ever found Pepsi in a hot-spot plume.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|7. |Hot spots usually: |
| |A. |
| |Feed stratovolcanoes. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Feed volcanoes that have especially steep sides on the parts sticking above sea level. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Feed basaltic volcanoes (composition similar to sea floor). |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Are not associated with volcanoes. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Feed andesitic volcanoes (composition similar to continents). |
| | |

The rising hot rock of hot spots feeds volcanoes. Both sea floor and hot-spot volcanoes come from melting a little of the very-low-silica mantle, pulling out the melt, and freezing it, and so are basaltic (low-silica) volcanoes. Note, though, that a few hotspots (such as Yellowstone) are not basaltic, because the basalt has been altered in getting through the continent. The melt probably started out as something that would make basalt, and indeed, the Yellowstone hot-spot track includes basaltic lavas such as those at the glorious Craters of the Moon National Monument. The hot-spot lavas are runny, and spread easily under the air to make volcanoes with gradual slopes, unlike the steep stratovolcanoes, although the slopes of hot-spot volcanoes are steeper under water because the water cools the lava so rapidly that it can’t spread far.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|8. |Look at the picture above. What happened here? |
| |A. |
| |A giant glacier used to sit here, and water flowing into a hole on the surface fell to the bed and hollowed out a great pothole, seen here. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A great volcanic explosion occurred, spreading material across the landscape, and the hole left behind after the eruption later filled with |
| |water. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |An immense marmot named George, shown here, dug the hole. |
| | |
| |[pic] |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A sharp bend in a river created a whirlpool that carved the hole now filled by a lake. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Death-Valley-type faulting dropped the bottom, making space for the lake; during the Ice Age, Death Valley looked like this, too. |
| | |

Nature has many ways to make holes, and many other ways to make mountains. Part of this class is learning to read the clues, just as geologists do. We saw at Death Valley that the faults tend to make straight lines. Streams on glaciers are not nearly this big, nor are river bends. And while George is cute, he could never dig such a hole.

[pic]

This is the crater of Crater Lake, almost 2000 feet deep and 6 miles across, left by the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Mazama in Oregon.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|9. |Hawaiian volcanoes, where they emerge above sea level, are: |
| |A. |
| |Especially silica-rich, unlike the lower-silica rocks of Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |All clinkery-looking lava called aa, very different from the pahoehoe flows of Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |All ropy-looking lava called pahoehoe, very different from the aa of Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Broad, gentle shield volcanoes, much flatter than stratovolcanoes such as Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Steep, narrow stratovolcanoes, much steeper than shield volcanoes such as Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |

The low-silica lava from the Hawaiian hot spot flows easily, so the lava spreads out to make broad, gentle volcanoes that look like shields of medieval warriors. Some Hawaiian lava is clinkery aa (pronounced “ah-ah”), but some is ropy pahoehoe (pronounced “pa hoe ee hoe ee”), controlled by subtle differences in temperature, composition, etc. Mt. St. Helens is steeper, higher in silica, and generally has neither aa nor pahoehoe.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|10. |Silica tends to polymerize in lavas and make them thick and lumpy. Ways to reduce polymerization of silica in lava include: |
| |A. |
| |Making the lava very cool. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Making the lava very rich in water and carbon dioxide. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Making the lava very low in water and carbon dioxide. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Making the lava very poor in iron and very cool. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Making the lava very poor in iron. |
| | |

The silicon-oxygen tetrahedra link up to make lumps, so anything that gets in the way of this linking will oppose lumping. Iron, water, carbon dioxide, or high heat that shakes the lumps apart can all oppose the lumping of polymerization.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|11. |In the picture above, the pink and yellow arrows in front of Dr. Alley point to two rather different deposits from an eruption of the |
| |Hawaiian Volcano Kilauea. As described in the class materials, these materials are: |
| |A. |
| |Small pieces thrown through the air, and frozen "waterfalls" of lava that flowed quietly before freezing. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Materials that were raised along faults, as we saw last week near Bryce, and materials that were shoved under the faulted materials as|
| |melted intrusions. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Materials washed into place by giant waves when the side of the island fell off. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Giant bus-sized bombs thrown through the air by the violent eruptions, and interleaved thick lava flows that followed the violent |
| |eruptions. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Materials that were lowered along faults, as we saw last week near Bryce, and materials shoved under the faulted materials as melted |
| |intrusions. |
| | |

Mt. St. Helens and similar volcanoes make giant explosive eruptions that throw bus-sized blocks, but Kilauea in Hawaii usually doesn't (although rarely, water flashing to steam may move some big things!). Dr. Alley showed you the gravel-sized pieces of glass at the end of the pink arrow, and the frozen "waterfall" of lava at the end of the yellow arrow.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|12. |The deepest earthquakes are rare, and differ in some ways from the more-common type of quakes. These deepest earthquakes probably: |
| |A. |
| |Are caused by Coke drinkers kicking the Pepsi machines in Penn State buildings. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Are the shaking of the ground caused by “implosion” as minerals rearrange to denser forms as the pressure on them rises in downgoing|
| |slabs. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Are caused by atomic-bomb testing. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Are the shaking of the ground caused by elastic rebound of bent rocks when a fault breaks. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Are caused by Pepsi machines exploding after being kicked by Coke drinkers. |
| | |

“Implosion” is the currently favored idea. As subduction zones take rocks deeper where pressure is higher, the building blocks tend to reorganize to take up less space, shifting from, say, a one-on-top-of-another pattern to a fit-in-the-space-between-those-below pattern. Sometimes, this seems to be delayed and then to happen all at once (I can’t move until my neighbor does…), giving an implosion. The biggest, deepest earthquakes happen where temperatures and pressures are so high that we don’t think rocks can break. Humans have never made a hole anywhere nearly as deep as the deeper earthquakes. We have mostly quit testing atomic bombs. And, a big earthquake is way bigger than a big atomic bomb. Penn State students, being naturally even-tempered, don’t kick hard enough to actually explode Pepsi machines. And Penn State basements are not deep enough to account for the deeper earthquakes.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|13. |Some eruptions come out of volcanoes really rapidly and shoot really high because: |
| |A. |
| |As the melt nears the surface in subduction-zone volcanoes, the higher stresses from the nearby subduction zones squeeze the melt |
| |out faster. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The suction from the pull of spreading ridges makes the melt come out really rapidly. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Hot spots shove the melt out faster. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Giant marmots named George suck the melt out. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Dropping pressure as the melt rises allows volatiles including water vapor and carbon dioxide to make bubbles that lower the density|
| |and make the melt rise even faster. |
| | |

Just as uncapping a shaken soda bottle or champagne bottle allows a foaming “eruption”, it is the bubbles forming in rising lava that make it go fast. Although stomping on a fast-food ketchup package can cause a squeeze-driven “eruption”, real volcanoes are not primarily squeeze-driven, mostly because it takes a pretty big “stomp” to drive one, and the Earth doesn’t stomp hard enough (even in earthquakes!). (The squeezes that fold and break rocks to make mountains are actually rather slow.) Hot-spot volcanoes tend to erupt quietly, slowly, and not very high into the air. Spreading ridges don’t pull on their surroundings; the ridges actually push a little. And George surely can’t do that, even if he is cute.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|14. |Look at the picture above. What type of volcano is this? |
| |A. |
| |A subduction-zone-type, steep andesitic stratovolcano |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A head-of-hot-spot, mushroom-cloud-type plateau basalt |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The mound made when a giant marmot named George dug his hole |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A hot-spot-type, basaltic shield volcano |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A small, loose, thrown-rocks-type cinder-cone volcano |
| | |

This is Lassen Peak in Lassen Volcanic National Park, northern California. Lassen erupted between 1914 and 1921, near the south end of the Cascades chain of subduction-zone volcanoes, and was made a national park in 1916. Hot-spot volcanoes aren’t as steep, plateau basalts cover state-sized areas with very flat-lying flows, cinder-cone volcanoes are much smaller, and George’s piles are smaller yet.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|15. |The volcanoes of the island of Hawaii eventually will: |
| |A. |
| |Blow up as powerfully as the main eruptions of Yellowstone, 1000 times bigger than Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Rise above sea level as they cool and sink, and are eroded. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Last forever while nothing happens to them except for development of a protective layer of condominiums. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Blow up as powerfully as the main 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Drift off the hot spot and cease to erupt, while a new volcano grows to their southeast. |
| | |

As they drift off the hot spot, the Hawaiian chain volcanoes lose their source of melt and quit erupting. But, a new volcano grows. Indeed, the new one, Loihi Seamount, is already there and erupting underwater, building toward the surface. As they cool and sink, and are eroded, the Hawaiian volcanoes disappear below sea level. Hawaiian volcanoes are “friendly”, not having highly explosive eruptions. Yellowstone is an anomaly; the hot spot is not making a huge amount of melt, and that melt is modified in coming through the continent, so Yellowstone explodes despite being a hot spot. But most hot-spot volcanoes are not highly explosive. The “protective” layer of condominiums is developing in parts of Hawaii, but lots will happen to the volcanoes in addition—earthquakes and eruptions and drifting and more—and wait until next time when we learn about sides falling off!
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
| |[pic] |
|1. |In the photo above Dave and Kym are discussing a model of the Waterpocket Fold in Capitol Reef National Park. The Waterpocket probably|
| |formed in the same way as the Front Range of the Rockies. |
| | |
| |This involved: |
| |A. |
| |The rocks were dropped when salt deposits below were dissolved by groundwater. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The rocks were dropped along a Death-Valley-type fault. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The rocks were folded by obduction when California docked on the west coast. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Especially warm sea floor in the subduction zone off the west coast rubbed along under western North America and squeezed or wrinkled |
| |the rocks, folding them (probably with a push-together fault somewhat deeper under the fold). |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The rocks were wrenched and twisted by a San Andreas-type slide-past fault. |
| | |

We’re still arguing about the West, but it is clear that the west-coast subduction zone, which started with old, cold sea floor going down, slowly warmed as the subduction zone and the spreading ridge came closer together. Warmer sea floor would be more buoyant, and so would sink more slowly, or float better. And that would create more friction, squeezing and rumpling with the overlying continent. As the sea floor warmed, squeezed-up/rumpled-up features developed in the West. So we think this makes sense.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|2. |If two drifting continents run into each other: |
| |A. |
| |Neither will be subducted back into the deep mantle; instead, they will form an obduction zone. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Both will be subducted back into the deep mantle, forming a new subduction zone. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The older, colder one will be subducted back into the deep mantle, forming a new subduction zone. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The older, colder one will sink into a giant subterranean lake of Pepsi One. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The older, colder one will sink into the core. |
| | |

“The Unsinkable North America” might not make it as a vehicle for show tunes, but continents have floated around for 4 billion years and are unlikely to sink in the near future. Old, cold sea floor can sink into the mantle, but continents are lower in density than sea floor and cannot follow. A continent could sink into a subterranean lake of Pepsi One if such a thing existed, but no such thing exists.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|3. |The cartoon above illustrates a specific geologic process. Which of the additional geologic images DOES NOT feature this same process at |
| |work? |
| |A. |
| | |
| |[pic] |
| | |
| |B. |
| |[pic] |
| | |
| |C. |
| | |
| |[pic] |
| | |
| |D. |
| |[pic] |
| | |

The folded Appalachians, including the region around Penn State, the great Smokies, and the Blue Ridge, formed when Africa and Europe collided with the Americas, much as the two cars in the picture collided. Death Valley records different processes.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |A |
|4. |What tectonic setting is primarily responsible for producing Mt. St Helens? |
| | |

Mt. St. Helens sits above a subduction zone, where one tectonic plate goes below another as they come together.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |Push-together Subduction |
|Your Response: |Pull-Apart |
|5. |Tsunamis: |
| |A. |
| |Are almost always towering waves out in the ocean, which stay more-or-less the same size when they approach shore. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Are Asian legal devices that involve lawsuits. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Are long, low waves out in the ocean that pile up near shore because such waves, or parts of such waves, move slower in shallower water. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Are high out in the ocean, where they menace ships, but get shorter as they approach shore, where they quietly flood among coastal houses. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Are long, low waves out in the ocean that pile up near shore where they are squeezed by earthquake p-waves. |
| | |

When waves “feel” the friction of the bottom, the waves slow down. When the front of a long, low tsunami reaches shallow water and slows down, the back “catches up”, and the water in the wave piles up to make a tall wave. Tsunamis might trigger lawsuits—many things do—but the wave exists without lawyers.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |

Unit 5 - Tearing Down Mountains I: Weathering, Mass Movement, & Landslides
Park Visits: The Badlands, Grand Tetons, & Redwoods

|1. |Suppose that all the rainfall that fell during an average year on a typical surface in central Pennsylvania just stayed there as a layer of |
| |water (and all the snow melted, and the melt just stayed there). If at the end of the year you were standing on your head on that surface |
| |(assuming you are a typical-sized human being), what would be true? |
| |A. |
| |The water would make the top of your head wet, but wouldn’t quite cover your ears. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The water would be over your ears and up to your nose, but you could breathe through your mouth. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The hair trapped between your head and the surface would be wet, but nothing else (if you are bald, this applies to the hair that you would |
| |have if you had hair on the top of your head). |
| | |
| |D. |
| |You would be breathing by SCUBA or a really long snorkel, because your feet would be well under water. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |You would be breathing by SCUBA or snorkel, because the water would be up between your belly button and your knees somewhere. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|2. |Some of the water that falls as rain or that melts from snow in central Pennsylvania each year is evaporated, especially from trees, and goes |
| |back to the sky, but some water does not evaporate. What happens to that remaining water? |
| |A. |
| |Most of it is stored in caves to fill them up. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Most of it falls directly on streams and lakes. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Most of it is used in Pepsi bottling plants. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Most of it flows directly over the surface to streams. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Most of it soaks into the ground and then flows through the ground to streams. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|3. |A dam is built on a river that has a river bed that is primarily sand. You have a house just downstream of the dam, and you like to go trout |
| |fishing in the river in front of your house. A few years after the dam is built, it is likely that: |
| |A. |
| |You will have quit trout fishing as the huge rocks released from the reservoir behind the dam during floods built up the bed of the river. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |You will have quit trout fishing as the Diet Pepsi released from the dam dissolved the sand so that your house fell down the cliff forming in |
| |front of your house. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |You will have moved, because sand deposits will have buried your house as the clean water from the dam washed sand out of the river bottom and|
| |onto the river banks. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |You will have quit trout fishing as the Diet Pepsi released from the dam dissolved your house during floods. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |You will have built a ladder or steep path to get down to the river, because the clean water released by the dam will have washed a lot of the|
| |sand away and lowered the elevation of the river in front of your house. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|4. |When we speak of the Mississippi Delta, most people mean some interesting region in Louisiana with good music and seafood. Geologically, |
| |however, the Mississippi Delta is: |
| |A. |
| |A river-built deposit that is several miles thick at its thickest point, and extends from near St. Louis, Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A great trench eroded by the Mississippi River from near St. Louis, Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico, causing earthquakes to occur at the tip of|
| |this trench near St. Louis, Missouri. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A river-built deposit that is almost a mile thick at its thickest point, and extends from near Baton Rouge, Louisiana to the Gulf of Mexico. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A giant pile of spit-up Yoo Hoo. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A small trench eroded by the Mississippi River from near Baton Rouge, Louisiana to the Gulf of Mexico. |
| | |

Amazing as it may seem, the Mississippi has been taking the debris from the vast area from the Rockies to the Appalachians, and dumping that debris into the Gulf of Mexico, building a pile of sediment that is miles thick in places and extends from St. Louis to the Gulf. The mud has filled an old crack in the continent from when the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico opened, but the mud doesn’t stop the earthquakes that occasionally occur near the tip of the crack. And as for the Yoo Hoo, Yuck!
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|5. |Near Aaronsburg, PA, a company wanted to start a limestone quarry, and planned to pump lots of water out of the ground to make things fairly |
| |dry near the quarry so it wouldn’t fill with water. Concern was raised—would this affect the nearby trout streams? So, a little harmless dye |
| |was placed in a sinkhole next to the proposed quarry, and a fire-engine pumper added a lot of water to the sinkhole. How long did it take, or |
| |will take, for the dye to reach the trout stream? |
| |A. |
| |A few centuries. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A few thousand years. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A few hours to days. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Never, because sinkholes don't drain to trout streams. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Never, because all sinkholes drain to Michigan. |
| | |

The dye showed up in a few hours, and the quarry was not excavated. Sinkholes often connect directly and quickly to underground caves or big cracks, and thus to streams, allowing rapid drainage. There are rock units that would hold their water for centuries or millennia, but such units have small spaces, not caves and sinkholes. Local sinkholes do drain to trout streams, and Michigan has to make their own water pollution because ours does not reach them. (Fun thing to do if you’re bored: fit this question into the Michigan fight song.)
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|6. |A grand piano in a house in one of the lowest-elevation regions of New Orleans protected by the human-made levees is: |
| |A. |
| |Higher in elevation than a kayaker on the river during a flood. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Guaranteed to be purple, because only purple grand pianos are allowed in New Orleans. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Lower in elevation than a kayaker on the river when the river is carrying its average water flow. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The same elevation as a kayaker in the river during a flood. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Lower in elevation than a kayaker on the river during a flood, but higher than the kayaker when the river is carrying its average water flow. |
| | |

In his book on the Mississippi, John McPhee noted that if you could take a supertanker out of the river, keep it at the same elevation but get it past the levees, it would hover over the floor of the Superdome like a blimp. The kayaker is the same; the low parts of the city are below river level even at low-water, and some of the city is below sea level as well.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|7. |Large rivers have many interesting features, including: |
| |A. |
| |The natural levees, high regions left behind when compaction of mud occurs beneath the river. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The natural levees, formed when flood waters leaving the channel slow down and drop much of their load near the channel; beyond the natural |
| |levees is the flood plain, where much of the rest of the mud in a flood is deposited in a thin layer. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The flood plain, that flat area above where any floods reach. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The natural levees, formed when water rushing back into the river channel after floods erodes troughs away from the river. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The flood plain, the flat region left behind when the river cuts downward to make a valley and leave uplands. |
| | |

Many processes contribute to the formation of flood plains, but deposition of mud to smooth the surface is the most important one. Flood plains often occur beyond natural levees. The initial slowdown as floodwater spreads from a river channel into the trees deposits sediment to form natural levees.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|8. |Geologically speaking, the water table: |
| |A. |
| |Never changes its elevation, because it is pinned by the creeks. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Rises during droughts, and sinks during rainy times. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Sits next to the Pepsi table in Kern Commons. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Separates the water-filled region below the Earth’s surface from the region closer to the surface in which some air exists in the spaces. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Separates the water-filled region near the Earth’s surface from the deeper region with some air in the spaces. |
| | |

The water table is the surface below which all the spaces are full of water, but above which there is generally some air in the spaces. During droughts, water drains away from the ground to the creeks, so air enters spaces previously occupied by water, and the water table drops in elevation. Creeks do change in elevation between rain and drought (floods happen…).
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|9. |Limestone, the type of rock most likely to contain caves, is made up of: |
| |A. |
| |Rocks erupted from volcanoes. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Rocks that solidified deep beneath a volcano. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Grains of sand that have weathered out of granite, “glued” together by hard-water deposits. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Rocks squeezed and cooked deep in a mountain range. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Old shells, or pieces of old shells, pressed together. |
| | |

Look closely in the walls of Mammoth Cave, and you’ll see the shells of extinct sea creatures. Those shells are embedded in broken –up shell pieces, and things that were grown by algae and other living things in the ocean that you might not call “shell” but that serve the same purposes.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|10. |The map above shows the Birdfoot Delta of the Mississippi River, where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The river is shown in blue,|
| |as is the Gulf of Mexico. The river “wants” to leave this delta, and flow somewhere else, far to the west of the area covered by this |
| |map. |
| |Why? |
| |A. |
| |The meandering of the river has tied it in a knot, so it has to take a different path. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Humans have been damming the river at the end, so the river must go elsewhere. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The delta has built up as well as out, and that makes some other path to the Gulf steeper and shorter than the one now being taken, |
| |and during a flood the river tends to take that shorter path and cut a new channel. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |As the mud of the delta sinks, the river loses its river banks, so it flows elsewhere. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, plugged many of the river channels, so the river must go elsewhere. |
| | |

The river very nearly broke through the Old River control structure in a big flood, to take the shortcut down the Atchafalaya. The long path out to the end of the delta is not very favorable for the river, which has switched naturally in the past and would switch if humans allowed it to.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|11. |In the image above, a stream from the land on the right enters the ocean on the left in the lower part of the picture, and another |
| |does the same near the top of the picture. What happened where the streams met the ocean? |
| |A. |
| |The sediment carried by the streams settled out in the slower-moving ocean water, forming flat-topped deposits called deltas. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The sediment carried by the streams settled out in the slower-moving ocean water, forming deltas that built up as they built out so |
| |that they still slope slightly downhill toward the sea. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The calcium carbonate carried by the rivers precipitated out to form cave-formation-like deposits. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Earthquakes shook the sea floor and pushed up mud to form the deposits. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Tsunamis rushing from the ocean into the streams pushed up mud to make the deposits. |
| | |

These deltas in a fjord in Greenland are like any other deltas; the deposits cannot be purely flat-topped, or the rivers would not flow across to get to the sea water in the fjord.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|12. |Pictures 1 and 2 show two very different looking rivers. What can you say about them? |
| |A. |
| |1 is a meandering stream with clay-rich banks, and 2 is a braided stream with sandy or gravelly banks. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Both are anastamosing streams with concrete banks. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |1 is a braided stream with sandy or gravelly banks, and 2 is a meandering stream with clay-rich banks. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |1 is a meandering stream with sandy or gravelly banks, and 2 is a braided stream with clay-rich banks. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |1 is a braided stream with clay-rich banks, and 2 is a meandering stream with sandy or gravelly banks. |
| | |

|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|13. |In the picture above, Dr. Alley is on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. What problem with the Canyon is he discussing? |
| |A. |
| |Arizona has raised the tax on well-drilling, and the Park Service is having trouble paying for the water used at the Canyon. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A dire shortage of Pepsi has developed at the Canyon, forcing people to actually drink water, and the people have found they like water. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Water is being pumped out of the ground on the plateau south of the Canyon, and used by humans and evaporated or dumped in streams, so the |
| |water does not flow to the springs in the Canyon. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Human wastes are being dumped on and pumped into the ground, polluting the springs in the Canyon. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A dire shortage of Pepsi has developed at the Canyon, forcing people to actually drink water. |
| | |

Water soaks into the ground on the plateaus beside the canyon, seeps down to hit a rock layer that blocks the flow, and flows along that layer to feed beautiful and biologically important springs in the Canyon. Pumping water out of the ground on the plateaus to use for humans generally allows the water to evaporate (say, from the grass of a golf course) or run down a stream (say, below a sewage treatment plant), so the water doesn’t flow through the ground to the springs.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|14. |Stephanie and Topher are standing next to the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. |
| |What can be said of the water here? |
| |A. |
| |The river water is naturally clear, fed by snowmelt from the Colorado Rockies. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The river is really filled with 7-UP, hence the green color. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The river was cleaned up briefly by the Park Service to help Stephanie and Topher in their filming. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The river water is kept clear by the Park Service to keep the trout healthy. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The river was naturally muddy, but has been made clear because most of the sediment is settling out in the reservoir behind the dam |
| |upstream. |
| | |

Native species that lived in the muddy waters are now in danger of becoming extinct, because the clear water released from the dam makes those fish too easy for predators to see.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
| |[pic] |
|1. |The glacier shown above: |
| |A. |
| |Has advanced, because a decrease in snowfall to the ablation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the accumulation zone (B) occurred. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Has advanced, because a decrease in snowfall to the accumulation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the ablation zone (B) occurred. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Has not changed. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Has retreated, because a decrease in snowfall to the accumulation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the ablation zone (B) occurred. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Has retreated, because a decrease in snowfall to the ablation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the accumulation zone (B) occurred. |
| | |

Accumulation is a building up, ablation a wearing away or loss. The glacier builds at high elevation (A) and wears away at low elevation (B). And, the halo of moraine around this glacier at low elevation shows that the ice has retreated, so a decrease in snowfall to the accumulation zone or an increase in melting of the ablation zone is indicated.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|2. |The top picture from the coast of Greenland, and the bottom picture from Bear Meadows Natural Area in central Pennsylvania, are geologically |
| |related. How? |
| |A. |
| |The Greenland picture shows where a fast landslide went through, and Bear Meadows was formed when a fast landslide ran down a hill, leaving a |
| |hollow behind that filled with water to become Bear Meadows. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The Greenland picture shows the tracks of glaciers, and a glacier hollowed out Bear Meadows. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The Greenland picture shows a lava flow, and a lava flow dammed a creek to make Bear Meadows. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The Greenland picture shows rocks that have been creeping downhill on permafrost, and Bear Meadows probably was formed when such a creeping |
| |mass dammed a stream during the ice age. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The Greenland picture shows where a fast landslide went through, and Bear Meadows was formed when a fast landslide dammed a stream. |
| | |

Indeed, the hillslope in Greenland bears the unmistakable signs of creep on permafrost, carrying streams of rocks and bits of tundra downhill. Geologists are fairly confident that the Appalachians looked like this just beyond the glaciers during the ice age, and that rocks carried downhill this way dammed a stream to form Bear Meadows in central Pennsylvania.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |E |
|3. |Which of these materials is “hottest” in the sense that it is most likely to flow rather than to break (note that K stands for Kelvin, an |
| |absolute temperature scale in which zero is absolute zero and higher numbers mean warmer temperatures): |
| |A. |
| |A material at 1000oK that melts at 2000oK. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A material at 100oK that melts at 200oK. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A material at 250oK that melts at 300oK. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A material at 1001oK that melts at 12000oK. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |All are the same temperature. |
| | |

Flowing rather than breaking becomes likely when a material is warmed more than halfway from absolute zero to the melting temperature. The case with 250oK here is warmed five-sixths of the way from absolute zero toward the melting point, and the others are only halfway or less. They are not all at the same temperature.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |A |
|4. |Glaciers form where: |
| |A. |
| |Rocks are being raised by tectonic motions. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Winters are really snowy for a long enough time. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Snowfall exceeds melting for a long enough time. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The average temperature is well below freezing for a long enough time. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Melting exceeds snowfall for a long enough time. |
| | |

Anyone from Erie can tell you that a snowy winter does not guarantee a glacier, and anyone from the permafrost of Siberia could add that cold does not guarantee a glacier. Many high mountains are free of ice, and some warm places are being raised tectonically. The way to make a glacier is to pile up more snow than melts.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|5. |The bowl-shaped feature in the foreground of the above photo is: |
| |A. |
| |A sinkhole, dissolved into the layered basalts, from the breakup that formed the Atlantic, by acidic groundwaters melted from the base of the |
| |ice by the Earth’s heat. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A blockfield, which moved downhill under gravity in the cold, permafrost conditions that are evident from the snow in the picture. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A giant alien toilet, proof that we are visited by beings from another planet, but only evident from the air such as seen here. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A cirque, a bowl gnawed into a mountain at the head of a glacier. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A moraine, bulldozed up around a glacier that flowed away from the camera. |
| | |

This is indeed a cirque. The strong layering of the rock material is suggestive of bedrock, not loose pieces as seen in moraines and blockfields. This is basaltic bedrock from the breakup that formed the Atlantic, but basaltic bedrock does not dissolve easily in acidic groundwater. And whoooo, what would the alien use for TP???
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
| |You start in the valley, and fill a balloon with air. You take the balloon with you and climb a mountain. (You may assume that the |
| |balloon doesn’t leak, that it is not punctured, that the rubber stretches or shrinks very easily so that the air pressure in the balloon|
| |equals the air pressure outside, and that the only changes in temperature of your balloon are linked to any expansion or contraction—the|
| |balloon isn’t heated by the sun or cooled by a rain shower, for example). You find: |
| |A. |
| |The balloon is smaller and warmer on the mountain top than in the valley. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The balloon is smaller and colder on the mountain top than in the valley. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The balloon is the same size and temperature on the mountain top as in the valley. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The balloon is larger and warmer on the mountain top than in the valley. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The balloon is larger and colder on the mountain top than in the valley. |
| | |

The expansion of air on rising takes work, which cools air, so the balloon will expand and cool as the pressure on it is reduced as you climb the mountain.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |B |
|2. |Based on what you learned about the Redwoods and Death Valley, and remembering that air reaching an Appalachian valley (such as Happy Valley, |
| |where Penn State’s University Park campus is, or Cade’s Cove in the Smokies) must pass over an Appalachian ridge, what is likely to be |
| |accurate: |
| |A. |
| |Compared to the valley, the ridge is relatively dry and warm. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Compared to the valley, the ridge is relatively dry and cool. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Compared to the valley, the ridge is relatively wet and warm. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Compared to the valley, the ridge has exactly the same weather. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Compared to the valley, the ridge is relatively wet and cool. |
| | |

Air comes down into the valley after raining on the upward track, the sinking air is squeezed and warmed, and the warming evaporates water in clouds rather than condensing water to favor rain, so the valley tends to be dry and warm compared to its surroundings, or the surroundings are relatively wet and cool compared to the valley.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|3. |The North Pole sticks up out of Dr. Alley's bald spot, and the equator crosses his nose and cheeks. |
| | |
| |The sun shines on this odd globe, and on the real globe, the most likely thing that would happen here is: |
| |A. |
| |Dr. Alley may get a sunburned nose, and the equator is hotter than the pole on the real Earth, primarily because the equator is so much closer|
| |to the sun than the pole is. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Dr. Alley may get a sunburned nose, and the equator is hotter than the pole on the real Earth, primarily because the wind heats the surface as|
| |it rotates by, just as Dr. Alley can turn his head rapidly and cause heat by friction. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Dr. Alley may get a sunburned nose, and the equator is hotter than the pole on the real Earth, primarily because the sun hits the equator |
| |directly but the sun hits the pole a glancing blow. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Dr. Alley is undoubtedly the sexiest human being on Earth. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Dr. Alley may get a sunburned nose, and the equator is hotter than the pole on the real Earth, primarily because most volcanoes are located |
| |near the equator, forced there by the centrifugal force of Earth’s rotation, and Dr. Alley exhales hot air from his equatorial nose. |
| | |

GGeometry is the main control on equatorial heating. Although the equator is closer to the sun than the pole, the difference is tiny (about 4000 miles, with the distance from the sun to the Earth about 93 million miles, or about 0.004%) and matters little to the temperature difference between equator and pole (about 0.01oF, based on simple radiative equilibrium). The rotation of the Earth causes winds to turn as they blow over the surface, but does not heat the air. There is no clustering of volcanoes at the equator, and the heat from volcanoes is tiny compared to the heat from the sun. And we are quite confident that several celebrities and politicians believe that they are the world’s sexiest human being, so Dr. Alley’s standing cannot be “undoubtedly” claimed.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|4. |As water from rain soaks through the soil, the water typically: |
| |A. |
| |Loses carbon dioxide (CO2) to plant roots, becoming more basic. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Gains carbon dioxide (CO2) from the soil, becoming more acidic. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Neither gains nor loses carbon dioxide (CO2). |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Gains humic compounds from the air, becoming a strong base. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |None of the other choices here is even close to being correct. |
| | |

CO2 is fairly soluble in water. Lots of things living in the soil emit carbon dioxide, and soils contain a lot of carbon dioxide that helps make water acidic. Humic compounds are picked up from soil by water, and make the water more acidic.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|5. |Many of the headstones in graveyards are made of granite. What are these granite headstones turning into? |
| |A. |
| |Limestone deposits in the soil beneath them, and ions that wash away. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Magnesium-bearing basalt in the soil beneath them, and ions that wash away. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Diet Pepsi. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Soluble ions that primarily go into making soil beneath them. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Clays, rust, and sand that go into making soil beneath them, and ions that wash away. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|6. |During chemical weathering, calcium and sodium are released as dissolved ions and transported to the ocean, where: |
| |A. |
| |The sodium is used to make shells, and the calcium makes the sea salty. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The calcium reacts with hot basalt rocks in the sea floor, and the sodium is used to make shells. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The sodium reacts with hot basalt rocks in the sea floor, and the calcium is used in shells. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The sodium reacts with hot basalt rocks in the sea floor, and the calcium makes the sea salty. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The sodium makes the sea salty, and the calcium is used to make shells. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|7. |Clay consists of new minerals commonly formed by: |
| |A. |
| |Chemical weathering of quartz (quartz is pure silica) |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Evaporation of water leaving the salts it was carrying |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Combination of iron with water and oxygen |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Chemical weathering of feldspar (feldspar contains silica, aluminum, potassium and other things) |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Combination of acid rain with limestone. |
| | |

When weathering attacks feldspar, some things are washed away, water is added, there is a little rearrangement of the chemicals, and clay results. Quartz, which is pure silica, mostly just sits around not doing much. Weathering usually dissolves a little bit of quartz, but this leaves a smaller piece of quartz and doesn’t make anything new. Hence, when weathering attacks granite, the quartz pieces in the granite become quartz sand in the soil that is formed.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|8. |It is almost always interesting to ask whether most of the “action” comes from the few, rare events, or the many common events. For |
| |earthquakes, we saw that most of the energy is released by the few, big events. For mass movement, averaged over the land surface and over |
| |thousands of years, which moves the most material: |
| |A. |
| |The rare, large events (such as the Gros Ventre slide in the Tetons or the Hebgen Lake slide just outside of Yellowstone) move the most |
| |material. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The many, small events (often lumped together as soil creep) move the most material. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |No material is moved downhill by mass movement, which actually refers to the process by which marmot #2 is produced, and may happen uphill or |
| |downhill. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The rare, large events move just about the same amount of material as the many, small events. |
| | |

As rocks move to streams in many places, such as Pennsylvania, the slow and steady motions are more important than the few dramatic events. Specific places may be dominated by the few, dramatic events, especially in steep mountains, but across the Earth soil creep probably dominates.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|9. |Soil thickness: |
| |A. |
| |Reaches a natural balance between production by weathering and loss by mass movement, and humans have upset this balance, primarily by |
| |increasing weathering so that soils are thickening. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Reaches a natural balance between loss by weathering and production by mass movement, and humans have upset this balance, primarily by |
| |increasing weathering so that soils are thickening. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Reaches a natural balance between production by weathering and loss by mass movement, and humans have not affected that balance. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Reaches a natural balance between loss by weathering and production by mass movement, and humans have not affected that balance. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Reaches a natural balance between production by weathering and loss by mass movement, and humans have upset this balance, primarily by |
| |increasing mass movement so that soils are thinning. |
| | |

|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|10. |What probably happened in the above picture? |
| |A. |
| |Nothing |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Jeffrey pines such as this are known as multi-leader trees, and typically grow such a trunk for extra support. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The tree initially sprouted on another stump, which was removed by the Park Service after new growth had occurred for a while, leaving|
| |the tree we see now perched on roots that encircled the original stump. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The Park Service hired an expert in topiary, the growth of interesting trees, to make sculptures such as this along the rim of Bryce |
| |Canyon. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The tree started with its roots underground, but erosion washed the dirt away from them, so now they stick out. |
| | |

Erosion can be rapid in steep places with weak rocks, such as here on the rim of Bryce Canyon, uncovering formerly-underground tree roots. In wet places, you sometimes can observe a tree growing on an old stump, but this is a somewhat dry site with no evidence of stumps to be used for such a purpose, and the Park Service would not come in and root out a stump from under a tree. The park service promotes nature, not human sculpting of trees. This is not a Jeffrey pine, and pines in general do not grow multiple trunks. But a lot did happen here, and is still happening.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|11. |At the beach, you can build really good sand castles: |
| |A. |
| |When the sand is dry. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |When the sand is fully saturated with water. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |When the sand is damp, because water is attracted to sand grains and to other water; thus, pulling sand grains apart when damp |
| |requires “breaking” the water, which is not easy. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |When the sand is damp, because gelatinous material in the water from seaweed gives an agar glue that holds the sand grains together. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |When the sand is damp, because the water in the sand makes it heavier so the grains cohere better. |
| | |

Any good glue must stick to other things and to itself. If it doesn’t stick to other things, the glue just peels off. If it doesn’t stick to itself, you can break the glue in the middle easily, separating the things that you just glued, although leaving a little glue on those things. Water works the same way—it sticks to sand grains well, and water molecules are attracted to each other, so that it takes some “oomph” to break apart damp sand grains. Make them fully wet, and the grains can move without “breaking” the water, so the material becomes weak.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|12. |What is accurate about the planet’s climate system? |
| |A. |
| |The wind blows because heating near the equator drives convection cells in the atmosphere, and the winds appears to curve to the left |
| |or right over the surface of the planet because of friction produced by the spherical planet's rotation beneath the atmosphere. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The wind blows because of marmot flatulence. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The wind blows because heating of the poles drives convection cells in the atmosphere, and the winds appear to curve to the left or |
| |right over the surface of the planet because of the planet's the planet is spherical shape. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The wind blows because heating near the equator drives convection cells in the atmosphere, and the winds appear to curve to the left |
| |or right over the surface of the planet because of the planet's spherical shape. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The wind blows because heating near the poles drives convection cells in the atmosphere, and the winds appear to curve to the left or |
| |right over the surface of the planet because of friction produced by the spherical planet's rotation beneath the atmosphere. |
| | |

Heating near the equator causes pressure differences that drive the winds. On a rotating body, whether a flat merry-go-round or a spherical Earth, the rotation causes flows to curve. And very very very little of the wind is traceable to marmots.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|13. |Dr. Alley once helped a Grand Canyon ranger answer a tourist’s question: "Why is the Canyon wider at the top than at the bottom?" |
| |The tourist had their own favorite theory; Based on what you’ve learned in class, what geologically accepted answer would Dr. Alley |
| |and the ranger have given the tourist? |
| |A. |
| |The river used to be much wider before the desert formed, and so cut a wide canyon, but the river has narrowed as the drying occurred,|
| |and now cuts only a narrow canyon. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The canyon is really the same width at the top as at the bottom, but the well-known “optical illusion” of distant things appearing |
| |smaller causes it to look as if the canyon is narrowing downward. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The river used to be much wider because it was not steep, and water spreads out when running slowly (a little tap feeds a big |
| |bathtub…); then, as the Rockies were raised, the river steepened and narrowed, so it used to cut a wide canyon and now cuts a narrow |
| |one. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The river cuts down, and that steepens the walls of the canyon, which fall, topple, slump, creep or flow into the river to be washed |
| |away, thus widening the canyon above the river. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The river used to meander, cutting a wide swath, but now runs straight, cutting a narrow swath. |
| | |

The tourist suggested that the river has gotten narrower over time. Dr. Alley asked the tourist whether he would ever consider going out on a particular narrow pillar of rock (already teetering dangerously and separated from the walls of the canyon by a huge crack) with a few hundred of his closest friends, and jumping up-and-down vigorously. Predictably, the tourist said "of course not, it might fall over." Dr. Alley then pointed out the many places where rocks clearly had fallen off the cliffs and moved downhill, at which point the tourist quickly switched his opinion to the "down-cutting" river explanation, with the ranger thoroughly enjoying the show.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|14. |In the photo above, Sam Ascah is standing on sand and gravel in a pothole, where a stream swirls during the short but intense |
| |thunderstorms of Zion National Park. And next to that stream, the other picture shows the sandstone and the |
| |hang-on-so-you-don't-fall-over-the-cliff chain along the trail. A likely interpretation of these features is: |
| |A. |
| |The Park Service carefully cut little grooves behind the chain before they hung it, so that it would look cute and slide well, and they |
| |cut the potholes so that hikers would have something to look at. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The potholes and the grooves behind the chain were gnawed by giant marmots. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The potholes and the grooves behind the chain were gnawed by giant beavers. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The stream swirled rocks around and cut the potholes, and even bounced up the cliff to cut the notches behind the chain. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The grooves behind the chain have been cut over decades by motion of the chain as hikers grabbed it, and the potholes were cut by water |
| |swirling rocks around during the rare floods over much longer times. |
| | |

The chain really has hung there for decades, and has been scraped against the cliff dozens of times per day each summer, slowly wearing into the easily broken sandstone. The stream does swirl rocks around and slowly wear down the potholes. The potholes were there beside the cliff when the trail was established, and haven’t changed too much over decades.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |

Unit 6 - Tearing Down Mountains II: Groundwater & Rivers
Park Visits: Canyonlands, Mississippi Delta National Wildlife Refuge, & Mammothcave

|1. |Rising air expands and cools; sinking air is compressed and warms. Typically, the size of the temperature change is: |
| |A. |
| |5oF/1000 ft change in elevation if condensation or evaporation are not occurring; 3oF/1000 ft change in elevation if condensation or |
| |evaporation are occurring |
| | |
| |B. |
| |No temperature change occurs when air moves vertically |
| | |
| |C. |
| |5oF/1000 ft change in elevation going up, and 3oF/1000 ft coming down |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Zero if cooling of the air is causing vapor to condense and form rain clouds, and 5oF/1000 ft change in elevation if clouds are not forming |
| | |
| |E. |
| |5oF/1000 ft change in elevation |
| | |

The expansion of air on rising takes work, which cools air, at about 5oF/1000 ft, and the compression on sinking reverses this. But, if rising air cools enough, further cooling causes water to condense, the heat given off by the condensation partially offsets the cooling, leaving about 3oF/1000. If there are clouds in the air as it sinks again, the air will warm about 3oF/1000 ft, with some energy being used to evaporate the cloud water rather than to warm the air; once the clouds are gone, then the full 5oF/1000 ft warming occurs.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |C |
|2. |Calcium released by chemical weathering is transported by streams to the ocean, where much of it: |
| |A. |
| |Is used by clams, corals, etc. to make their shells |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Evaporates from the ocean and rains back out on the land |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Builds up in the water, making the ocean saltier |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Is extracted from the water by marine dairy cows to add to milk |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Is subducted back into the mantle at the mid-ocean ridges |
| | |

Most common shells seen at the beach are calcium carbonate, and the calcium is provided by weathering of rocks on land. Calcium ions do not evaporate easily, and are not very common in the atmosphere. A little bit of sea salt, and anything else small in the sea, does escape in spray (stand by the sea on a windy day and you’ll get spots on your sunglasses), but most of the calcium reaching the sea is used there. The “saltiness” of the ocean is a quite different chemical, not calcium. Some shells are subducted, many more are scraped off downgoing slabs at subduction zones, but subduction does not occur at mid-ocean ridges, which is where sea floor is made, not where sea floor is consumed. Calcium in milk is a good thing, and helps build strong bones and teeth, but dairy cows rarely go to the beach to go swimming, and wouldn’t enjoy drinking the water to get their calcium. There is a little bit of calcium in grasses, and cows get some of their calcium from there.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |E |
|3. |Mass wasting delivers sediment to streams. We believe that in regions such as Pennsylvania, most of the mass that is delivered to streams |
| |arrives by: |
| |A. |
| |Careless people taking leaks in sinkholes after drinking too much Pepsi |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Very fast debris avalanches and flows |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Grain flows that occur when the soil dries out during summer droughts |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Soil creep, slow motion of pieces from freeze-thaw action, throw by falling roots, downhill motion of rocks during digging of gopher holes, |
| |etc. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Slumps, like someone slumping down in an easy chair |
| | |

As rocks move to streams in many places, such as Pennsylvania, the slow and steady motions are more important than the few dramatic events. In very steep mountains, fast landslides may dominate, and slumps can be important, but although Pennsylvania does have both, they are not especially common. On the side of a sand dune, you often can see a dry grain flow. (If you’ve ever sat high on a beach and sifted dry sand through your fingers, you’ve made a grain flow.) But these are very rare in Pennsylvania, where the soil tends to stick together even in summer. And while there may be careless people who misbehave in sinkholes, this won’t get too many rocks to streams.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|4. |What probably happened to create the two rocks with the orange surfaces, seen in the center of the above picture from Greenland? |
| |A. |
| |The rock was recently erupted from a volcano, thrown high in the air, and broke when it hit the surface, as shown by the orange caused by heat|
| |from the volcano |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A performance artist painted the rock orange, to signify the coming of deer season |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A tree root cracked the rock, which killed the tree, so we don’t see the tree anymore |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The two pieces of rock with the orange are completely unrelated, and just happened to wind up next to each other |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Expansion from water freezing in the crack wedged the rock apart |
| | |

Frost-wedging is probably the most important process in breaking rocks. Tree roots do crack rocks, but in this case, the root almost certainly would have shoved the rocks farther apart, and breaking rocks doesn’t kill trees. The broken surface is colored by lichen, which doesn’t look much like paint. And if a volcano made the orange, the orange would be on the outside as well.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |A |
|5. |Soil is produced by weathering of rocks, and moved to streams by mass-movement. Our understanding of nature and humans shows: |
| |A. |
| |Naturally, soil thickness reaches an approximate balance, with soil production and loss about equal if averaged over an appropriate time, but |
| |human activities have upset this balance and caused soil to thicken. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Naturally, soil was primarily marmot #2, but human pets are now the major source. The soil is mainly produced by human pets. |
| | |
| |[pic] |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Naturally, soil thins over time, and human activities have caused soil to thin more rapidly than the natural rate. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Naturally, soil thickens over time, and human activities have caused soil to thicken more rapidly than the natural rate. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Naturally, soil thickness reaches an approximate balance, with soil production and loss about equal if averaged over an appropriate time, but |
| |human activities have upset this balance and caused soil to thin. |
| | |

Naturally, there is a balance between production and removal of soil over large areas and long times, although over short times the thickness may change. Humans have greatly increased loss of soil through burning, plowing, etc., which is not good for our long-term ability to grow crops. Human pets (including orange-and-white Coral and gray Prancer Alley, seen here in a group hug with Eeyore), do affect things but are not major sources of soil.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |D |

SECTION 6

|1. |Geologically speaking, the water table: |
| |A. |
| |Never changes its elevation, because it is pinned by the creeks. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Sits next to the Pepsi table in Kern Commons. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Rises in elevation during times of drought as trees suck it up, and sinks during rainstorms as trees quit pulling up water because they are |
| |well-watered. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Changes elevation randomly. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Rises during or soon after rainstorms as spaces fill up, and sinks during droughts as water drains away. |
| | |

As trees suck up water during droughts, air enters spaces where water once was, so the water table (which is the bottom of the region with some air in spaces) must sink in elevation. Creeks do change in elevation between rain and drought (floods happen…), and while there are random elements in the world, this is surely not one of them. (Whenever someone claims something is random, at least suspect that the person is really saying “I don’t know what I’m talking about, and I’m too lazy to find out.”) And we have not seen the water table in Kern Commons; that would be a really nasty flood!
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |C |
|2. |Given what you were told in class and the textbook about the formation of caves, it is likely that most large caves are formed: |
| |A. |
| |In sandstone in moist climates. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |In granites under Diet Pepsi. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |In sandstone in dry climates. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |In limestone in dry climates. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |In limestone in moist climates. |
| | |

Caves require easily dissolved rock, and water to dissolve that rock. In really dry climates, limestone is a resistant rock that stands in huge cliffs. In wet climates, limestone dissolves to yield caves. Sandstone is not a good cave-former because sandstone does not dissolve easily. (Yes, there are very shallow rock-shelter caves in sandstone, which is why the question specifically notes “large caves”.) And while Diet Pepsi actually would be marvelous at dissolving limestone, Diet Pepsi attacks granite rather slowly and won’t make caves well.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|3. |In the map above, blue shows the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico, around the Birdfoot Delta of the river. The USGS image uses |
| |different colors to indicate changes in the delta. Orange and red both indicate change in one direction, whereas yellow and green indicate |
| |change in the other direction. |
| |Given what we discussed in class, in the textbook, in the slide shows, and in the powerpoint outline: |
| |A. |
| |Orange and red indicate gain of wetlands over time, whereas yellow and green indicate loss of wetlands over time. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Orange and red indicate loss of wetlands over time, whereas yellow and green indicate gain of wetlands over time. |
| | |

The Mississippi Delta is sinking below the waves, so the widespread orange and red must indicate loss of wetlands.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|4. |Stephanie and Topher are standing next to the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. |
| |What can be said of the water here? |
| |A. |
| |The river was naturally muddy, but has been made clear because most of the sediment is settling out in the reservoir behind the dam upstream. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The river is really filled with 7-UP, hence the green color. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The river was cleaned up briefly by the Park Service to help Stephanie and Topher in their filming. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The river water is naturally clear, fed by snowmelt from the Colorado Rockies. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The river water is kept clear by the Park Service to keep the trout healthy. |
| | |

Native species that lived in the muddy waters are now in danger of becoming extinct, because the clear water released from the dam makes those fish too easy for predators to see.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|5. |If you went swimming in the single channel of this river, and grabbed a sample of the river bank, what would you likely come up with? |
| |A. |
| |Boulders, that pile together to hold up river banks. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Sand, that collapses to plug channels . |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A mixture of clay, sand and boulders, called till. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Clay, that sticks together and can hold up steep slopes. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Sand, that can make really steep slopes such as are seen in sand castles. |
| | |

This is a meandering channel, and these normally are fairly deep and narrow, so the materials of the banks should be able to stick together and support a steep slope. Sand can be steep when damp, but slumps to nearly flat when wet, and boulders or too much sand plug streams and make a braided pattern, whereas clay can make very steep slopes.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |C |

|1. |If central Pennsylvania had a really dry year, and received only one-third of our usual rainfall, we would be just dry enough to be a called a |
| |desert if such dry years stayed for a long time. How much rainfall per year would we be receiving per year then? |
| |A. |
| |0.01 feet. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |1 foot. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |0.001 feet. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |10 feet. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |0.1 feet. |
| | |

In central Pennsylvania, a typical rainfall supplies about an inch of water, or just under 0.1 foot. 30 feet of rain would be a big storm every day, about equal to the wettest place on Earth, and while sometimes it may seem our rain never ends, we really do have clear days. 0.3 feet is a mere 3 or 4 rainfalls per year, and really is a dry desert. 0.03 feet would be the driest place on Earth, and 0.003 doesn’t occur on Earth. 3 feet is a nice number for central Pennsylvania. 1/3 of that is 1 foot/year, and is about the cutoff for defining a desert. (People often use 10 inches of rain per year, rather than a foot, but that’s close enough.)
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|2. |What happens to most of the water that falls on central Pennsylvania’s Happy Valley each year? |
| |A. |
| |It falls directly onto streams. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |It is re-evaporated, mostly after passing through trees. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |It is used in Pepsi bottling plants. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |It soaks into the ground and then flows to streams. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |It flows directly over the surface into streams. |
| | |

Water gives life, and life is very good at using water. When their leaves are out, trees use almost all the rain that falls, and tree roots reach down into the ground and pull up some of the water from cold-season rain and snowmelt. An important amount of water does soak into the ground and flow to streams, but plants still get the majority. Flow across the surface is increasing as we pave the landscape, but most of the land is not paved, and flow across natural surfaces to streams is small. Streams are tiny, so direct rainfall into them is small. And Happy Valley doesn’t have a big Pepsi plant, and would never allow a Pepsi plant to take most of the water.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |D |
|3. |A dam is built on a river, forming a reservoir. Over time, this likely will cause the fields of some farmers along the river just upstream of |
| |the reservoir: |
| |A. |
| |To be washed away as the river cuts downward. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |To become saturated with Pepsi. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |To dry out as the water table falls. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |To be buried by sediment. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |To experience no changes. |
| | |

The stream will slow where it enters the new lake, and so will deposit sediment to form a delta rather than cutting downward or having no change. As the delta builds out into the lake, the upstream end of the delta must build up so that the stream still slopes downward, and this will tend to bury fields upstream. The water table will rise as the lake floods formerly dry regions, but the lake is highly unlikely to contain Pepsi, which has a carefully guarded formula.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |A |
|4. |When we speak of the Mississippi Delta, most people mean some interesting region in Louisiana with good music and seafood. Geologically, |
| |however, the Mississippi Delta is: |
| |A. |
| |A giant pile of spit-up Yoo Hoo. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A river-built deposit that is several miles thick at its thickest point, and extends from near St. Louis, Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A small trench eroded by the Mississippi River from near Baton Rouge, Louisiana to the Gulf of Mexico. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A river-built deposit that is almost a mile thick at its thickest point, and extends from near Baton Rouge, Louisiana to the Gulf of Mexico. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A great trench eroded by the Mississippi River from near St. Louis, Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico, causing earthquakes to occur at the tip of|
| |this trench near St. Louis, Missouri. |
| | |

Amazing as it may seem, the Mississippi has been taking the debris from the vast area from the Rockies to the Appalachians, and dumping that debris into the Gulf of Mexico, building a pile of sediment that is miles thick in places and extends from St. Louis to the Gulf. The mud has filled an old crack in the continent from when the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico opened, but the mud doesn’t stop the earthquakes that occasionally occur near the tip of the crack. And as for the Yoo Hoo, Yuck!
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|5. |Near Aaronsburg, PA, a company wanted to start a limestone quarry, and planned to pump lots of water out of the ground to make things fairly |
| |dry near the quarry so it wouldn’t fill with water. Concern was raised—would this affect the nearby trout streams? So, a little harmless dye |
| |was placed in a sinkhole next to the proposed quarry, and a fire-engine pumper added a lot of water to the sinkhole. How long did it take, or |
| |will take, for the dye to reach the trout stream? |
| |A. |
| |A few hours to days. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A few centuries. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Never, because sinkholes don't drain to trout streams. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A few thousand years. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Never, because all sinkholes drain to Michigan. |
| | |

The dye showed up in a few hours, and the quarry was not excavated. Sinkholes often connect directly and quickly to underground caves or big cracks, and thus to streams, allowing rapid drainage. There are rock units that would hold their water for centuries or millennia, but such units have small spaces, not caves and sinkholes. Local sinkholes do drain to trout streams, and Michigan has to make their own water pollution because ours does not reach them. (Fun thing to do if you’re bored: fit this question into the Michigan fight song.)
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|6. |A grand piano in a house in one of the lowest-elevation regions of New Orleans protected by the human-made levees is: |
| |A. |
| |Lower in elevation than a kayaker on the river when the river is carrying its average water flow. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The same elevation as a kayaker in the river during a flood. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Higher in elevation than a kayaker on the river during a flood. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Guaranteed to be purple, because only purple grand pianos are allowed in New Orleans. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Lower in elevation than a kayaker on the river during a flood, but higher than the kayaker when the river is carrying its average water flow. |
| | |

In his book on the Mississippi, John McPhee noted that if you could take a supertanker out of the river, keep it at the same elevation but get it past the levees, it would hover over the floor of the Superdome like a blimp. The kayaker is the same; the low parts of the city are below river level even at low-water, and some of the city is below sea level as well.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|7. |Large rivers have many interesting features, including: |
| |A. |
| |The flood plain, that flat area above where any floods reach. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The natural levees, high regions left behind when compaction of mud occurs beneath the river. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The natural levees, formed when water rushing back into the river channel after floods erodes troughs away from the river. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The natural levees, formed when flood waters leaving the channel slow down and drop much of their load near the channel; beyond the natural |
| |levees is the flood plain, where much of the rest of the mud in a flood is deposited in a thin layer. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The flood plain, the flat region left behind when the river cuts downward to make a valley and leave uplands. |
| | |

Many processes contribute to the formation of flood plains, but deposition of mud to smooth the surface is the most important one. Flood plains often occur beyond natural levees. The initial slowdown as floodwater spreads from a river channel into the trees deposits sediment to form natural levees.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|8. |Geologically speaking, the water table: |
| |A. |
| |Rises during droughts, and sinks during rainy times. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Separates the water-filled region below the Earth’s surface from the region closer to the surface in which some air exists in the spaces. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Separates the water-filled region near the Earth’s surface from the deeper region with some air in the spaces. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Never changes its elevation, because it is pinned by the creeks. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Sits next to the Pepsi table in Kern Commons. |
| | |

The water table is the surface below which all the spaces are full of water, but above which there is generally some air in the spaces. During droughts, water drains away from the ground to the creeks, so air enters spaces previously occupied by water, and the water table drops in elevation. Creeks do change in elevation between rain and drought (floods happen…).
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|9. |Limestone, the type of rock most likely to contain caves, is made up of: |
| |A. |
| |Old shells, or pieces of old shells, pressed together. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Rocks erupted from volcanoes. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Rocks squeezed and cooked deep in a mountain range. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Grains of sand that have weathered out of granite, “glued” together by hard-water deposits. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Rocks that solidified deep beneath a volcano. |
| | |

Look closely in the walls of Mammoth Cave, and you’ll see the shells of extinct sea creatures. Those shells are embedded in broken –up shell pieces, and things that were grown by algae and other living things in the ocean that you might not call “shell” but that serve the same purposes.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|10. |The map above shows the Birdfoot Delta of the Mississippi River, where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The river is shown in blue,|
| |as is the Gulf of Mexico. The river “wants” to leave this delta, and flow somewhere else, far to the west of the area covered by this |
| |map. |
| |Why? |
| |A. |
| |The delta has built up as well as out, and that makes some other path to the Gulf steeper and shorter than the one now being taken, |
| |and during a flood the river tends to take that shorter path and cut a new channel. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Humans have been damming the river at the end, so the river must go elsewhere. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The meandering of the river has tied it in a knot, so it has to take a different path. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, plugged many of the river channels, so the river must go elsewhere. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |As the mud of the delta sinks, the river loses its river banks, so it flows elsewhere. |
| | |

The river very nearly broke through the Old River control structure in a big flood, to take the shortcut down the Atchafalaya. The long path out to the end of the delta is not very favorable for the river, which has switched naturally in the past and would switch if humans allowed it to.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|11. |In the image above, a stream from the land on the right enters the ocean on the left in the lower part of the picture, and another |
| |does the same near the top of the picture. What happened where the streams met the ocean? |
| |A. |
| |The calcium carbonate carried by the rivers precipitated out to form cave-formation-like deposits. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The sediment carried by the streams settled out in the slower-moving ocean water, forming flat-topped deposits called deltas. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Tsunamis rushing from the ocean into the streams pushed up mud to make the deposits. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Earthquakes shook the sea floor and pushed up mud to form the deposits. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The sediment carried by the streams settled out in the slower-moving ocean water, forming deltas that built up as they built out so |
| |that they still slope slightly downhill toward the sea. |
| | |

These deltas in a fjord in Greenland are like any other deltas; the deposits cannot be purely flat-topped, or the rivers would not flow across to get to the sea water in the fjord.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|12. |Pictures 1 and 2 show two very different looking rivers. What can you say about them? |
| |A. |
| |1 is a braided stream with sandy or gravelly banks, and 2 is a meandering stream with clay-rich banks. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |1 is a meandering stream with clay-rich banks, and 2 is a braided stream with sandy or gravelly banks. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |1 is a meandering stream with sandy or gravelly banks, and 2 is a braided stream with clay-rich banks. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Both are anastamosing streams with concrete banks. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |1 is a braided stream with clay-rich banks, and 2 is a meandering stream with sandy or gravelly banks. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|13. |In the picture above, Dr. Alley is on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. What problem with the Canyon is he discussing? |
| |A. |
| |Human wastes are being dumped on and pumped into the ground, polluting the springs in the Canyon. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A dire shortage of Pepsi has developed at the Canyon, forcing people to actually drink water. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Water is being pumped out of the ground on the plateau south of the Canyon, and used by humans and evaporated or dumped in streams, so the |
| |water does not flow to the springs in the Canyon. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A dire shortage of Pepsi has developed at the Canyon, forcing people to actually drink water, and the people have found they like water. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Arizona has raised the tax on well-drilling, and the Park Service is having trouble paying for the water used at the Canyon. |
| | |

Water soaks into the ground on the plateaus beside the canyon, seeps down to hit a rock layer that blocks the flow, and flows along that layer to feed beautiful and biologically important springs in the Canyon. Pumping water out of the ground on the plateaus to use for humans generally allows the water to evaporate (say, from the grass of a golf course) or run down a stream (say, below a sewage treatment plant), so the water doesn’t flow through the ground to the springs.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|14. |Stephanie and Topher are standing next to the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. |
| |What can be said of the water here? |
| |A. |
| |The river was cleaned up briefly by the Park Service to help Stephanie and Topher in their filming. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The river water is naturally clear, fed by snowmelt from the Colorado Rockies. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The river is really filled with 7-UP, hence the green color. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The river was naturally muddy, but has been made clear because most of the sediment is settling out in the reservoir behind the dam |
| |upstream. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The river water is kept clear by the Park Service to keep the trout healthy. |
| | |

Native species that lived in the muddy waters are now in danger of becoming extinct, because the clear water released from the dam makes those fish too easy for predators to see.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|1. |Dr. Alley once helped a Grand Canyon ranger answer a tourist’s question: "Why is the Canyon wider at the top than at the bottom?" |
| |The tourist had their own favorite theory; Based on what you’ve learned in class, what geologically accepted answer would Dr. Alley and|
| |the ranger have given the tourist? |
| |A. |
| |The river used to meander, cutting a wide swath, but now runs straight, cutting a narrow swath. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The river used to be much wider before the desert formed, and so cut a wide canyon, but the river has narrowed as the drying occurred, |
| |and now cuts only a narrow canyon. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The canyon is really the same width at the top as at the bottom, but the well-known “optical illusion” of distant things appearing |
| |smaller causes it to look as if the canyon is narrowing downward. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The river used to be much wider because it was not steep, and water spreads out when running slowly (a little tap feeds a big |
| |bathtub…); then, as the Rockies were raised, the river steepened and narrowed, so it used to cut a wide canyon and now cuts a narrow |
| |one. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The river cuts down, and that steepens the walls of the canyon, which fall, topple, slump, creep or flow into the river to be washed |
| |away, thus widening the canyon above the river. |
| | |

The tourist suggested that the river has gotten narrower over time. Dr. Alley asked the tourist whether he would ever consider going out on a particular narrow pillar of rock (already teetering dangerously and separated from the walls of the canyon by a huge crack) with a few hundred of his closest friends, and jumping up-and-down vigorously. Predictably, the tourist said "of course not, it might fall over." Dr. Alley then pointed out the many places where rocks clearly had fallen off the cliffs and moved downhill, at which point the tourist quickly switched his opinion to the "down-cutting" river explanation, with the ranger thoroughly enjoying the show.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |B |
|2. |Air that passes over the Sierra Nevada from the Redwoods to Death Valley is warmed by roughly 30oF, even if the air goes over at night. Where |
| |does the energy come from? |
| |A. |
| |The heat that had been stored during evaporation from the ocean and was released when clouds formed on the west side of the Sierra |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Sunshine heating the air while it is passing over the mountains |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Gas-passing marmots, such as George, seen below; |
| | |
| |[pic] |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The rotation of the Earth, which causes winds to curve as they blow over the surface |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Volcanic eruptions from the peaks along the Sierra |
| | |

Much of the sun’s energy that falls on the tropics is stored by evaporating water, and only later made so you can feel it (called sensible heat) when condensation reverses the evaporation. If the warming happens at night, then direct warming from the sun cannot be correct. The Sierra is no longer volcanically active, and volcanoes rarely emit enough heat in a broad enough zone to affect general winds much. The Earth does rotate, and this does cause winds to curve as they blow over the surface, but that curving doesn’t add heat to the system. And while marmots do produce a little methane, and a bit of heat, they don’t produce nearly enough to matter to the climate.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|3. |The picture above illustrates what scientific principle? |
| |A. |
| |The equator is hotter because it rotates faster, and the wind heats the surface as it rotates by, just as Dr. Alley can turn his head rapidly |
| |and cause heat by friction |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The equator is hotter than the pole because the sun hits the equator directly but the sun hits the pole a glancing blow |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Dr. Alley is undoubtedly the sexiest human being on Earth |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The equator is hotter than the pole because the equator is closer to the sun than the pole |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The equator is hotter than the poles because most volcanoes are located near the equator, forced there by the centrifugal force of Earth’s |
| |rotation, and Dr. Alley exhales hot air from his equatorial nose |
| | |

Geometry is the main control on equatorial heating. Although the equator is closer to the sun than the pole, the difference is tiny and matters little to the temperature difference between equator and pole. The rotation of the Earth causes winds to turn as they blow over the surface, but does not heat the air. There is no clustering of volcanoes at the equator, and the heat from volcanoes is tiny compared to the heat from the sun. And we are quite confident that several celebrities and politicians believe that they are the world’s sexiest human being, so Dr. Alley’s standing cannot be “undoubtedly” claimed.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |D |
|4. |Calcium released by chemical weathering is transported by streams to the ocean, where much of it: |
| |A. |
| |Evaporates from the ocean and rains back out on the land |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Builds up in the water, making the ocean saltier |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Is used by clams, corals, etc. to make their shells |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Is extracted from the water by marine dairy cows to add to milk |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Is subducted back into the mantle at the mid-ocean ridges |
| | |

Most common shells seen at the beach are calcium carbonate, and the calcium is provided by weathering of rocks on land. Calcium ions do not evaporate easily, and are not very common in the atmosphere. A little bit of sea salt, and anything else small in the sea, does escape in spray (stand by the sea on a windy day and you’ll get spots on your sunglasses), but most of the calcium reaching the sea is used there. The “saltiness” of the ocean is a quite different chemical, not calcium. Some shells are subducted, many more are scraped off downgoing slabs at subduction zones, but subduction does not occur at mid-ocean ridges, which is where sea floor is made, not where sea floor is consumed. Calcium in milk is a good thing, and helps build strong bones and teeth, but dairy cows rarely go to the beach to go swimming, and wouldn’t enjoy drinking the water to get their calcium. There is a little bit of calcium in grasses, and cows get some of their calcium from there.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|5. |Soil is produced by weathering of rocks, and moved to streams by mass-movement. Our understanding of nature and humans shows: |
| |A. |
| |Naturally, soil thickness reaches an approximate balance, with soil production and loss about equal if averaged over an appropriate time, but |
| |human activities have upset this balance and caused soil to thin. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Naturally, soil was primarily marmot #2, but human pets are now the major source. The soil is mainly produced by human pets. |
| | |
| |[pic] |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Naturally, soil thickness reaches an approximate balance, with soil production and loss about equal if averaged over an appropriate time, but |
| |human activities have upset this balance and caused soil to thicken. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Naturally, soil thins over time, and human activities have caused soil to thin more rapidly than the natural rate. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Naturally, soil thickens over time, and human activities have caused soil to thicken more rapidly than the natural rate. |
| | |

Naturally, there is a balance between production and removal of soil over large areas and long times, although over short times the thickness may change. Humans have greatly increased loss of soil through burning, plowing, etc., which is not good for our long-term ability to grow crops. Human pets (including orange-and-white Coral and gray Prancer Alley, seen here in a group hug with Eeyore), do affect things but are not major sources of soil.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |

|1. |Suppose that all the rainfall that fell during an average year on a typical surface in central Pennsylvania just stayed there as a layer of |
| |water (and all the snow melted, and the melt just stayed there). If at the end of the year you were standing on your head on that surface |
| |(assuming you are a typical-sized human being), what would be true? |
| |A. |
| |You would be breathing by SCUBA or a really long snorkel, because your feet would be well under water. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The water would make the top of your head wet, but wouldn’t quite cover your ears. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The water would be over your ears and up to your nose, but you could breathe through your mouth. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |You would be breathing by SCUBA or snorkel, because the water would be up between your belly button and your knees somewhere. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The hair trapped between your head and the surface would be wet, but nothing else (if you are bald, this applies to the hair that you would |
| |have if you had hair on the top of your head). |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|2. |What happens to most of the water that falls as rain on central Pennsylvania’s Happy Valley each year? |
| |A. |
| |The biggest amount soaks into the ground and then flows through the ground to streams, and most of the remainder flows directly over the |
| |surface to streams. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |It is used in Pepsi bottling plants. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The biggest amount is re-evaporated, mostly through trees, and most of the remainder soaks into the ground and then flows through the ground |
| |to streams. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The biggest amount falls directly on streams, with mosts of the remainder evaporated especially from trees. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The biggest amount is re-evaporated, mostly through trees, and most of the remainder flows directly over the surface to streams. |
| | |

Water gives life, and life is very good at using water. When their leaves are out, trees use almost all the rain that falls, and tree roots reach down into the ground and pull up some of the water from cold-season rain and snowmelt. An important amount of water does soak into the ground and flow to streams (maybe 1/3 of the total), but plants still get the majority. The amount of water that flows across the surface is increasing as we pave the landscape, but most of the land is not paved, and flow across natural surfaces to streams is small. Streams are tiny, so direct rainfall into them is small. And Happy Valley doesn’t have a big Pepsi plant, and would never allow a Pepsi plant to take most of the water.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|3. |A dam is built on a river, forming a reservoir. Over time, this likely will cause: |
| |A. |
| |Sedimentation to bury farmer’s fields upstream of the reservoir, and erosion of sand downstream of the dam. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Sedimentation to bury farmer’s fields upstream of the reservoir, and sedimentation of sand downstream of the dam. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Rapid erosion of sand, both upstream of the reservoir, and downstream of the dam. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Nothing to happen; dams don’t matter to upstream or downstream conditions. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Ohio State students to take a leak in a sinkhole behind the Nittany Mall. |
| | |

The stream will slow where it enters the new lake, and so will deposit sediment to form a delta rather than cutting downward or having no change. As the delta builds out into the lake, the upstream end of the delta must build up so that the stream still slopes downward, and this will tend to bury fields upstream. Meanwhile, moving water can carry sediment. Sediment-free water is released from a dam but often later observed to have sediment, so erosion must be occurring. Loss of sand bars below the Glen Canyon Dam shows that sand is carried away downstream of dams. Dams stops floods that are needed to move the big pieces (boulders, cobbles), and dams cause sedimentation upstream, but not downstream. Our friends from Columbus are probably too cultured to be relieving themselves outside the Mall; besides, the last time I looked during a visit from the Buckeyes, the inebriated people were not straying that far away from the downtown bars.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|4. |When we speak of the Mississippi Delta, most people mean some interesting region in Louisiana with good music and seafood. Geologically, |
| |however, the Mississippi Delta is: |
| |A. |
| |A small trench eroded by the Mississippi River from near Baton Rouge, Louisiana to the Gulf of Mexico. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A great trench eroded by the Mississippi River from near St. Louis, Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico, causing earthquakes to occur at the tip of|
| |this trench near St. Louis, Missouri. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A giant pile of spit-up Yoo Hoo. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A river-built deposit that is almost a mile thick at its thickest point, and extends from near Baton Rouge, Louisiana to the Gulf of Mexico. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A river-built deposit that is several miles thick at its thickest point, and extends from near St. Louis, Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico. |
| | |

Amazing as it may seem, the Mississippi has been taking the debris from the vast area from the Rockies to the Appalachians, and dumping that debris into the Gulf of Mexico, building a pile of sediment that is miles thick in places and extends from St. Louis to the Gulf. The mud has filled an old crack in the continent from when the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico opened, but the mud doesn’t stop the earthquakes that occasionally occur near the tip of the crack. And as for the Yoo Hoo, Yuck!
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|5. |Near Aaronsburg, PA, a company wanted to start a limestone quarry, and planned to pump lots of water out of the ground to make things fairly |
| |dry near the quarry so it wouldn’t fill with water. Concern was raised—would this affect the nearby trout streams? So, a little harmless dye |
| |was placed in a sinkhole next to the proposed quarry, and a fire-engine pumper added a lot of water to the sinkhole. How long did it take, or |
| |will take, for the dye to reach the trout stream? |
| |A. |
| |A few thousand years. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Never, because all sinkholes drain to Michigan. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A few centuries. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Never, because sinkholes don't drain to trout streams. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A few hours to days. |
| | |

The dye showed up in a few hours, and the quarry was not excavated. Sinkholes often connect directly and quickly to underground caves or big cracks, and thus to streams, allowing rapid drainage. There are rock units that would hold their water for centuries or millennia, but such units have small spaces, not caves and sinkholes. Local sinkholes do drain to trout streams, and Michigan has to make their own water pollution because ours does not reach them. (Fun thing to do if you’re bored: fit this question into the Michigan fight song.)
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|6. |A grand piano in a house in one of the lowest-elevation regions of New Orleans protected by the human-made levees is: |
| |A. |
| |Higher in elevation than a kayaker on the river during a flood. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Guaranteed to be purple, because only purple grand pianos are allowed in New Orleans. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Lower in elevation than a kayaker on the river when the river is carrying its average water flow. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The same elevation as a kayaker in the river during a flood. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Lower in elevation than a kayaker on the river during a flood, but higher than the kayaker when the river is carrying its average water flow. |
| | |

In his book on the Mississippi, John McPhee noted that if you could take a supertanker out of the river, keep it at the same elevation but get it past the levees, it would hover over the floor of the Superdome like a blimp. The kayaker is the same; the low parts of the city are below river level even at low-water, and some of the city is below sea level as well.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|7. |Large rivers have many interesting features, including: |
| |A. |
| |The flood plain, the nearly flat region farther from the river than the natural levees and composed of mud deposited by the river’s floods. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The flood plain, the flat region left behind when the river cuts downward to make a valley and leave uplands. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The natural levees, high regions left behind when compaction of mud occurs beneath the river. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The flood plain, that flat area above where any floods reach. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The natural levees, formed when water rushing back into the river channel after floods erodes troughs away from the river. |
| | |

Many processes contribute to the formation of flood plains, but deposition of mud to smooth the surface is the most important one. Flood plains often occur beyond natural levees. The initial slowdown as floodwater spreads from a river channel into the trees deposits sediment to form natural levees.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|8. |If you are drilling a well to reach water, you usually will have to drill: |
| |A. |
| |To a random and unpredictable depth unrelated to where you are drilling |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Farther into the ground to make a deeper well on a ridge than in a valley. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Into a cave, because only caves contain water underground. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |To the same depth, wherever you were. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Farther into the ground to make a deeper well in a valley than on a ridge. |
| | |

The water table hits the surface at streams and is near the surface close to streams, so only shallow wells would be needed in valleys. Water flows away from ridges to valleys, so the water table is deeper under ridges, requiring deeper wells. Water is found in much smaller spaces than caves in some rocks, so you don’t need to hit a cave, and you really don’t want to, as caves may be fast-track paths for pollution and poisons from the surface.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|9. |Any region of limestone bedrock containing caves, sinkholes, springs, etc. is called: |
| |A. |
| |Permafrost. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Scruty. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Slovenian (former Yugoslavian). |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Pepsoidal. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Karst. |
| | |

Karst is the region of Slovenia (formerly in Yugoslavia) that has given its name to places with cave-related features. Many, many geological terms have been borrowed from other languages or places, including “geyser” from Icelandic and “tsunami” from Japanese. Permafrost is permanently frozen ground, Pepsoidal is a neologism for “of or pertaining to Pepsi”, and scruty is just a word we made up so we wouldn’t have to use Pepsi again. Sounds like some bizarre disease, anyway. “Stay back. I have scruty.”
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|10. |The map above shows the Birdfoot Delta of the Mississippi River, where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The river is shown in blue,|
| |as is the Gulf of Mexico. The river “wants” to leave this delta, and flow somewhere else, far to the west of the area covered by this |
| |map. |
| |Why? |
| |A. |
| |The delta has built up as well as out, and that makes some other path to the Gulf steeper and shorter than the one now being taken, |
| |and during a flood the river tends to take that shorter path and cut a new channel. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |As the mud of the delta sinks, the river loses its river banks, so it flows elsewhere. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The meandering of the river has tied it in a knot, so it has to take a different path. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Humans have been damming the river at the end, so the river must go elsewhere. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, plugged many of the river channels, so the river must go elsewhere. |
| | |

The river very nearly broke through the Old River control structure in a big flood, to take the shortcut down the Atchafalaya. The long path out to the end of the delta is not very favorable for the river, which has switched naturally in the past and would switch if humans allowed it to.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|11. |In the image above, a stream from the land on the right enters the ocean on the left in the lower part of the picture, and another |
| |does the same near the top of the picture. What happened where the streams met the ocean? |
| |A. |
| |The sediment carried by the streams settled out in the slower-moving ocean water, forming flat-topped deposits called deltas. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The sediment carried by the streams settled out in the slower-moving ocean water, forming deltas that built up as they built out so |
| |that they still slope slightly downhill toward the sea. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The calcium carbonate carried by the rivers precipitated out to form cave-formation-like deposits. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Earthquakes shook the sea floor and pushed up mud to form the deposits. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Tsunamis rushing from the ocean into the streams pushed up mud to make the deposits. |
| | |

These deltas in a fjord in Greenland are like any other deltas; the deposits cannot be purely flat-topped, or the rivers would not flow across to get to the sea water in the fjord.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|12. |If you went swimming in one of the channels of the river pictured above, and grabbed a sample of the river bank, what would you |
| |likely come up with? |
| |A. |
| |A mixture of clay, sand and boulders, called till. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Cave formations. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Sand or gravel, that collapses to plug channels. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Clay, that sticks together and can hold up steep slopes. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Sand, that always makes really steep slopes such as are seen in sand castles. |
| | |

This is a braided channel, and these normally are fairly broad and shallow, forming where the banks are sand and gravel and don’t hold up steep slopes. Sand castles can be steep, but if they get too wet or too dry, they fall down to gradual slopes, and there almost always is wetting or drying sometime during a year.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|13. |In the picture above, Dr. Alley is on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. What problem with the Canyon is he discussing? |
| |A. |
| |Human wastes are being dumped on and pumped into the ground, polluting the springs in the Canyon. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Arizona has raised the tax on well-drilling, and the Park Service is having trouble paying for the water used at the Canyon. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Water is being pumped out of the ground on the plateau south of the Canyon, and used by humans and evaporated or dumped in streams, so the |
| |water does not flow to the springs in the Canyon. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A dire shortage of Pepsi has developed at the Canyon, forcing people to actually drink water. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A dire shortage of Pepsi has developed at the Canyon, forcing people to actually drink water, and the people have found they like water. |
| | |

Water soaks into the ground on the plateaus beside the canyon, seeps down to hit a rock layer that blocks the flow, and flows along that layer to feed beautiful and biologically important springs in the Canyon. Pumping water out of the ground on the plateaus to use for humans generally allows the water to evaporate (say, from the grass of a golf course) or run down a stream (say, below a sewage treatment plant), so the water doesn’t flow through the ground to the springs.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|14. |Both of the above pictures are along the Colorado River. The clear water of picture 1 and the muddy water of picture 2 appear quite |
| |different. |
| | |
| |What's going on? |
| |A. |
| |2 is upstream of the Glen Canyon Dam, and 1 is downstream of the dam. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |1 is 7-UP, and 2 is Yoo-Hoo. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |1 is upstream of the Glen Canyon Dam, and 2 is also upstream of the dam. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |2 is downstream of the Glen Canyon Dam, and 1 is also downstream of the dam. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |1 is upstream of the Glen Canyon Dam, and 2 is downstream. |
| | |

The naturally muddy river is seen clearly in Canyonlands in 2. The river dumps its sedimentary load in the reservoir above the dam, so downstream of the dam the water is clear, as shown in 1.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |

Unit 7 - Tearing Down Mountains III: Glaciers, Glaciation, & Ice Ages
Park Visits: Yosemite, Glacier, & Bear Meadows

|1. |A material is warmed to a temperature 1/3 of the way from absolute zero to the material’s melting temperature. You grab the ends of the |
| |material and pull. The likely behavior is: |
| |A. |
| |The material will deform plastically (not snapping back when you let go). |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The material will not deform or break, no matter how hard you pull. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The material will either deform plastically (not snapping back when you let go) or break, depending on how hard you pull. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The material will either deform elastically (snapping back when you let go) or will deform plastically (not snapping back when you let go), |
| |depending on how hard you pull. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The material will either deform elastically (snapping back when you let go) or break, depending on how hard you pull. |
| | |

Above about half of the absolute melting temperature, plastic deformation becomes common; at lower temperatures, elastic deformation or breakage are the usual results, with elastic deformation for weaker pulls and breakage for stronger pulls.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |C |
|2. |A glacier does flow “downhill”. Which is correct about the hill? |
| |A. |
| |The glacier flows from where snowfall is high to where snowfall is low; the “hill” is the big clouds in the atmosphere that supply the snow. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The glacier flows from where Hank Hill lives to where Homer Simpson lives, and thus from Texas to Springfield, wherever that is. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The glacier flows from where its upper surface is high to where its upper surface is low, and thus flows down the hill of the ice surface. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The glacier flows from north to south; we all know that maps have north at the top and south at the bottom, so this is the “hill”. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The glacier flows from where bedrock is high to where bedrock is low, and thus flows down the bedrock hill. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|3. |In affecting the landscape: |
| |A. |
| |Regardless of whether they are frozen to their beds or thawed at their beds with much meltwater, glaciers always change the landscape much |
| |more rapidly than do rivers or landslides. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Regardless of whether they are frozen to their beds or thawed at their beds with much meltwater, glaciers never change the landscape. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Regardless of whether they are frozen to their beds or thawed at their beds with much meltwater, glaciers always change the landscape much |
| |more slowly than do rivers or landslides. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Glaciers that are frozen to their beds don’t do much, but glaciers that are thawed at their beds and have a lot of meltwater change things |
| |rapidly. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Glaciers that are frozen to their beds change things rapidly, but glaciers that are thawed at their beds and have a lot of meltwater don’t do |
| |much. |
| | |

Frozen-bedded glaciers do very little, and change the landscape more slowly than do streams or landslides. But thawed-bed/meltwater-rich glaciers out-do landslides and rivers in changing the landscape.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|4. |The ridge left behind by a glacier that outlines where the glacier had been is called: |
| |A. |
| |A moraine, composed of till (which is unsorted) and outwash (which is sorted). |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A horn, composed of till (which is unsorted) and outwash (which is sorted). |
| | |
| |C. |
| |An arête, composed of till (which is unsorted) and outwash (which is sorted). |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A moraine, composed of till (which is sorted) and outwash (which is unsorted). |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A cirque, composed of till (which is sorted) and outwash (which is unsorted). |
| | |

The beautiful moraines of Cape Cod, Long Island, Moraine State Park in Pennsylvania, Kettle Moraine State Park in Wisconsin, and elsewhere include unsorted till and sorted outwash.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|5. |Evidence that there was much more land ice about 20,000 years ago than there is now includes: |
| |A. |
| |20,000-year-old deceased shallow-water corals occur in growth position far above modern sea level on the sides of oceanic islands. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |River valleys have cut down rapidly over the last 20,000 years, draining coastal embayments. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Shells of creatures that lived in the ocean about 20,000 years ago indicate that the ocean water was especially isotopically heavy then. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Land bearing the unique marks of glaciers is sinking today, while regions just around that land are rising as deep hot rock flows back after |
| |being displaced by the glaciers. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Immense volumes of Diet Pepsi were forced into subglacial aquifers by the weight of the overlying ice, serving as the modern source of all the|
| |Diet Pepsi sold at Penn State. |
| | |

The land with the unique glacier marks was pushed down by the ice and now is bobbing back up, water returned to the oceans from the melting ice caused sea level to rise so that river valleys were drowned and are filling up with sediment, and so that shallow-water corals were left far below sea level, but taking light water out of the oceans to grow ice sheets causes the remaining waters, and the shells, to be isotopically heavy.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |A |
|6. |The recent changes in the amount of ice on Earth over time occurred: |
| |A. |
| |At random times, in response to very large changes in the total sunshine received by the Earth in response to features of Earth’s orbit. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Because flocks of giant ptarmigan and herds of giant marmots clustered on the edges of the ice sheets, which melted the ice. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |At regular and repeating times, controlled by redistribution of sunlight on the surface of the Earth in response to features of Earth’s orbit,|
| |even though total sunshine received by the planet didn’t change much. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |At random times, controlled by redistribution of sunlight on the surface of the Earth in response to features of Earth’s orbit, even though |
| |total sunshine received by the planet didn’t change much. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |At regular and repeating times, controlled by the very large changes in total sunshine received by the Earth in response to features of |
| |Earth’s orbit. |
| | |

The orbital changes have little effect on the total sunshine, but do move that sunshine around, with important consequences. And the orbital changes are far from random, having very strong regularities. We’d love to have seen flocks of ptarmigan and herds of marmots, but no one has found their bones, so it is highly likely that they did not exist.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|7. |During the most recent ice age, the great ice sheets produced many geologic features. Which of the following was NOT produced by the great ice|
| |sheets during that most recent ice age? |
| |A. |
| |Layers of rocks from Canada spread into Pennsylvania from the north. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Moraines on Cape Cod. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Moraines on Long Island, NY. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The piles of muc along the river crossing the Mississippi Delta. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Layers of rocks from Canada spread into Minnesota and Wisconsin from the north. |
| | |

This is just a fact of geography; the ice didn’t quite make it to the Mississippi Delta.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|8. |A glacier that had not changed its size or shape for a long time is now getting shorter. What does this tell you? |
| |A. |
| |The glacier is flowing back towards its accumulation zone, thus making the length shorter. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The Pepsi Corporation has been pouring Pepsi on the glacier, thus reducing the albedo and causing the melting. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Snowfall has decreased, or melting has increased, or both. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The glacier is sure to disappear soon. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The climate cooled. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |A |
|9. |You are hiking in the mountains and find some snow and ice. You drill a hole in the snow and ice to the bottom but not into the materials |
| |beneath. Later, you come back and meausure the shape of the hole, and find that there has been no change. Based on the definition of a |
| |glacier, you should conclude: |
| |A. |
| |The snow and ice you found should be called a glacier, because glaciers do not have deformation. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The snow and ice you found must be called a glacier, because all snow and ice are in glaciers. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |You cannot tell whether the snow and ice is a glacier, because you did not measure whether there is any sliding of the ice over materials |
| |beneath. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |You cannot tell whether the snow and ice is a glacier, because you did not measure whether there is any sliding of the ice over materials |
| |beneath or deformation within those materials. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The snow and ice you found should not be called a glacier, because glaciers must have deformation in the ice. |
| | |

Deformation within the ice is the hallmark of a glacier. Other motion may or may not occur.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|10. |Most of the island of Greenland is covered with a great ice sheet, but rocks and soil stick out in some coastal regions, such as the |
| |one in this picture in the great Northeast Greenland National Park. The picture above shows a hillslope that is about ½ mile across. |
| |The hill slope towards you, so the lowest part of the hill is at the bottom of the picture, and the highest part is at the top of the |
| |picture. |
| | |
| |What is likely to be true? |
| |A. |
| |The materials on the hillside are moving toward you at many miles per hour. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The materials on the hillside are not moving, but moved toward you at a few inches per year during the ice age when such motion was |
| |common. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The materials on the hillside are moving toward you at an inch or so per year. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The materials on the hillside are moving toward you at a few miles per year. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The materials on the hillside are not moving, but moved toward you at a few miles per year during the ice age when such motion was |
| |common. |
| | |

The hillslope in Greenland bears the unmistakable signs of creep on permafrost, carrying streams of rocks and bits of tundra downhill at an inch or so per year. Such processes used to occur in Pennsylvania and elsewhere during the ice age, but are still active in Greenland.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|11. |The ptarmigan and the marmot have something in common, other than being cute. What is it? |
| |A. |
| |They are both standing on glacial deposits. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |They both are hyper-flatulent amphibians (from “amphi” for “both”). |
| | |
| |C. |
| |They both are standing on special glacial deposits called moraines. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |They both are standing on glacially eroded surfaces. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |They both are standing on aretes. |
| | |

The carbon-based bird, top, and the carbon-based mammal, bottom, would be unhappy if you accused him of being a silicon-based flatulent amphibians. Moraines and other glacial deposits are composed of small pieces, including till with pieces of many sizes. The striated, polished granites under these cold-climate critters were eroded by glaciers.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|12. |The picture above shows a glacier in eastern Greenland, in the world’s largest national park, flowing from mountains at the top of |
| |Jameson Land (at the top of the picture) toward the lowlands of Kong Oskar Fjord (just out of the picture at the bottom). |
| | |
| |The yellow arrow from the letter C is pointing at a geological feature. What is that feature? |
| |A. |
| |An arete, left behind when the glacier retreated because of an increase in melting of the accumulation zone or a decrease in snowfall |
| |in the ablation zone. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A dirty ring, left behind when the ice worms used the wrong soap in the tub. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A moraine, left behind when the glacier retreated because of an increase in melting of the ablation zone or a decrease in snowfall in |
| |the accumulation zone. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |An arete, left behind when the glacier retreated because of an increase in melting of the ablation zone or a decrease in snowfall in |
| |the accumulation zone. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A moraine, left behind when the glacier retreated because of an increase in melting of the accumulation zone or a decrease in snowfall|
| |in the ablation zone. |
| | |

Most of the glaciers of the world, including this one, have retreated over the last century. Many had “bulldozed” ridges around them, and the arrow points to one such ridge, a moraine. Retreat may be caused by increase in melting or decrease in snowfall; in this case (and for most of the worlds’ glaciers), warming has been responsible.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|13. |In the photo above, the letters A and B are in bowl-shaped features in east Greenland. The yellow arrow in the far upper right points |
| |to a peak between bowl B and two other bowls, one on the far side of the peak, and one on the right of the peak. What name should be |
| |applied to the peak? |
| |A. |
| |A cirque, left by the bowls gnawed into the mountain. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A giant alien toilet, proof that we are visited by beings from another planet, but only evident from the air such as seen here. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |An arête, left by the bowls gnawed into the mountain. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A moraine, bulldozed up by the glaciers that hollowed out the bowls. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A horn, left by the bowls that gnawed into the mountain. |
| | |

This is indeed a horn between three cirques. The strong layering of the rock material is suggestive of bedrock, not loose pieces as seen in moraines. (This is basaltic bedrock from the breakup that formed the Atlantic.) And whoooo, what would the alien use for TP???
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|14. |The above picture shows: |
| |A. |
| |A permafrost soil-creep lobe, which is generally moving away from you, moving in the direction indicated by the arrow. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A glacier, which is generally flowing toward you, carrying rocks picked up from the ridges; the yellow arrow points up one of the |
| |stripes of rock, and you can follow the stripe to the ridge where the rocks started. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A glacier, which is generally flowing away from you, carrying rocks to smear them against the ridges; you can see where the black |
| |stripe under the yellow arrow curves around to smash against the rock. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A permafrost soil-creep lobe, which is generally coming toward you, moving in the opposite direction indicated by the arrow. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A glacier, which has quit flowing and is wasting away in response to global warming. |
| | |

The glacier picks up rocks from ridges, and carries those rocks along to eventually dump those rocks in moraines. The ice is flowing down its surface slope toward you.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|15. |This rock in the picture above was modified by: |
| |A. |
| |A glacier, which scratched and polished the rock at A and plucked blocks loose at B, as the ice moved from B to A. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A soil-flow lobe. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A glacier, which scratched and polished the rock at B and plucked blocks loose at A, as the ice moved from B to A. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A glacier, which scratched and polished the rock at A and plucked blocks loose at B, as the ice moved from A to B. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A glacier, which scratched and polished the rock at B and plucked blocks loose at A, as the ice moved from A to B. |
| | |

Indeed, ice sandpapers and striates the rocks it hits first, and then plucks blocks loose from the other side. And the striae go in the direction that the ice moved.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|1. |Which of these materials is “hottest” in the sense that it is most likely to flow rather than to break (note that K stands for Kelvin, |
| |an absolute temperature scale in which zero is absolute zero and higher numbers mean warmer temperatures): |
| |A. |
| |A material at 1000oK that melts at 2000oK. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A material at 100oK that melts at 200oK. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A material at 250oK that melts at 300oK. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A material at 1001oK that melts at 12000oK. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |All are the same temperature. |
| | |

Flowing rather than breaking becomes likely when a material is warmed more than halfway from absolute zero to the melting temperature. The case with 250oK here is warmed five-sixths of the way from absolute zero toward the melting point, and the others are only halfway or less. They are not all at the same temperature.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|2. |A glacier almost always flows: |
| |A. |
| |From where the glacier’s upper surface is high to where the glacier’s upper surface is low. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |From where bedrock is high to where bedrock is low. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |From south to north. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |From north to south. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Up a mountain. |
| | |

The great ice sheet of Greenland spreads from its central dome, so the ice on the south side is moving south, the ice on the north side is moving north, the east-side ice moves east and the west-side ice moves west. Ice flows down many mountains, such as Mount Rainier, but ice came across the Great Lakes and up into the US. Thus, ice flows from where its upper surface is high to where its upper surface is low.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|3. |Regions with mountain glaciers that experience much surface melting in the summer typically are eroded: |
| |A. |
| |At a slower rate than regions with streams but no glaciers. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |At the same rate that natural rainfall dissolves granite. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Not at all; no erosion occurs in typical regions with melting glaciers. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |At the same rate as regions with streams but no glaciers. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |At a faster rate than regions with streams but no glaciers. |
| | |

Yosemite Valley, Glacier National Park and other glaciated regions still bear the unmistakable marks of glaciers despite more than 10,000 years of modification by streams. Glaciers experiencing melting change the landscape faster than streams do.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|4. |The things that glaciers deposit include: |
| |A. |
| |Bedrock knobs that are rough on the upglacier side and rounded on the downglacier side. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Till (which is unsorted) and outwash (which is sorted). |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Till (which is sorted) and outwash (which is unsorted). |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Cirques and hanging valleys. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Striations and polish. |
| | |

Striations, polish, cirques, hanging valleys, and rough-downglacier/rounded-upglacier (not vice versa) bedrock knobs are all features of glacier erosion, not deposition. Till, deposited directly from the ice, includes pieces of all different sizes because ice can carry all sizes without sorting by size; outwash is washed out of a glacier by meltwater and sorted by size.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|5. |Evidence that glaciers were much bigger about 20,000 years ago than they are now includes: |
| |A. |
| |20,000-year-old deceased shallow-water corals occur in growth position far below the surface on the sides of oceanic islands. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Shells of creatures that lived in the ocean about 20,000 years ago indicate that the ocean water was especially isotopically light then. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Sea level is lower now than it was then, as shown by there being no flooded river valleys anywhere today. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Land bearing the unique marks of glaciers is sinking today, while regions just around that land are rising as deep hot rock flows back after |
| |being displaced by the glaciers. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Global sea level today is falling as the water from the melted ice is returned to the oceans. |
| | |

The land with the unique glacier marks was pushed down by the ice and now is bobbing back up, water returned to the oceans from the melting ice causes sea level to rise rather than to fall, and taking light water out of the oceans to grow ice sheets causes the remaining waters, and the shells, to be isotopically heavy. But, the dead corals in growth position down the sides of islands are evidence for the ice age.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|6. |The recent changes in the amount of ice on Earth over time occurred: |
| |A. |
| |Because changes in the Earth’s orbit have caused large changes in the total amount of sunshine received by the Earth. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Because of the actions of a Serbian mathematician, Milutin Milankovitch. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Because flocks of giant ptarmigan and herds of giant marmots clustered on the edges of the ice sheets, which melted the ice. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Because the Earth has swung through giant clouds of dust in space that blocked the sun and caused global cooling. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Because changes in the Earth’s orbit have caused changes in the amount of sunshine received during certain seasons at different places on |
| |Earth. |
| | |

Milankovitch studied the effect of orbital features on received sunshine, and hypothesized that this may have caused ice ages, but he surely didn’t cause the ice ages, which happened long before he was born. The orbital changes have little effect on the total sunshine, but do move that sunshine around, with important consequences. The giant-dust-cloud hypothesis was entertained seriously by scientists for a while but doesn’t work; however, like essentially all serious hypotheses that fail, this one is alive and well in the fringe-science web sites of the internet. I’d love to have seen flocks of ptarmigan and herds of marmots, but no one has found their bones, so it is highly likely that they did not exist.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|7. |During the most recent ice age: |
| |A. |
| |Central Pennsylvania was overrun by ice from Canada. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Central Pennsylvania was just beyond the edge of the Canadian ice. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Central Pennsylvania was far from the nearest ice. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Central Pennsylvania was overrun by ice from the south. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |We have no idea what central Pennsylvania was like. |
| | |

This is just a fact of geography; we were near but beyond the edge of ice coming from the north. The last option, “no one knows”, is the last refuge of lazy minds, and not at all correct.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|8. |Glaciers form where: |
| |A. |
| |The average temperature is well below freezing for a long enough time. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Rocks are being raised by tectonic motions. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Melting exceeds snowfall for a long enough time. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Winters are really snowy for a long enough time. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Snowfall exceeds melting for a long enough time. |
| | |

Anyone from Erie can tell you that a snowy winter does not guarantee a glacier, and anyone from the permafrost of Siberia could add that cold does not guarantee a glacier. Many high mountains are free of ice, and some warm places are being raised tectonically. The way to make a glacier is to pile up more snow than melts.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|9. |In a glacier, the ice moves fastest: |
| |A. |
| |Halfway between the bed and the surface. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |At the upper surface, where ice meets air. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |When trying to escape from Pepsi commercials. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |At the bed on some glaciers, halfway between the bed and the surface on other glaciers, and at the surface on still other glaciers. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |At the bed, where ice meets rock. |
| | |

The ice at the surface rides along on that beneath but deforms a bit on its own, and so goes fastest. The fast-food ketchup-packet model in which the mid-depth ice goes fastest would require that the upper and lower pieces be especially strong and rigid (which they aren’t; and, it might require someone huge stomping on the glacier). The bed is held back by friction with the rock. And ice lacks the sentience needed to attempt to avoid commercials.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|10. |The top picture from the coast of Greenland, and the bottom picture from Bear Meadows Natural Area in central Pennsylvania, are |
| |geologically related. How? |
| |A. |
| |The Greenland picture shows a lava flow, and a lava flow dammed a creek to make Bear Meadows. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The Greenland picture shows the tracks of glaciers, and a glacier hollowed out Bear Meadows. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The Greenland picture shows where a fast landslide went through, and Bear Meadows was formed when a fast landslide ran down a hill, |
| |leaving a hollow behind that filled with water to become Bear Meadows. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The Greenland picture shows rocks that have been creeping downhill on permafrost, and Bear Meadows probably was formed when such a |
| |creeping mass dammed a stream during the ice age. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The Greenland picture shows where a fast landslide went through, and Bear Meadows was formed when a fast landslide dammed a stream. |
| | |

Indeed, the hillslope in Greenland bears the unmistakable signs of creep on permafrost, carrying streams of rocks and bits of tundra downhill. Geologists are fairly confident that the Appalachians looked like this just beyond the glaciers during the ice age, and that rocks carried downhill this way dammed a stream to form Bear Meadows in central Pennsylvania.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|11. |What do the ptarmigan and the marmot below have in common? |
| |A. |
| |They are both standing on periglacially cryoturbated surfaces. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |They are both silicon-based life forms. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |They are both standing on glacially eroded surfaces. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |They are both standing on glacially deposited surfaces. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |They are both flatulent mammals. |
| | |

The carbon-based bird, top, would be unhappy if you accused him of being a silicon-based flatulent mammal. Periglacial cryoturbation produces sorted stone circles, and glacial deposition makes till or outwash. The striated, polished granites under these cold-climate critters were eroded by glaciers.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|12. |The glacier shown above: |
| |A. |
| |Has advanced, because a decrease in snowfall to the accumulation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the ablation zone (B) |
| |occurred. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Has retreated, because a decrease in snowfall to the accumulation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the ablation zone (B) |
| |occurred. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Has not changed. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Has advanced, because a decrease in snowfall to the ablation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the accumulation zone (B) |
| |occurred. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Has retreated, because a decrease in snowfall to the ablation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the accumulation zone (B) |
| |occurred. |
| | |

Accumulation is a building up, ablation a wearing away or loss. The glacier builds at high elevation (A) and wears away at low elevation (B). And, the halo of moraine around this glacier at low elevation shows that the ice has retreated, so a decrease in snowfall to the accumulation zone or an increase in melting of the ablation zone is indicated.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|13. |The bowl-shaped feature in the foreground of the above photo is: |
| |A. |
| |A cirque, a bowl gnawed into a mountain at the head of a glacier. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A sinkhole, dissolved into the layered basalts, from the breakup that formed the Atlantic, by acidic groundwaters melted from the base|
| |of the ice by the Earth’s heat. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A giant alien toilet, proof that we are visited by beings from another planet, but only evident from the air such as seen here. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A blockfield, which moved downhill under gravity in the cold, permafrost conditions that are evident from the snow in the picture. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A moraine, bulldozed up around a glacier that flowed away from the camera. |
| | |

This is indeed a cirque. The strong layering of the rock material is suggestive of bedrock, not loose pieces as seen in moraines and blockfields. This is basaltic bedrock from the breakup that formed the Atlantic, but basaltic bedrock does not dissolve easily in acidic groundwater. And whoooo, what would the alien use for TP???
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|14. |In the picture above, the dark stripes on the surface of the glacier are: |
| |A. |
| |Terminal moraines, deposited at the end of the glacier. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Schistosity, formed by metamorphic separation of minerals. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Basal moraines, deposited beneath the glacier. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Sedimentary layering, formed by alternating dusty ice from late winter and clean ice from the rest of the year. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Medial moraines, rocks picked up from points where tributary glaciers flow together. |
| | |

The rocks are still in/on the ice, so they have not been deposited. Sedimentary layers would be spread over the surface like layers of paint, and mineral segregation would not act on such a huge scale.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|15. |This rock in the picture above was modified by: |
| |A. |
| |A glacier, which scratched and polished the rock at A and plucked blocks loose at B, as the ice moved from B to A. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A glacier, which scratched and polished the rock at B and plucked blocks loose at A, as the ice moved from A to B. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A glacier, which scratched and polished the rock at B and plucked blocks loose at A, as the ice moved from B to A. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A glacier, which scratched and polished the rock at A and plucked blocks loose at B, as the ice moved from A to B. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A soil-flow lobe. |
| | |

Indeed, ice sandpapers and striates the rocks it hits first, and then plucks blocks loose from the other side. And the striae go in the direction that the ice moved.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |

Unit 8 - Tearing Moutains Down IV: Coasts & Sea Level Changes
Park Visits: Cape Cod & Acadia

|1. |Most U.S. beaches are shrinking or encroaching on the land rather than growing or moving seaward, so the land of the U.S. is getting smaller, |
| |not bigger. Which of the following is not a likely cause: |
| |A. |
| |Global sea level is rising, covering more land. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Water, oil and gas are being pumped out of the ground in some places, causing subsidence. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Levees along rivers have blocked sediment supply to deltas that feed longshore drift, forcing the sediment to fall in deep water where waves |
| |cannot pick it up. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Dams have increased sediment transport from the land to the sea. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Sea-level rise as the last ice age ended flooded river valleys to form bays, and sediment now is deposited in these bays rather than being |
| |delivered to beaches. |
| | |

As sea level rises, beaches are pushed landward unless something happens to offset this tendency. Dams keep sediment away from beaches, as do the bays formed by post-glacial sea-level rise, and human-caused subsidence of the land is an important problem. But land rising would make for more land, not less.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |E |
|2. |You are flying along the coast, and you observe a sort of dam or wall, called a groin, sticking out from the coast. Sediment has piled up on |
| |one side of the groin, with erosion on the other side. You can reasonably infer that: |
| |A. |
| |The groin of the beach is attached to the pelvis of the beach at the elbow of Cape Cod, making for some strange scientific anatomy. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Before the groin was built, the beach was perfectly stable, so the landowners built the groin primarily to cause a longshore drift to begin so|
| |that the beach would move. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Before the groin was built, sediment transport in the longshore drift was dominantly from the side with the erosion to the side with the |
| |sediment deposit, and the groin has interrupted some of this transport. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Before the groin was built, the beach was building out rapidly, so the landowners built the groin to slow that deposition. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Before the groin was built, sediment transport in the longshore drift was dominantly from the side with the sediment deposit to the side with |
| |the erosion, and the groin has interrupted some of this transport. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|3. |Sandy beaches: |
| |A. |
| |Are underlain by vast aquifers full of Diet Pepsi. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Were all produced by deposits of glaciers. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Will all disappear when sea-level rise from global warming raises the ocean level. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Grow if sand supplied from rivers or from coastal erosion exceeds sand lost to deep water, and shrink if the sand supply is smaller than the |
| |sand loss. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Grow over time because big waves bring sand from deep water to the shore, and smaller waves cannot take that sand away again. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|4. |Hardy souls who visit beaches in the winter are often surprised by how different summer and winter beaches really are. A typical change is |
| |(note: a breaking wave curls over and the top falls down, making spectacular movie footage if a surfer is in the way; a surging wave hangs |
| |together and the top doesn’t fall over): |
| |A. |
| |Surging waves bring sand in during winter, and breaking waves take sand out during summer, so summer beaches are large and sandy while winter |
| |beaches are small and rocky. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Surging waves bring sand in during winter, and breaking waves take sand out during summer, so summer beaches are small and rocky while winter |
| |beaches are large and sandy. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Cape Cod beaches are taken over by nudists in winter. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Surging waves bring sand in during summer, and breaking waves take sand out during winter, so summer beaches are large and sandy while winter |
| |beaches are small and rocky. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Surging waves bring sand in during summer, and breaking waves take sand out during winter, so summer beaches are small and rocky while winter |
| |beaches are large and sandy. |
| | |

Winter beaches are eroded, as breaking waves bring their energy far inland through the air, and the outgoing rush of water removes sand; surging summer waves replace that sand. And if you have ever been in a Nor’easter on the Cape, even hardy nudists would be in danger of losing certain important peripherals.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|5. |The above image is a satellite picture of Cape Cod. |
| | |
| |What is most accurate about the past and future of the Cape? |
| |A. |
| |The military built the Cape as a “Maginot Line” to stop Russian submarines, and now that the Cold War is over, doesn’t need the Cape any more |
| |and is taking it apart. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The Cape was built by longshore drift from the Hudson and Connecticut Rivers, and will continue to be nourished in the future. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Glaciers built a pile of sand and gravel where rivers cannot sustain it, and the Cape will be eroded until the hard granite core is exposed, |
| |like Acadia. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Glaciers built a pile of sand and gravel where rivers cannot sustain it, and the Cape eventually will disappear beneath the waves. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Glaciers built a pile of sand and gravel that is sustained by longshore sediment drift from the Hudson and Connecticut Rivers, and the Cape |
| |will endure forever. |
| | |

The Cape is an end moraine attached to a medial moraine, built by the glaciers in an unsustainable place, and destined to disappear many millennia in the future.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|6. |The big W is in ocean water, while the little w is in water in a bay cut off from the ocean by the bar indicated by the pink dashed arrow. A |
| |stream flows toward the bay along the blue arrow, and coastal bluffs are indicated by the dashed yellow arrow. |
| | |
| |What probably happened here? |
| | |
| |[pic] |
| |A. |
| |The Monterey Bay aquarium built the bar to isolate the bay as a holding tank for the narwhals to be used in their new exhibit. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A sinkhole opened behind the beach, and the stream slumped into the hole, leaving the bar. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The low bluffs show that erosion has been occurring as waves hammer the shore, and the bar shows that longshore transport is moving the |
| |sediment from that erosion along the shore. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The low bluffs show that the land is being raised by tectonic processes, which has allowed the ocean to flood over the bar and make the bay. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The low bluffs show that the land is being lowered by tectonic processes, which has formed the bar and allowed the ocean to flood over the bar|
| |and make the bay. |
| | |

Longshore drift is important, and moves much sediment. The greater width of the beach across the mouth of the stream than nearby shows how far waves can go; adjacent to the stream, the waves must cross the beach during storms and batter the bluffs, making sediment that feeds the longshore drift. If uplift were occurring, it would have dried the bay, and if subsidence were occurring, the bar would have been moved underwater. Narwhals would be great in an exhibit, but the aquarium hasn’t been here.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|7. |In the photo above, the jetty (which is a big wall, and could also be called a groin) was constructed out from the coast in the state of |
| |Washington. The water is shallow very close to the jetty, and deeper as you move away to left, right, or off the end of the jetty at the lower|
| |right. |
| | |
| |Look at the pattern of waves, which tells you that: |
| |A. |
| |Wave speed is independent of water depth. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Waves always come straight in to the side of the jetty. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Waves go slower in shallower water. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Waves always come straight in to the end of the jetty. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Waves go faster in shallower water. |
| | |

Waves do go slower in shallower water. Waves coming in from the sea are held up along the jetty, so the crests become more and more curved with the ends nearest the jetty falling behind as the waves move inland.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|8. |Acadia National Park has a long, rich and varied geologic history. The large island marked “I” in the middle of the above picture is composed |
| |of resistant granite from the long-ago closure of the proto-Atlantic. However, the shape of the island was formed by much more geologically |
| |recent processes (within the last 100,000 years or so). |
| | |
| |What is primarily responsible for the beautiful shape of the island? |
| |A. |
| |Sculpting of the rocks by stone masons hired by the Rockefellers, followed by donation of the sculpture to the people of Maine. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Huge storms pounded the island from the right, breaking the rocks to make the bluff facing the sea. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Strong winds blowing from left to right shaped the rocks. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A glacier flowed over the island, moving from left to right, smoothing the rocks encountered first and plucking rocks free from the other |
| |side. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A glacier flowed over the island, moving from right to left, grinding off the rock first encountered and smoothing the long tail. |
| | |

The side of the rock that a glacier reaches first is sandpapered and rounded by the ice; the side of a rock that the flowing glacier pulls away from is plucked rough as blocks are removed. The ice thus flowed from left to right, streamlining and smoothing the island. Wind and waves do not make such distinctive forms, and while Rockefeller stonemasons might have done so, they probably would have carved a huge likeness of a fabled ancestor instead.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|9. |Great Rock really is a great rock on Cape Cod, as shown by Dr. Alley's relatives for scale. |
| | |
| |The picture doesn't even show all of the rock above ground, and there is as much rock below ground as above. Great Rock sits well north along |
| |the Cape, just inland of Coast Guard Beach. Most of the Cape there is sand and gravel. So why is the rock there? |
| |A. |
| |The ice carried the rock here—glaciers carry big as well as little rocks, and can leave big ones even if most of the material carried by the |
| |glacier is then sorted in outwash. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The rock arrived via tsunami. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The rock was splashed here by a giant meteorite that hollowed out Hudson Bay. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The vigorous outwash rivers from the melting ice carried the rock here. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The rock was used as ballast on the Mayflower, and left at First Encounter Beach as a present to the native Americans because the Mayflower no|
| |longer needed ballast in the near-coastal waters. |
| | |

Glaciers carry rocks of all sizes easily. Cape Cod is the product of glaciers, and almost everything natural on the Cape was delivered by glaciers originally. There rarely are big tsunamis in the Atlantic, but not this big. Nor is there any evidence of a big meteorite impact that is as young as Cape Cod. The east coast is rather free of large earthquakes, although Charleston, South Carolina gets a few occasionally. And the early settlers would not have put such a huge thing in the bottom of their ship (imagine having that bouncing around in a storm!), nor could they have taken such a rock out easily upon arrival.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|10. |In the first picture, Dr. Alley is pointing to a brownish zone exposed in the low bluff along Coast Guard Beach, Cape Cod National Seashore. |
| |The brown zone is rounded on the bottom, flat on the top, rests on sand and gravel, and has sand dunes on top. In the lower picture, Dr. |
| |Alley is showing that the brown zone contains twigs and other organic material. |
| | |
| |What is the brown zone doing here? |
| |A. |
| |The glacier dammed an arm of the ocean to make a lake, and this is the remnant of that lake, which is now being exposed by erosion of the |
| |coastal bluffs. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Rising sea level at the end of the ice age flooded an old river valley, making a bay that filled with dead brown algae. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The brown stuff is whale poop. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The glacier bulldozed a forest, and rolled the wood, twigs and other organic material into a ball, which is now being exposed by erosion of |
| |the coastal bluffs. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A block of ice from the glacier fell into an outwash plain deposited by the glacier’s meltwater streams, and the ice later melted to leave a |
| |lake, the lake filled with peat and other organic materials, and was later buried by sand dunes, with erosion of coastal bluffs now exposing |
| |the deposit. |
| | |

Cape Cod is a creature of the glaciers, and most of the Cape’s lakes started by melting of buried ice blocks. Twigs are not brown algae. Arms of the sea are usually a bit bigger than this, although there was a big lake trapped in what is now Cape Cod Bay by the ice. And we have to wonder, is there a rock band named “Whale poop”?
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|11. |What is indicated by the arrows? |
| |A. |
| |The yellow arrows point to the original beach, which was overwhelmed by a flood that carried the sand out to the pink arrows. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The yellow arrows point to bars in the river, and the pink arrows point to a beach. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The yellow arrows point to the original beach, but this is Greenland, and most of the beach moved to the pink arrows by soil-creep |
| |processes. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The yellow arrows point to a coral reef, and the pink arrows point to a former coral reef that has been killed by global warming. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The pink arrows point to a barrier beach or outer beach piled up by waves, and the yellow arrows point to a “washover” where a storm |
| |broke through the outer beach and moved sediment inland. |
| | |

Barrier beaches are piled up by waves, but especially strong storms often break through the beaches. Some of the sand at such new inlets is moved toward the land, often forming new beach-like deposits such as those indicated by the yellow arrows. Some sand is also often moved offshore into deeper water.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|12. |Acadia is beautiful even in the rain and fog, but the park still doesn't have many sandy beaches, and this is surely not a sandy |
| |beach, the rocks are granite, broken off the granite bedrock. Why aren't there sandy beaches? |
| |A. |
| |Sand is produced or supplied slowly enough, and sand loss to deep water is fast enough, that sandy beaches do not form. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The sand was mined and shipped to New Jersey to fill the beaches at Atlantic City. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The sand blew away in big storms. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Acadia gets huge winter storms, and sandy beaches are not found where huge storms occur. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |No sand is produced by weathering at Acadia, nor is sand supplied by rivers or glaciers. |
| | |

Granite does weather to make sand, so some sand must be produced, but this is not a sand deposit, so sand loss must be fast enough to prevent large accumulations. The Park Service would not allow sand mining, and New Jersey would just go offshore to deeper water to dig up sand. And huge storms hit Florida and the Gulf Coast, but they have sandy beaches.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|13. |Humans often try to change coastal processes to benefit us. One of the many things we do is to build walls, or groins, or jetties, to |
| |interrupt waves and currents and sediment transport. This example is from the coast of Washington. |
| |What has happened here? |
| |A. |
| |Sediment transport is typically directly from the ocean to the land, piling up sediment on both sides of the jetty. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Sediment transport is typically from the upper left, and the sediment falls into the lee of the jetty on the right and piles up, while|
| |erosion happens on the left |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Sediment transport is typically from the right, causing deposition to the right of the jetty but no change to the left |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Sediment transport is typically from the right, causing deposition to the right of the jetty but erosion to the left |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Sediment transport is typically from the upper left, and the sediment falls into the lee of the jetty on the right and piles up, while|
| |the left side is unaffected |
| | |

A jetty works like a dam, trapping sediment on the “upstream” side and letting clean water pass to the other side, where the clean water erodes. So, the transport is typically from the right. A large beach has been formed there, but erosion “downstream” is cutting around the end of the jetty.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|1. |A material is warmed one-tenth of the way from absolute zero to the melting point. You grab the ends of the material in a very strong testing |
| |device, and pull really, really hard. The likely behavior is: |
| |A. |
| |The material initially will deform elastically (stretching a bit, but snapping back if you let go), but if you pull hard enough, the material |
| |will break. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The material will deform elastically (stretching a bit, but snapping back if you let go). |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The material will shrink. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The material will deform plastically (not snapping back when you let go). |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The material will not deform at all. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|2. |Pieces of bedrock from Canada, north of Lake Superior, are spread across large areas of Wisconsin and Minnesota in the US, even though Lake |
| |Superior sits between the Canadian source of the rocks and the US places that the rocks now are. How do geologists explain this? |
| |A. |
| |The rocks were carried into the US by ice but before Lake Superior was formed, because ice cannot flow uphill. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The rocks floated into the US from Canada in icebergs during a great flood. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The rocks were carried into Minnesota and Wisconsin by gophers and badgers. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The rocks were “splashed” into the US from Canada by a meteorite impact that formed Hudson Bay. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The rocks were carried into the US from Canada by a glacier flowing from Canada; the base of the ice was able to flow uphill from Lake |
| |Superior into Minnesota and Wisconsin because the upper surface of the ice sloped down from Canada toward Minnesota and Wisconsin. |
| | |

Ice, or pancake batter, or any pile, tends to spread from where its upper surface is high to where its upper surface is low. The Great Lakes are old features, but the base of the ice really did flow up out of the Great Lakes into the US because the top of the ice sloped down from Canada into the US.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|3. |You are told that you are going to visit a region that was under a glacier for many thousands of years ending about 20,000 years ago, but was |
| |near where the glacier ended by melting, so lots of meltwater streams flowed through the glacier to the bed and out the front. What will you |
| |probably find in the landscape? |
| |A. |
| |There will be no tracks of glaciers because glaciers with much meltwater don’t affect the landscape at all. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The tracks of the glaciers will be completely unmodified, because streams and wind and mass movement cannot cause any changes over 20,000 |
| |years. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The tracks of the glaciers will remain but be very hard to see because streams, wind and mass movement will have almost completely erased |
| |those tracks. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The tracks of the glaciers will have been erased by streams, wind, and mass movement. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The tracks of the glaciers will be easy to see, although minor modification by streams, wind and mass movement will have started. |
| | |

“Wet” glaciers, those with much meltwater, modify the landscape faster than do streams, wind or mass movement in most cases, but streams and wind and mass movement do make a difference over thousands of years or longer. So the glacier tracks from 20,000 years ago remain clear but are starting to be modified by other processes.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|4. |The things that glaciers deposit include: |
| |A. |
| |Till (which is sorted) and outwash (which is unsorted). |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Cirques and hanging valleys. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Till (which is unsorted) and outwash (which is sorted). |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Bedrock knobs that are rough on the upglacier side and rounded on the downglacier side. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Striations and polish. |
| | |

Striations, polish, cirques, hanging valleys, and rough-downglacier/rounded-upglacier (not vice versa) bedrock knobs are all features of glacier erosion, not deposition. Till, deposited directly from the ice, includes pieces of all different sizes because ice can carry all sizes without sorting by size; outwash is washed out of a glacier by meltwater and sorted by size.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|5. |Which is not evidence that glaciers were much bigger about 20,000 years ago than they are now? |
| |A. |
| |20,000-year-old deceased shallow-water corals occur in growth position far below the surface on the sides of oceanic islands. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Shells of creatures that lived in the ocean about 20,000 years ago indicate that the ocean water was especially isotopically light then. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Land bearing the unique marks of glaciers is rising today, while regions just around that land are sinking as deep hot rock flows back after |
| |being displaced by the glaciers. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Some land that does not have glaciers today bears the unique marks of erosion and deposition by glaciers, and those marks are about 20,000 |
| |years old. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Prominent embayments such as Chesapeake Bay, with the form and sediments of old river valleys, are now flooded. |
| | |

The land with the unique glacier marks was pushed down by the ice and now is bobbing back up, water returned to the oceans from the melting ice caused sea level to rise, flooding river valleys and killing shallow-water corals as they lost their sunlight, but taking isotopically light water out of the oceans to grow ice sheets caused the remaining waters, and the shells, to be isotopically heavy.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|6. |The recent changes in the amount of ice on Earth over time occurred: |
| |A. |
| |Because flocks of giant ptarmigan and herds of giant marmots clustered on the edges of the ice sheets, which melted the ice. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Because the Earth has swung through giant clouds of dust in space that blocked the sun and caused global cooling. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Because changes in the Earth’s orbit have caused large changes in the total amount of sunshine received by the Earth. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Because of the actions of a Serbian mathematician, Milutin Milankovitch. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Because changes in the Earth’s orbit have caused changes in the amount of sunshine received during certain seasons at different places on |
| |Earth. |
| | |

Milankovitch studied the effect of orbital features on received sunshine, and hypothesized that this may have caused ice ages, but he surely didn’t cause the ice ages, which happened long before he was born. The orbital changes have little effect on the total sunshine, but do move that sunshine around, with important consequences. The giant-dust-cloud hypothesis was entertained seriously by scientists for a while but doesn’t work; however, like essentially all serious hypotheses that fail, this one is alive and well in the fringe-science web sites of the internet. I’d love to have seen flocks of ptarmigan and herds of marmots, but no one has found their bones, so it is highly likely that they did not exist.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|7. |During the most recent ice age: |
| |A. |
| |Ice from Canada advanced to the southern edge of the Great Lakes, hollowing them out, but didn’t go any farther. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Ice from Canada advanced across the Great Lakes and into the northern states of the US, but not farther. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Ice from Canada advanced into Mexico. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Ice from Canada advanced down the Mississippi to near the Gulf of Mexico, helping build the Mississippi Delta. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Ice from Canada advanced to the northern shore of the Great Lakes, but not farther. |
| | |

This is just a fact of geography; the ice came out of the Great Lakes and somewhat farther, but not greatly so.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|8. |A glacier flowing down the side of a mountain has come into balance with the climate. Then, a climate change occurs, so that melting exceeds |
| |snowfall on the glacier. The glacier will: |
| |A. |
| |Continue flowing down the mountain, but shrink until a new balance is reached or until the ice disappears (of course, it must quit flowing as |
| |it disappears!). |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Flow back up the mountain to reach a new balance. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Grow until if finds a marmot colony to have a chat with. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Grow until a new balance is reached. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Continue flowing down the mountain, but shrink until a new balance is reached. |
| | |

Ice flows down its surface slope, and will continue to do so even if shrinking. Eventually after mass loss starts, either a new balance is reached after the warm toe of the glacier is lost, or else the glacier disappears. And glaciers have not been observed conversing with marmots.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |E |
|9. |Glaciers move by: |
| |A. |
| |Deformation within the ice. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Deformation within materials beneath and sliding over those materials, and sometimes by deformation within the ice. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Deformation within the ice, and sometimes sliding over materials beneath or deformation within materials beneath. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Deformation within materials beneath, and sometimes by sliding over those materials or by deformation within the ice. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Deformation within the ice, and sometimes sliding over materials beneath. |
| | |

Deformation within the ice is essentially the definition of a glacier, so that is always present. When the bed is warmed by heat from the Earth, the ice can slide over materials beneath, and may also deform till beneath.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|10. |The picture above shows a hillslope in Greenland that is about ½ mile across. The hill slope towards you, so the lowest part of the |
| |hill is at the bottom of the picture, and the highest part is at the top of the picture. What is likely to be true? |
| |A. |
| |The materials on the hillside are moving toward you at many miles per hour. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The materials on the hillside are not moving, but moved toward you at a few miles per year during the ice age when such motion was |
| |common. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The materials on the hillside are moving toward you at an inch or so per year. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The materials on the hillside are moving toward you at a few miles per year. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The materials on the hillside have never moved. |
| | |

The hillslope in Greenland bears the unmistakable signs of creep on permafrost, carrying streams of rocks and bits of tundra downhill at an inch or so per year. Such processes used to occur in Pennsylvania and elsewhere during the ice age, but are still active in Greenland.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|11. |The ptarmigan and the marmot have something in common, other than being cute. What is it? |
| |A. |
| |They both are standing on moraines. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |They both are standing on glacially eroded surfaces. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |They are both mineral-like silica-based life forms. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |They both are hyper-flatulent reptiles. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |They both are standing on cirques. |
| | |

The carbon-based bird, top, and the carbon-based mammal, bottom, would be unhappy if you accused him of being a silicon-based flatulent reptile. Cirques are bowl-shaped, and moraines are composed of small pieces including till with pieces of many sizes. The striated, polished granites under these cold-climate critters were eroded by glaciers.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|12. |The picture above shows a glacier in eastern Greenland, in the world’s largest national park, flowing from mountains at the top of |
| |Jameson Land (at the top of the picture) toward the lowlands of Kong Oskar Fjord (just out of the picture at the bottom). |
| | |
| |Based on what the picture shows, what has happened over the last century or so? |
| |A. |
| |The glacier as not changed. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The glacier has become longer, because of a decrease in snowfall to the accumulation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the |
| |ablation zone (B). |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The glacier has become longer, because of a decrease in snowfall to the ablation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the |
| |accumulation zone (B). |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The glacier has become shorter, because of a decrease in snowfall to the ablation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the |
| |accumulation zone (B). |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The glacier has become shorter, because of a decrease in snowfall to the accumulation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the |
| |ablation zone (B). |
| | |

Accumulation is a building up, ablation a wearing away or loss. The glacier builds at high elevation (A) and wears away at low elevation (B). And, the halo of moraine around this glacier at low elevation shows that the ice has retreated, so a decrease in snowfall to the accumulation zone or an increase in melting of the ablation zone is indicated.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|13. |In the photo above, the letters A and B are in bowl-shaped features in east Greenland. If you were to walk along the ridge just below |
| |the yellow line, you would be balanced on a knife-edged ridge between the two bowls. That ridge is called: |
| |A. |
| |A giant alien toilet, proof that we are visited by beings from another planet, but only evident from the air such as seen here. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A blockfield, formed by freeze-thaw processes, which would cause you to twist your ankle if you walked along it. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |An arête, left when the two bowls gnawed into the mountain from either side. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A cirque, a bowl gnawed into a mountain at the head of a glacier. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A moraine, bulldozed up by the glaciers that hollowed out the bowls. |
| | |

This is indeed an arête, between two cirques. The strong layering of the rock material is suggestive of bedrock, not loose pieces as seen in moraines and blockfields. (This is basaltic bedrock from the breakup that formed the Atlantic.) And whoooo, what would the alien use for TP???
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|14. |In the picture above, the dark stripes on the surface of the glacier are: |
| |A. |
| |Basal moraines, deposited beneath the glacier. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Schistosity, formed by metamorphic separation of minerals. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Terminal moraines, deposited at the end of the glacier. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Sedimentary layering, formed by alternating dusty ice from late winter and clean ice from the rest of the year. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Medial moraines, rocks picked up from points where tributary glaciers flow together. |
| | |

The rocks are still in/on the ice, so they have not been deposited. Sedimentary layers would be spread over the surface like layers of paint, and mineral segregation would not act on such a huge scale.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|15. |In the picture above, the ice that modified the rock moved: |
| |A. |
| |From right to left, smashing the front of the rock and then sandpapering the back of the rock smooth. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |From top to bottom; ice flows downhill, and this is the downhill direction. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |From left to right, striating the surfaces the ice reached first and plucking blocks loose from the far sides of bumps. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |From bottom to top; ice often is forced uphill, as seen here. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Directly from the rock toward the camera. |
| | |

Indeed, ice sandpapers and striates the rocks it hits first, and then plucks blocks loose from the other side. And the striae go in the direction that the ice moved.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|1. |Which of these materials is “hottest” in the sense that it is most likely to flow rather than to break (note that K stands for Kelvin, |
| |an absolute temperature scale in which zero is absolute zero and higher numbers mean warmer temperatures): |
| |A. |
| |A material at 1000oK that melts at 2000oK. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A material at 100oK that melts at 200oK. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A material at 250oK that melts at 300oK. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A material at 1001oK that melts at 12000oK. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |All are the same temperature. |
| | |

Flowing rather than breaking becomes likely when a material is warmed more than halfway from absolute zero to the melting temperature. The case with 250oK here is warmed five-sixths of the way from absolute zero toward the melting point, and the others are only halfway or less. They are not all at the same temperature.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|2. |The bowl-shaped feature in the foreground of the above photo is: |
| |A. |
| |A moraine, bulldozed up around a glacier that flowed away from the camera. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A blockfield, which moved downhill under gravity in the cold, permafrost conditions that are evident from the snow in the picture. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A sinkhole, dissolved into the layered basalts, from the breakup that formed the Atlantic, by acidic groundwaters melted from the base of the |
| |ice by the Earth’s heat. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A cirque, a bowl gnawed into a mountain at the head of a glacier. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A giant alien toilet, proof that we are visited by beings from another planet, but only evident from the air such as seen here. |
| | |

This is indeed a cirque. The strong layering of the rock material is suggestive of bedrock, not loose pieces as seen in moraines and blockfields. This is basaltic bedrock from the breakup that formed the Atlantic, but basaltic bedrock does not dissolve easily in acidic groundwater. And whoooo, what would the alien use for TP???
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |C |
|3. |In a glacier, the ice moves fastest: |
| |A. |
| |At the upper surface, where ice meets air. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Halfway between the bed and the surface. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |At the bed, where ice meets rock. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |At the bed on some glaciers, halfway between the bed and the surface on other glaciers, and at the surface on still other glaciers. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |When trying to escape from Pepsi commercials. |
| | |

The ice at the surface rides along on that beneath but deforms a bit on its own, and so goes fastest. The fast-food ketchup-packet model in which the mid-depth ice goes fastest would require that the upper and lower pieces be especially strong and rigid (which they aren’t; and, it might require someone huge stomping on the glacier). The bed is held back by friction with the rock. And ice lacks the sentience needed to attempt to avoid commercials.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |C |
|4. |The recent changes in the amount of ice on Earth over time occurred: |
| |A. |
| |At random times, in response to very large changes in the total sunshine received by the Earth in response to features of Earth’s orbit. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |At regular and repeating times, controlled by the very large changes in total sunshine received by the Earth in response to features of |
| |Earth’s orbit. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |At regular and repeating times, controlled by redistribution of sunlight on the surface of the Earth in response to features of Earth’s orbit,|
| |even though total sunshine received by the planet didn’t change much. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Because flocks of giant ptarmigan and herds of giant marmots clustered on the edges of the ice sheets, which melted the ice. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |At random times, controlled by redistribution of sunlight on the surface of the Earth in response to features of Earth’s orbit, even though |
| |total sunshine received by the planet didn’t change much. |
| | |

The orbital changes have little effect on the total sunshine, but do move that sunshine around, with important consequences. And the orbital changes are far from random, having very strong regularities. We’d love to have seen flocks of ptarmigan and herds of marmots, but no one has found their bones, so it is highly likely that they did not exist.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|5. |In the picture above, the dark stripes on the surface of the glacier are: |
| |A. |
| |Terminal moraines, deposited at the end of the glacier. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Medial moraines, rocks picked up from points where tributary glaciers flow together. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Schistosity, formed by metamorphic separation of minerals. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Sedimentary layering, formed by alternating dusty ice from late winter and clean ice from the rest of the year. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Basal moraines, deposited beneath the glacier. |
| | |

The rocks are still in/on the ice, so they have not been deposited. Sedimentary layers would be spread over the surface like layers of paint, and mineral segregation would not act on such a huge scale.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |D |

SECTION 8

|1. |Most U.S. beaches are shrinking or encroaching on the land rather than growing or moving seaward, so the land of the U.S. is getting smaller, |
| |not bigger. Which of the following is not a likely cause: |
| |A. |
| |Dams have increased sediment transport from the land to the sea. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Global sea level is rising, covering more land. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Levees along rivers have blocked sediment supply to deltas that feed longshore drift, forcing the sediment to fall in deep water where waves |
| |cannot pick it up. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Water, oil and gas are being pumped out of the ground in some places, causing subsidence. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Sea-level rise as the last ice age ended flooded river valleys to form bays, and sediment now is deposited in these bays rather than being |
| |delivered to beaches. |
| | |

As sea level rises, beaches are pushed landward unless something happens to offset this tendency. Dams keep sediment away from beaches, as do the bays formed by post-glacial sea-level rise, and human-caused subsidence of the land is an important problem. But land rising would make for more land, not less.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|2. |Often, landowners along eroding beaches will build groins, which are walls or dams sticking out into the ocean or lake from the beach. Why are|
| |these built, and what happens? |
| |A. |
| |The landowners are trying to catch sediment from the longshore drift to add to the beach; this almost always works well. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The landowners are trying to make a nice photographic platform from which to take pictures of their houses falling apart during the next |
| |storm. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The landowners are trying to catch sediment from the onshore/offshore drift to add to the beach; this almost always works well. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The landowners are trying to catch sediment from the longshore drift to add to the beach; this can work, but often erosion on the “downstream”|
| |side of the groin makes the neighbors mad. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The landowners are trying to catch sediment from the onshore/offshore drift to add to the beach; this can work, but often erosion on the |
| |“downstream” side of the groin makes the neighbors mad. |
| | |

The “river of sand” that is the longshore drift along the beach is similar to a river in many ways. “Damming” the flow with a groin will trap sand upstream, on the side from which water and sand are coming, but that will allow water with less sand to attack the downstream side, causing erosion there. Dense groin networks may actually so roughen the coast that they hold sand overall, but the erode-the-downstream-neighbors problem is real and often dominates. If you wanted to trap sand going in and out, you would build walls or dams that are perpendicular to that motion, and thus parallel to the beach. And groins are not the best places on which to stand during storms, nor do many landowners actually plan ahead to get good pictures of their houses falling apart in the waves.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|3. |Beaches change size with every storm, but if you average over a few decades, the size of a typical sandy beach is usually controlled by: |
| |A. |
| |The balance between removal of sand from the beach by smaller summertime waves, and gain of sand from deep water by bigger wintertime waves. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The balance between sand dug up from below by crabs, and sand taken inland in the shorts of small beach-goers. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The balance between sand loss to the wind, and sand supply from glaciers. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The balance between sand loss to deep water, and sand supply from rivers or from coastal erosion. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The balance between gain of quartz sand from weathering of granite bluffs just behind the beach, and loss of sand blown away to make sand |
| |dunes. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|4. |You invent a really amazing GPS tracking device so small that it can sit on a sand grain, and track where the sand grain goes without |
| |affecting that motion. You put such devices on a lot of sand grains on a beach on the east coast of the U.S. You map where the sand grains go |
| |for over a few years. You find many different motions, sometimes blown a bit in wind, sometimes moved stuck to a sandal, some motions over |
| |seconds, some slow trends over years. MOST of the motion is: |
| |A. |
| |Along the shore, in the longshore drift. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Toward the shore in the winter, and away from the shore in the summer. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Toward the shore in the summer, and away from the shore in the winter. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Toward and away from the shore with individual waves. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Into deep water. |
| | |

A beach sand grain spends most of its time coming in, going out, coming in, going out, and not getting anywhere. A tiny bias exists, such that the in and out will move slightly along the coast, and will cause seasonal changes, and will move some sand to deep water.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|5. |The above Landsat image from NASA shows Cape Cod, Massachusetts. |
| | |
| |The short yellow arrow indicates new sand deposits, which have formed over the last decades. The long pink arrow indicates underwater sand |
| |deposits. The dotted blue arrow points to the great Outer Beach of the Cape. |
| | |
| |Based on material presented in this class, what is going on? |
| |A. |
| |The ocean is “mining” material from the pink-arrowed region, and adding that material to the yellow-arrowed and blue-arrowed places, so the |
| |Cape is getting longer as well as wider. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The ocean is eroding the blue-arrowed outer beach, and all of that sand is transferred to the yellow-arrowed end, while nothing happens to the|
| |pink-arrowed underwater sand, so the Cape as a whole is holding its own. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The yellow and pink arrows actually indicate piles of peripherals lost by wintertime nudists sunbathing on the Cape’s beaches. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The ocean is eroding the outer beach, but the ocean is also taking sand from the pink-arrowed underwater deposits to add to the yellow-arrowed|
| |regions where the Cape is growing. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The ocean is eroding the blue-arrowed outer beach, and the yellow-arrowed end is growing more slowly, with some sand falling off to the |
| |pink-arrowed deposits and then off into deeper water, so the Cape as a whole is shrinking. |
| | |

The blue-arrowed Outer Beach is eroding, losing some sand to the yellow-arrowed Monomoy Island—a remarkable birding spot—and some sand to the pink-arrowed underwater bars, which lose sand to deeper water—the Cape is losing ground. Furthermore, the Cape is losing ground much faster than nudists are losing peripherals.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|6. |In the picture above, the big W is in ocean water, while the little w is in water in a bay cut off from the ocean by the bar indicated by the |
| |pink dashed arrow. A stream flows toward the bay along the blue arrow, and coastal bluffs are indicated by the dashed yellow arrow. |
| | |
| |What probably happened here? |
| |A. |
| |Sediment has been delivered from deep water to the land, building the bar and piling up to form the low bluffs. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The navy dammed the stream valley to keep enemy submarines from sneaking in and launching missile attacks on the secret underground base under|
| |the stream. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A sinkhole opened behind the beach, and the stream slumped into the hole, leaving the bar. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Sediment has been eroded from the land by waves crashing against the bluffs, and the sediment has been transported along the shore by |
| |longshore drift to build the bar. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Sediment supplied by the stream has piled up to build the bar that separates the stream from the ocean. |
| | |

Longshore drift is important, and moves much sediment. The greater width of the beach across the mouth of the stream than nearby shows how far waves can go; adjacent to the stream, the waves must cross the beach during storms and batter the bluffs, making sediment that feeds the longshore drift. Submarines are not a big worry in such shallow, near-shore settings, and sinkholes tend to be round, not elongated as seen here.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|7. |The picture above shows ocean in the upper right, a beach, and land in the lower left. The red dashes trace the crest of a wave. Waves move |
| |perpendicular to their crests. What principle might be illustrated by the picture? |
| |A. |
| |Waves come in faster than they go out, so beaches are eroded in summer when breakers are common. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Waves go slower in shallower water. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Waves always curve because of the rotation of the Earth. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The picture is red, white and blue, demonstrating that Pepsi has outbid Coke for the professor’s subliminal-advertising opportunities. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Coasts always have sandy beaches. |
| | |

The rotation of the Earth has only miniscule effect at scales this small. Waves do go slower in shallower water, so as one end nears the coast, that end “waits” for the other end to catch up, causing waves to be going almost straight toward the shore when they run up the beach. There certainly are non-sand-beach coasts, and Pepsi has shown no interest in buying off the professor.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|8. |The picture above is of the coast at Acadia National Park. Look at the shape of the rocky island marked with the big “I” in the middle of the |
| |picture. |
| |The most likely interpretation is that this was caused primarily by: |
| |A. |
| |Sculpting of the rocks by waves, followed by uplift of the rocks above sea level as the land rebounded from the weight of the ice sheets. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Sculpting of the rocks by stone masons hired by the Rockefellers, followed by donation of the sculpture to the people of Maine. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Sculpting of the rocks by a glacier, which flowed from the left to the right. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Sculpting of the rocks by a glacier, which flowed from the right to the left. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Sculpting of the rocks by wind, followed by flooding as sea level rose at the end of the ice age. |
| | |

The side of the rock that a glacier reaches first is sandpapered and rounded blocks are removed. The ice thus flowed from left to right, streamlining and smoothing the island. Wind and waves do not make such distinctive forms, and while Rockefeller stonemasons might have done so, they probably would have carved a huge likeness of a fabled ancestor instead.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|9. |Shown above is Great Rock, Cape Cod National Seashore, with some of Dr. Alley's relatives for scale. The rock is metamorphic. The picture |
| |includes most but not all of the above-ground portion; the rock goes about as far below ground as above. What is the rock doing here in the |
| |middle of Cape Cod? |
| |A. |
| |Tsunami waves washed it here, when a huge landslide occurred from a volcanic island in the Atlantic Ocean. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The rock rose up through the sand during a giant earthquake, the way large rocks are “floated” up in permafrost regions. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The rock was thrown here by the giant meteorite impact that hollowed out Hudson Bay. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The rock was carried here by glacier ice and left when the ice melted. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The rock was used as ballast on the Mayflower, and left at First Encounter Beach as a present to the native Americans because the Mayflower no|
| |longer needed ballast in thenear-coastal waters. |
| | |

Glaciers carry rocks of all sizes easily. Cape Cod is the product of glaciers, and almost everything natural on the Cape was delivered by glaciers originally. There rarely are big tsunamis in the Atlantic, but not this big. Nor is there any evidence of a big meteorite impact that is as young as Cape Cod. The east coast is rather free of large earthquakes, although Charleston, South Carolina gets a few occasionally. And the early settlers would not have put such a huge thing in the bottom of their ship (imagine having that bouncing around in a storm!), nor could they have taken such a rock out easily upon arrival.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|10. |Dr. Alley is pointing to a brownish zone exposed in the low bluff along Coast Guard Beach, Cape Cod National Seashore. The brown zone is|
| |rounded on the bottom, flat on the top, rests on sand and gravel, and has sand dunes on top. In the lower picture, Dr. Alley is showing |
| |that the brown zone contains twigs and other organic material. |
| |What is the brown zone doing here? |
| |A. |
| |The brown zone is mostly the carcass of a dead whale, which washed up on the beach and was buried. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |An ice block from the glacier was buried in sand and gravel, then melted to make a lake that filled with organic material. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A sinkhole opened here, forming a lake that was then filled with organic material. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The brown zone is mostly the carcass of a dead whale, which was propelled here when highway-department workers dynamited it to get it |
| |off the beach. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Humans dammed a nearby river, forming a lake that then filled with organic material. |
| | |

Cape Cod is a creature of the glaciers, and most of the Cape’s lakes started by melting of buried ice blocks. Sinkholes and human-made lakes do fill with organic material sometimes, but this is the wrong setting. A whale carcass wouldn’t be twigs, etc. In Oregon, the highway department did once try dynamiting a whale carcass to speed natural decay, and succeeded in splattering bystanders and even denting some car roofs with large flying whale parts. (One has to wonder whether there exists a rock band somewhere named “Large Flying Whale Parts”.)
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|11. |The pink arrows point to a barrier beach, formed when waves from the ocean (on the left) washed away mud and piled up sand, after the |
| |mud and sand were delivered by the stream flowing in from the upper right. The yellow arrows point to interesting features. |
| | |
| |How did they form? |
| |A. |
| |The stream flowing from the upper right is a braided stream, and the yellow arrows point to bars formed in that stream. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The beach used to be where the yellow arrows are, but was moved seaward by the river, which flowed over the old beach. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Beavers dug through the barrier beach and threw the material behind them, forming the yellow-arrowed deposits. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A storm broke through the barrier beach and pushed sand farther inland. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A sinkhole opened behind the barrier beach, and the yellow-arrowed material slumped into it. |
| | |

Barrier beaches are piled up by waves, but especially strong storms often break through the beaches. Some of the sand at such new inlets is moved toward the land, often forming new beach-like deposits such as those indicated by the yellow arrows. Some sand is also often moved offshore into deeper water. The river would have buried or reworked the yellow-arrowed features if the river flowed over them, there is no sign of a sinkhole, and bars in the river can be seen to be lower and elongated, not on top and transverse as the yellow-arrowed features are.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|12. |Above is a "beach" at Acadia National Park. The pieces are granite. |
| |A. |
| |There is no sand here, so this must be a place where sand is not produced. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |There is no sand here, so sand must be lost to deep water fast enough in comparison to sand supply that sandy beaches have not |
| |formed. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |There is no sand here, because Acadia and the surrounding coast of Maine get huge storms, and sandy beaches cannot exist where such |
| |huge storms occur. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |There is no sand here, because the Park Service mines the sand to pave park roads. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |There is sand under the rocks; the Park Service places the rocks on top to protect the beach, and takes the rocks off on sunny days. |
| | |

Granite does weather to make sand, so some sand must be produced, but this is not a sand deposit, so sand loss must be fast enough to prevent large accumulations. The Park Service neither mines sand from beaches, nor hides sand on beaches. And huge storms hit Florida and the Gulf Coast, but they have sandy beaches.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|13. |Humans often try to change coastal processes to benefit us. One of the many things we do is to build walls, or groins, or jetties, to |
| |interrupt waves and currents and sediment transport. This example is from the coast of Washington. |
| |What has happened here? |
| |A. |
| |Sediment transport is typically from the upper left, and the sediment falls into the lee of the jetty on the right and piles up, while|
| |erosion happens on the left |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Sediment transport is typically from the right, causing deposition to the right of the jetty but no change to the left |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Sediment transport is typically directly from the ocean to the land, piling up sediment on both sides of the jetty. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Sediment transport is typically from the right, causing deposition to the right of the jetty but erosion to the left |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Sediment transport is typically from the upper left, and the sediment falls into the lee of the jetty on the right and piles up, while|
| |the left side is unaffected |
| | |

A jetty works like a dam, trapping sediment on the “upstream” side and letting clean water pass to the other side, where the clean water erodes. So, the transport is typically from the right. A large beach has been formed there, but erosion “downstream” is cutting around the end of the jetty.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |

|1. |If you watched a sand grain moved by waves on a beach on the U.S. east coast, you would usually see that most of its motion: |
| |A. |
| |Is to the south. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Is alternately toward and away from the shore, causing little net change. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Is to the north. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Is to the north in the winter and to the south in the summer. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Is from the shore to the sea in the summer, and from the sea to the shore in the winter. |
| | |

A beach sand grain spends most of its time coming in, going out, coming in, going out, and not getting anywhere. A tiny bias exists, such that the in and out will move slightly along the coast, and will cause seasonal changes.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|2. |Above is a "beach" at Acadia National Park. The pieces are granite. |
| |A. |
| |There is no sand here, so sand must be lost to deep water fast enough in comparison to sand supply that sandy beaches have not formed. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |There is no sand here, so this must be a place where sand is not produced. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |There is no sand here, because the Park Service mines the sand to pave park roads. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |There is no sand here, because Acadia and the surrounding coast of Maine get huge storms, and sandy beaches cannot exist where such huge |
| |storms occur. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |There is sand under the rocks; the Park Service places the rocks on top to protect the beach, and takes the rocks off on sunny days. |
| | |

Granite does weather to make sand, so some sand must be produced, but this is not a sand deposit, so sand loss must be fast enough to prevent large accumulations. The Park Service neither mines sand from beaches, nor hides sand on beaches. And huge storms hit Florida and the Gulf Coast, but they have sandy beaches.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|3. |The picture above shows ocean in the upper right, a beach, and land in the lower left. The red dashes trace the crest of a wave. Waves move |
| |perpendicular to their crests. What principle might be illustrated by the picture? |
| |A. |
| |Coasts always have sandy beaches. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Waves always curve because of the rotation of the Earth. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Waves go slower in shallower water. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Waves come in faster than they go out, so beaches are eroded in summer when breakers are common. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The picture is red, white and blue, demonstrating that Pepsi has outbid Coke for the professor’s subliminal-advertising opportunities. |
| | |

The rotation of the Earth has only miniscule effect at scales this small. Waves do go slower in shallower water, so as one end nears the coast, that end “waits” for the other end to catch up, causing waves to be going almost straight toward the shore when they run up the beach. There certainly are non-sand-beach coasts, and Pepsi has shown no interest in buying off the professor.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|4. |In the picture above, the yellow arrow points at a jetty, a sort of sea wall or groin or dam, that was constructed along the coast of |
| |Washington. |
| | |
| |A likely interpretation of what you see here is: |
| |A. |
| |Sediment transport is typically from the right, causing deposition to the right of the jetty but erosion to the left |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Sediment transport is typically directly from the ocean to the land, piling up sediment on both sides of the jetty. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Sediment transport is typically from the upper left, and the sediment falls into the lee of the jetty on the right and piles up, while the |
| |left side is unaffected |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Sediment transport is typically from the right, causing deposition to the right of the jetty but no change to the left |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Sediment transport is typically from the upper left, and the sediment falls into the lee of the jetty on the right and piles up, while erosion|
| |happens on the left |
| | |

A jetty works like a dam, trapping sediment on the “upstream” side and letting clean water pass to the other side, where the clean water erodes. So, the transport is typically from the right. A large beach has been formed there, but erosion “downstream” is cutting around the end of the jetty.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |C |
|5. |Often, building a groin or “dam” sticking out into the water from a coast in a region where longshore drift is moving sand from “upstream” to |
| |“downstream” only partially solves the problem for which the groin was designed, because: |
| |A. |
| |Sediment is eroded on both sides of the groin. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |No change occurs in sediment. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Sediment is eroded upstream of the groin and deposited downstream of the groin. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Sediment is deposited upstream of the groin but eroded downstream of the groin. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Sediment is deposited on both sides of the groin. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|1. |During the most recent ice age: |
| |A. |
| |Central Pennsylvania was overrun by ice from Canada. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Central Pennsylvania was just beyond the edge of the Canadian ice. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Central Pennsylvania was far from the nearest ice. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Central Pennsylvania was overrun by ice from the south. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |We have no idea what central Pennsylvania was like. |
| | |

This is just a fact of geography; we were near but beyond the edge of ice coming from the north. The last option, “no one knows”, is the last refuge of lazy minds, and not at all correct.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |D |
|2. |The recent changes in the amount of ice on Earth over time occurred: |
| |A. |
| |Because flocks of giant ptarmigan and herds of giant marmots clustered on the edges of the ice sheets, which melted the ice. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |At regular and repeating times, controlled by the very large changes in total sunshine received by the Earth in response to features of |
| |Earth’s orbit. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |At regular and repeating times, controlled by redistribution of sunlight on the surface of the Earth in response to features of Earth’s orbit,|
| |even though total sunshine received by the planet didn’t change much. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |At random times, controlled by redistribution of sunlight on the surface of the Earth in response to features of Earth’s orbit, even though |
| |total sunshine received by the planet didn’t change much. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |At random times, in response to very large changes in the total sunshine received by the Earth in response to features of Earth’s orbit. |
| | |

The orbital changes have little effect on the total sunshine, but do move that sunshine around, with important consequences. And the orbital changes are far from random, having very strong regularities. We’d love to have seen flocks of ptarmigan and herds of marmots, but no one has found their bones, so it is highly likely that they did not exist.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |D |
|3. |Evidence that glaciers were much bigger about 20,000 years ago than they are now includes: |
| |A. |
| |Global sea level today is falling as the water from the melted ice is returned to the oceans. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |20,000-year-old deceased shallow-water corals occur in growth position far below the surface on the sides of oceanic islands. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Land bearing the unique marks of glaciers is sinking today, while regions just around that land are rising as deep hot rock flows back after |
| |being displaced by the glaciers. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Sea level is lower now than it was then, as shown by there being no flooded river valleys anywhere today. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Shells of creatures that lived in the ocean about 20,000 years ago indicate that the ocean water was especially isotopically light then. |
| | |

The land with the unique glacier marks was pushed down by the ice and now is bobbing back up, water returned to the oceans from the melting ice causes sea level to rise rather than to fall, and taking light water out of the oceans to grow ice sheets causes the remaining waters, and the shells, to be isotopically heavy. But, the dead corals in growth position down the sides of islands are evidence for the ice age.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|4. |The things that glaciers deposit include: |
| |A. |
| |Till (which is unsorted) and outwash (which is sorted). |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Cirques and hanging valleys. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Striations and polish. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Bedrock knobs that are rough on the upglacier side and rounded on the downglacier side. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Till (which is sorted) and outwash (which is unsorted). |
| | |

Striations, polish, cirques, hanging valleys, and rough-downglacier/rounded-upglacier (not vice versa) bedrock knobs are all features of glacier erosion, not deposition. Till, deposited directly from the ice, includes pieces of all different sizes because ice can carry all sizes without sorting by size; outwash is washed out of a glacier by meltwater and sorted by size.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|5. |The glacier shown above: |
| |A. |
| |Has not changed. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Has advanced, because a decrease in snowfall to the accumulation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the ablation zone (B) occurred. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Has retreated, because a decrease in snowfall to the ablation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the accumulation zone (B) occurred. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Has retreated, because a decrease in snowfall to the accumulation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the ablation zone (B) occurred. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Has advanced, because a decrease in snowfall to the ablation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the accumulation zone (B) occurred. |
| | |

Accumulation is a building up, ablation a wearing away or loss. The glacier builds at high elevation (A) and wears away at low elevation (B). And, the halo of moraine around this glacier at low elevation shows that the ice has retreated, so a decrease in snowfall to the accumulation zone or an increase in melting of the ablation zone is indicated.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |B |

|1. |A material is warmed to a temperature 2/3 of the way from absolute zero to the material’s melting temperature. You grab the ends of the |
| |material and pull. The likely behavior is: |
| |A. |
| |The material will deform plastically (not snapping back when you let go) under a small pull, and will deform elastically (snapping back when |
| |you let go) if you pull really hard. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The material will not deform, but if you pull too hard, the material will break. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The material will deform elastically (snapping back when you let go). |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The material will not deform. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The material will usually deform plastically (not snapping back when you let go), although the material may break if you pull really hard and |
| |fast. |
| | |

Above about half of the absolute melting temperature, plastic deformation becomes common although breakage is often still possible; at lower temperatures, elastic deformation or breakage are the usual results, with elastic deformation for weaker pulls and breakage for stronger pulls.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|2. |A glacier almost always flows: |
| |A. |
| |From where bedrock is high to where bedrock is low. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |From where the glacier’s upper surface is high to where the glacier’s upper surface is low. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |From north to south. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Up a mountain. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |From south to north. |
| | |

The great ice sheet of Greenland spreads from its central dome, so the ice on the south side is moving south, the ice on the north side is moving north, the east-side ice moves east and the west-side ice moves west. Ice flows down many mountains, such as Mount Rainier, but ice came across the Great Lakes and up into the US. Thus, ice flows from where its upper surface is high to where its upper surface is low.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|3. |Regions with mountain glaciers that experience much surface melting in the summer typically are eroded: |
| |A. |
| |Not at all; no erosion occurs in typical regions with melting glaciers. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |At a slower rate than regions with streams but no glaciers. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |At a faster rate than regions with streams but no glaciers. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |At the same rate as regions with streams but no glaciers. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |At the same rate that natural rainfall dissolves granite. |
| | |

Yosemite Valley, Glacier National Park and other glaciated regions still bear the unmistakable marks of glaciers despite more than 10,000 years of modification by streams. Glaciers experiencing melting change the landscape faster than streams do.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|4. |The things that glaciers deposit include: |
| |A. |
| |Till (which is sorted) and outwash (which is unsorted). |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Striations and polish. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Cirques and hanging valleys. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Bedrock knobs that are rough on the upglacier side and rounded on the downglacier side. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Till (which is unsorted) and outwash (which is sorted). |
| | |

Striations, polish, cirques, hanging valleys, and rough-downglacier/rounded-upglacier (not vice versa) bedrock knobs are all features of glacier erosion, not deposition. Till, deposited directly from the ice, includes pieces of all different sizes because ice can carry all sizes without sorting by size; outwash is washed out of a glacier by meltwater and sorted by size.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|5. |Evidence that glaciers were much bigger about 20,000 years ago than they are now includes: |
| |A. |
| |Sea level is lower now than it was then, as shown by there being no flooded river valleys anywhere today. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |20,000-year-old deceased shallow-water corals occur in growth position far below the surface on the sides of oceanic islands. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Land bearing the unique marks of glaciers is sinking today, while regions just around that land are rising as deep hot rock flows back after |
| |being displaced by the glaciers. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Global sea level today is falling as the water from the melted ice is returned to the oceans. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Shells of creatures that lived in the ocean about 20,000 years ago indicate that the ocean water was especially isotopically light then. |
| | |

The land with the unique glacier marks was pushed down by the ice and now is bobbing back up, water returned to the oceans from the melting ice causes sea level to rise rather than to fall, and taking light water out of the oceans to grow ice sheets causes the remaining waters, and the shells, to be isotopically heavy. But, the dead corals in growth position down the sides of islands are evidence for the ice age.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|6. |The recent changes in the amount of ice on Earth over time occurred: |
| |A. |
| |Because changes in the Earth’s orbit have caused large changes in the total amount of sunshine received by the Earth. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Because the Earth has swung through giant clouds of dust in space that blocked the sun and caused global cooling. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Because changes in the Earth’s orbit have caused changes in the amount of sunshine received during certain seasons at different places on |
| |Earth. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Because flocks of giant ptarmigan and herds of giant marmots clustered on the edges of the ice sheets, which melted the ice. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Because of the actions of a Serbian mathematician, Milutin Milankovitch. |
| | |

Milankovitch studied the effect of orbital features on received sunshine, and hypothesized that this may have caused ice ages, but he surely didn’t cause the ice ages, which happened long before he was born. The orbital changes have little effect on the total sunshine, but do move that sunshine around, with important consequences. The giant-dust-cloud hypothesis was entertained seriously by scientists for a while but doesn’t work; however, like essentially all serious hypotheses that fail, this one is alive and well in the fringe-science web sites of the internet. I’d love to have seen flocks of ptarmigan and herds of marmots, but no one has found their bones, so it is highly likely that they did not exist.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|7. |During the most recent ice age: |
| |A. |
| |Central Pennsylvania was overrun by ice from Canada. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Central Pennsylvania was just beyond the edge of the Canadian ice. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Central Pennsylvania was far from the nearest ice. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Central Pennsylvania was overrun by ice from the south. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |We have no idea what central Pennsylvania was like. |
| | |

This is just a fact of geography; we were near but beyond the edge of ice coming from the north. The last option, “no one knows”, is the last refuge of lazy minds, and not at all correct.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|8. |Glaciers form where: |
| |A. |
| |Snowfall exceeds melting for a long enough time. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Melting exceeds snowfall for a long enough time. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Winters are really snowy for a long enough time. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Rocks are being raised by tectonic motions. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The average temperature is well below freezing for a long enough time. |
| | |

Anyone from Erie can tell you that a snowy winter does not guarantee a glacier, and anyone from the permafrost of Siberia could add that cold does not guarantee a glacier. Many high mountains are free of ice, and some warm places are being raised tectonically. The way to make a glacier is to pile up more snow than melts.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|9. |In a glacier, the ice moves fastest: |
| |A. |
| |Halfway between the bed and the surface. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |At the bed, where ice meets rock. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |At the upper surface, where ice meets air. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |At the bed on some glaciers, halfway between the bed and the surface on other glaciers, and at the surface on still other glaciers. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |When trying to escape from Pepsi commercials. |
| | |

The ice at the surface rides along on that beneath but deforms a bit on its own, and so goes fastest. The fast-food ketchup-packet model in which the mid-depth ice goes fastest would require that the upper and lower pieces be especially strong and rigid (which they aren’t; and, it might require someone huge stomping on the glacier). The bed is held back by friction with the rock. And ice lacks the sentience needed to attempt to avoid commercials.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|10. |The top picture from the coast of Greenland, and the bottom picture from Bear Meadows Natural Area in central Pennsylvania, are |
| |geologically related. How? |
| |A. |
| |The Greenland picture shows the tracks of glaciers, and a glacier hollowed out Bear Meadows. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The Greenland picture shows where a fast landslide went through, and Bear Meadows was formed when a fast landslide dammed a stream. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The Greenland picture shows rocks that have been creeping downhill on permafrost, and Bear Meadows probably was formed when such a |
| |creeping mass dammed a stream during the ice age. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The Greenland picture shows where a fast landslide went through, and Bear Meadows was formed when a fast landslide ran down a hill, |
| |leaving a hollow behind that filled with water to become Bear Meadows. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The Greenland picture shows a lava flow, and a lava flow dammed a creek to make Bear Meadows. |
| | |

Indeed, the hillslope in Greenland bears the unmistakable signs of creep on permafrost, carrying streams of rocks and bits of tundra downhill. Geologists are fairly confident that the Appalachians looked like this just beyond the glaciers during the ice age, and that rocks carried downhill this way dammed a stream to form Bear Meadows in central Pennsylvania.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|11. |What do the ptarmigan and the marmot below have in common? |
| |A. |
| |They are both standing on periglacially cryoturbated surfaces. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |They are both standing on glacially eroded surfaces. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |They are both standing on glacially deposited surfaces. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |They are both flatulent mammals. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |They are both silicon-based life forms. |
| | |

The carbon-based bird, top, would be unhappy if you accused him of being a silicon-based flatulent mammal. Periglacial cryoturbation produces sorted stone circles, and glacial deposition makes till or outwash. The striated, polished granites under these cold-climate critters were eroded by glaciers.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|12. |The glacier shown above: |
| |A. |
| |Has advanced, because a decrease in snowfall to the accumulation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the ablation zone (B) |
| |occurred. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Has retreated, because a decrease in snowfall to the ablation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the accumulation zone (B) |
| |occurred. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Has retreated, because a decrease in snowfall to the accumulation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the ablation zone (B) |
| |occurred. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Has advanced, because a decrease in snowfall to the ablation zone (A) or an increase in melting of the accumulation zone (B) |
| |occurred. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Has not changed. |
| | |

Accumulation is a building up, ablation a wearing away or loss. The glacier builds at high elevation (A) and wears away at low elevation (B). And, the halo of moraine around this glacier at low elevation shows that the ice has retreated, so a decrease in snowfall to the accumulation zone or an increase in melting of the ablation zone is indicated.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|13. |The bowl-shaped feature in the foreground of the above photo is: |
| |A. |
| |A giant alien toilet, proof that we are visited by beings from another planet, but only evident from the air such as seen here. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A cirque, a bowl gnawed into a mountain at the head of a glacier. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A moraine, bulldozed up around a glacier that flowed away from the camera. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A blockfield, which moved downhill under gravity in the cold, permafrost conditions that are evident from the snow in the picture. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A sinkhole, dissolved into the layered basalts, from the breakup that formed the Atlantic, by acidic groundwaters melted from the |
| |base of the ice by the Earth’s heat. |
| | |

This is indeed a cirque. The strong layering of the rock material is suggestive of bedrock, not loose pieces as seen in moraines and blockfields. This is basaltic bedrock from the breakup that formed the Atlantic, but basaltic bedrock does not dissolve easily in acidic groundwater. And whoooo, what would the alien use for TP???
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|14. |In the picture above, the dark stripes on the surface of the glacier are: |
| |A. |
| |Sedimentary layering, formed by alternating dusty ice from late winter and clean ice from the rest of the year. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Basal moraines, deposited beneath the glacier. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Terminal moraines, deposited at the end of the glacier. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Medial moraines, rocks picked up from points where tributary glaciers flow together. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Schistosity, formed by metamorphic separation of minerals. |
| | |

The rocks are still in/on the ice, so they have not been deposited. Sedimentary layers would be spread over the surface like layers of paint, and mineral segregation would not act on such a huge scale.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|15. |This rock in the picture above was modified by: |
| |A. |
| |A soil-flow lobe. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A glacier, which scratched and polished the rock at B and plucked blocks loose at A, as the ice moved from B to A. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A glacier, which scratched and polished the rock at A and plucked blocks loose at B, as the ice moved from B to A. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A glacier, which scratched and polished the rock at B and plucked blocks loose at A, as the ice moved from A to B. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A glacier, which scratched and polished the rock at A and plucked blocks loose at B, as the ice moved from A to B. |
| | |

Indeed, ice sandpapers and striates the rocks it hits first, and then plucks blocks loose from the other side. And the striae go in the direction that the ice moved.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |

Unit 9 - Deep Time I : Stratigraphy & Sedimentary Record
Park Visits: Bryce & Arches

|1. |Often, building a groin or “dam” sticking out into the water from a coast in a region where longshore drift is moving sand from “upstream” to |
| |“downstream” only partially solves the problem for which the groin was designed, because: |
| |A. |
| |Sediment is deposited on both sides of the groin. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Sediment is eroded upstream of the groin and deposited downstream of the groin. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Sediment is deposited upstream of the groin but eroded downstream of the groin. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |No change occurs in sediment. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Sediment is eroded on both sides of the groin. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|2. |Shown above is Great Rock, Cape Cod National Seashore, with some of Dr. Alley's relatives for scale. The rock is metamorphic. The picture |
| |includes most but not all of the above-ground portion; the rock goes about as far below ground as above. What is the rock doing here in the |
| |middle of Cape Cod? |
| |A. |
| |The rock was carried here by glacier ice and left when the ice melted. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The rock was used as ballast on the Mayflower, and left at First Encounter Beach as a present to the native Americans because the Mayflower no|
| |longer needed ballast in thenear-coastal waters. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The rock rose up through the sand during a giant earthquake, the way large rocks are “floated” up in permafrost regions. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The rock was thrown here by the giant meteorite impact that hollowed out Hudson Bay. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Tsunami waves washed it here, when a huge landslide occurred from a volcanic island in the Atlantic Ocean. |
| | |

Glaciers carry rocks of all sizes easily. Cape Cod is the product of glaciers, and almost everything natural on the Cape was delivered by glaciers originally. There rarely are big tsunamis in the Atlantic, but not this big. Nor is there any evidence of a big meteorite impact that is as young as Cape Cod. The east coast is rather free of large earthquakes, although Charleston, South Carolina gets a few occasionally. And the early settlers would not have put such a huge thing in the bottom of their ship (imagine having that bouncing around in a storm!), nor could they have taken such a rock out easily upon arrival.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|3. |In the picture above, the big W is in ocean water, while the little w is in water in a bay cut off from the ocean by the bar indicated by the |
| |pink dashed arrow. A stream flows toward the bay along the blue arrow, and coastal bluffs are indicated by the dashed yellow arrow. |
| | |
| |What probably happened here? |
| |A. |
| |A sinkhole opened behind the beach, and the stream slumped into the hole, leaving the bar. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Sediment has been eroded from the land by waves crashing against the bluffs, and the sediment has been transported along the shore by |
| |longshore drift to build the bar. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The navy dammed the stream valley to keep enemy submarines from sneaking in and launching missile attacks on the secret underground base under|
| |the stream. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Sediment has been delivered from deep water to the land, building the bar and piling up to form the low bluffs. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Sediment supplied by the stream has piled up to build the bar that separates the stream from the ocean. |
| | |

Longshore drift is important, and moves much sediment. The greater width of the beach across the mouth of the stream than nearby shows how far waves can go; adjacent to the stream, the waves must cross the beach during storms and batter the bluffs, making sediment that feeds the longshore drift. Submarines are not a big worry in such shallow, near-shore settings, and sinkholes tend to be round, not elongated as seen here.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|4. |The pink arrows point to a barrier beach, formed when waves from the ocean (on the left) washed away mud and piled up sand, after the mud and |
| |sand were delivered by the stream flowing in from the upper right. The yellow arrows point to interesting features. |
| | |
| |How did they form? |
| |A. |
| |A sinkhole opened behind the barrier beach, and the yellow-arrowed material slumped into it. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A storm broke through the barrier beach and pushed sand farther inland. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The beach used to be where the yellow arrows are, but was moved seaward by the river, which flowed over the old beach. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The stream flowing from the upper right is a braided stream, and the yellow arrows point to bars formed in that stream. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Beavers dug through the barrier beach and threw the material behind them, forming the yellow-arrowed deposits. |
| | |

Barrier beaches are piled up by waves, but especially strong storms often break through the beaches. Some of the sand at such new inlets is moved toward the land, often forming new beach-like deposits such as those indicated by the yellow arrows. Some sand is also often moved offshore into deeper water. The river would have buried or reworked the yellow-arrowed features if the river flowed over them, there is no sign of a sinkhole, and bars in the river can be seen to be lower and elongated, not on top and transverse as the yellow-arrowed features are.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|5. |If you watched a sand grain moved by waves on a beach on the U.S. east coast, you would usually see that most of its motion: |
| |A. |
| |Is from the shore to the sea in the summer, and from the sea to the shore in the winter. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Is alternately toward and away from the shore, causing little net change. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Is to the south. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Is to the north. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Is to the north in the winter and to the south in the summer. |
| | |

A beach sand grain spends most of its time coming in, going out, coming in, going out, and not getting anywhere. A tiny bias exists, such that the in and out will move slightly along the coast, and will cause seasonal changes.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |

[pic]RockOn #9
Your response has been submitted successfully.
[pic]
|Points Awarded | 12 |
|Points Missed | 0 |
|Percentage | 100% |

|1. |The geologic time scale is, starting with the youngest and ending with the oldest: |
| |A. |
| |Cenozoic, Mesozoic, Paleozoic, Precambrian. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Precambrian, Cenozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Cenozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Precambrian. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Precambrian, Mesozoic, Paleozoic, Cenozoic. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Precambrian, Cenozoic, Mesozoic, Paleozoic. |
| | |

You could probably reason this out if you remember some Greek roots, or else just memorize it—Cenozoic is youngest, then Mesozoic, Paleozoic, and Precambrian.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|2. |What is accurate about the “Law” of Faunal Succession: |
| |A. |
| |The “law” was passed by Congress to encourage teaching of “intelligent design” theory in schools. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Evolutionary theory allowed fossils of formerly living things (fauna) to be placed in order or succession based on their characteristics, and |
| |this in turn allowed early geologists to figure out which rocks were older and which younger. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Geologic observations allow rocks to be placed in time order (oldest to youngest), and observations of fossils in those rocks then shows that |
| |the fossils are also in order based on various characteristics. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The “law” was developed by Darwin as part of his research on changes in species over time. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The “law” was developed by theoretical biologists to explain evolution. |
| | |

In the late 1600s in England, William Smith discovered that putting the rocks in time order put the fossils in time order, allowing him to use the fossils as a shortcut in understanding the rocks. We will see soon that faunal succession is consistent with evolution but does not require it, does not require but might allow catastrophism, and informed but was not developed by theoretical biologists. Faunal succession was known before Congress was founded, and before Darwin was born.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|3. |The Mesozoic: |
| |A. |
| |Is “new life”, the age of mammals. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Is “middle life”, the age of dinosaurs. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Is “new life”, the age of dinosaurs. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Is “old life”, the age of shellfish. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Is “old life”, the age of algae. |
| | |

Meso goes with Middle, and is middle life. The Mesozoic time of dinosaurs started and ended with mass extinctions.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|4. |An unconformity is: |
| |A. |
| |A clast of some other, older rock in a sedimentary rock, showing that the clast is older than the sedimentary rock. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The principle that younger fossils look more like living types than do older fossils. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The principle that younger sedimentary rocks normally occur on top of older rocks, unless they are turned upside-down by mountain building. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A time gap in a sequence of sedimentary rocks caused by a period of erosion or nondeposition. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |An igneous rock intrusion cutting a sedimentary rock, showing that the igneous rock is younger than the sedimentary rock. |
| | |

Most of the land is eroding most of the time. Streams carry rocks and mud away from the mountains, lowering the mountains. Eventually, if mountains are lowered enough, by erosion or by Death-Valley-type faulting or some other process, new sediments may be deposited on top, but there will be a surface separating older rocks from younger rocks, and no rocks from the in-between time. This surface is called an unconformity. One can see older clasts in younger rocks, but these are usually called “older clasts in younger rocks”, not unconformities. Whatever events made the old rocks, broke them up, and transported them to the site where the new rock formed must have happened before the new rock formed. A rock must exist before it can be cut, so an igneous rock cutting a sedimentary rock is younger than the sedimentary rock, and geologists do study such cross-cutting relationships, but they aren’t unconformities. Younger sedimentary rocks do occur on top of older rocks unless turned upside-down by mountain building, but this goes by the fancy name of the “principle of superposition”, not “unconformity”. And younger fossils looking more like living things than do older fossils is William Smith’s “law” of faunal succession, not an unconformity.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|5. |The picture above shows a muddy sandstone that was deposited on a flood plain. Dr. Alley's index finger in the lower left points along a ridge|
| |on the surface of the rock (shadows are to the lower right of Dr. Alley’s finger and to the lower right of the feature he is pointing along; |
| |his finger is above the rock, so the feature must be a ridge and not a trough). The rock is: |
| |A. |
| |Upside-down; you are looking at the side that was facing down toward the center of the Earth when the rock was deposited. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Right-side-up; you are looking at the side that was facing up toward the sky when the rock was deposited. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Edge-on; the side that was facing up toward the sky when the rock was deposited is now facing toward the lower-left-hand-corner of the |
| |picture. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Edge-on; the side that was facing up toward the sky when the rock was deposited is now facing toward the upper-right-hand-corner of the |
| |picture. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Edge-on; the side that was facing up toward the sky when the rock was deposited is now facing toward the lower-right-hand-corner of the |
| |picture. |
| | |

A story is told here. Some mud was deposited, dried and cracked. The muddy-sandy layer we are looking at was deposited on top, and the brown ridges stuck DOWN into the cracks in the mud. After the rocks were hardened, this muddy-sandy layer was split off from the muddy layer below, and then turned over, so you are looking at the bottom of the layer now.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|6. |Look at the picture, which shows a small section of a “fossil” sand dune (a sand dune in which the grains have been “glued” together by |
| |hard-water deposits). When the dune was first deposited, which was down (which letter is closest to the arrow that is pointing in the |
| |direction you would have looked to see the ground when the dune was deposited)? |
| |A. |
| |B |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A |
| | |
| |C. |
| |D |
| | |
| |D. |
| |C |
| | |

Just above the letter “C” there is a small unconformity. The layers above are cut along that surface. Layers must exist to be cut, so the layers above that surface are older, the lower layers are younger, and “up” was toward the bottom.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|7. |Look at the picture above which shows a region just less than a foot across, of a stream deposit from the base of the same pile of rocks that |
| |show up in Bryce Canyon. This picture was taken in the face of a cliff in Red Canyon, just west of Bryce Canyon National Park. |
| | |
| |A indicates a piece of limestone that has been rounded off in a stream; B indicates a mass of sand glued together by hard-water deposits, and |
| |C indicates another such mass of sand glued together by hard-water deposits . |
| | |
| |In order of time of formation, they are: |
| |A. |
| |B was glued together by hard-water deposits, then C was glued together by hard-water deposits, then A was formed. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A was formed first, then B was glued together by hard-water deposits, then C was glued together by hard-water deposits. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |B was glued together by hard-water deposits, then A was formed, then C was glued together by hard-water deposits. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |C was glued together by hard-water deposits, then B was glued together by hard-water deposits, then A was formed. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |C was glued together by hard-water deposits, then A was formed, then B was glued together by hard-water deposits. |
| | |

The clast A existed before it was included in a conglomerate glued together by the sand and hard-water deposits of B, so A is older than B; the whole reddish clast containing A and B is glued into another conglomerate by the sand and hard-water deposits of C, so C is youngest of these three.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|8. |Look at the picture above of a small dam across a stream bed (between the pink arrows) just above one of the trails into Bryce Canyon. |
| | |
| |When floods happen in the stream bed: |
| |A. |
| |They are caused by giant marmots digging through the retaining walls of the sewage-treatment facility at Bryce, which proved unpleasant for |
| |the marmots and the tourists. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |They flow toward the camera; floodwaters have filled the space upstream of the dam and debris has started to cascade over the dam, so the dam |
| |is not serving to trap sediment any more. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Actually, floods never occur; the dryness of the region, as shown by the sparse vegetation, prevents floods. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |They flow away from the camera; turbulent floodwaters have been undermining the small dam, and will cause it to collapse soon. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |They sometimes flow toward the camera, and sometimes flow away from the camera, as shown by the occurrence of some debris on both sides of the|
| |dam. |
| | |

Fast-flowing floods have lost their debris when slowed by the dam, filling the space above the dam with rocks. This basic pattern—dams collect debris and release clean(er) water that can erode more, is seen over and over in geology. And the sewage handling at Bryce is well-secured against tunneling marmots. Bryce does have some darned cute prairie dogs, though!
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|9. |The picture above shows an outcrop along Interstate 70 in Utah. The green arrow points to a person, for scale. Between the pink arrows there |
| |is an interesting surface. |
| | |
| |What is it? |
| |A. |
| |A fault, where rocks have been shoved over other rocks. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A mud crack, with the layer on top having fallen down the crack. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |An unconformity, where erosion occurred before the rocks above were deposited. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The side of a sand dune, where the wind blew away the sand on top. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The quarry from which they collected the rocks used to make Graham Spanier’s new desk. |
| | |

The rocks below were tipped up on end by mountain-building processes associated with the early growth of the Rocky Mountains. Erosion cut the lower rocks off, a soil developed, and then a lake flooded in and deposited limestone.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|10. |We saw when we studied weathering that physical weathering makes little pieces from big, and that chemical weathering dissolves some |
| |things and makes other chunks. The different chemicals went into different places, dissolved or in chunks. When geologists classify |
| |sedimentary rocks, the first divisions are based on: |
| |A. |
| |Origin—rocks made from pre-existing pieces are separated from rocks made from precipitation of dissolved things. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Chemistry—the iron-bearing ones and the silica-bearing ones and others are separated. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Color—red rocks and green rocks and fuchsia rocks and other rocks are named based on color. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Grain size—the pieces made by physical weathering are bigger than the pieces made by chemical weathering, and so are classified |
| |differently. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Mode of weathering—rocks made of pieces from chemical weathering and from physical weathering are given different names based on how |
| |the original rock was taken apart. |
| | |

The most fundamental division in weathering is between dissolution and chunk-production—dissolved things wash away with almost no effect on the physical behavior of the water, but chunks make a large difference. When these are deposited, the fundamental difference is used to generate our classification. Almost all rocks contain iron and silica and other things, so the chemical classification doesn’t work very well. Color is not often a useful indicator—rock colors change a lot during weathering, and often when oil or water move through. Grain size matters to clastics, but not much to precipitates.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|11. |How is sediment related to sedimentary rock? |
| |A. |
| |Sediment and sedimentary rock are the same thing. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Sediment and sedimentary rock are unrelated features of the Earth. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Sediment is gradually hardened to sedimentary rock by various processes, and the point where the name changes from sediment to |
| |sedimentary rock is somewhat arbitrary. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |All sediment is young and soft; all sedimentary rock is hard and old, and there exists a clear demarcation between sediment and |
| |sedimentary rock. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Sediment is usually hardened to sedimentary rock in a few days, so there is not much worry about what name to use. |
| | |

Loose sediments are known to be hardened in just a few years in exceptional cases, but usually thousands of years or longer are required (archaeologists usually excavate old sites using trowels and whisk brooms, not dynamite!). The change is usually gradual, and there is no sudden point at which the name changes.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|12. |The above picture is from the Escalante-Grand Staircase National Monument. The pink arrows point along some interesting features. |
| | |
| |What are they? |
| |A. |
| |Sand-dune cross beds, formed when the wind deposited sand. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Mud cracks, formed when a flash flood roared down the road (which is under the lower-right pink arrow), spread mud onto the desert |
| |surface, and then the mud dried. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Unconformities, formed by erosion in the past. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Joints, formed when the sedimentary rocks were broken by physical-weathering or other processes. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Faults, where rocks were moved in earthquakes. |
| | |

This is the Navajo Sandstone, and it is a sand-dune deposit, but you can’t really see that in this picture. Almost all rocks have joints. Joints channel water, and make space for roots, so plants often grow along joints, as you see here. The change from red to white along the upper-left arrow is probably a record of places in the past where fluids carrying oil met fluids carrying water—the water rusted the iron and made red; the oil left the iron reduced and carried it away.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|1. |The geologic time scale is, starting with the youngest and ending with the oldest: |
| |A. |
| |Precambrian, Cenozoic, Mesozoic, Paleozoic. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Precambrian, Cenozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Cenozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Precambrian. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Precambrian, Mesozoic, Paleozoic, Cenozoic. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Cenozoic, Mesozoic, Paleozoic, Precambrian. |
| | |

You could probably reason this out if you remember some Greek roots, or else just memorize it—Cenozoic is youngest, then Mesozoic, Paleozoic, and Precambrian.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|2. |What is accurate about the “Law” of Faunal Succession: |
| |A. |
| |The “law” was passed by Congress to encourage teaching of “intelligent design” theory in schools. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Evolutionary theory allowed fossils of formerly living things (fauna) to be placed in order or succession based on their characteristics, and |
| |this in turn allowed early geologists to figure out which rocks were older and which younger. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Geologic observations allow rocks to be placed in time order (oldest to youngest), and observations of fossils in those rocks then shows that |
| |the fossils are also in order based on various characteristics. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The “law” was developed by Darwin as part of his research on changes in species over time. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The “law” was developed by theoretical biologists to explain evolution. |
| | |

In the late 1600s in England, William Smith discovered that putting the rocks in time order put the fossils in time order, allowing him to use the fossils as a shortcut in understanding the rocks. We will see soon that faunal succession is consistent with evolution but does not require it, does not require but might allow catastrophism, and informed but was not developed by theoretical biologists. Faunal succession was known before Congress was founded, and before Darwin was born.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|3. |The Cenozoic: |
| |A. |
| |Is “old life”, the age of algae. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Is “new life”, the age of mammals. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Is “new life”, the age of dinosaurs. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Is “old life”, the age of shellfish. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Is “middle life”, the age of dinosaurs. |
| | |

Ceno comes from the Greek kainos for new (the “cen” in “recent” has the same origin, and may make this easier to remember), and is the time when mammals came to be the dominant land animals. Although we are still in the Cenozoic, some people have suggested that we should change now to anthropozoic, or perhaps anthropocene, because humans are so influential now.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|4. |When considering the land surface: |
| |A. |
| |Deposition of sediments occurs in only a few places, with erosion or nondeposition occurring in most places to produce unconformities, and |
| |there is no way to figure out anything about geologic history. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Deposition of sediments is occurring on it in most places most of the time, so any pile of sediments or sedimentary rocks contains a complete |
| |or nearly complete record of geologic history. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Deposition of sediments does not occur on land, so there is no way to figure out anything about geologic history. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Deposition of sediments occurs in only a few places, with erosion or nondeposition occurring in most places to produce inclusions, and one |
| |must piece together geologic history from rocks in many places. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Deposition of sediments occurs in only a few places, with erosion or nondeposition occurring in most places to produce unconformities, and one|
| |must piece together geologic history from rocks in many places. |
| | |

An unconformity is a surface of erosion or nondeposition in a pile of sediments or sedimentary rocks. Most of the land surface is eroding most of the time, with deposition restricted, so it takes some careful study to sort out geologic history. Nonetheless, a lot of geologists working over a lot of centuries have revealed a surprisingly complete history of the planet.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|5. |The yellow line lies along the contact between sandstone (on the left) and reddish mudstone (on the right). The red arrows point along a place|
| |where the sandstone continues into the mudstone. The four sides of the picture are labeled A, B, C and D. What is most likely correct about |
| |these rocks? |
| |A. |
| |When the rocks were deposited, side D was the highest (it was on top). |
| | |
| |B. |
| |When the rocks were deposited, side A was the highest (it was on top). |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The rocks were formed from lava flows far down in the Earth, and were not deposited. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |When the rocks were deposited, side C was the highest (it was on top). |
| | |
| |E. |
| |When the rocks were deposited, side B was the highest (it was on top). |
| | |

This is a cliff in the Grand Canyon. The picture was taken and then turned on its side. Originally, the muds of side D were deposited on a floodplain, a mud crack formed and sand fell into it (the red arrows) as the sand-dune rocks of side B were deposited on top.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|6. |Look at the picture above, which shows a small section of a “fossil” sand dune (a sand dune in which the grains have been “glued” together by |
| |hard-water deposits). When the dune was first deposited, which was down (which letter is closest to the arrow that is pointing in the |
| |direction you would have looked to see the ground when the dune was deposited)? |
| |A. |
| |D |
| | |
| |B. |
| |C |
| | |
| |C. |
| |B |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A |
| | |

Just to the right of the letter “D” there is a small unconformity. The layers farther to the right are cut along that surface. Layers must exist to be cut, so the left-hand layers are younger, the right-hand layers are older, and “up” was to the left.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|7. |The above picture shows a region a bit under a foot across, in a cliff in Red Canyon, just west of Bryce Canyon National Park. The rocks in |
| |the picture are the same as the rocks at the bottom of the beautiful Bryce Formation, the pastel rocks in Bryce Canyon. The red arrows |
| |surround a very interesting, reddish clast. |
| | |
| |What is the geological interpretation of this picture? |
| |A. |
| |A landslide made everything we see. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Many older rocks, some with interesting histories, were rounded in a river, then mixed with sand and glued together by hard-water deposits, |
| |then ground up in a big earthquake fault. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A glacier picked up a range of rocks, carried them, then piled them up in a moraine, then a landslide happened to put those rocks with others,|
| |and then an earthquake fault ground up the rocks. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Many older rocks, some with interesting histories, were rounded in a river, then mixed with sand and glued together by hard-water deposits; |
| |the resulting rock layer was broken into pieces, which were rounded in a stream, mixed with other rocks and sand and glued together by |
| |hard-water deposits, and the resulting rock layer was raised out of the river, and eroded to yield the modern outcrop. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A glacier delivered the rock; glaciers can carry all different sizes of rocks, as seen here. |
| | |

The story is even longer than D indicates, because of all the things that happened to make the various clasts in the reddish conglomerate clast, because those various clasts include sandstones made of pieces of still-older rocks. Glaciers can carry many sizes, as can landslides, but landslides don’t round the pieces, and glaciers knock off corners but make flat, striated faces. Earthquake faults also make flat surfaces with scratches on them.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|8. |If you hike down into Bryce Canyon, and you look up the correct stream bed, you’ll see this. |
| | |
| |The trees lying across the stream bed in the photo above (between the pink arrows) are a small dam. What has happened here? |
| |A. |
| |A landslide came down the river, and the dam was built at the front of the landslide. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Marmots dug out the space below the dam. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The dam has trapped sediment upstream, and the clean water coming over the dam has picked up sediment downstream of the dam and lowered the |
| |stream bed there. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The glaciers that carved the canyon left the sediment above the dam. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A large sediment wave was moving slowly down the river, and the dam was built at the front of the sediment wave to stop the sediment, which it|
| |did. |
| | |

Fast-flowing floods have lost their debris when slowed by the dam, filling the space above the dam with rocks. This basic pattern—dams collect debris and release clean(er) water that can erode more, is seen over and over in geology. And, marmots don't dig that much at Bryce!
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|9. |The picture above shows an outcrop along Interstate 70 in Utah. The green arrow points to a person, for scale. The pink arrows point |
| |to the ends of an interesting surface. Some rocks are below this surface, and other rocks above it. |
| | |
| |What happened to make this outcrop? |
| |A. |
| |The rocks below were deposited, hardened, turned on end, eroded to make an unconformity with a soil developing on top, and then other rocks |
| |were deposited on top of the soil. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The rocks below were shoved underneath the rocks above in a push-together fault. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The rocks below were deposited at the angle observed, and then the rocks above were deposited on top. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The rocks below were deposited as loose sediment, turned on end, eroded to make a pediment with a soil developing on top, and then other rocks|
| |were deposited on top. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The rocks below were shoved underneath the rocks above in a pull-apart fault. |
| | |

A is a pretty good description. The rocks below are ocean sediments, and the rocks above the soil are from a lake.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|10. |We saw when we studied weathering that physical weathering makes little pieces from big, and that chemical weathering dissolves some |
| |things and makes other chunks. The different chemicals went into different places, dissolved or in chunks. When geologists classify |
| |sedimentary rocks, the first divisions are based on: |
| |A. |
| |Origin—rocks made from pre-existing pieces are separated from rocks made from precipitation of dissolved things. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Chemistry—the iron-bearing ones and the silica-bearing ones and others are separated. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Color—red rocks and green rocks and fuchsia rocks and other rocks are named based on color. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Mode of weathering—rocks made of pieces from chemical weathering and from physical weathering are given different names based on how |
| |the original rock was taken apart. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Grain size—the pieces made by physical weathering are bigger than the pieces made by chemical weathering, and so are classified |
| |differently. |
| | |

The most fundamental division in weathering is between dissolution and chunk-production—dissolved things wash away with almost no effect on the physical behavior of the water, but chunks make a large difference. When these are deposited, the fundamental difference is used to generate our classification. Almost all rocks contain iron and silica and other things, so the chemical classification doesn’t work very well. Color is not often a useful indicator—rock colors change a lot during weathering, and often when oil or water move through. Grain size matters to clastics, but not much to precipitates.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|11. |How is sediment related to sedimentary rock? |
| |A. |
| |Sediment is usually hardened to sedimentary rock in a few days, so there is not much worry about what name to use. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |All sediment is young and soft; all sedimentary rock is hard and old, and there exists a clear demarcation between sediment and |
| |sedimentary rock. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Sediment and sedimentary rock are unrelated features of the Earth. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Sediment is gradually hardened to sedimentary rock by various processes, and the point where the name changes from sediment to |
| |sedimentary rock is somewhat arbitrary. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Sediment and sedimentary rock are the same thing. |
| | |

Loose sediments are known to be hardened in just a few years in exceptional cases, but usually thousands of years or longer are required (archaeologists usually excavate old sites using trowels and whisk brooms, not dynamite!). The change is usually gradual, and there is no sudden point at which the name changes.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|12. |The above picture is from the Escalante-Grand Staircase National Monument. The pink arrows point along some interesting features. |
| | |
| |What are they? |
| |A. |
| |Unconformities, formed by erosion in the past. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Pull-apart faults, where rocks were moved in earthquakes. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Mud cracks, formed when a flash flood roared down the road (which is under the lower-right pink arrow), spread mud onto the desert |
| |surface, and then the mud dried. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Joints, formed when the sedimentary rocks were broken by physical-weathering or other processes. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Push-together faults, where rocks were moved in earthquakes. |
| | |

This is the Navajo Sandstone, and it is a sand-dune deposit, but you can’t really see that in this picture. Almost all rocks have joints. Joints channel water, and make space for roots, so plants often grow along joints, as you see here. The change from red to white along the upper-left arrow is probably a record of places in the past where fluids carrying oil met fluids carrying water—the water rusted the iron and made red; the oil left the iron reduced and carried it away.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |

|1. |When geologists consider sedimentary rocks, those rocks: |
| |A. |
| |Are classified first based on affinity for Coke or Pepsi, and then based on diet or regular. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Are classified first based on color (red, yellow, pink, pastel, etc.) and then based on composition. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Are classified first based on origin (clastic or chemical precipitate). |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Are classified first based on grain size, and then subdivided based on origin. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Are classified primarily based on composition. |
| | |

We do divide the rocks based on origin first. We saw with weathering that physical weathering makes chunks or clasts, and then chemical weathering also makes chunks (clay, rust, sand grains) and dissolved things. The clasts give clastic rocks, and when the dissolved things come out of solution, chemical precipitates are formed. Color is not often a useful indicator—rock colors change a lot during weathering, and colors also may change when oil or water move through. Grain size matters to clastics, but not much to precipitates.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |D |
|2. |The Paleozoic: |
| |A. |
| |Is “old life”, the age of algae. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Is “middle life”, the age of dinosaurs. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Is “new life”, the age of mammals. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Is “old life”, the age of shellfish. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Is “new life”, the age of dinosaurs. |
| | |

Paleo goes with Past, and is old life. The Paleozoic started with the “fast” (over a few million years) emergence of many creatures with shells, which greatly increased the richness of the fossil record because shells are preserved so well.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|3. |Look at the picture above which shows a region just less than a foot across, of a stream deposit from the base of the same pile of rocks that |
| |show up in Bryce Canyon. This picture was taken in the face of a cliff in Red Canyon, just west of Bryce Canyon National Park. |
| | |
| |A indicates a piece of limestone that has been rounded off in a stream; B indicates a mass of sand glued together by hard-water deposits, and |
| |C indicates another such mass of sand glued together by hard-water deposits . |
| | |
| |In order of time of formation, they are: |
| |A. |
| |C was glued together by hard-water deposits, then B was glued together by hard-water deposits, then A was formed. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |C was glued together by hard-water deposits, then A was formed, then B was glued together by hard-water deposits. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A was formed first, then B was glued together by hard-water deposits, then C was glued together by hard-water deposits. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |B was glued together by hard-water deposits, then A was formed, then C was glued together by hard-water deposits. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |B was glued together by hard-water deposits, then C was glued together by hard-water deposits, then A was formed. |
| | |

The clast A existed before it was included in a conglomerate glued together by the sand and hard-water deposits of B, so A is older than B; the whole reddish clast containing A and B is glued into another conglomerate by the sand and hard-water deposits of C, so C is youngest of these three.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|4. |Look at the picture above of a small dam across a stream bed (between the pink arrows) just above one of the trails into Bryce Canyon. |
| | |
| |When floods happen in the stream bed: |
| |A. |
| |Actually, floods never occur; the dryness of the region, as shown by the sparse vegetation, prevents floods. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |They flow toward the camera; floodwaters have filled the space upstream of the dam and debris has started to cascade over the dam, so the dam |
| |is not serving to trap sediment any more. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |They are caused by giant marmots digging through the retaining walls of the sewage-treatment facility at Bryce, which proved unpleasant for |
| |the marmots and the tourists. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |They flow away from the camera; turbulent floodwaters have been undermining the small dam, and will cause it to collapse soon. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |They sometimes flow toward the camera, and sometimes flow away from the camera, as shown by the occurrence of some debris on both sides of the|
| |dam. |
| | |

Fast-flowing floods have lost their debris when slowed by the dam, filling the space above the dam with rocks. This basic pattern—dams collect debris and release clean(er) water that can erode more, is seen over and over in geology. And the sewage handling at Bryce is well-secured against tunneling marmots. Bryce does have some darned cute prairie dogs, though!
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |D |
|5. |An unconformity is: |
| |A. |
| |A time gap in a sequence of sedimentary rocks caused by a period of erosion or nondeposition. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The principle that younger fossils look more like living types than do older fossils. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A clast of some other, older rock in a sedimentary rock, showing that the clast is older than the sedimentary rock. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The principle that younger sedimentary rocks normally occur on top of older rocks, unless they are turned upside-down by mountain building. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |An igneous rock intrusion cutting a sedimentary rock, showing that the igneous rock is younger than the sedimentary rock. |
| | |

Most of the land is eroding most of the time. Streams carry rocks and mud away from the mountains, lowering the mountains. Eventually, if mountains are lowered enough, by erosion or by Death-Valley-type faulting or some other process, new sediments may be deposited on top, but there will be a surface separating older rocks from younger rocks, and no rocks from the in-between time. This surface is called an unconformity. One can see older clasts in younger rocks, but these are usually called “older clasts in younger rocks”, not unconformities. Whatever events made the old rocks, broke them up, and transported them to the site where the new rock formed must have happened before the new rock formed. A rock must exist before it can be cut, so an igneous rock cutting a sedimentary rock is younger than the sedimentary rock, and geologists do study such cross-cutting relationships, but they aren’t unconformities. Younger sedimentary rocks do occur on top of older rocks unless turned upside-down by mountain building, but this goes by the fancy name of the “principle of superposition”, not “unconformity”. And younger fossils looking more like living things than do older fossils is William Smith’s “law” of faunal succession, not an unconformity.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|1. |Most U.S. beaches are shrinking or encroaching on the land rather than growing or moving seaward, so the land of the U.S. is getting |
| |smaller, not bigger. Which of the following is not a likely cause: |
| |A. |
| |Global sea level is rising, covering more land. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Sea-level rise as the last ice age ended flooded river valleys to form bays, and sediment now is deposited in these bays rather than |
| |being delivered to beaches. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Dams have increased sediment transport from the land to the sea. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Water, oil and gas are being pumped out of the ground in some places, causing subsidence. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Levees along rivers have blocked sediment supply to deltas that feed longshore drift, forcing the sediment to fall in deep water where |
| |waves cannot pick it up. |
| | |

As sea level rises, beaches are pushed landward unless something happens to offset this tendency. Dams keep sediment away from beaches, as do the bays formed by post-glacial sea-level rise, and human-caused subsidence of the land is an important problem. But land rising would make for more land, not less.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|2. |You are flying along the coast, and you observe a sort of dam or wall, called a groin, sticking out from the coast. Sediment has piled up on |
| |one side of the groin, with erosion on the other side. You can reasonably infer that: |
| |A. |
| |Before the groin was built, sediment transport in the longshore drift was dominantly from the side with the erosion to the side with the |
| |sediment deposit, and the groin has interrupted some of this transport. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Before the groin was built, the beach was perfectly stable, so the landowners built the groin primarily to cause a longshore drift to begin so|
| |that the beach would move. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Before the groin was built, the beach was building out rapidly, so the landowners built the groin to slow that deposition. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Before the groin was built, sediment transport in the longshore drift was dominantly from the side with the sediment deposit to the side with |
| |the erosion, and the groin has interrupted some of this transport. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The groin of the beach is attached to the pelvis of the beach at the elbow of Cape Cod, making for some strange scientific anatomy. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|3. |Sandy beaches: |
| |A. |
| |Will all disappear when sea-level rise from global warming raises the ocean level. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Are underlain by vast aquifers full of Diet Pepsi. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Grow over time because big waves bring sand from deep water to the shore, and smaller waves cannot take that sand away again. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Were all produced by deposits of glaciers. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Grow if sand supplied from rivers or from coastal erosion exceeds sand lost to deep water, and shrink if the sand supply is smaller than the |
| |sand loss. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|4. |Hardy souls who visit beaches in the winter are often surprised by how different summer and winter beaches really are. A typical change is |
| |(note: a breaking wave curls over and the top falls down, making spectacular movie footage if a surfer is in the way; a surging wave hangs |
| |together and the top doesn’t fall over): |
| |A. |
| |Surging waves bring sand in during summer, and breaking waves take sand out during winter, so summer beaches are small and rocky while winter |
| |beaches are large and sandy. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Surging waves bring sand in during winter, and breaking waves take sand out during summer, so summer beaches are small and rocky while winter |
| |beaches are large and sandy. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Surging waves bring sand in during winter, and breaking waves take sand out during summer, so summer beaches are large and sandy while winter |
| |beaches are small and rocky. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Surging waves bring sand in during summer, and breaking waves take sand out during winter, so summer beaches are large and sandy while winter |
| |beaches are small and rocky. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Cape Cod beaches are taken over by nudists in winter. |
| | |

Winter beaches are eroded, as breaking waves bring their energy far inland through the air, and the outgoing rush of water removes sand; surging summer waves replace that sand. And if you have ever been in a Nor’easter on the Cape, even hardy nudists would be in danger of losing certain important peripherals.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|5. |The above image is a satellite picture of Cape Cod. |
| | |
| |What is most accurate about the past and future of the Cape? |
| |A. |
| |Glaciers built a pile of sand and gravel where rivers cannot sustain it, and the Cape will be eroded until the hard granite core is exposed, |
| |like Acadia. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The military built the Cape as a “Maginot Line” to stop Russian submarines, and now that the Cold War is over, doesn’t need the Cape any more |
| |and is taking it apart. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The Cape was built by longshore drift from the Hudson and Connecticut Rivers, and will continue to be nourished in the future. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Glaciers built a pile of sand and gravel that is sustained by longshore sediment drift from the Hudson and Connecticut Rivers, and the Cape |
| |will endure forever. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Glaciers built a pile of sand and gravel where rivers cannot sustain it, and the Cape eventually will disappear beneath the waves. |
| | |

The Cape is an end moraine attached to a medial moraine, built by the glaciers in an unsustainable place, and destined to disappear many millennia in the future.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|6. |The big W is in ocean water, while the little w is in water in a bay cut off from the ocean by the bar indicated by the pink dashed arrow. A |
| |stream flows toward the bay along the blue arrow, and coastal bluffs are indicated by the dashed yellow arrow. |
| | |
| |What probably happened here? |
| | |
| |[pic] |
| |A. |
| |The low bluffs show that the land is being raised by tectonic processes, which has allowed the ocean to flood over the bar and make the bay. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The Monterey Bay aquarium built the bar to isolate the bay as a holding tank for the narwhals to be used in their new exhibit. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The low bluffs show that erosion has been occurring as waves hammer the shore, and the bar shows that longshore transport is moving the |
| |sediment from that erosion along the shore. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The low bluffs show that the land is being lowered by tectonic processes, which has formed the bar and allowed the ocean to flood over the bar|
| |and make the bay. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A sinkhole opened behind the beach, and the stream slumped into the hole, leaving the bar. |
| | |

Longshore drift is important, and moves much sediment. The greater width of the beach across the mouth of the stream than nearby shows how far waves can go; adjacent to the stream, the waves must cross the beach during storms and batter the bluffs, making sediment that feeds the longshore drift. If uplift were occurring, it would have dried the bay, and if subsidence were occurring, the bar would have been moved underwater. Narwhals would be great in an exhibit, but the aquarium hasn’t been here.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|7. |In the photo above, the jetty (which is a big wall, and could also be called a groin) was constructed out from the coast in the state of |
| |Washington. The water is shallow very close to the jetty, and deeper as you move away to left, right, or off the end of the jetty at the lower|
| |right. |
| | |
| |Look at the pattern of waves, which tells you that: |
| |A. |
| |Wave speed is independent of water depth. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Waves always come straight in to the side of the jetty. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Waves go slower in shallower water. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Waves always come straight in to the end of the jetty. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Waves go faster in shallower water. |
| | |

Waves do go slower in shallower water. Waves coming in from the sea are held up along the jetty, so the crests become more and more curved with the ends nearest the jetty falling behind as the waves move inland.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|8. |Acadia National Park has a long, rich and varied geologic history. The large island marked “I” in the middle of the above picture is composed |
| |of resistant granite from the long-ago closure of the proto-Atlantic. However, the shape of the island was formed by much more geologically |
| |recent processes (within the last 100,000 years or so). |
| | |
| |What is primarily responsible for the beautiful shape of the island? |
| |A. |
| |A glacier flowed over the island, moving from left to right, smoothing the rocks encountered first and plucking rocks free from the other |
| |side. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Sculpting of the rocks by stone masons hired by the Rockefellers, followed by donation of the sculpture to the people of Maine. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A glacier flowed over the island, moving from right to left, grinding off the rock first encountered and smoothing the long tail. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Huge storms pounded the island from the right, breaking the rocks to make the bluff facing the sea. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Strong winds blowing from left to right shaped the rocks. |
| | |

The side of the rock that a glacier reaches first is sandpapered and rounded by the ice; the side of a rock that the flowing glacier pulls away from is plucked rough as blocks are removed. The ice thus flowed from left to right, streamlining and smoothing the island. Wind and waves do not make such distinctive forms, and while Rockefeller stonemasons might have done so, they probably would have carved a huge likeness of a fabled ancestor instead.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|9. |Great Rock really is a great rock on Cape Cod, as shown by Dr. Alley's relatives for scale. |
| | |
| |The picture doesn't even show all of the rock above ground, and there is as much rock below ground as above. Great Rock sits well north along |
| |the Cape, just inland of Coast Guard Beach. Most of the Cape there is sand and gravel. So why is the rock there? |
| |A. |
| |The ice carried the rock here—glaciers carry big as well as little rocks, and can leave big ones even if most of the material carried by the |
| |glacier is then sorted in outwash. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The rock was used as ballast on the Mayflower, and left at First Encounter Beach as a present to the native Americans because the Mayflower no|
| |longer needed ballast in the near-coastal waters. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The vigorous outwash rivers from the melting ice carried the rock here. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The rock arrived via tsunami. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The rock was splashed here by a giant meteorite that hollowed out Hudson Bay. |
| | |

Glaciers carry rocks of all sizes easily. Cape Cod is the product of glaciers, and almost everything natural on the Cape was delivered by glaciers originally. There rarely are big tsunamis in the Atlantic, but not this big. Nor is there any evidence of a big meteorite impact that is as young as Cape Cod. The east coast is rather free of large earthquakes, although Charleston, South Carolina gets a few occasionally. And the early settlers would not have put such a huge thing in the bottom of their ship (imagine having that bouncing around in a storm!), nor could they have taken such a rock out easily upon arrival.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|10. |In the first picture, Dr. Alley is pointing to a brownish zone exposed in the low bluff along Coast Guard Beach, Cape Cod National Seashore. |
| |The brown zone is rounded on the bottom, flat on the top, rests on sand and gravel, and has sand dunes on top. In the lower picture, Dr. |
| |Alley is showing that the brown zone contains twigs and other organic material. |
| | |
| |What is the brown zone doing here? |
| |A. |
| |The glacier dammed an arm of the ocean to make a lake, and this is the remnant of that lake, which is now being exposed by erosion of the |
| |coastal bluffs. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The brown stuff is whale poop. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The glacier bulldozed a forest, and rolled the wood, twigs and other organic material into a ball, which is now being exposed by erosion of |
| |the coastal bluffs. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A block of ice from the glacier fell into an outwash plain deposited by the glacier’s meltwater streams, and the ice later melted to leave a |
| |lake, the lake filled with peat and other organic materials, and was later buried by sand dunes, with erosion of coastal bluffs now exposing |
| |the deposit. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Rising sea level at the end of the ice age flooded an old river valley, making a bay that filled with dead brown algae. |
| | |

Cape Cod is a creature of the glaciers, and most of the Cape’s lakes started by melting of buried ice blocks. Twigs are not brown algae. Arms of the sea are usually a bit bigger than this, although there was a big lake trapped in what is now Cape Cod Bay by the ice. And we have to wonder, is there a rock band named “Whale poop”?
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|11. |What is indicated by the arrows? |
| |A. |
| |The yellow arrows point to the original beach, which was overwhelmed by a flood that carried the sand out to the pink arrows. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The yellow arrows point to bars in the river, and the pink arrows point to a beach. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The yellow arrows point to the original beach, but this is Greenland, and most of the beach moved to the pink arrows by soil-creep |
| |processes. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The pink arrows point to a barrier beach or outer beach piled up by waves, and the yellow arrows point to a “washover” where a storm |
| |broke through the outer beach and moved sediment inland. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The yellow arrows point to a coral reef, and the pink arrows point to a former coral reef that has been killed by global warming. |
| | |

Barrier beaches are piled up by waves, but especially strong storms often break through the beaches. Some of the sand at such new inlets is moved toward the land, often forming new beach-like deposits such as those indicated by the yellow arrows. Some sand is also often moved offshore into deeper water.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|12. |Acadia is beautiful even in the rain and fog, but the park still doesn't have many sandy beaches, and this is surely not a sandy |
| |beach, the rocks are granite, broken off the granite bedrock. Why aren't there sandy beaches? |
| |A. |
| |Sand is produced or supplied slowly enough, and sand loss to deep water is fast enough, that sandy beaches do not form. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The sand was mined and shipped to New Jersey to fill the beaches at Atlantic City. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |No sand is produced by weathering at Acadia, nor is sand supplied by rivers or glaciers. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The sand blew away in big storms. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Acadia gets huge winter storms, and sandy beaches are not found where huge storms occur. |
| | |

Granite does weather to make sand, so some sand must be produced, but this is not a sand deposit, so sand loss must be fast enough to prevent large accumulations. The Park Service would not allow sand mining, and New Jersey would just go offshore to deeper water to dig up sand. And huge storms hit Florida and the Gulf Coast, but they have sandy beaches.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|13. |Humans often try to change coastal processes to benefit us. One of the many things we do is to build walls, or groins, or jetties, to |
| |interrupt waves and currents and sediment transport. This example is from the coast of Washington. |
| |What has happened here? |
| |A. |
| |Sediment transport is typically from the right, causing deposition to the right of the jetty but no change to the left |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Sediment transport is typically from the upper left, and the sediment falls into the lee of the jetty on the right and piles up, while|
| |erosion happens on the left |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Sediment transport is typically from the right, causing deposition to the right of the jetty but erosion to the left |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Sediment transport is typically directly from the ocean to the land, piling up sediment on both sides of the jetty. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Sediment transport is typically from the upper left, and the sediment falls into the lee of the jetty on the right and piles up, while|
| |the left side is unaffected |
| | |

A jetty works like a dam, trapping sediment on the “upstream” side and letting clean water pass to the other side, where the clean water erodes. So, the transport is typically from the right. A large beach has been formed there, but erosion “downstream” is cutting around the end of the jetty.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |

STOP

Unit 10 - Deep Time II - Uniformitarianism and the Age of the Earth
Park Visits: Great Basin & Grand Canyon

| |[pic] |
|1. |What is indicated by the yellow lines in the image above? |
| |A. |
| |A great unconformity, with sedimentary rocks above resting on older sedimentary rocks below. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A great fault, where pull-apart action slid the upper rocks across the lower ones. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A great fault, where push-together action shoved the upper rocks over the lower ones. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A great unconformity, with sedimentary rocks above resting on metamorphic rocks below. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |An intrusion, with melted rocks squirted along the yellow line and then hardened. |
| | |

John Wesley Powell, of the United States Geological Survey, and the leader of the first boat trip through the Grand Canyon, called the feature marked by the yellow lines “The Great Unconformity”. It separates horizontal Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, above, from inclined Precambrian sedimentary rocks, below.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|2. |In age dating, geologists use: |
| |A. |
| |Radiometric techniques for absolute dating of events that happened in the last 100,000 years, and other radiometric techniques and |
| |layer-counting for absolute dating of much older events. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Radiometric techniques for relative dating of events that happened in the last 100,000 years, and layer-counting for relative dating of events|
| |that happened billions of years ago. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Cross-cutting relationships for absolute ages, and uniformitarianism for relative ages. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Radiometric techniques and layer-counting for relative dating of events that happened in the last 100,000 years, and other radiometric |
| |techniques for relative dating of much older events. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Radiometric techniques and layer-counting for absolute dating of events that happened in the last 100,000 years, and other radiometric |
| |techniques for absolute dating of much older events. |
| | |

If you want an absolute date (number of years) rather than older/younger, you can count layers for young things, or use radiometric techniques for young things or for old ones.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |B |
|3. |You start with 400 parent atoms of a particular radioactive type, which decays to give stable offspring. You wait just long enough for three |
| |half lives to pass. You should expect to have how many parent atoms remaining (on average): |
| |A. |
| |200. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |400. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |25. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |100. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |50. |
| | |

After one half-life, you’ve gone from 400 parents to 200; after a second half-life you go from 200 parents to 100, and after a third half-life you go from 100 parents to 50. (Typical studies of radioactive decay use many more atoms, to avoid statistical fluctuations, but the question says “on average”, so we asked you about 400 rather than 400,000,000,000,000 to make the math easier.)
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |A |
|4. |Using only uniformitarian calculations from the thickness of known sedimentary rocks, likely rates at which those rocks accumulated, and |
| |features in and under those sedimentary rocks, geologists working two to three hundred years ago estimated that the Earth: |
| |A. |
| |Is less than about one-hundred-million years old. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Is about one-hundred-million years old. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Is more than about one-hundred-million years old. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Is 4.6 billion years old. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Has been here forever. |
| | |

Radiometric techniques reveal the Earth to be about 4.6 billion years old, but early geologists did not have the sophisticated instruments to measure the trace radioactive elements and their offspring. Working from the rocks, the geologists knew that the age must be in the neighborhood of 100 million years, plus extra time in unconformities and additional extra time in the oldest, metamorphic rocks.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|5. |The picture above shows a region of hard rock about six inches across from the Grand Canyon. |
| |The shape and polish of the rock are interesting. |
| | |
| |It is likely that the rock: |
| |A. |
| |Was scratched and polished by a glacier, which helped erode the Canyon during the ice age. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Was scratched and polished by silt-laden river water, during carving of the Canyon by the Colorado River. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Was scratched and polished by the hooves of mules carrying tourists into the Canyon along the Bright Angel Trail. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Was scratched and polished by motion along a fault, which helped open the Canyon so that weathering could lower the Canyon floor. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Was scratched and polished by the wind, which howls through the Canyon carrying loads of sand eroded from sand bars. |
| | |

The Canyon was carved by the Colorado River. Glaciers have not been there, and while wind, faults and mule hooves all can change the appearance of rocks, none makes something like this river-polished rock, as we saw in class and you saw in one of the Grand Canyon slide shows.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |A |

|Points Awarded | 12 |
|Points Missed | 1 |
|Percentage | 92% |

|1. |True or False: religion and science always disagree. |
| |A. |
| |False. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |True. |
| | |

Pope John Paul II said that the Catholic Church has no problem with evolution, and Baptist Jimmy Carter also supported evolution, so it is clear that religion and science can agree.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|2. |There are many large mammals on Earth today. This is because: |
| |A. |
| |Small mammals wanted to become bigger, and after the dinosaurs were killed, the small mammals had their chance and so made themselves bigger. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Small mammals were not able to outcompete the dinosaurs for big-animal jobs, but after the dinosaurs were killed, some large mammals evolved |
| |from small mammals to fill the large-animal jobs. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The very large mammals that were alive on Earth with the dinosaurs have gotten smaller over time because the mammals don't have to be big to |
| |compete with the dinosaurs any more. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Dinosaurs in hibernation were killed by acid rain, which didn't hurt things that could run away. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The warm blood of the many large mammals that lived before the meteorite impact allowed them to survive the cold from the meteorite impact |
| |that killed the dinosaurs. |
| | |

There are “big-animal” jobs—eating tall trees, eating smaller animals, etc. But the total number of big-animal jobs is limited. The dinosaurs filled the big-animal jobs before mammals really got going, and mammals were not able to displace the dinosaurs. Some small mammals survived the meteorite that killed the dinosaurs, and then evolved to give big mammals over millions of years and longer. There were almost no big mammals before the dinosaurs were killed off, volition has nothing to do with evolution, and running away doesn’t avoid acid rain.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|3. |Considering long-term averages, and assuming that we don’t deploy space-based defenses against incoming meteorites, a reasonable estimate of |
| |the chance of an average U.S. citizen being killed by the effects of a meteorite or comet impact is that this risk is about the same as the |
| |chance of being killed by: |
| |A. |
| |Crash of a car. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The various diseases that come from smoking, overeating and under-exercising for a long time. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Crash of a commercial airplane. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Choking on a Diet Pepsi can. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A dinosaur stampede. |
| | |

Nobody that we know eats Pepsi cans, and while there are still meteorites in the solar system that can hit and kill, there are no dinosaurs left except on “The Flintstones”. A reputable study found that a meteorite impact might not occur for millions of years (or might occur next year…) but then might kill billions of people; plane crashes usually kill a few to a few hundred each year. Add up the deaths over a sufficiently long time, and plane crashes and meteorite impacts likely are similarly dangerous. But car crashes, smoking, and being fat and lazy are way more dangerous to us.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|4. |Extinction of existing species: |
| |A. |
| |Is an unconformity. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Occurred only at times of catastrophic mass extinctions. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Is a process that happened in the past but cannot happen today. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Occurred at a low level throughout geologic history, punctuated by mass extinctions when many types were killed over very short times. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Occurred at a low level throughout geologic history. |
| | |

Extinction has happened slowly throughout geologic history, but with a few dramatic, catastrophic mass extinctions. We may be causing the latest of those mass extinctions.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|5. |Which of the following is not part of the evidence that the odd layer marking the extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by a large meteorite |
| |impact? |
| |A. |
| |Abundant soot found in the layer. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |High concentrations of iridium found in the layer. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Large torn-up rock blocks from a tsunami (giant wave), found in the layer near the Caribbean Sea. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |High concentrations of silica found in the layer. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The common occurrence in the layer of otherwise-rare “shocked” quartz and other mineral types known to be formed only by quickly applied high |
| |pressures. |
| | |

We have seen several times that silica is very common, so its presence in a layer would not indicate much of anything. Features really observed in the layer that are associated with meteorites but not common elsewhere in rocks include shocked quartz from the impact, soot from wildfires, iridium from the meteorite, and a giant-wave deposit because the meteorite hit water as well as land at the edge of the Yucatan Peninsula.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|6. |What cause probably was not important in contributing to extinction of most species on Earth, including the dinosaurs, in a very short |
| |interval of time at the end of the Mesozoic Era? |
| |A. |
| |Wildfires caused by great heat from rocks warmed by atmospheric friction while falling back to Earth after being blasted high in the |
| |atmosphere by the impact. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Cold from the change in Earth’s orbit caused when the meteorite shoved the planet farther from the sun. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |“Impact winter” caused when tiny pieces of dust or other materials, which were put in the air by a meteorite impact, blocked incoming sunshine|
| |for months or years, after larger pieces had fallen back to Earth. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Acid rain, from sulfuric acid from the meteorite hitting sulfur-bearing rocks, and nitric acid from the heat of the meteorite burning the air.|
| | |

Robert Frost once wrote “Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice”. For the dinosaurs, both were probably true, with acid thrown in. But the meteorite was not nearly big enough to change the planet’s orbit noticeably. Frost went on “From what I’ve tasted of desire, I hold with those who favor fire, But if it had to perish twice, I think that for destruction ice, Is also great, and would suffice.”
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |A |
|7. |Which of the following is not a part of the modern theory of evolution? |
| |A. |
| |Children are more similar to their parents than to other individuals from their parents’ generation. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |If the body of an adult living thing is changed by its environment, those changes usually are passed on biologically to children. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A “successful experiment” during reproduction is one that increases the ability of an individual to have children who survive to have |
| |children. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Diversity exists within a species, and “experiments” that tend to promote diversity sometimes occur during reproduction. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |If a reproductive “experiment” is successful, it will be passed to more and more children in successive generations until all members of a |
| |population have it. |
| | |

You can get a tattoo without worry that your children will be born with that same tattoo, but all the rest of these contribute to evolution.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|8. |A widely accepted scientific idea usually is based on: |
| |A. |
| |Results of one experiment or observation that refuted old ideas and supported the correctness of the new idea. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Received wisdom from sacred books. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Socially conditioned ideas of scientists without reference to observations or experiments. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |An interlocking web of important experimental results or observations that support the correctness of the idea. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Diet Pepsi ads. |
| | |

At last observation, Pepsi commercials were not highly scientific, even if science is involved in figuring out what sells. It is a romantic notion that you could overturn great knowledge with a single observation; however, observing nature is not easy, and nature occasionally fools us (you can, rarely, flip an honest coin twenty times and get twenty heads), so if a single observation disagrees with a lot of other information, that single observation will be checked in various ways to see if the new result “stands up” before the older body of knowledge is discarded. Before an idea gains wide currency, that idea is tried in various ways, in many labs, in many places in nature, while models are run and theory is developed. The interlocking of all of these provides the confidence that scientists can use in doing things successfully. Although received wisdom from sacred books can be used for inspiration, scientific ideas must be tested against nature. Social scientists have quite rightly learned that scientists are affected by their prejudices, their funding sources, their mating habits, and other things, and that the path of science is not nearly the straight-ahead road to understanding presented in some textbooks. Unfortunately, some of those social scientists have then gone off the deep end and claimed that science is no more useful than any other human story—claiming that astrology and astronomy are equally valid, for example, or palm-reading and modern medicine. These same social scientists seem to know where to find a real doctor when they get in trouble, however. Science is appealed to nature, and builds on the learning of people from around the world. Airplanes that fly, computers that calculate, small devices that make big explosions, etc. are not socially conditioned ideas but instead are demonstrations of the success of science coupled to engineering.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|9. |Transitional forms between distinct types (species) of different ages in the fossil record: |
| |A. |
| |Are common for commonly fossilized types, but rare for rarely fossilized types. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Are never referred to in the debate about evolution. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Are known for all types. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Prove that the theory of evolution is wrong. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Do not occur. |
| | |

Most living things are recycled, not fossilized. Most of the world is eroding, so no fossils are made in most places. Where fossils are being made, only a few percent of living types typically end up producing fossils. And in those few types, new species often appear in small, isolated populations. But careful search has shown many, many transitions in commonly fossilized types. In rarely fossilized types, transitions are much rarer. Lots of people refer to transitional forms in debating evolution. Anti-evolutionists often claim that transitional forms are unknown. When transitional forms are demonstrated, the anti-evolutionists usually argue that all known transitions are “micro-evolution” which somehow is not “real” or “macro-evolution”. Because some transitions will always be missing, there is no way to show every possible transition in the fossil record, so this anti-evolutionist argument can’t be totally disproven. But that does not make this argument a good one.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|10. |The extinction of many types of dinosaurs occurred about: |
| |A. |
| |6,500,000 years ago. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |65,000,000 years ago. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |650,000 years ago. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |65,000 years ago. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |650,000,000 years ago. |
| | |

Humans were trotting around 65,000 years ago, and met dinosaurs only in The Flintstones. 650,000 years is barely enough time for evolution to have changed large animals a bit, and although 6,500,000 years is enough time for noticeable change of large animals—increase in maximum size of members of the horse family, for example—the huge changes since the dinosaurs needed 65,000,000 years. 650,000,000 years goes back before any land creatures, and before all but the simplest of multi-celled organisms.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|11. |The picture above shows a beautiful specimen of Araucarioxylon arizonicum, a fossil tree from the Mesozoic rocks of Petrified Forest|
| |National Park. |
| | |
| |Based on the discussions of evolution in class and in the textbook, it is likely that: |
| |A. |
| |Araucarioxylon arizonicum is related to, but recognizably different from, trees still alive today. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Araucarioxylon arizonicum is completely unrelated to trees still alive today. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Araucarioxylon arizonicum is essentially identical to trees still alive today. |
| | |

Evolutionary theory indicates that living things change from generation to generation, but that all living things are related. Consistent with this, Araucarioxylon arizonicum is recognizably similar to, yet different from, Araucaria trees such as monkey puzzle that are native to southern South America today.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|12. |Examine the two pictures above, labeled I and II. They are from the same sediment core collected in sea-floor muds from beneath the Atlantic |
| |Ocean off the coast of South Carolina. (The pictures are scanning electron micrographs by Brian Huber of the Smithsonian Institution, and the|
| |scale is the same on both, as shown at the bottom of each.) One picture shows a sample from just below the unique layer marking the |
| |extinction that killed the dinosaurs, and the other picture shows a sample from just above that unique layer. |
| | |
| |Which is which? |
| |A. |
| |I is from below the unique layer, and II is from above the unique layer. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |I is from above the unique layer, and II is from below the unique layer. |
| | |

Before the impact, biodiversity was high, as shown in I, which includes fossils from below the unique layer and thus deposited before the meteorite hit. After the impact, most of the living types were killed, giving rise to the limited diversity seen in II from above the unique layer after the impact.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|13. |The picture above shows: |
| |A. |
| |An upside-down dinosaur track. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |A sideways dinosaur track; the picture should be rotated ninety degrees counterclockwise to be right-side-up. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A sideways dinosaur track; the picture should be rotated ninety degrees clockwise to be right-side-up. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A right-side-up dinosaur track. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Mud cracks. |
| | |

This is a dinosaur track, from dinosaur ridge, and the dinosaur stomped down into the mud, so the track is right-side-up.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
| | |

|[pic] |
|1. |In the photograph above, a portion of cliff about 30 |
| |feet high is shown. |
| | |
| |From what location in the Grand Canyon did Dr. Alley |
| |take this image? |
| |A. |
| |Near the west end, where lava that came up pull-apart |
| |faults folded while flowing before hardening fully. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |About halfway between the top and the river, where a |
| |large fault has dragged the rocks and caused the fold. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Near the bottom, where the river has cut through rocks |
| |that were cooked, squeezed, and partially melted deep in|
| |an old mountain range. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Near the top, in sedimentary rocks that slumped downhill|
| |when they were soft, folding the rocks. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |In the gift shop, where artists have painted the cliff |
| |to look like real rocks. |
| | |

This is the Vishnu Schist and Zoroaster Granite, rocks from the heart of a mountain range. The river is just barely out of the picture to the bottom.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|2. |The two pictures above, I and II, show fossils in rocks from the Grand Canyon. Each is "typical"; the rocks near sample I contain fossils |
| |similar to those shown in sample I, and the rocks near sample II contain fossils similar to those shown in sample II. |
| |It is likely that: |
| |A. |
| |Sample I is from high in the cliffs of the Canyon, and sample II is also from high in the cliffs of the Canyon. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Sample I is from Graham Spanier’s backyard, and Sample II is from Joe Paterno’s backyard. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Sample I is from high in the cliffs of the Grand Canyon, and sample II is from much lower, near the river. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Sample I is from near the river, and sample II is also from near the river. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Sample I is from near the river, and sample II is from high in the cliffs of the Grand Canyon. |
| | |

Sample I is a wonderful shell hash, or coquina, from the Supai Rocks well up the side of the Canyon, and contains shells from a great diversity of different creatures. Sample II includes algal-mat deposits (stromatolites) from the Precambrian Chuar Group of the Grand Canyon Supergroup, deep in the Canyon near the river, from a time when biology was not a whole lot more diverse than algal mats.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|3. |The diagram above shows a geologic cross-section of some rocks, such as you might see in a cliff. The tree is growing on top of the modern |
| |surface. Rock layers A, B, C, D, E, and F are sedimentary; E contains mud cracks and fossil footprints as shown. G is igneous rock that |
| |hardened from hot, melted rock. H, I and J are faults, and K and L are unconformities. Sedimentary rocks are right-side-up unless there is |
| |some indication given to show something else. |
| | |
| |Referring to the rocks you see here ......Which is older: |
| |A. |
| |Fault H |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Fault J |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Intrusion G |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Fault I |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Unconformity K |
| | |

Fault I is cut by fault J, so is older than J. Fault J is cut by unconformity K so is older than K. Unconformity K is cut by intrusion G so is older than G, and intrusion G is cut by fault H so is older than H. Hence, fault I is the oldest on this list.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|4. |The picture above shows a region of hard rock about six inches across from the Grand Canyon. |
| |The shape and polish of the rock are interesting. |
| | |
| |It is likely that the rock: |
| |A. |
| |Was scratched and polished by the wind, which howls through the Canyon carrying loads of sand eroded from sand bars. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Was scratched and polished by a glacier, which helped erode the Canyon during the ice age. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Was scratched and polished by silt-laden river water, during carving of the Canyon by the Colorado River. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Was scratched and polished by motion along a fault, which helped open the Canyon so that weathering could lower the Canyon floor. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Was scratched and polished by the hooves of mules carrying tourists into the Canyon along the Bright Angel Trail. |
| | |

The Canyon was carved by the Colorado River. Glaciers have not been there, and while wind, faults and mule hooves all can change the appearance of rocks, none makes something like this river-polished rock, as we saw in class and you saw in one of the Grand Canyon slide shows.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|5. |The diagram above shows a geologic cross-section of some rocks, such as you might see in a cliff. The tree is growing on top of the modern |
| |surface. Rock layers A, B, C, D, E, and F are sedimentary; E contains mud cracks and fossil footprints as shown. G is igneous rock that |
| |hardened from hot, melted rock. H, I and J are faults, and K and L are unconformities. Sedimentary rocks are right-side-up unless there is |
| |some indication given to show something else. |
| | |
| |Referring to the rocks you see here ......Which is the youngest fault: |
| |A. |
| |I |
| | |
| |B. |
| |H |
| | |
| |C. |
| |J |
| | |

I is cut by J, so I is older than J. And with reference to K, both I and J can be shown to be older than H.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|1. |The diagram above shows a geologic cross-section of some rocks, such as you might see in a cliff. The tree is growing on top of the |
| |modern surface. Rock layers A, B, C, D, E, and F are sedimentary; E contains mud cracks and fossil footprints as shown. G is igneous |
| |rock that hardened from hot, melted rock. H, I and J are faults, and K and L are unconformities. Sedimentary rocks are right-side-up |
| |unless there is some indication given to show something else. |
| | |
| |Referring to the rocks you see here ......Which is older: |
| |A. |
| |Fault J |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Intrusion G |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Unconformity K |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Fault I |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Fault H |
| | |

Fault I is cut by fault J, so is older than J. Fault J is cut by unconformity K so is older than K. Unconformity K is cut by intrusion G so is older than G, and intrusion G is cut by fault H so is older than H. Hence, fault I is the oldest on this list.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|2. |In age dating, geologists use: |
| |A. |
| |Radiometric techniques for relative dating of events that happened in the last 100,000 years, and layer-counting for relative dating of events|
| |that happened billions of years ago. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Radiometric techniques and layer-counting for absolute dating of events that happened in the last 100,000 years, and other radiometric |
| |techniques for absolute dating of much older events. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Cross-cutting relationships for absolute ages, and uniformitarianism for relative ages. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Radiometric techniques for absolute dating of events that happened in the last 100,000 years, and other radiometric techniques and |
| |layer-counting for absolute dating of much older events. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Radiometric techniques and layer-counting for relative dating of events that happened in the last 100,000 years, and other radiometric |
| |techniques for relative dating of much older events. |
| | |

If you want an absolute date (number of years) rather than older/younger, you can count layers for young things, or use radiometric techniques for young things or for old ones.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|3. |The picture above shows a region of hard rock about six inches across from the Grand Canyon. |
| |The shape and polish of the rock are interesting. |
| | |
| |It is likely that the rock: |
| |A. |
| |Was scratched and polished by silt-laden river water, during carving of the Canyon by the Colorado River. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Was scratched and polished by the hooves of mules carrying tourists into the Canyon along the Bright Angel Trail. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Was scratched and polished by motion along a fault, which helped open the Canyon so that weathering could lower the Canyon floor. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Was scratched and polished by the wind, which howls through the Canyon carrying loads of sand eroded from sand bars. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Was scratched and polished by a glacier, which helped erode the Canyon during the ice age. |
| | |

The Canyon was carved by the Colorado River. Glaciers have not been there, and while wind, faults and mule hooves all can change the appearance of rocks, none makes something like this river-polished rock, as we saw in class and you saw in one of the Grand Canyon slide shows.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|4. |The diagram above shows a geologic cross-section of some rocks, such as you might see in a cliff. The tree is growing on top of the modern |
| |surface. Rock layers A, B, C, D, E, and F are sedimentary; E contains mud cracks and fossil footprints as shown. G is igneous rock that |
| |hardened from hot, melted rock. H, I and J are faults, and K and L are unconformities. Sedimentary rocks are right-side-up unless there is |
| |some indication given to show something else. |
| | |
| |Referring to the rocks you see here ......Which is younger? |
| |A. |
| |Unconformity K |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The tree |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Rock Layer B |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Rock layer A |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Fault J |
| | |

The tree is growing on intrusion G, which can be shown to be younger than all of the others.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|5. |The diagram above shows a geologic cross-section of some rocks, such as you might see in a cliff. The tree is growing on top of the modern |
| |surface. Rock layers A, B, C, D, E, and F are sedimentary; E contains mud cracks and fossil footprints as shown. G is igneous rock that |
| |hardened from hot, melted rock. H, I and J are faults, and K and L are unconformities. Sedimentary rocks are right-side-up unless there is |
| |some indication given to show something else. |
| | |
| |Referring to the rocks you see here ......Which is the youngest fault: |
| |A. |
| |H |
| | |
| |B. |
| |J |
| | |
| |C. |
| |I |
| | |

I is cut by J, so I is older than J. And with reference to K, both I and J can be shown to be older than H.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |B |

|[pic] |
| |The next four (4) questions refer to the diagram above. |
| | |
| |This diagram shows a geologic cross-section of some rocks, such as you might see|
| |in a cliff. The tree is growing on top of the modern surface. Rock layers A,B, |
| |C, D, E, and F are sedimentary; E contains mud cracks and fossil footprints as |
| |shown. G is igneous rock that hardened from hot, melted rock. H, I and J are |
| |faults, and K and L are unconformities. Sedimentary rocks are right-side-up |
| |unless there is some indication given to show something else. |
| | |
| |Referring to the rocks you see here ...... |

|1. |Which is the correct age progression, from older (first) to younger (last)? |
| |A. |
| |F, E, D, C, B |
| | |
| |B. |
| |C, D, E, F, B |
| | |
| |C. |
| |D, E, F, B, C |
| | |
| |D. |
| |E, F, B, C, D |
| | |
| |E. |
| |B, C, D, E, F |
| | |

The package of sediments C, D, E, F is upside-down, as shown by the footprints and mud cracks, so C is oldest, and F the youngest of these. B is above the unconformity above all of C, D, E, and F, so is the youngest of these five.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |A |
|2. |Which is the youngest fault: |
| |A. |
| |I |
| | |
| |B. |
| |J |
| | |
| |C. |
| |H |
| | |

I is cut by J, so I is older than J. And with reference to K, both I and J can be shown to be older than H.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|3. |Which is younger: |
| |A. |
| |Fault H. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Unconformity L. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Unconformity K. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Fault I. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Fault J. |
| | |

Unconformity L is cut by fault I, so is older than I. Fault I is cut by fault J, so is older than J. Fault J is cut by unconformity K so is older than K. Unconformity K is cut by intrusion G so is older than G, and intrusion G is cut by fault H so is older than H. Hence, fault H is the youngest.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|4. |Which is younger: |
| |A. |
| |Fault I. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The tree. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Rock layer D. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Unconformity L. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Rock layer C. |
| | |

The tree is growing on intrusion G, which can be shown to be younger than all of the others.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|5. |Which is accurate about the Grand Canyon, in Arizona: |
| |A. |
| |The canyon is wider at the top and narrower at the bottom because the river was wider when the region was wetter, and has narrowed as deserts |
| |spread recently. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The oldest rocks are on top, with younger ones beneath, as shown by all of the footprints being upside-down in the rocks of the canyon walls. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The rock record of the canyon contains no unconformities. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The Coconino Sandstone that forms one of the prominent cliffs of the canyon is the youngest rock layer known from Arizona and surrounding |
| |states. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A great thickness of sedimentary rocks exists in Death-Valley-type faulted basins, which can be seen deep in the canyon in many places. |
| | |

Well over two miles of Precambrian sedimentary rocks can be seen in the deep part of the canyon, all slanted from horizontal and preserved where they were dropped by faulting. The sedimentary rocks above are right-side up, and the Coconino Sandstone is well below the Kaibab Limestone of the rim, which slants down to the north beneath the rocks of Zion, which are older than the rocks of Bryce, among others. Many unconformities exist in the walls of the Canyon, including the one below the Precambrian sediments and the one above those sediments. The idea of the river narrowing over time was the hypothesis that an interested tourist presented to one of the professors and a ranger at the Canyon a few years ago. When the professor asked whether the tourist would want to go out on a narrow point with a jackhammer, the tourist said no, because the rocks might fall off and slide down into the Canyon. When the professor pointed out the many places that rocks had fallen off and slid down, the quick-witted tourist figured out that the Canyon has been widened by such rockfalls as the river has cut downward.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|6. |Early geologists did not have radiometric dating techniques, or long layer-counted histories. Instead, they followed William Smith in putting |
| |things in order, and then used uniformitarian calculations based on modern rates of processes and observed results of processes in the |
| |geologic record. These early geologists, using these techniques, found that the Earth: |
| |A. |
| |Has been here forever. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Is about 6000 years old. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Is more than about one-hundred-million years old. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Is 4.6 billion years old. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Is about 10,000 years old. |
| | |

Radiometric techniques reveal the Earth to be about 4.6 billion years old, but early geologists did not have the sophisticated instruments to measure the trace radioactive elements and their offspring. Working from the rocks, the geologists knew that the age must be in the neighborhood of 100 million years, plus extra time in unconformities and additional extra time in the oldest, metamorphic rocks.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|7. |One practical radioactive system used to date lava flows involves: |
| |A. |
| |The solid potassium-40, which decays to solid argon-40. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The solid potassium-40, which decays to the solid grahamspanierum-41. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The gas argon-40, which decays to solid potassium-40. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The solid potassium-40, which decays to the gas argon-40. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The gas argon-40, which decays to the gas potassium-40. |
| | |

Potassium-40 is common in solid minerals, and decays to produce the gas argon-40. And despite his great contributions to humanity, no one has named an isotope after Penn State’s president.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|8. |You start with 800 parent atoms of a particular radioactive type, which decays to give stable offspring. You wait just long enough for two |
| |half lives to pass. You should expect to have how many parent atoms remaining (on average): |
| |A. |
| |25. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |400. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |100. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |200. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |50. |
| | |

After one half-life, you’ve gone from 800 parents to 400 parents; after a second half-life you go from 400 parents to 200. . (Typical studies of radioactive decay use many more atoms, to avoid statistical fluctuations, but the question says “on average”, so we asked you about 800 rather than 800,000,000,000,000 to make the math easier.)
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|9. |You are asked to assign as accurate a numerical age as possible (how many years old) to a sedimentary deposit. You would be wise to use: |
| |A. |
| |Either counting of annual layers or radiometric techniques if the deposit is old (more than about 100,000 years), and radiometric techniques |
| |if the deposit is young (less than about 100,000 years). |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Uniformitarian techniques if the deposit is old, and counting of annual layers if the deposit is young. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Counting of annual layers if the deposit is old (more than about 100,000 years), and radiometric techniques if the deposit is young (less than|
| |about 100,000 years). |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Uniformitarian techniques. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Either counting of annual layers or radiometric techniques if the deposit is young (less than about 100,000 years), and radiometric techniques|
| |if the deposit is old (more than about 100,000 years). |
| | |

If you want an absolute date (number of years) rather than older/younger, you can count layers for young things, or use radiometric techniques for young things or for old ones. Uniformitarian calculations aren’t very accurate.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|10. |John Wesley Powell, who led the first boat trip through the Grand Canyon, called the feature marked by the yellow lines “The Great |
| |_________”. What did he put in the blank? |
| |A. |
| |Thrust Fault. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Trompe L’Oeil. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Pull-apart fault. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Unconformity. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Intrusion. |
| | |

This is The Great Unconformity, separating inclined sedimentary rocks below from horizontal sedimentary rocks above. The rocks above are from the Paleozoic, and those below from the Precambrian. A Trompe L’Oeil painting is designed to fool the eye, but this is real.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|11. |In the photograph above, a portion of cliff about 30 feet high is shown. |
| | |
| |From what location in the Grand Canyon did Dr. Alley take this image? |
| |A. |
| |Near the top, in sedimentary rocks that slumped downhill when they were soft, folding the rocks. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |In the gift shop, where artists have painted the cliff to look like real rocks. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Near the west end, where lava that came up pull-apart faults folded while flowing before hardening fully. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Near the bottom, where the river has cut through rocks that were cooked, squeezed, and partially melted deep in an old mountain |
| |range. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |About halfway between the top and the river, where a large fault has dragged the rocks and caused the fold. |
| | |

This is the Vishnu Schist and Zoroaster Granite, rocks from the heart of a mountain range. The river is just barely out of the picture to the bottom.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|12. |The picture above shows a region of hard rock about six inches across from the Grand Canyon. |
| |The shape and polish of the rock are interesting. |
| | |
| |It is likely that the rock: |
| |A. |
| |Was scratched and polished by the wind, which howls through the Canyon carrying loads of sand eroded from sand bars. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Was scratched and polished by the hooves of mules carrying tourists into the Canyon along the Bright Angel Trail. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Was scratched and polished by motion along a fault, which helped open the Canyon so that weathering could lower the Canyon floor. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Was scratched and polished by a glacier, which helped erode the Canyon during the ice age. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Was scratched and polished by silt-laden river water, during carving of the Canyon by the Colorado River. |
| | |

The Canyon was carved by the Colorado River. Glaciers have not been there, and while wind, faults and mule hooves all can change the appearance of rocks, none makes something like this river-polished rock, as we saw in class and you saw in one of the Grand Canyon slide shows.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|13. |The two pictures above, I and II, show fossils in rocks from the Grand Canyon. Each is "typical"; the rocks near sample I contain fossils |
| |similar to those shown in sample I, and the rocks near sample II contain fossils similar to those shown in sample II. |
| |It is likely that: |
| |A. |
| |Sample I is from near the river, and sample II is also from near the river. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Sample I is from Graham Spanier’s backyard, and Sample II is from Joe Paterno’s backyard. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Sample I is from near the river, and sample II is from high in the cliffs of the Grand Canyon. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Sample I is from high in the cliffs of the Grand Canyon, and sample II is from much lower, near the river. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Sample I is from high in the cliffs of the Canyon, and sample II is also from high in the cliffs of the Canyon. |
| | |

Sample I is a wonderful shell hash, or coquina, from the Supai Rocks well up the side of the Canyon, and contains shells from a great diversity of different creatures. Sample II includes algal-mat deposits (stromatolites) from the Precambrian Chuar Group of the Grand Canyon Supergroup, deep in the Canyon near the river, from a time when biology was not a whole lot more diverse than algal mats.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|14. |Geological evidence based on several radiometric techniques has provided a scientifically well-accepted age for the Earth. Represent |
| |that age of the Earth as the 100-yard length of a football field, and any time interval can be represented as some distance on the |
| |field. (So something that lasted one-tenth of the age of the Earth would be ten yards, and something that lasted one-half of the age |
| |of the Earth would be fifty yards.) On this scale, how far on the football field would represent the time between the first |
| |appearance of abundant shelly creatures and today? |
| |A. |
| |Just over the thickness of a sheet of paper. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Over 80 yards. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |50 yards. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Just over 10 yards. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |60 yards. |
| | |

If the 4.6 billion years of Earth history are 100 yards, then the 570 million years since the widespread appearance of shelly creatures is a bit over 10 yards. Most of our fossil record is limited to the last 10% of the planet’s history. The shells appeared “suddenly”—in a few million years, or a few inches on the football field of time.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |

Unit 11 - Living On Earth I - Evolution & Extinction
Park Visits: Florissant & Dinosaur

|1. |True or False: religion and science always disagree. |
| |A. |
| |False. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |True. |
| | |

Pope John Paul II said that the Catholic Church has no problem with evolution, and Baptist Jimmy Carter also supported evolution, so it is clear that religion and science can agree.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|2. |The dominant large animals on Earth today are mammals. Before the giant meteorite impact 65 million years ago: |
| |A. |
| |Mammals also were the dominant large animals. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Small mammals coexisted with dinosaurs, and after the dinosaurs were killed by the meteorite, the small animals wanted to become bigger and so|
| |made themselves bigger. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Small mammals coexisting with the dinosaurs were not able to outcompete the dinosaurs for big-animal jobs, but after the dinosaurs were |
| |killed, some large mammals evolved from small mammals to fill the large-animal jobs. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Moose were the dominant large animals. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Very large mammals coexisted with the dinosaurs; those very large mammals have gotten smaller after the meteorite impact because the mammals |
| |don't have to be big to compete with the dinosaurs any more. |
| | |

There are “big-animal” jobs—eating tall trees, eating smaller animals, etc. But the total number of big-animal jobs is limited. The dinosaurs filled the big-animal jobs before mammals really got going, and mammals were not able to displace the dinosaurs. Some small mammals survived the meteorite that killed the dinosaurs, and then evolved to give big mammals over millions of years and longer. There were almost no big mammals before the dinosaurs were killed off. Volition has nothing to do with evolution.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|3. |Considering long-term averages, and assuming that we don’t deploy space-based defenses against incoming meteorites, a reasonable estimate of |
| |the chance of an average U.S. citizen being killed by the effects of a meteorite or comet impact is that this risk is about the same as the |
| |chance of being killed by: |
| |A. |
| |A dinosaur stampede. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Crash of a car. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Crash of a commercial airplane. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Choking on a Diet Pepsi can. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The various diseases that come from smoking, overeating and under-exercising for a long time. |
| | |

Nobody that we know eats Pepsi cans, and while there are still meteorites in the solar system that can hit and kill, there are no dinosaurs left except on “The Flintstones”. A reputable study found that a meteorite impact might not occur for millions of years (or might occur next year…) but then might kill billions of people; plane crashes usually kill a few to a few hundred each year. Add up the deaths over a sufficiently long time, and plane crashes and meteorite impacts likely are similarly dangerous. But car crashes, smoking, and being fat and lazy are way more dangerous to us.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|4. |What is accurate about the history of extinction of species: |
| |A. |
| |Extinction happens at a slow, “background” rate, punctuated by rare “mass extinctions” during which many types are eliminated rapidly. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Extinction did not occur before humans appeared, but now extinctions occur because of humans. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Every type that has appeared has become extinct. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Extinction happens only during rare “mass extinctions” during which many types are eliminated rapidly. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Extinction happens at a slow, “background” rate. |
| | |

Numerous extinctions have occurred over the history of the planet, but extinctions have been especially rapid during the short “mass extinctions” including the one that killed the dinosaurs. Humans have accelerated extinction, but we didn’t invent it. And if every type has become extinct, what are you doing reading this???
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|5. |Which of the following is not part of the evidence that the odd layer marking the extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by a large meteorite |
| |impact? |
| |A. |
| |The common occurrence in the layer of otherwise-rare “shocked” quartz and other mineral types known to be formed only by quickly applied high |
| |pressures. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Abundant soot found in the layer. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Large torn-up rock blocks from a tsunami (giant wave), found in the layer near the Caribbean Sea. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |High concentrations of iridium found in the layer. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |High concentrations of iron found in the layer. |
| | |

We have seen several times that iron is very common, so its presence in a layer would not indicate much of anything. Features really observed in the layer that are associated with meteorites but not common elsewhere in rocks include shocked quartz from the impact, soot from wildfires, iridium from the meteorite, and a giant-wave deposit because the meteorite hit water as well as land at the edge of the Yucatan Peninsula.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|6. |Which of the following was probably important in contributing to extinction of most species at the same time the dinosaurs became extinct? |
| |A. |
| |Cold from the change in Earth’s orbit caused when the meteorite shoved the planet farther from the sun. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Changed weather patterns because the meteorite caused large true polar wander (the north pole shifted rapidly in comparison to the continents |
| |because the meteorite rolled the planet on its side). |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Wildfires caused by great heat from rocks warmed by atmospheric friction while falling back to Earth after being blasted high in the |
| |atmosphere by the impact. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Intense rays emitted from radioactive materials in the meteorite. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Heat from the change in Earth’s orbit caused when the meteorite shoved the planet closer to the sun. |
| | |

The meteorite impact was not nearly large enough to move the planet notably or to roll the planet over. There is a bit of extra radioactivity in meteorites (caused by cosmic rays, which reach a meteorite more easily than they reach the Earth because the Earth is shielded by its atmosphere), but only in comic books is there enough radiation from the extra radioactivity to really make a difference. The wildfire hypothesis is credible, and the large load of soot in the odd layer marking the extinction of the dinosaurs argues in favor of the wildfires having occurred.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|7. |Which of the following is not a part of the modern theory of evolution? |
| |A. |
| |Children are more similar to their parents than to other individuals from their parents’ generation. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Diversity exists within a species, and “experiments” that tend to promote diversity sometimes occur during reproduction. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Evolution proceeds in the direction desired by members of a generation. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |If a reproductive “experiment” is successful, it will be passed to more and more children in successive generations until all members of a |
| |population have it. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A “successful experiment” during reproduction is one that increases the ability of an individual to have children who survive to have |
| |children. |
| | |

No matter how hard you and your friends wish that your children will be born with the ability to fly unassisted, the kids will have to use airlines like the rest of us. All the rest of these contribute to evolution.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|8. |You develop a new idea, which is in conflict with a widely accepted scientific idea. For your new idea to gain widespread acceptance, you |
| |probably will need to show that: |
| |A. |
| |Your new idea does a better job than the previously accepted idea in predicting the outcome of one experiment that you conducted. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The development of the old idea was influenced by the socially conditioned ideas of the scientists involved. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Your new idea does a better job than the previously accepted idea in predicting the outcomes of an interlocking web of important experiments |
| |or observations. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Your new idea is informed by Diet Pepsi ads. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Your new idea is consistent with your interpretation of received wisdom from sacred books. |
| | |

At last observation, Pepsi commercials were not highly scientific, even if science is involved in figuring out what sells. It is a romantic notion that you could overturn great knowledge with a single observation; however, observing nature is not easy, and nature occasionally fools us (you can, rarely, flip an honest coin twenty times and get twenty heads), so if a single observation disagrees with a lot of other information, that single observation will be checked in various ways to see if the new result “stands up” before the older body of knowledge is discarded. Before an idea gains wide currency, that idea is tried in various ways, in many labs, in many places in nature, while models are run and theory is developed. The interlocking of all of these provides the confidence that scientists can use in doing things successfully. Although received wisdom from sacred books can be used for inspiration, scientific ideas must be tested against nature. Social scientists have quite rightly learned that scientists are affected by their prejudices, their funding sources, their mating habits, and other things, and that the path of science is not nearly the straight-ahead road to understanding presented in some textbooks. Unfortunately, some of those social scientists have then gone off the deep end and claimed that science is no more useful than any other human story—claiming that astrology and astronomy are equally valid, for example, or palm-reading and modern medicine. These same social scientists seem to know where to find a real doctor when they get in trouble, however. Science is appealed to nature, and builds on the learning of people from around the world. Airplanes that fly, computers that calculate, small devices that make big explosions, etc. are not socially conditioned ideas but instead are demonstrations of the success of science coupled to engineering.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|9. |What is known scientifically about transitional forms in the fossil record? |
| |A. |
| |Their occurrence is predicted by special-creation (“Ford-Mustang-type”) “catastrophist” models of the history of life, but not by evolutionary|
| |theory. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |They provide complete records of every fossil lineage. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |They are not observed. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |They conclusively provide the genetic linkage between Coke and Pepsi. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |They are found frequently for those general types of living things (such as shelly shallow-marine creatures) that commonly produce fossils, |
| |but are not found as frequently for other general types. |
| | |

“Ford-Mustang-type” “catastrophist” models postulate many creations lacking transitional forms. Genetic links between Coke and Pepsi have not been established in the fossil record. But, transitions are known commonly from commonly fossilized lineages, and less commonly from less-commonly-fossilized lineages.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|10. |The great diversification of shelly fossils that marks the beginning of the Paleozoic Era occurred about: |
| |A. |
| |5,700,000 years ago. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |57,000,000 years ago. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |57,000 years ago. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |5,700,000,000 years ago. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |570,000,000 years ago. |
| | |

Humans were trotting around 57,000 years ago. 570,000 years is barely enough time for evolution to have changed large animals a bit, and although 5,700,000 years is enough time for noticeable change of large animals—increase in maximum size of members of the horse family, for example—the huge changes since the dinosaurs needed a bit more than 57,000,000 years (dinosaur extinction was about 65,000,000 years ago). The Paleozoic came before that, and 570,000,000 years is about right. 5,700,000,000 years is more than the age of the Earth, and so doesn’t work very well.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|11. |Araucarioxylon arizonicum was a beautiful tree of the Mesozoic, and is the most common tree found fossilized in Petrified Forest |
| |National Park. A spectacular specimen is shown above. |
| | |
| |Based on the discussions of evolution in the textbook and lectures, it is likely that: |
| |A. |
| |Trees alive today are related to Araucarioxylon arizonicum, but even those modern trees most similar to Araucarioxylon arizonicum are|
| |recognizably different from it. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |All trees alive today are completely unrelated to Araucarioxylon arizonicum. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Some trees alive today are essentially identical to Araucarioxylon arizonicum. |
| | |

Evolutionary theory indicates that living things change from generation to generation, but that all living things are related. Consistent with this, Araucarioxylon arizonicum is recognizably similar to, yet different from, Araucaria trees such as monkey puzzle that are native to southern South America today.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|12. |The pictures labeled I and II show fossils from a sediment core collected from the floor of the Atlantic ocean, east of South Carolina. The |
| |sediment has not been disturbed by landslides or mountain building or other processes. The pictures were taken by Brian Huber, of the |
| |Smithsonian Institution, using a scanning electron microscope. The two samples in the sediment core were separated by the unique layer |
| |marking the extinction that killed the dinosaurs. |
| | |
| |Which is correct? |
| |A. |
| |II is older than the unique layer, and thus sat below the unique layer in the sediment on the sea floor. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |I is older than the unique layer, and thus sat below the unique layer in the sediment on the sea floor. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |II is older than the unique layer, and thus sat above the unique layer in the sediment on the sea floor. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |I is older than the unique layer, and thus sat above the unique layer in the sediment on the sea floor. |
| | |

Before the impact, biodiversity was high, as shown in I, which includes fossils from below the unique layer and thus deposited before the meteorite hit. After the impact, most of the living types were killed, giving rise to the limited diversity seen in II from above the unique layer after the impact.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|13. |The picture above shows: |
| |A. |
| |A sideways dinosaur track; the picture should be rotated ninety degrees clockwise to be right-side-up. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |An upside-down dinosaur track. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Mud cracks. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A sideways dinosaur track; the picture should be rotated ninety degrees counterclockwise to be right-side-up. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A right-side-up dinosaur track. |
| | |

This is a dinosaur track, from Dinosaur Ridge, and the dinosaur stomped down into the mud, so the track is upside-down; the instructional team used the power of modern computers to invert the picture.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|1. |True or False: religion and science always disagree. |
| |A. |
| |True. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |False. |
| | |

Pope John Paul II said that the Catholic Church has no problem with evolution, and Baptist Jimmy Carter also supported evolution, so it is clear that religion and science can agree.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|2. |The picture above shows: |
| |A. |
| |A sideways dinosaur track; the picture should be rotated ninety degrees counterclockwise to be right-side-up. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |An upside-down dinosaur track. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A right-side-up dinosaur track. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A sideways dinosaur track; the picture should be rotated ninety degrees clockwise to be right-side-up. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Mud cracks. |
| | |

This is a dinosaur track, from dinosaur ridge, and the dinosaur stomped down into the mud, so the track is right-side-up.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|3. |Examine the two pictures above, labeled I and II. They are from the same sediment core collected in sea-floor muds from beneath the Atlantic |
| |Ocean off the coast of South Carolina. (The pictures are scanning electron micrographs by Brian Huber of the Smithsonian Institution, and the |
| |scale is the same on both, as shown at the bottom of each.) One picture shows a sample from just below the unique layer marking the extinction|
| |that killed the dinosaurs, and the other picture shows a sample from just above that unique layer. |
| | |
| |Which is which? |
| |A. |
| |I is from above the unique layer, and II is from below the unique layer. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |I is from below the unique layer, and II is from above the unique layer. |
| | |

Before the impact, biodiversity was high, as shown in I, which includes fossils from below the unique layer and thus deposited before the meteorite hit. After the impact, most of the living types were killed, giving rise to the limited diversity seen in II from above the unique layer after the impact.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|4. |Which of the following is not part of the evidence that the odd layer marking the extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by a large meteorite |
| |impact? |
| |A. |
| |High concentrations of silica found in the layer. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |High concentrations of iridium found in the layer. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Large torn-up rock blocks from a tsunami (giant wave), found in the layer near the Caribbean Sea. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Abundant soot found in the layer. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The common occurrence in the layer of otherwise-rare “shocked” quartz and other mineral types known to be formed only by quickly applied high |
| |pressures. |
| | |

We have seen several times that silica is very common, so its presence in a layer would not indicate much of anything. Features really observed in the layer that are associated with meteorites but not common elsewhere in rocks include shocked quartz from the impact, soot from wildfires, iridium from the meteorite, and a giant-wave deposit because the meteorite hit water as well as land at the edge of the Yucatan Peninsula.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|5. |The picture above shows a beautiful specimen of Araucarioxylon arizonicum, a fossil tree from the Mesozoic rocks of Petrified Forest National |
| |Park. |
| | |
| |Based on the discussions of evolution in class and in the textbook, it is likely that: |
| |A. |
| |Araucarioxylon arizonicum is completely unrelated to trees still alive today. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Araucarioxylon arizonicum is related to, but recognizably different from, trees still alive today. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Araucarioxylon arizonicum is essentially identical to trees still alive today. |
| | |

Evolutionary theory indicates that living things change from generation to generation, but that all living things are related. Consistent with this, Araucarioxylon arizonicum is recognizably similar to, yet different from, Araucaria trees such as monkey puzzle that are native to southern South America today.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |

|1. |Sometimes, science and religion come into conflict. This is because: |
| |A. |
| |Science and religion must disagree. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Science and religion can coexist just fine with a little effort, but sometimes choose not to do so. |
| | |

Pope John Paul II said that the Catholic Church has no problem with evolution, and Baptist Jimmy Carter also supported evolution, so it is clear that religion and science can agree.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|2. |The dominant large animals on Earth today are mammals. Before the giant meteorite impact 65 million years ago: |
| |A. |
| |Small mammals coexisted with dinosaurs, and after the dinosaurs were killed by the meteorite, the small animals wanted to become bigger and so|
| |made themselves bigger. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Mammals also were the dominant large animals. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Very large mammals coexisted with the dinosaurs; those very large mammals have gotten smaller after the meteorite impact because the mammals |
| |don't have to be big to compete with the dinosaurs any more. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Small mammals coexisting with the dinosaurs were not able to outcompete the dinosaurs for big-animal jobs, but after the dinosaurs were |
| |killed, some large mammals evolved from small mammals to fill the large-animal jobs. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Moose were the dominant large animals. |
| | |

There are “big-animal” jobs—eating tall trees, eating smaller animals, etc. But the total number of big-animal jobs is limited. The dinosaurs filled the big-animal jobs before mammals really got going, and mammals were not able to displace the dinosaurs. Some small mammals survived the meteorite that killed the dinosaurs, and then evolved to give big mammals over millions of years and longer. There were almost no big mammals before the dinosaurs were killed off. Volition has nothing to do with evolution.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|3. |Considering long-term averages, and assuming that we don’t deploy space-based defenses against incoming meteorites, a reasonable estimate of |
| |the chance of an average U.S. citizen being killed by the effects of a meteorite or comet impact is that this risk is about the same as the |
| |chance of being killed by: |
| |A. |
| |Crash of a commercial airplane. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Crash of a car. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Choking on a Diet Pepsi can. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The various diseases that come from smoking, overeating and under-exercising for a long time. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A dinosaur stampede. |
| | |

Nobody that we know eats Pepsi cans, and while there are still meteorites in the solar system that can hit and kill, there are no dinosaurs left except on “The Flintstones”. A reputable study found that a meteorite impact might not occur for millions of years (or might occur next year…) but then might kill billions of people; plane crashes usually kill a few to a few hundred each year. Add up the deaths over a sufficiently long time, and plane crashes and meteorite impacts likely are similarly dangerous. But car crashes, smoking, and being fat and lazy are way more dangerous to us.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|4. |What is accurate about the history of extinction of species: |
| |A. |
| |Extinction happens only during rare “mass extinctions” during which many types are eliminated rapidly. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Extinction happens at a slow, “background” rate. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Extinction did not occur before humans appeared, but now extinctions occur because of humans. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Every type that has appeared has become extinct. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Extinction happens at a slow, “background” rate, punctuated by rare “mass extinctions” during which many types are eliminated rapidly. |
| | |

Numerous extinctions have occurred over the history of the planet, but extinctions have been especially rapid during the short “mass extinctions” including the one that killed the dinosaurs. Humans have accelerated extinction, but we didn’t invent it. And if every type has become extinct, what are you doing reading this???
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|5. |Which of the following is not part of the evidence that the odd layer marking the extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by a large meteorite |
| |impact? |
| |A. |
| |High concentrations of iron found in the layer. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |High concentrations of iridium found in the layer. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The common occurrence in the layer of otherwise-rare “shocked” quartz and other mineral types known to be formed only by quickly applied high |
| |pressures. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Abundant soot found in the layer. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Large torn-up rock blocks from a tsunami (giant wave), found in the layer near the Caribbean Sea. |
| | |

We have seen several times that iron is very common, so its presence in a layer would not indicate much of anything. Features really observed in the layer that are associated with meteorites but not common elsewhere in rocks include shocked quartz from the impact, soot from wildfires, iridium from the meteorite, and a giant-wave deposit because the meteorite hit water as well as land at the edge of the Yucatan Peninsula.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|6. |Which of the following was probably important in contributing to extinction of most species at the same time the dinosaurs became extinct? |
| |A. |
| |Changed weather patterns because the meteorite caused large true polar wander (the north pole shifted rapidly in comparison to the continents |
| |because the meteorite rolled the planet on its side). |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Cold from the change in Earth’s orbit caused when the meteorite shoved the planet farther from the sun. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Heat from the change in Earth’s orbit caused when the meteorite shoved the planet closer to the sun. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Wildfires caused by great heat from rocks warmed by atmospheric friction while falling back to Earth after being blasted high in the |
| |atmosphere by the impact. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Intense rays emitted from radioactive materials in the meteorite. |
| | |

The meteorite impact was not nearly large enough to move the planet notably or to roll the planet over. There is a bit of extra radioactivity in meteorites (caused by cosmic rays, which reach a meteorite more easily than they reach the Earth because the Earth is shielded by its atmosphere), but only in comic books is there enough radiation from the extra radioactivity to really make a difference. The wildfire hypothesis is credible, and the large load of soot in the odd layer marking the extinction of the dinosaurs argues in favor of the wildfires having occurred.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|7. |Which of the following is not a part of the modern theory of evolution? |
| |A. |
| |A “successful experiment” during reproduction is one that increases the ability of an individual to have children who survive to have |
| |children. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Evolution proceeds in the direction desired by members of a generation. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |If a reproductive “experiment” is successful, it will be passed to more and more children in successive generations until all members of a |
| |population have it. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Diversity exists within a species, and “experiments” that tend to promote diversity sometimes occur during reproduction. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Children are more similar to their parents than to other individuals from their parents’ generation. |
| | |

No matter how hard you and your friends wish that your children will be born with the ability to fly unassisted, the kids will have to use airlines like the rest of us. All the rest of these contribute to evolution.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|8. |You develop a new idea, which is in conflict with a widely accepted scientific idea. For your new idea to gain widespread acceptance, you |
| |probably will need to show that: |
| |A. |
| |The development of the old idea was influenced by the socially conditioned ideas of the scientists involved. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Your new idea does a better job than the previously accepted idea in predicting the outcomes of an interlocking web of important experiments |
| |or observations. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Your new idea is consistent with your interpretation of received wisdom from sacred books. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Your new idea is informed by Diet Pepsi ads. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Your new idea does a better job than the previously accepted idea in predicting the outcome of one experiment that you conducted. |
| | |

At last observation, Pepsi commercials were not highly scientific, even if science is involved in figuring out what sells. It is a romantic notion that you could overturn great knowledge with a single observation; however, observing nature is not easy, and nature occasionally fools us (you can, rarely, flip an honest coin twenty times and get twenty heads), so if a single observation disagrees with a lot of other information, that single observation will be checked in various ways to see if the new result “stands up” before the older body of knowledge is discarded. Before an idea gains wide currency, that idea is tried in various ways, in many labs, in many places in nature, while models are run and theory is developed. The interlocking of all of these provides the confidence that scientists can use in doing things successfully. Although received wisdom from sacred books can be used for inspiration, scientific ideas must be tested against nature. Social scientists have quite rightly learned that scientists are affected by their prejudices, their funding sources, their mating habits, and other things, and that the path of science is not nearly the straight-ahead road to understanding presented in some textbooks. Unfortunately, some of those social scientists have then gone off the deep end and claimed that science is no more useful than any other human story—claiming that astrology and astronomy are equally valid, for example, or palm-reading and modern medicine. These same social scientists seem to know where to find a real doctor when they get in trouble, however. Science is appealed to nature, and builds on the learning of people from around the world. Airplanes that fly, computers that calculate, small devices that make big explosions, etc. are not socially conditioned ideas but instead are demonstrations of the success of science coupled to engineering.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|9. |Reasons why fossils of transitional forms are missing in some lineages that humans especially care about include: |
| |A. |
| |Rapid evolution often occurred in small populations, and fossilization is less likely in smaller populations. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Scientists haven’t looked very hard for transitions. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Evolutionary theory shows that many lineages should have developed without transitions. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |“Evolution” occurred by “Ford-Mustang-type” catastrophism. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Transitional forms are commonly missing from all lineages. |
| | |

Although more searching could be valuable, lots of scientists have looked for transitional forms, which are expected based on evolutionary theory. The common occurrence of transitional forms in commonly fossilized types shows that “Ford-Mustang-type” catastrophism did not occur, but the data also show that evolution often occurred rapidly in small, isolated populations that are hard to find, and that might not be fossilized in rarely-fossilized types.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |E |
|10. |The great diversification of shelly fossils that marks the beginning of the Paleozoic Era occurred about: |
| |A. |
| |5,700,000 years ago. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |57,000 years ago. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |5,700,000,000 years ago. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |570,000,000 years ago. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |57,000,000 years ago. |
| | |

Humans were trotting around 57,000 years ago. 570,000 years is barely enough time for evolution to have changed large animals a bit, and although 5,700,000 years is enough time for noticeable change of large animals—increase in maximum size of members of the horse family, for example—the huge changes since the dinosaurs needed a bit more than 57,000,000 years (dinosaur extinction was about 65,000,000 years ago). The Paleozoic came before that, and 570,000,000 years is about right. 5,700,000,000 years is more than the age of the Earth, and so doesn’t work very well.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|11. |Araucarioxylon arizonicum was a beautiful tree of the Mesozoic, and is the most common tree found fossilized in Petrified Forest |
| |National Park. A spectacular specimen is shown above. |
| | |
| |Based on the discussions of evolution in the textbook and lectures, it is likely that: |
| |A. |
| |Trees alive today are related to Araucarioxylon arizonicum, but even those modern trees most similar to Araucarioxylon arizonicum are|
| |recognizably different from it. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Some trees alive today are essentially identical to Araucarioxylon arizonicum. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |All trees alive today are completely unrelated to Araucarioxylon arizonicum. |
| | |

Evolutionary theory indicates that living things change from generation to generation, but that all living things are related. Consistent with this, Araucarioxylon arizonicum is recognizably similar to, yet different from, Araucaria trees such as monkey puzzle that are native to southern South America today.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|12. |The pictures labeled I and II show fossils from a sediment core collected from the floor of the Atlantic ocean, east of South Carolina. The |
| |sediment has not been disturbed by landslides or mountain building or other processes. The pictures were taken by Brian Huber, of the |
| |Smithsonian Institution, using a scanning electron microscope. The two samples in the sediment core were separated by the unique layer |
| |marking the extinction that killed the dinosaurs. |
| | |
| |Which is correct? |
| |A. |
| |I is older than the unique layer, and thus sat above the unique layer in the sediment on the sea floor. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |II is older than the unique layer, and thus sat below the unique layer in the sediment on the sea floor. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |II is older than the unique layer, and thus sat above the unique layer in the sediment on the sea floor. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |I is older than the unique layer, and thus sat below the unique layer in the sediment on the sea floor. |
| | |

Before the impact, biodiversity was high, as shown in I, which includes fossils from below the unique layer and thus deposited before the meteorite hit. After the impact, most of the living types were killed, giving rise to the limited diversity seen in II from above the unique layer after the impact.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|13. |The picture above shows: |
| |A. |
| |A sideways dinosaur track; the picture should be rotated ninety degrees clockwise to be right-side-up. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |An upside-down dinosaur track. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A right-side-up dinosaur track. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Mud cracks. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |A sideways dinosaur track; the picture should be rotated ninety degrees counterclockwise to be right-side-up. |
| | |

This is a dinosaur track, from dinosaur ridge, and the dinosaur stomped down into the mud, so the track is right-side-up.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|1. |Sometimes, science and religion come into conflict. This is because: |
| |A. |
| |Science and religion must disagree. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Science and religion can coexist just fine with a little effort, but sometimes choose not to do so. |
| | |

Pope John Paul II said that the Catholic Church has no problem with evolution, and Baptist Jimmy Carter also supported evolution, so it is clear that religion and science can agree.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|2. |In childhood stories (such as Little Red Riding Hood), we humans worry about predatory mammals such as wolves or tigers rather than worrying |
| |about predatory dinosaurs such as allosaurs or tyrannosaurs. This is because: |
| |A. |
| |The meteorite that killed the dinosaurs made predatory mammals by mutating the genetic makeup of the dinosaurs. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Small mammals coexisting with the dinosaurs were not able to outcompete the dinosaurs for big-animal jobs, but after the dinosaurs were |
| |killed, some large mammals evolved from small mammals to fill the large-animal jobs, including the big-predator job. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Most modern predators are actually dinosaurs, so we tell stories about wolves and tigers so as not to really scare children. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Small mammals coexisted with dinosaurs, and after the dinosaurs were killed by the meteorite, the small animals wanted to become bigger and so|
| |made themselves bigger. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Predatory mammals ate all the predatory dinosaurs after the meteorite killed the usual food eaten by the predatory mammals. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|3. |Statistically, and based on how many people are likely to die if they engage in or are exposed to the following problems, which is most |
| |dangerous to residents of the United States: |
| |A. |
| |Commercial airline crashes. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Tornadoes. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Meteorite impacts. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The various diseases that come from smoking, overeating and under-exercising for a long time. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Earthquakes. |
| | |

There are still meteorites in the solar system that can hit and kill, and a reputable study found that a meteorite impact might not occur for millions of years (or might occur next year…) but then might kill billions. Add up the deaths over a sufficiently long time, and plane crashes (which kill a few to a few hundred people per year) and meteorite impacts likely would be similarly dangerous. Earthquakes and tornadoes, as devastating as they can be, don’t kill as many people in this country as do airline crashes. Smoking, overeating and underexercising are way more dangerous to us.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|4. |Evolution produces new types, and extinction gets rid of them. The scientific evidence summarized in the text and in class shows that: |
| |A. |
| |Over a typical interval of a few tens of millions of years, extinction exceeds evolution so that biodiversity decreases with time. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Extinction does not occur. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Over a typical interval of a few tens of millions of years, evolution exceeds extinction so that biodiversity increases with time. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Over short and over long times, extinction and evolution are in balance so that biodiversity remains constant. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Evolution and extinction are usually more-or-less in balance, but occasional mass extinctions reduce biodiversity, and subsequent evolution |
| |faster than extinction increases biodiversity until a new balance is reached. |
| | |

Numerous extinctions have occurred over the history of the planet, but extinctions have been especially rapid during the short “mass extinctions” including the one that killed the dinosaurs. After mass extinctions, evolution fills the empty niches, increasing biodiversity back to a more-or-less stable level.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|5. |Which of the following is part of the evidence that the odd layer marking the extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by a large meteorite |
| |impact? |
| |A. |
| |High concentrations of iron found in the layer. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |High concentrations of silica found in the layer. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |High concentrations of iridium found in the layer. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |High concentrations of argon-40 found in the layer. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |High concentrations of potassium-40 found in the layer. |
| | |

We have seen several times that iron and silica are very common, that potassium-40 is also common in many rocks (although it changes to argon-40 with increasing age), and that argon-40 appears from potassium-40 over time and so can be quite common in many older rocks. However, iridium is rare on the surface of the Earth, common in meteorites, and common in the layer.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|6. |Which of the following was probably important in contributing to extinction of most species at the same time the dinosaurs became extinct? |
| |A. |
| |Heat from the change in Earth’s orbit caused when the meteorite shoved the planet closer to the sun. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Acid rain, from sulfuric acid from the meteorite hitting sulfur-bearing rocks, and from nitric acid from the heat of the meteorite burning the|
| |air. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Changed weather patterns because the meteorite caused large true polar wander (the north pole shifted rapidly in comparison to the continents |
| |because the meteorite rolled the planet on its side). |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Cold from the change in Earth’s orbit caused when the meteorite shoved the planet farther from the sun. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Silicosis caused by dissolution of the meteorite in the ocean. |
| | |

The acid rain very likely did occur, at levels far above those from human-produced air pollution. The meteorite impact was not nearly large enough to move the planet notably or to roll the planet over. Silicosis is a lung disease caused by breathing too much silica-laden dust; other dust materials are typically more damaging, but too much of any dust can be bad. Dissolution in water does not cause lung disease. (Just for your information, some dictionaries list the long version of one form of the disease, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, as the longest word in the English language.)
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|7. |Which of the following is part of the modern theory of evolution? |
| |A. |
| |Evolution proceeds in the direction desired by members of a generation. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |If the body of an adult living thing is changed by its environment, those changes usually are passed on biologically to children. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Evolution always produces bigger and more-complicated living things from smaller and simpler living things. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |If a reproductive “experiment” is successful, it will be passed to more and more children in successive generations until all members of a |
| |population have it. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Evolution usually proceeds by birth of “hopeful monsters” involving very large changes from one generation to the next. |
| | |

No matter how hard you and your friends wish that your children will be born with the ability to fly unassisted, the kids will have to use airlines like the rest of us. You can get a tattoo without worry that your children will be born with that same tattoo. A hopeful monster would have no one to mate with. And while sometimes bigger or more-complex kids do better, sometimes smaller or simpler ones do better. But, a successful reproductive “experiment” is one that is passed to more and more children in successive generations, and all members of a population are likely to have that successful experiment sometime in the future.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|8. |You are a famous scientist, renowned for the well-accepted idea you developed over the last 15 years. A new idea suddenly appears from some |
| |upstart junior scientist. For the new idea to overthrow your well-accepted idea and gain widespread scientific acceptance, what must happen? |
| |A. |
| |The new idea must do a better job than your old idea at predicting the outcome of one experiment that the new upstart junior scientist |
| |conducted. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The new upstart scientist must be sexier than you are. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The new idea must do a better job than your old idea at predicting the outcome of one experiment that you conducted. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The new idea must be more consistent with the teachings of the world’s religions than is your old idea. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The new idea must explain the things that your old idea explained, and do a better job than your old idea in predicting the outcomes of many |
| |new experiments designed by various people to test the ideas. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|9. |Which of the following is not a scientifically accepted statement about the occurrence of transitional forms in the fossil record? |
| |A. |
| |Evolutionary theory shows that many lineages should have developed without transitions. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Evolutionary theory shows that transitional forms should have occurred, and so should be found in the fossil record if they were fossilized. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Transitions between some older and younger fossil types have not been found because evolution occurred in small populations, and fossilization|
| |is less likely in smaller populations. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Transitional forms are missing from many lineages, and especially from rarely fossilized lineages. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Transitional forms are known from many lineages, and especially from commonly fossilized lineages. |
| | |

|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|10. |The great extinction at the end of the Paleozoic Era that changed the living types on Earth and made way for the origin of dinosaurs|
| |during the Mesozoic Era occurred about: |
| |A. |
| |22,500,000,000 years ago. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |22,500 years ago. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |225,000 years ago. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |225,000,000 years ago. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |2,250,000 years ago. |
| | |

Humans were trotting around 22,500 years ago. 225,000 years is barely enough time for evolution to have changed large animals a little bit, and although 2,250,000 years is enough time for noticeable change of large animals—increase in maximum size of members of the horse family, for example—the huge changes since the dinosaurs consumed a good bit more than 22,500,000 years (dinosaur extinction was about 65,000,000 years ago). The end of the Paleozoic Era and start of the Mesozoic Era came before that, and 225,000,000 years is about right. 22,500,000,000 years is more than the age of the Earth, and so doesn’t work very well.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
| |[pic] |
|11. |The Petrified Forest of Arizona includes a great diversity of fossils. In the picture above, paleontologist Randall Irmis excavates a|
| |plate from a specimen of Buettneria. |
| | |
| |Based on the discussions of evolution in class and in the textbook, it is likely that: |
| |A. |
| |Buettneria is essentially identical to species still alive today. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Buettneria is related to, but recognizably different from, species still alive today. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Buettneria is completely unrelated to species still alive today. |
| | |

Evolutionary theory indicates that living things change from generation to generation, but that all living things are related. Consistent with this, Buettneria is recognizably similar to, yet different from, amphibians still alive today.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
| |[pic] |
|12. |Examine the two pictures above, labeled I and II. They are from the same sediment core collected in sea-floor muds from beneath the Atlantic |
| |Ocean off the coast of South Carolina. (The pictures are scanning electron micrographs by Brian Huber of the Smithsonian Institution, and the|
| |scale is the same on both, as shown at the bottom of each.) One picture shows a sample that is just older than the unique layer marking the |
| |extinction that killed the dinosaurs, and the other picture shows a sample that is just younger than the unique layer. |
| | |
| |Which is which? |
| |A. |
| |I is older than the unique layer, and II is younger than the unique layer. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |I is younger than the unique layer, and II is older than the unique layer. |
| | |

Before the impact, biodiversity was high, as shown in I, which includes fossils from below the unique layer and thus deposited before the meteorite hit. After the impact, most of the living types were killed, giving rise to the limited diversity seen in II from above the unique layer after the impact.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
| |[pic] |
|13. |The picture above shows: |
| |A. |
| |A right-side-up dinosaur track. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |An upside-down dinosaur track. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |A sideways dinosaur track; the picture should be rotated ninety degrees counterclockwise to be right-side-up. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |A sideways dinosaur track; the picture should be rotated ninety degrees clockwise to be right-side-up. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Mud cracks. |
| | |

This is a dinosaur track, from Dinosaur Ridge, and the dinosaur stomped down into the mud, so the track is upside-down; the instructional team used the power of modern computers to invert the picture.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |B |

Unit 12 - Living On Earth II: Biodiversity, Climate Change, and the Future
Park Visits: Alaskan Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)

|1. |Heating of some materials produces coal. With increasing temperature and time, one observes: |
| |A. |
| |Peat, anthracite, lignite, bituminous. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Peat, lignite, anthracite, bituminous. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Peat, lignite, bituminous, anthracite. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Anthracite, lignite, bituminous, peat. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Anthracite, bituminous, peat, lignite. |
| | |

This is mostly memorization. But the names hide a lot of history, the peat-bog cutters of Ireland, the brown lignites now being mined in Wyoming, the deep-mines and strip-mines of the bituminous coals of western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and elsewhere, and the hard-coal anthracite of the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre region. If you don’t know any of this history, you might consider reading up on it a bit; it is fascinating.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |A |
|2. |If humans change the composition of the atmosphere in a way that would warm the world by one degree if everything else in the Earth system |
| |remained unchanged, most studies indicate that over the next years to decades: |
| |A. |
| |No feedback processes will act, and the total warming of the world will be one degree. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Feedback processes will enhance this warming a little, causing the total warming to be a few degrees. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Feedback processes will enhance this warming a lot, causing the total warming to be many tens of degrees. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Feedback processes will oppose this warming a little and cause the total warming of the world to be less than a degree. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Feedback processes will oppose this warming a lot and cause the world to cool. |
| | |

Negative feedbacks stabilize the climate over long times of hundreds of thousands or millions of years or more, but feedbacks over years to millennia are mostly positive, amplifying changes. If there is a change in the sun, or CO2, or something else sufficient by itself to raise the temperature by one degree, this will be amplified to a few degrees by feedbacks.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |D |
|3. |Carbon dioxide, CO2, is an important greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gases warm the Earth primarily by: |
| |A. |
| |Absorbing some of the infrared radiation emitted from the Earth. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Making politicians mad, so they give speeches that heat the air. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Breaking down the methane emitted by flatulent cows. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Breaking down the ozone layer that cools the planet. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Absorbing the sunlight reflected from snow, clouds, and reflective desert sands. |
| | |

CO2 has very little interaction with the ozone, which is not big on cooling the planet anyway, and CO2 does little to the sunlight reflected from the Earth. But CO2 does absorb some of the infrared radiation emitted from the planet. Absorbing an infrared photon puts a CO2 molecule into an excited state, and fairly quickly the molecule returns to its unexcited state by emitting a photon of the same energy. Some of those photons emitted by excited CO2 molecules head back toward Earth (the emission direction is random). So, the CO2 serves to trap energy in the Earth system, warming the planet so that it glows more brightly to shove infrared radiation past the CO2, achieving a new balance.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |C |
| |[pic] |
|4. |The picture above shows the stem of devil’s club, a plant of the northwestern coast of North America. |
| |The native people use devil's club for medicinal purposes. |
| | |
| |We now know that: |
| |A. |
| |This is a device developed by Pepsi to keep people away from Coke machines. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Plants protect themselves in many ways, including thorns but also through chemicals that are poisonous to many things that would eat the |
| |plants; those chemicals are sometimes harmful to humans (poison ivy, for example) but sometimes beneficial to humans, and have given us many |
| |of our medicines. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Most plants protect themselves primarily through thorns, hairs, etc., such as shown here. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Plants protect themselves in many ways, including thorns but also through chemicals that are poisonous to many things that would eat the |
| |plants; those chemicals are always harmful to humans (poison ivy, for example). |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Plants protect themselves in many ways, including thorns but also through chemicals that are poisonous to many things that would eat the |
| |plants; those chemicals are always beneficial to humans, and are the basis for all of our medicines. |
| | |

Most plants have physical protections of some sort (hairs, thorns, hardened parts, bark, etc.), but almost all plants have chemical defenses. Those chemical defenses may kill us if we eat too much, but they also may kill microbes that would kill us before the chemicals kill us. A whole lot of our medicines have come from plants, and there undoubtedly are more to be discovered. There is a race on to find those new medicines before we exterminate the plants containing the medicines. Devil’s club has been around longer than Pepsi has.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|5. |Among fossil fuels: |
| |A. |
| |Oil is made by heating of woody plant material, and coal is made by heating of algae. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Oil is made by spraying WD-40 on duct tape, and coal is made by being bad so Santa delivers it to your stocking. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Coal is made by heating of woody plant material, and oil is made by heating of different woody plant material. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Oil is made by heating of algae, and coal is made by heating of different algae. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Coal is made by heating of woody plant material, and oil is made by heating of algae. |
| | |

Slimy algae gives slimy oil; chunky wood gives chunky coal. Works great. Duct tape and WD-40 are the quick-fix tool kit; if something moves but it shouldn’t, apply duct tape, and if something doesn’t move but it should, apply WD-40. None of you would be so bad as to merit coal in your stocking, but we presume Santa gets it from a mine somewhere.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|1. |What happens to most living things, after they die? |
| |A. |
| |They are fossilized. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |They are recycled, usually by being “burned” with carbon dioxide to provide energy for other living things, or to provide energy to |
| |fires. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |They are recycled, usually by being “burned” with oxygen to provide energy for other living things, or to provide energy to fires. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |They are buried in regions with much oxygen, and turned into fossil fuel. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |They are buried in regions with little oxygen, and turned into fossil fuel. |
| | |

Nature is a very efficient recycler, so almost everything that lives is recycled. The recycling is usually achieved through slow “fires” in other living things (including you!), using oxygen. However, sometimes a “real” fire such as a forest fire will do the job.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|2. |Your friend wants to see some real Pennsylvania coals. Where should you send your friend to see coal in the rocks of Pennsylvania (if you |
| |honestly are being helpful), and what coals would your friend see? |
| |A. |
| |To the metamorphic rocks of eastern Pennsylvania to see bituminous, and to the sedimentary rocks of western Pennsylvania to see lignite. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |To the sedimentary rocks of western Pennsylvania to see bituminous, and to the metamorphic rocks of eastern Pennsylvania to see anthracite. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |To Ohio; there is no coal in Pennsylvania, but some Ohio coal is shipped through Pennsylvania. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |To the igneous rocks of eastern Pennsylvania to see lignite, and to the sedimentary rocks of western Pennsylvania to see more lignite. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |To the igneous rocks of eastern Pennsylvania to see lignite, and to the sedimentary rocks of western Pennsylvania to see anthracite. |
| | |

Bituminous is found with sedimentary rocks, but ones that have been squeezed and heated a bit so they are held together well and are not much like loose sediment; such rocks are common in western Pennsylvania. Anthracite is the most-cooked coal, and is found with metamorphic rocks in eastern Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has lots of coal, but not much lignite, which would not be found in metamorphic rocks anyway.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|3. |Suppose that CO2 in the atmosphere was held at a constant, natural level for a few thousand years. Then, CO2 was added to double the |
| |atmospheric level rapidly, and this new, doubled level was maintained for a few thousand years. What was the most likely change in the typical|
| |average temperature of the planet? |
| |A. |
| |Temperature after the increase in CO2 was the same as temperature before the increase. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Temperature after the increase in CO2 was 30 or 40 degrees lower than temperature before the increase. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Temperature after the increase in CO2 was a few degrees lower than temperature before the increase. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Temperature after the increase in CO2 was a few degrees higher than temperature before the increase. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Temperature after the increase in CO2 was 30 or 40 degrees higher than temperature before the increase. |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |D |
|4. |Suppose that the sun suddenly became a little brighter, which would warm the world a little. Over the next few hundred years, what would you |
| |expect to happen? |
| |A. |
| |Nothing else would change in the Earth system, so the Earth would end up a little warmer than before the sun changed. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Other things would change in the Earth system, and these feedbacks would oppose the warming from the sun and cause the Earth to end up at the |
| |same temperature as before the sun changed. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Other things would change in the Earth system, and these feedbacks would amplify the warming from the sun a whole lot and cause the Earth to |
| |warm up so much that life would become impossible. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Other things would change in the Earth system, and these feedbacks would oppose the warming from the sun and cause the Earth to end up so much|
| |cooler than before the sun changed that a new ice age would start. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Other things would change in the Earth system, and these feedbacks would amplify the warming from the sun a little and cause the Earth to end |
| |up somewhat warmer than before the sun changed. |
| | |

Negative feedbacks stabilize the climate over long times of hundreds of thousands or millions of years or more, but feedbacks over years to millennia are mostly positive, amplifying changes. If there is a change in the sun, or CO2, or something else sufficient by itself to raise the temperature by one degree, this will be amplified to a few degrees by feedbacks.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|5. |If you get some of the right sort of organic material, and heat it in the right sort of way, perhaps with a little squeezing, you will end up |
| |with coal. The most-heated is the most valuable. In order, from the most-valuable/most-heated (first) to the least-valuable/least-heated |
| |(last), the coals (and material that gives coal) are: |
| |A. |
| |Peat, anthracite, lignite, bituminous. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Anthracite, bituminous, lignite, peat. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Bituminous, peat, lignite, anthracite. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Bituminous, peat, anthracite, lignite. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Peat, lignite, bituminous, anthracite. |
| | |

This is mostly memorization. But the names hide a lot of history, the peat-bog cutters of Ireland, the brown lignites now being mined in Wyoming, the deep-mines and strip-mines of the bituminous coals of western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and elsewhere, and the hard-coal anthracite of the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre region. If you don’t know any of this history, you might consider reading up on it a bit; it is fascinating.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |B |
|6. |Some natural resources are renewable—nature produces them fast enough that humans can obtain valuable and useful supplies of a resource |
| |without depleting it. Other natural resources are nonrenewable—if we use the resource at a rate fast enough to matter to our economy, the |
| |resource will run out because use is much faster than natural production. What do we know about oil and coal? |
| |A. |
| |Both oil and coal are nonrenewable resources, and at current usage rates and prices similar to today, oil will run out in about a century and |
| |coal will run out in a few centuries. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Oil is a nonrenewable resource, but coal is made more rapidly, especially in coastal mangrove swamps, and so is a renewable resource. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Both oil and coal are renewable resources; they are being made rapidly by natural processes in places such as ANWR on the North Slope of |
| |Alaska, and in sea-floor regions off the continental shelf. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Both oil and coal are nonrenewable resources, and at current usage rates and prices similar to today, both will last about one century before |
| |running out. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Coal is a nonrenewable resource, but oil is made more rapidly in places such as large river deltas and so is a renewable resource. |
| | |

There is lots more coal than oil; oil has this habit of floating on water, thus rising through rocks and escaping to the sea floor where the oil is “burned” for energy by bacteria or other creatures. The size of the resource, in coal, oil, or anything else, depends on the price, and how long the resource lasts depends on rate of use, which is increasing rapidly for fossil fuels. The idea that immense pools of oil are out there, undiscovered but easy to get, is pretty silly—oil companies are really smart, drilled the easy stuff early on, and are now running out of oil that can be drilled and produced at prices close to modern.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|7. |Among fossil fuels: |
| |A. |
| |Coal is made by heating of plant material deposited in lakes or along rivers, and coal is made by heating of plant material deposited in the |
| |ocean. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Oil is made by spraying WD-40 on duct tape, and coal is made by being bad so Santa delivers it to your stocking. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Oil is made by heating of plant material deposited in lakes or along rivers, and coal is made by heating of plant material deposited in the |
| |ocean. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Oil is made by heating of woody plant material, and coal is made by heating of algae. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Coal is made by heating of woody plant material, and oil is made by heating of algae. |
| | |

Slimy algae gives slimy oil; chunky wood gives chunky coal. Works great. Duct tape and WD-40 are the quick-fix tool kit; if something moves but it shouldn’t, apply duct tape, and if something doesn’t move but it should, apply WD-40. None of you would be so bad as to merit coal in your stocking, but we presume Santa gets it from a mine somewhere.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|8. |A larger national park and a smaller national park, otherwise identical, are completely surrounded by cornfields and Walmart parking lots, and|
| |have been surrounded for a century. You count the number of species of trees in each park. You probably will find: |
| |A. |
| |The same number of species in the smaller park as in the larger park. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |More species in the larger park, because it is more likely to have a Diet Pepsi distributor who pours acidic drinks on the inhabitants. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |More species in the larger park, because it can hold more individuals thus reducing the risk of extinction. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |More species in the smaller park, because it lacks predators that keep diversity down. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |More species in the smaller park, because the smaller size has caused faster evolution. |
| | |

Diet Pepsi distributors are too smart to go around pouring drinks on beetles and bison; the bison might butt back! For evolution to make new species usually will take thousands of generations or longer, so a century is not long enough for new types to have appeared. The larger populations, which help prevent extinction, that are possible in the larger park will cause it to have more species.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|9. |Which formula describes the chemical changes that occur and release energy as plant material is burned in a fire or “burned” in a stomach? |
| |A. |
| |CO2 + H2O &rarr CH2O + O2 |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Ca+2 + 2HCO3- &rarr CaCO3 + H2CO3 |
| | |
| |C. |
| |CaCO3 + H2CO3 &rarr Ca+2 + 2HCO3- |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Diet_Pepsi + Graham_Spanier &rarr Diet_Graham_Spepsier |
| | |
| |E. |
| |CH2O + O2 &rarr CO2 + H2O |
| | |

CaCO3 is shell or cave-rock; the equation with CaCO3 on the left is dissolution of rock to make caves, and the equation with CaCO3 on the right is formation of shells. CH2O is a pretty good estimate of average plant composition; the equation with CH2O on the left is burning of plant material for energy, and with CH2O on the right is how plant material is made. We’re not sure just what Diet_Graham_Spepsier might be, but it isn’t general plant material.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
|10. |Oxygen (O2) and nitrogen (N2) do not have much greenhouse effect, but several trace gases including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane |
| |(CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and various chlorofluorocarbons are important greenhouse gases. The primary mechanism by which these |
| |greenhouse gases warm the Earth is: |
| |A. |
| |Absorbing some of the infrared radiation emitted from the Earth. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Experiencing chemical reactions with each other, which release energy. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Raising the atmospheric pressure, because squeezing air warms it, as we saw at the Redwoods. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Preventing convection currents that take heat aloft, in the same way that the glass of a greenhouse stops convection currents and so |
| |makes the air in the greenhouse warmer. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Making politicians mad, so they give speeches that heat the air. |
| | |

Although it is true that squeezing air warms it, the pressure does not set the temperature (change in pressure brings change in temperature), and, the greenhouse gases are really very rare and don’t affect pressure much. The production and breakdown of the greenhouse gases roughly balance energetically, and any slight imbalances are tiny compared to the radiative effects of the gases. Convection currents are blocked by the glass of greenhouses, but not by greenhouse gases. But CO2 does absorb some of the infrared radiation emitted from the planet. Absorbing an infrared photon puts a CO2 molecule into an excited state, and fairly quickly the molecule returns to its unexcited state by emitting a photon of the same energy. Some of those photons emitted by excited CO2 molecules head back toward Earth (the emission direction is random). So, the CO2 serves to trap energy in the Earth system, warming the planet so that it glows more brightly to shove infrared radiation past the CO2, achieving a new balance.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|11. |The United Nations-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. The information that the |
| |Panel has supplied to policymakers includes: |
| |A. |
| |The observed rise in atmospheric CO2 levels has been caused primarily by human fossil-fuel burning, and is having no effect on the |
| |climate. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |The observed rise in atmospheric CO2 levels has been caused primarily by a sudden increase in explosive volcanism, and is having no |
| |effect on the climate. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |The observed rise in atmospheric CO2 levels has been caused primarily by human fossil-fuel burning, and very likely is causing |
| |warming of the climate that is likely to become much larger if we continue our current behavior. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |The observed rise in atmospheric CO2 levels has been caused primarily by a sudden increase in explosive volcanism, and is causing the|
| |climate to warm. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |The observed rise in atmospheric CO2 levels has been caused primarily by human fossil-fuel burning, and very likely is causing |
| |warming of the climate that is unlikely to become much larger. |
| | |

|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |C |
|12. |The United Nations, under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has attempted to assess the scientific |
| |understanding of how greenhouse-gas emissions will affect the climate, and thus people. The UN reports show that if we continue on our|
| |present path, burning fossil fuels at a faster and faster rate: |
| |A. |
| |Climate will change, primarily getting warmer, and those changes will primarily hurt the poor people in warm places who are the main |
| |causes of the climate changes through deforestation and other actions. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Climate will change, with cooling at high latitudes that primarily will hurt wealthy people living in those cold places. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Climate will change, primarily getting colder, and those changes will especially hurt those people living in northwestern Europe. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Climate will change, primarily getting warmer, and these changes will hurt everyone, equally. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Climate will change, primarily getting warmer, and those changes will primarily hurt poor people in warm places, but the climate |
| |changes are primarily being caused by wealthier people in colder places. |
| | |

Blizzards play havoc with airline travel, which hurts the economy in the mid- and high-latitude wealthier countries. If you have winter (so that warming reduces blizzards), air conditioners (so you can keep the economy humming when the weather is otherwise too hot), and bulldozers (so you can build sea walls or haul things out of the way as the ocean rises), a little warming might even help your economy, although too much warming will be bad. If you are missing any of winter, air conditioning, or bulldozers, all warming is likely to be bad. Most of the world’s people are missing all three, and will be hurt by warming, but the warming is being caused primarily by people who have all three.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |E |
| |[pic] |
|13. |The picture above shows the stem of devil’s club, a plant of the northwestern coast of North America. |
| |The native people use devil's club for medicinal purposes. |
| | |
| |We now know that: |
| |A. |
| |Plants protect themselves in many ways, including thorns but also through chemicals that are poisonous to many things that would eat |
| |the plants; those chemicals are always beneficial to humans, and are the basis for all of our medicines. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Plants protect themselves in many ways, including thorns but also through chemicals that are poisonous to many things that would eat |
| |the plants; those chemicals are always harmful to humans (poison ivy, for example). |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Most plants protect themselves primarily through thorns, hairs, etc., such as shown here. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |This is a device developed by Pepsi to keep people away from Coke machines. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Plants protect themselves in many ways, including thorns but also through chemicals that are poisonous to many things that would eat |
| |the plants; those chemicals are sometimes harmful to humans (poison ivy, for example) but sometimes beneficial to humans, and have |
| |given us many of our medicines. |
| | |

Most plants have physical protections of some sort (hairs, thorns, hardened parts, bark, etc.), but almost all plants have chemical defenses. Those chemical defenses may kill us if we eat too much, but they also may kill microbes that would kill us before the chemicals kill us. A whole lot of our medicines have come from plants, and there undoubtedly are more to be discovered. There is a race on to find those new medicines before we exterminate the plants containing the medicines. Devil’s club has been around longer than Pepsi has.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |B |

|1. |The consensus of the world’s climate scientists, as generated by the UN-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is that: |
| |A. |
| |Human activities have raised CO2 levels in the atmosphere, warming the planet, and the changes so far have been small compared to the changes |
| |that are likely over the next centuries unless we humans alter our behavior. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Human activities have lowered methane levels in the atmosphere, causing cows to become more flatulent to achieve balance. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Human activities have raised CO2 levels in the atmosphere, warming the planet, but if we proceed with business as usual for the next few |
| |centuries, the additional changes we cause will be smaller than the changes we already have caused. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Human activities have lowered CO2 levels in the atmosphere, starving plants and causing death of the tropical rain forests. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Human activities have raised CO2 levels in the atmosphere, and these higher levels of CO2 are the primary cause of the ozone hole. |
| | |

Human activities have raised CO2 in the atmosphere, but if we continue with business as usual, we haven’t seen anything yet—we haven’t even doubled CO2, but a quadrupling or even octupling seems possible. Chlorofluorocarbons used as refrigerants are responsible for the ozone hole, and cow flatulence is not greatly affected by external methane levels, which are rising in any case. Besides, bovine belching is a larger methane source than is outlet through the other orifice.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|2. |Regarding global warming, most scientists (including those who have advised the United Nations through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate |
| |Change) agree that if we continue to burn fossil fuels at an accelerating rate: |
| |A. |
| |Climate changes will primarily hurt wealthy people in cold places. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Climate changes will help everyone. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Climate changes will hurt everyone, equally. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Climate changes will primarily hurt poor people in warm places, but the climate changes are primarily being caused by wealthier people in |
| |colder places. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Climate changes will primarily hurt poor people who live in warm places and who are the major contributors to climate change through cutting |
| |of tropical rain forests and other activities. |
| | |

Blizzards play havoc with airline travel, which hurts the economy in the mid- and high-latitude wealthier countries. If you have winter (so that warming reduces blizzards), air conditioners (so you can keep the economy humming when the weather is otherwise too hot for office work), and bulldozers (so you can build sea walls or haul things out of the way as the ocean rises), a little warming might even help your economy, although too much warming will be bad. If you are missing any of winter, air conditioning, or bulldozers, all warming is likely to be bad. Most of the world’s people are missing all three, and will be hurt by warming, but the warming is being caused primarily by people who have all three.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |C |
|3. |You are the chief biodiversity officer for the National Park Service in the eastern US, responsible for maintaining as much diversity as |
| |possible, and your boss has told you to focus on maintaining biodiversity of things big enough to see with the naked eye (so you don’t need to|
| |worry about microorganisms). You have two parks, and enough money to buy 10,000 acres of land. You may add the 10,000 acres to one of the |
| |parks, add 5,000 acres to each park while leaving them as isolated parks, or buy a 10,000-acre corridor connecting the two parks. All of the |
| |land for sale is now wilderness, but the land you do not buy is going to be paved for a super-mega-mall. You would be wise to: |
| |A. |
| |Enlarge both parks some; each park has some diversity, and you want to enhance both. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Enlarge one park a good bit; bigger islands have more species, so you want to make a big “island”. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Don’t worry, the key is how much area you have in wilderness, so each of the plans is equally valuable. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Don’t worry; malls are highly biodiverse, so you’ll succeed no matter what you do. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Buy the corridor connecting the two parks; this keeps one big “island” rather than two smaller ones, and so keeps more species. |
| | |

Remember the terrarium—you will have more diversity in an undivided terrarium than in a divided one. Your park area is your terrarium; keep it undivided. Malls have low biodiversity.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |D |
|4. |Which formula most closely describes the process by which plants make more of themselves: |
| |A. |
| |CO2 + H2O + energy &rarr CH2O + O2 |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Diet_Pepsi + Graham_Spanier &rarr Diet_Graham_Spepsier |
| | |
| |C. |
| |CaCO3 + H2CO3 &rarr Ca+2+ 2HCO3- |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Ca+2 + 2HCO3- &rarr CaCO3 + H2CO3 |
| | |
| |E. |
| |CH2O + O2 &rarr CO2 + H2O + energy |
| | |

CaCO3 is shell or cave-rock; the equation with CaCO3 on the left is dissolution of rock to make caves, and with CaCO3 on the right is formation of shells. CH2O is a pretty good estimate of average plant composition; the equation with CH2O on the left is burning of plant material for energy, and with CH2O on the right is how plant material is made. We’re not sure just what Diet_Graham_Spepsier might be, but it isn’t general plant material.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|Correct Answer: |A |
|Your Response: |A |
|5. |Fossil fuels are usually formed from: |
| |A. |
| |Remains of formerly living things buried by sediments in regions with much oxygen. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Remains of formerly living things buried by sediments in regions with little oxygen. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Remains of formerly living things covered by thrust faults in regions with much oxygen. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Decay of Diet Pepsi. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Remains of formerly living things covered by lava flows erupted in regions with much oxygen. |
| | |

Where oxygen is present in sediments, bacteria use the oxygen to “burn” organic materials, so oxygen and fossil fuels don’t go together. And, Diet Pepsi is rather resistant to decay, and would not make fossil fuel.
|[pic|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|] | | |

Correct answer” B

|1. |Heating of some materials produces coal. With increasing temperature and time, one observes: |
| |A. |
| |Anthracite, bituminous, peat, lignite. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Peat, lignite, anthracite, bituminous. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Peat, anthracite, lignite, bituminous. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Peat, lignite, bituminous, anthracite. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Anthracite, lignite, bituminous, peat. |
| | |

This is mostly memorization. But the names hide a lot of history, the peat-bog cutters of Ireland, the brown lignites now being mined in Wyoming, the deep-mines and strip-mines of the bituminous coals of western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and elsewhere, and the hard-coal anthracite of the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre region. If you don’t know any of this history, you might consider reading up on it a bit; it is fascinating.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |C |
|2. |You are the chief biodiversity officer for the National Park Service in the eastern US, responsible for maintaining as much diversity as |
| |possible, and your boss has told you to focus on maintaining biodiversity of things big enough to see with the naked eye (so you don’t need to|
| |worry about microorganisms). You have two parks, and enough money to buy 10,000 acres of land. You may add the 10,000 acres to one of the |
| |parks, add 5,000 acres to each park while leaving them as isolated parks, or buy a 10,000-acre corridor connecting the two parks. All of the |
| |land for sale is now wilderness, but the land you do not buy is going to be paved for a super-mega-mall. You would be wise to: |
| |A. |
| |Don’t worry; malls are highly biodiverse, so you’ll succeed no matter what you do. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Don’t worry, the key is how much area you have in wilderness, so each of the plans is equally valuable. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Enlarge both parks some; each park has some diversity, and you want to enhance both. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Enlarge one park a good bit; bigger islands have more species, so you want to make a big “island”. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Buy the corridor connecting the two parks; this keeps one big “island” rather than two smaller ones, and so keeps more species. |
| | |

Remember the terrarium—you will have more diversity in an undivided terrarium than in a divided one. Your park area is your terrarium; keep it undivided. Malls have low biodiversity.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |D |
|3. |Regarding global warming, most scientists (including those who have advised the United Nations through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate |
| |Change) agree that if we continue to burn fossil fuels at an accelerating rate: |
| |A. |
| |Climate changes will help everyone. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Climate changes will primarily hurt poor people in warm places, but the climate changes are primarily being caused by wealthier people in |
| |colder places. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Climate changes will primarily hurt poor people who live in warm places and who are the major contributors to climate change through cutting |
| |of tropical rain forests and other activities. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Climate changes will hurt everyone, equally. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Climate changes will primarily hurt wealthy people in cold places. |
| | |

Blizzards play havoc with airline travel, which hurts the economy in the mid- and high-latitude wealthier countries. If you have winter (so that warming reduces blizzards), air conditioners (so you can keep the economy humming when the weather is otherwise too hot for office work), and bulldozers (so you can build sea walls or haul things out of the way as the ocean rises), a little warming might even help your economy, although too much warming will be bad. If you are missing any of winter, air conditioning, or bulldozers, all warming is likely to be bad. Most of the world’s people are missing all three, and will be hurt by warming, but the warming is being caused primarily by people who have all three.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |B |
|Your Response: |D |
|4. |At current rates of use, and at prices not greatly higher than those of today: |
| |A. |
| |Coal will run out in a century or so, and oil will run out in a century or so. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Coal will run out in a century or so, and oil will run out in a few centuries. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Oil will run out in a century or so, and coal will run out in a few centuries. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Oil and coal will last much longer than a few centuries. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Oil will run out in a few centuries, and coal will run out in a few centuries. |
| | |

There is lots more coal than oil; oil has this habit of floating on water, thus rising through rocks and escaping to the sea floor where the oil is “burned” for energy by bacteria or other creatures. The size of the resource, in coal, oil, or anything else, depends on the price, and how long the resource lasts depends on rate of use, which is increasing rapidly for fossil fuels. The idea that immense pools of oil are out there, undiscovered but easy to get, is pretty silly—oil companies are really smart, drilled the easy stuff early on, and are now running out of oil that can be drilled and produced at prices close to modern.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |E |
|5. |If humans change the composition of the atmosphere in a way that would warm the world by one degree if everything else in the Earth system |
| |remained unchanged, most studies indicate that over the next years to decades: |
| |A. |
| |Feedback processes will oppose this warming a lot and cause the world to cool. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Feedback processes will oppose this warming a little and cause the total warming of the world to be less than a degree. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |No feedback processes will act, and the total warming of the world will be one degree. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Feedback processes will enhance this warming a lot, causing the total warming to be many tens of degrees. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Feedback processes will enhance this warming a little, causing the total warming to be a few degrees. |
| | |

Negative feedbacks stabilize the climate over long times of hundreds of thousands or millions of years or more, but feedbacks over years to millennia are mostly positive, amplifying changes. If there is a change in the sun, or CO2, or something else sufficient by itself to raise the temperature by one degree, this will be amplified to a few degrees by feedbacks.
|[pic|Points Earned: |1/1 |
|] | | |
|Correct Answer: |E |

1. What happens to most living things, after they die? A. They are recycled, usually by being “burned” with carbon dioxide to provide energy for other living things, or to provide energy to fires.
B. They are recycled, usually by being “burned” with oxygen to provide energy for other living things, or to provide energy to fires.
C. They are fossilized.
D. They are buried in regions with little oxygen, and turned into fossil fuel.
E. They are buried in regions with much oxygen, and turned into fossil fuel.

Nature is a very efficient recycler, so almost everything that lives is recycled. The recycling is usually achieved through slow “fires” in other living things (including you!), using oxygen. However, sometimes a “real” fire such as a forest fire will do the job. Points Earned: 1/1
Correct Answer: B
Your Response: B
2. Your friend wants to see some real Pennsylvania coals. Where should you send your friend to see coal in the rocks of Pennsylvania (if you honestly are being helpful), and what coals would your friend see? A. To the sedimentary rocks of eastern Pennsylvania to see lignite, and to the metamorphic rocks of western Pennsylvania to see more lignite.
B. To West Virginia; there is no coal in Pennsylvania, but some West Virginia coal is shipped through Pennsylvania.
C. To the sedimentary rocks of western Pennsylvania to see bituminous, and to the metamorphic rocks of eastern Pennsylvania to see anthracite.
D. To the sedimentary rocks of eastern Pennsylvania to see lignite, and to the metamorphic rocks of western Pennsylvania to see anthracite.
E. To the sedimentary rocks of eastern Pennsylvania to see bituminous, and to the metamorphic rocks of western Pennsylvania to see anthracite.

Bituminous is found with sedimentary rocks, but ones that have been squeezed and heated a bit so they are held together well and are not much like loose sediment; such rocks are common in western Pennsylvania. Anthracite is the most-cooked coal, and is found with metamorphic rocks in eastern Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has lots of coal, but not much lignite, which would not be found in metamorphic rocks anyway. Points Earned: 1/1
Correct Answer: C
Your Response: C
3. Suppose that CO2 in the atmosphere was held at a constant, natural level for a few thousand years. Then, CO2 was added to double the atmospheric level rapidly, and this new, doubled level was maintained for a few thousand years. What was the most likely change in the typical average temperature of the planet? A. Temperature before the increase in CO2 was a few degrees higher than temperature after the increase.
B. Temperature before the increase in CO2 was a few degrees lower than temperature after the increase.
C. Temperature before the increase in CO2 was 30 or 40 degrees higher than temperature after the increase.
D. Temperature before the increase in CO2 was 30 or 40 degrees lower than temperature after the increase.
E. Temperature before the increase in CO2 was the same as temperature after the increase.

Points Earned: 1/1
Correct Answer: B
Your Response: B
4. Suppose that the sun suddenly became a little brighter, which would warm the world a little. Over the next few hundred years, what would you expect to happen? A. Other things would change in the Earth system, and these feedbacks would oppose the warming from the sun and cause the Earth to end up at the same temperature as before the sun changed.
B. Other things would change in the Earth system, and these feedbacks would oppose the warming from the sun and cause the Earth to end up so much cooler than before the sun changed that a new ice age would start.
C. Nothing else would change in the Earth system, so the Earth would end up a little warmer than before the sun changed.
D. Other things would change in the Earth system, and these feedbacks would amplify the warming from the sun a whole lot and cause the Earth to warm up so much that life would become impossible.
E. Other things would change in the Earth system, and these feedbacks would amplify the warming from the sun a little and cause the Earth to end up somewhat warmer than before the sun changed.

Negative feedbacks stabilize the climate over long times of hundreds of thousands or millions of years or more, but feedbacks over years to millennia are mostly positive, amplifying changes. If there is a change in the sun, or CO2, or something else sufficient by itself to raise the temperature by one degree, this will be amplified to a few degrees by feedbacks. Points Earned: 1/1
Correct Answer: E
Your Response: E
5. If you get some of the right sort of organic material, and heat it in the right sort of way, perhaps with a little squeezing, you will end up with coal. The most-heated is the most valuable. In order, from the most-valuable/most-heated (first) to the least-valuable/least-heated (last), the coals (and material that gives coal) are: A. Anthracite, bituminous, lignite, peat.
B. Peat, lignite, bituminous, anthracite.
C. Bituminous, peat, anthracite, lignite.
D. Peat, anthracite, lignite, bituminous.
E. Bituminous, peat, lignite, anthracite.

This is mostly memorization. But the names hide a lot of history, the peat-bog cutters of Ireland, the brown lignites now being mined in Wyoming, the deep-mines and strip-mines of the bituminous coals of western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and elsewhere, and the hard-coal anthracite of the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre region. If you don’t know any of this history, you might consider reading up on it a bit; it is fascinating. Points Earned: 1/1
Correct Answer: A
Your Response: A
6. Some natural resources are renewable—nature produces them fast enough that humans can obtain valuable and useful supplies of a resource without depleting it. Other natural resources are nonrenewable—if we use the resource at a rate fast enough to matter to our economy, the resource will run out because use is much faster than natural production. What do we know about oil and coal? A. Oil is a nonrenewable resource, but coal is made more rapidly, especially in coastal mangrove swamps, and so is a renewable resource.
B. Coal is a nonrenewable resource, but oil is made more rapidly in places such as large river deltas and so is a renewable resource.
C. Both oil and coal are nonrenewable resources, and at current usage rates and prices similar to today, both will last about one century before running out.
D. Both oil and coal are renewable resources; they are being made rapidly by natural processes in places such as ANWR on the North Slope of Alaska, and in sea-floor regions off the continental shelf.
E. Both oil and coal are nonrenewable resources, and at current usage rates and prices similar to today, oil will run out in about a century and coal will run out in a few centuries.

There is lots more coal than oil; oil has this habit of floating on water, thus rising through rocks and escaping to the sea floor where the oil is “burned” for energy by bacteria or other creatures. The size of the resource, in coal, oil, or anything else, depends on the price, and how long the resource lasts depends on rate of use, which is increasing rapidly for fossil fuels. The idea that immense pools of oil are out there, undiscovered but easy to get, is pretty silly—oil companies are really smart, drilled the easy stuff early on, and are now running out of oil that can be drilled and produced at prices close to modern. Points Earned: 1/1
Correct Answer: E
Your Response: E
7. Among fossil fuels: A. Oil is made by spraying WD-40 on duct tape, and coal is made by being bad so Santa delivers it to your stocking.
B. Oil is made by heating of woody plant material, and coal is made by heating of algae.
C. Oil is made by heating of plant material deposited in lakes or along rivers, and coal is made by heating of plant material deposited in the ocean.
D. Coal is made by heating of woody plant material, and oil is made by heating of algae.
E. Coal is made by heating of plant material deposited in lakes or along rivers, and coal is made by heating of plant material deposited in the ocean.

Slimy algae gives slimy oil; chunky wood gives chunky coal. Works great. Duct tape and WD-40 are the quick-fix tool kit; if something moves but it shouldn’t, apply duct tape, and if something doesn’t move but it should, apply WD-40. None of you would be so bad as to merit coal in your stocking, but we presume Santa gets it from a mine somewhere. Points Earned: 1/1
Correct Answer: D
Your Response: D
8. A larger national park and a smaller national park, otherwise identical, are completely surrounded by cornfields and Walmart parking lots, and have been surrounded for a century. You count the number of species of trees in each park. You probably will find: A. More species in the smaller park, because the smaller size has caused faster evolution.
B. More species in the smaller park, because it lacks predators that keep diversity down.
C. The same number of species in the smaller park as in the larger park.
D. More species in the larger park, because it can hold more individuals thus reducing the risk of extinction.
E. More species in the larger park, because it is more likely to have a Diet Pepsi distributor who pours acidic drinks on the inhabitants.

Diet Pepsi distributors are too smart to go around pouring drinks on beetles and bison; the bison might butt back! For evolution to make new species usually will take thousands of generations or longer, so a century is not long enough for new types to have appeared. The larger populations, which help prevent extinction, that are possible in the larger park will cause it to have more species. Points Earned: 1/1
Correct Answer: D
Your Response: D
9. Which formula describes the chemical changes that occur and release energy as plant material is burned in a fire or “burned” in a stomach? A. Diet_Pepsi + Graham_Spanier &rarr Diet_Graham_Spepsier
B. CH2O + O2 &rarr CO2 + H2O
C. Ca+2 + 2HCO3- &rarr CaCO3 + H2CO3
D. CaCO3 + H2CO3 &rarr Ca+2 + 2HCO3-
E. CO2 + H2O &rarr CH2O + O2

CaCO3 is shell or cave-rock; the equation with CaCO3 on the left is dissolution of rock to make caves, and the equation with CaCO3 on the right is formation of shells. CH2O is a pretty good estimate of average plant composition; the equation with CH2O on the left is burning of plant material for energy, and with CH2O on the right is how plant material is made. We’re not sure just what Diet_Graham_Spepsier might be, but it isn’t general plant material. Points Earned: 1/1
Correct Answer: B
Your Response: B
10. Oxygen (O2) and nitrogen (N2) do not have much greenhouse effect, but several trace gases including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and various chlorofluorocarbons are important greenhouse gases. The primary mechanism by which these greenhouse gases warm the Earth is: A. Making politicians mad, so they give speeches that heat the air.
B. Experiencing chemical reactions with each other, which release energy.
C. Preventing convection currents that take heat aloft, in the same way that the glass of a greenhouse stops convection currents and so makes the air in the greenhouse warmer.
D. Raising the atmospheric pressure, because squeezing air warms it, as we saw at the Redwoods.
E. Absorbing some of the infrared radiation emitted from the Earth.

Although it is true that squeezing air warms it, the pressure does not set the temperature (change in pressure brings change in temperature), and, the greenhouse gases are really very rare and don’t affect pressure much. The production and breakdown of the greenhouse gases roughly balance energetically, and any slight imbalances are tiny compared to the radiative effects of the gases. Convection currents are blocked by the glass of greenhouses, but not by greenhouse gases. But CO2 does absorb some of the infrared radiation emitted from the planet. Absorbing an infrared photon puts a CO2 molecule into an excited state, and fairly quickly the molecule returns to its unexcited state by emitting a photon of the same energy. Some of those photons emitted by excited CO2 molecules head back toward Earth (the emission direction is random). So, the CO2 serves to trap energy in the Earth system, warming the planet so that it glows more brightly to shove infrared radiation past the CO2, achieving a new balance. Points Earned: 1/1
Correct Answer: E
Your Response: E
11. The United Nations-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. The information that the Panel has supplied to policymakers includes: A. The observed rise in atmospheric CO2 levels has been caused primarily by human fossil-fuel burning, and very likely is causing warming of the climate that is likely to become much larger if we continue our current behavior.
B. The observed rise in atmospheric CO2 levels has been caused primarily by a sudden increase in explosive volcanism, and is having no effect on the climate.
C. The observed rise in atmospheric CO2 levels has been caused primarily by human fossil-fuel burning, and very likely is causing warming of the climate that is unlikely to become much larger.
D. The observed rise in atmospheric CO2 levels has been caused primarily by a sudden increase in explosive volcanism, and is causing the climate to warm.
E. The observed rise in atmospheric CO2 levels has been caused primarily by human fossil-fuel burning, and is having no effect on the climate.

Points Earned: 1/1
Correct Answer: A
Your Response: A
12. The United Nations, under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has attempted to assess the scientific understanding of how greenhouse-gas emissions will affect the climate, and thus people. The UN reports show that if we continue on our present path, burning fossil fuels at a faster and faster rate: A. Climate will change, with cooling at high latitudes that primarily will hurt wealthy people living in those cold places.
B. Climate will change, primarily getting warmer, and those changes will primarily hurt poor people in warm places, but the climate changes are primarily being caused by wealthier people in colder places.
C. Climate will change, primarily getting colder, and those changes will especially hurt those people living in northwestern Europe.
D. Climate will change, primarily getting warmer, and those changes will primarily hurt the poor people in warm places who are the main causes of the climate changes through deforestation and other actions.
E. Climate will change, primarily getting warmer, and these changes will hurt everyone, equally.

Blizzards play havoc with airline travel, which hurts the economy in the mid- and high-latitude wealthier countries. If you have winter (so that warming reduces blizzards), air conditioners (so you can keep the economy humming when the weather is otherwise too hot), and bulldozers (so you can build sea walls or haul things out of the way as the ocean rises), a little warming might even help your economy, although too much warming will be bad. If you are missing any of winter, air conditioning, or bulldozers, all warming is likely to be bad. Most of the world’s people are missing all three, and will be hurt by warming, but the warming is being caused primarily by people who have all three. Points Earned: 1/1
Correct Answer: B
Your Response: B 13. The picture above shows the stem of devil’s club, a plant of the northwestern coast of North America.
The native people use devil's club for medicinal purposes.

We now know that: A. Plants protect themselves in many ways, including thorns but also through chemicals that are poisonous to many things that would eat the plants; those chemicals are always harmful to humans (poison ivy, for example).
B. Most plants protect themselves primarily through thorns, hairs, etc., such as shown here.
C. Plants protect themselves in many ways, including thorns but also through chemicals that are poisonous to many things that would eat the plants; those chemicals are always beneficial to humans, and are the basis for all of our medicines.
D. This is a device developed by Pepsi to keep people away from Coke machines.
E. Plants protect themselves in many ways, including thorns but also through chemicals that are poisonous to many things that would eat the plants; those chemicals are sometimes harmful to humans (poison ivy, for example) but sometimes beneficial to humans, and have given us many of our medicines.

Most plants have physical protections of some sort (hairs, thorns, hardened parts, bark, etc.), but almost all plants have chemical defenses. Those chemical defenses may kill us if we eat too much, but they also may kill microbes that would kill us before the chemicals kill us. A whole lot of our medicines have come from plants, and there undoubtedly are more to be discovered. There is a race on to find those new medicines before we exterminate the plants containing the medicines. Devil’s club has been around longer than Pepsi has. Points Earned: 1/1
Correct Answer: E

|1. |A gallon of milk weighs eight pounds, so you wouldn’t try to carry three or four gallons home on your bicycle. Gasoline is a bit less dense |
| |than milk—oil floats on water—and 6 pounds per gallon of gasoline is about right. |
| |A typical U.S. “car” (whatever it is we drive—averaging somewhere between a Prius and a Hummer, and including a lot of pickup trucks and |
| |minivans) gets about 20 miles per gallon, and drives about 12,000 miles. |
| | |
| |So, how many gallons of gas per year? |
| |A. |
| |600 gallons / year |
| | |
| |B. |
| |240,000 gallons / year |
| | |
| |C. |
| |6000 gallons / year |
| | |
| |D. |
| |12,000 gallons / year |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |2/2 |
|Your Response: |A |
|2. |And how much does that gas weigh? |
| |(Hint: Your previous answer for number of gallons per year, multiplied by the weight of gas as given previously, gives you the weight of |
| |gasoline burned per year in a typical car:) |
| |A. |
| |3,600 pounds / year |
| | |
| |B. |
| |360 pounds / year |
| | |
| |C. |
| |36,000 pounds / year |
| | |
| |D. |
| |72,000 pounds / year |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |2/2 |
|Your Response: |A |
|3. |Gasoline is a remarkably interesting soup of hydrocarbons of various sorts, with bits of this and that added, but the average chemistry is not|
| |too far from being carbon and hydrogen, with two hydrogen atoms for each carbon. Burning involves combining gasoline with oxygen to make water|
| |and carbon dioxide. (Other things that are made in small quantities, such as carbon monoxide, are not as nice.) |
| | |
| |The chemical formula for burning gasoline can then be written something like: |
| |CH2+1.5 O2 --> CO2+H2O |
| |(If you don’t like having one-and-a-half oxygen molecules, you can think of two hydrocarbons plus three oxygens making two carbon dioxides and|
| |two waters; it is the same thing, really.) |
| |In burning, each carbon atom, C, in gasoline eliminates two hydrogens and replaces them with two oxygens. |
| |each carbon atom weighs 12 atomic mass units |
| |each hydrogen weighs 1 |
| |each oxygen weighs 16; |
| |So, CH2 starts out weighing 14 (12 from carbon and 2 from hydrogen), and CO2 ends up weighing 44 (12 from carbon and 32 from oxygen)—the |
| |weight has more than tripled. |
| |Rounding that off a little, the total weight of CO2 put out by a typical U.S. driver is three times larger than the weight of gasoline burned.|
| | |
| |To get the number of pounds of CO2 per year from a typical car, then, multiply your answer from the previous question by 3. |
| |A. |
| |216,000 pounds / year |
| | |
| |B. |
| |1,080 pounds / year |
| | |
| |C. |
| |108,000 pounds / year |
| | |
| |D. |
| |10,800 pounds / year |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |2/2 |
|Your Response: |D |
|4. |Total Pounds (or Tons) of CO2 Produced by U.S. Drivers per Year Calculation: |
| | |
| |Imagine for a moment that the CO2 behaved like horse ploppies, making a pile in the road, rather than wafting away in the atmosphere. |
| | |
| |How much would we have? |
| | |
| |Here are your necessary facts: |
| |There are roughly 140,000,000 cars in the country |
| |Each car averages 12,000 miles per year |
| |Each car is producing @ 1 pound of CO2 per car per mile |
| |How many pounds of CO2 are produced each year by U.S. drivers? |
| | |
| |To get this number, simply multiply the 3 variables above for this answer. This is a big number - one that cheaper calculators won't be able |
| |to handle. In this case, you'll want to come up with the number of tons instead of the number of pounds of CO2. (2000 lbs = 1 ton). |
| | |
| |The formulas will look like this; |
| | |
| |Total Pounds of CO2 produced in a year by U.S. drivers: # of cars X # of miles per car X pounds of CO2 per mile |
| | |
| |Total Tons of CO2 produced in a year by U.S. drivers:(# of cars / 2000) X # of miles per car X pounds of CO2 per mile |
| | |
| |-- or -- |
| | |
| |Total Tons of CO2 produced in a year by U.S. drivers: # of cars X (# of miles per car / 2000) X pounds of CO2 per mile |
| | |
| |So, what do YOU come up with for this answer? |
| |A. |
| |32,000,000,000 pounds / year (or 16,000,000 tons ) |
| | |
| |B. |
| |16,800 pounds / year (or 8.4 tons ) |
| | |
| |C. |
| |1,680,000,000,000 pounds / year (or 840,000,000 tons ) |
| | |
| |D. |
| |16,800,000 pounds / year (or 8,400 tons ) |
| | |

|[pic] |Points Earned: |2/2 |
|Your Response: |C |
|5. |Pounds of CO2 per Square Foot of Road per Year Calculation: |
| | |
| |There are about 15,000 square miles of paved roads in the U.S. (the roads are long and skinny, but if you took roads and made them into a |
| |giant tennis court, you’d have about 15,000 square miles), or about 15,000 x 5280 x 5280 = 420,000,000,000 square feet (rounding off just a |
| |bit). |
| | |
| |For this answer, then, simply divide the answer from the previous question (number of pounds of CO2 per year produced by U.S. cars) by the |
| |total highway square footage number above. |
| | |
| |Cheap calculators? You likely won’t be able to type in the number of square feet; in that case, if you calculated a number of tons (T) in the |
| |previous question, you should do T x 2000 / 15,000 / 5280 / 5280, giving an answer very near to: |
| |A. |
| |0.4 pounds per square foot / year |
| | |
| |B. |
| |0.04 pounds per square foot / year |
| | |
| |C. |
| |4 pounds per square foot / year |
| | |
| |D. |
| |0.004 pounds per square foot / year |
| | |

|[pic]|Points Earned: |2/2 |
|Your Response: |C |
|6. |Now, imagine that instead of CO2, our cars put out horse ploppies that fell on the road. U.S. cars would be delivering the number of pounds of|
| |horse ploppies you just calculated, each year, to each square foot of paved road in the country. The CO2 from our cars, if turned to horse |
| |ploppies, would make a one-inch-thick layer spread across all the paved roads in the entire country each year. |
| | |
| |Just take a moment and think of this—what would happen if you stomped on the accelerator in an inch of recycled hay? How about braking? After |
| |a few decades, would all the roads look like pickup-truck commercials, with giant sprays of something like mud coming off the tires? Would you|
| |enjoy being a pedestrian? Would joggers switch to cross-country skiing? |
| |To get total U.S. CO2 production, you need to multiply again by about 3—we heat and air condition our homes, etc., as well as driving our |
| |cars, and most of the heating and cooling comes from fossil fuels, too. So, spread that inch of horse ploppies across your living-room |
| |carpet, and across every other living space in the nation. Put differently, the average American generates 22 tons of CO2 per year. (Compare |
| |this to a bit over half a ton per person per year of solid waste put out in garbage cans to go to landfills.) |
| |With about 5% of the world’s population, we are generating about 25% of the world’s CO2. If you had an inch-thick layer of horse ploppies |
| |each year on every square inch of paved road in America, you very clearly would smell it everywhere—the volatile organic molecules wafting off|
| |the mess would quickly be blown around the country and the world. We don’t smell the CO2, but it is everywhere, building up steadily in the |
| |atmosphere, changing the climate… and we humans clearly are influential enough to do this. |
| |So, for you alert readers playing along at home, how thick would the layer be if all the CO2 released by U.S. cars were converted to an |
| |equivalent weight of horse ploppies and spread uniformly across all the paved roads in the U.S.? (you've already seen this answer several |
| |times, actually, so for those paying attention, conider this your reward) |
| |A. |
| |1/100 inch |
| | |
| |B. |
| |1/10 inch |
| | |
| |C. |
| |1/1000 inch |
| | |
| |D. |
| |1 inch |
| | |

|[pic|Points Earned: |2/2 |
|] | | |
|Your Response: |D |

[pic]

|1. |Which formula most closely describes the process by which plants make more of themselves: |
| |A. |
| |Ca+2 + 2HCO3- &rarr CaCO3 + H2CO3 |
| | |
| |B. |
| |CaCO3 + H2CO3 &rarr Ca+2+ 2HCO3- |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Diet_Pepsi + Graham_Spanier &rarr Diet_Graham_Spepsier |
| | |
| |D. |
| |CO2 + H2O + energy &rarr CH2O + O2 |
| | |
| |E. |
| |CH2O + O2 &rarr CO2 + H2O + energy |
| | |

CaCO3 is shell or cave-rock; the equation with CaCO3 on the left is dissolution of rock to make caves, and with CaCO3 on the right is formation of shells. CH2O is a pretty good estimate of average plant composition; the equation with CH2O on the left is burning of plant material for energy, and with CH2O on the right is how plant material is made. We’re not sure just what Diet_Graham_Spepsier might be, but it isn’t general plant material.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |B |
|2. |Carbon dioxide, CO2, is an important greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gases warm the Earth primarily by: |
| |A. |
| |Absorbing the sunlight reflected from snow, clouds, and reflective desert sands. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Breaking down the ozone layer that cools the planet. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Making politicians mad, so they give speeches that heat the air. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Absorbing some of the infrared radiation emitted from the Earth. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Breaking down the methane emitted by flatulent cows. |
| | |

CO2 has very little interaction with the ozone, which is not big on cooling the planet anyway, and CO2 does little to the sunlight reflected from the Earth. But CO2 does absorb some of the infrared radiation emitted from the planet. Absorbing an infrared photon puts a CO2 molecule into an excited state, and fairly quickly the molecule returns to its unexcited state by emitting a photon of the same energy. Some of those photons emitted by excited CO2 molecules head back toward Earth (the emission direction is random). So, the CO2 serves to trap energy in the Earth system, warming the planet so that it glows more brightly to shove infrared radiation past the CO2, achieving a new balance.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |D |
|Your Response: |B |
|3. |If you were looking for different types of coal, you likely would find: |
| |A. |
| |Lignite in the metamorphic rocks of eastern Pennsylvania, and more lignite in the sedimentary rocks of western Pennsylvania. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Lignite in the metamorphic rocks of eastern Pennsylvania, and anthracite in the sedimentary rocks of western Pennsylvania. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Bituminous in the sedimentary rocks of western Pennsylvania, and anthracite in the metamorphic rocks of eastern Pennsylvania. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |No coal in Pennsylvania. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Bituminous in the metamorphic rocks of eastern Pennsylvania, and lignite in the sedimentary rocks of western Pennsylvania. |
| | |

Bituminous is found with sedimentary rocks, but ones that have been squeezed and heated a bit so they are far from being loose sediment; such rocks are common in western Pennsylvania. Anthracite is the most-cooked coal, and is found with metamorphic rocks in eastern Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has lots of coal, but not much lignite, which would not be found in metamorphic rocks anyway.
|[pic] |Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |C |
|Your Response: |B |
|4. |You are the chief biodiversity officer for the National Park Service in the eastern US, responsible for maintaining as much diversity as |
| |possible, and your boss has told you to focus on maintaining biodiversity of things big enough to see with the naked eye (so you don’t need to|
| |worry about microorganisms). You have two parks, and enough money to buy 10,000 acres of land. You may add the 10,000 acres to one of the |
| |parks, add 5,000 acres to each park while leaving them as isolated parks, or buy a 10,000-acre corridor connecting the two parks. All of the |
| |land for sale is now wilderness, but the land you do not buy is going to be paved for a super-mega-mall. You would be wise to: |
| |A. |
| |Don’t worry, the key is how much area you have in wilderness, so each of the plans is equally valuable. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Enlarge both parks some; each park has some diversity, and you want to enhance both. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Enlarge one park a good bit; bigger islands have more species, so you want to make a big “island”. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Don’t worry; malls are highly biodiverse, so you’ll succeed no matter what you do. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Buy the corridor connecting the two parks; this keeps one big “island” rather than two smaller ones, and so keeps more species. |
| | |

Remember the terrarium—you will have more diversity in an undivided terrarium than in a divided one. Your park area is your terrarium; keep it undivided. Malls have low biodiversity.
|[pic]|Points Earned: |0/1 |
|Correct Answer: |E |
|Your Response: |C |
|5. |Among fossil fuels: |
| |A. |
| |Oil is made by heating of woody plant material, and coal is made by heating of algae. |
| | |
| |B. |
| |Coal is made by heating of woody plant material, and oil is made by heating of algae. |
| | |
| |C. |
| |Oil is made by spraying WD-40 on duct tape, and coal is made by being bad so Santa delivers it to your stocking. |
| | |
| |D. |
| |Coal is made by heating of woody plant material, and oil is made by heating of different woody plant material. |
| | |
| |E. |
| |Oil is made by heating of algae, and coal is made by heating of different algae. |
| | |

Slimy algae gives slimy oil; chunky wood gives chunky coal. Works great. Duct tape and WD-40 are the quick-fix tool kit; if something moves but it shouldn’t, apply duct tape, and if something doesn’t move but it should, apply WD-40. None of you would be so bad as to merit coal in your stocking, but we presume Santa gets it from a mine somewhere.
|[pic] | |1/1 |
|Correct Answer:B | |
| | |
|1. Suppose we didn’t burn fossil fuels, and you had to get the energy you now use from the labor of a bunch of people who work for you. How | |
|many people would you need to replace the fossil fuels? | |
|A. 1 19 | |
|B. 10 101 | |
|C. 100 207 | |
| | |
|2. Global warming: | |
|A. Is really bad because it caused the ozone hole. 53 | |
|B. Is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people. 50 | |
|C. Is likely to be a problem in the future, about which nothing can be done. 47 | |
|D. Is likely to be a problem in the future, but is fixable if we get busy. 177 | |
| | |
|3. Global warming is being caused by: | |
|A. The sun getting a lot brighter. 44 | |
|B. Volcanic eruptions. 38 | |
|C. Changes in Earth’s orbit. 45 | |
|D. Fossil-fuel burning, plus a bit of cow flatulence. 200 | |
| | |
|4. If we warm the world enough to melt Greenland, global sea level would rise about 23 feet vertically. That would be: | |
|A. Good. All of those wealthy sun-tanned Floridians and Californians sitting out on the beach deserve it. 78 | |
|B. Bad. All of those wealthy sun-tanned Floridians and Californians would be heading inland, to places such as Pennsylvania. 249 | |