You'll find the answer key at the end of the Exam Key, for now!
 
1. How thick are the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps?
A. approximately 100 meters thick
B. approximately 300 meters thick
C. approximately 1 kilometer thick
D. approximately 3 kilometers thick

 
2. If accumulation exceeds ablation, then __________.
A. the glacial ice will flow downhill and the glacial front will move downhill
B. the glacial ice will flow downhill, but the glacial front will move uphill
C. the glacial ice will flow uphill, but the glacial front will move downhill
D. the glacial ice will flow uphill and the glacial front will move uphill

 
3. Why do glacial crevasses form?
A. because glacial meltwater erodes small valleys as glacial rivers flow
B. because plate tectonic forces deform the glacier
C. because the glacial surface deforms brittlely and cracks as the ice flows
D. because the glacial surface partially melts, leaving holes and cracks

 
4. If a very large iceberg in the ocean were to melt, what would happen to sea level?
A. Sea level would decrease slightly.
B. Sea level would remain the same.
C. Sea level would increase slightly.
D. Sea level would decrease or increase depending on the air content of the iceberg.

 
5. During the peak of the last ice age, sea level was ______ than sea level today.
A. approximately 1 meter lower
B. approximately 10 meters lower
C. approximately 100 meters lower
D. approximately 1000 meters lower

 
6. Which of the following erosional features is characteristic of rivers and not glaciers?
A. arete
B. cirque
C. roche moutonée
D. V-shaped valley

 
7. When did the last ice age end?
A. about 100 years ago
B. about 10,000 years ago
C. about 1 million years ago
D. about 100 million years ago

 The following questions refer to the diagram below.

Reference: Ref 22-3
8. Which of the following correctly identifies X, Y, and Z?
A. X = anthracite     Y = bituminous coal     Z = lignite
B. X = lignite     Y = anthracite     Z = bituminous coal
C. X = lignite     Y = bituminous coal     Z = anthracite
D. X = bituminous coal     Y = anthracite     Z = lignite

 The following questions refer to the diagram below.

Reference: Ref 22-3
9. In addition to increasing pressure and temperature, the arrow to the left of the diagram represents increasing __________.
A. carbon content
B. heat value
C. metamorphism
D. all of the above

 
10. Nuclear energy is derived by the __________ of 235U atoms.
A. combustion
B. dissolution
C. fission
D. fusion

 
11. What type of ore deposits form where minerals precipitate from fluids along the walls of faults and joints?
A. disseminated deposits
B. placer deposits
C. sedimentary deposits
D. vein deposits

 The following questions refer to the map of North America depicted below.
Reference: Ref 22-4
12. Large copper porphyry deposits are found in __________.
A. region A
B. region B
C. region C
D. region D

 The following questions refer to the schematic cross section below.

Reference: Ref 22-5
13. In what plate tectonic setting are minable copper porphyry deposits most easily located?
A. plate tectonic setting A
B. plate tectonic setting B
C. plate tectonic setting C
D. plate tectonic setting D

 
14. Nodules rich in ______ are found on the deep sea floor away from plate boundaries.
A. aluminum
B. gold
C. manganese
D. potassium

 
15. How has the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere changed since the start of the Industrial Revolution?
A. Carbon dioxide concentrations have increased 3%.
B. Carbon dioxide concentrations have increased 10%.
C. Carbon dioxide concentrations have increased 30%.
D. Carbon dioxide concentrations have increased 100%.

 
16. If Earth's atmosphere did not contain greenhouse gases, the Earth's surface would be __________.
A. approximately 33 °C cooler
B. approximately 10 °C cooler
C. approximately 10 °C warmer
D. approximately 33 °C warmer

 
17. The greenhouse effect is caused by __________.
A. carbon dioxide and water vapor that trap heat radiating from the Earth's surface
B. heating of homes and businesses, which releases excess heat into the atmosphere
C. oceans that trap heat radiating from the Earth's seafloors
D. too many plants on the surface of the Earth, which prevent cooling of the surface

 
18. How much did the average surface temperature increase during the twentieth century?
A. approximately 0.3 °C
B. approximately 0.6 °C
C. approximately 1.2 °C
D. approximately 2.4 °C

 
19. Which of the following processes removes carbon from the atmosphere?
A. photosynthesis
B. respiration
C. volcanism
D. all of the above

 
20. If all human activities that generated carbon dioxide were to stop, how long would it take for atmospheric carbon dioxide to return to its preindustrial level?
A. 2 months
B. 2 years
C. 20 years
D. 200 years

 
21. By the end of the next century temperatures are predicted to rise ________ because of global warming.
A. less than 1.5 °C
B. 1.5 to 6 °C
C. 6 to 20 °C
D. greater than 20 °C

 
22. Which of the following has dramatically changed the carbon cycle over the past 150 years?
A. burial of organic carbon
B. burning of fossil fuels
C. deposition of carbon-rich sediments
D. volcanism

 
23. What proportion of the total amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere each year stays in the atmosphere?
A. approximately 25%
B. approximately 50%
C. approximately 75%
D. approximately 100%

 
24. Lake Vostok is _________.
A. a former alpine lake that is now frozen into a glacier.
B. a lake that lies under the Antarctic ice cap.
C. a lake that lies on top of the Antarctic ice cap.
D. a very large kettle lake

 
25. What are erratics?
A. conflicting dates of glaciation obtained by dating organic material found in glaciers
B. cross beds that do not match the overall outwash cross-bedding scheme
C. large boulders deposited randomly by glaciers
D. valleys with glacial striations that oppose the striations in adjacent valleys

 
26. Which of the following terms describes an accumulation of rocky, sandy, or clayey material deposited at the end of a glacier?
A. dune
B. esker
C. loess
D. moraine

 
27. What are glacial striations?
A. dust formed by grinding rocks to clay-sized particles during glacial movement
B. grooves created by rocks scratching against bedrock at the base of a glacier
C. large, streamlined hills of till and bedrock that parallel the direction of ice movement
D. long, narrow, winding ridges of sand and gravel found in the middle of ground moraines

 
28. What is precession?
A. the angle between the Earth's axis of rotation and the vertical to the orbital plane
B. the changes in climate as the Earth warms and cools
C. the degree of ellipticity of Earth's orbit
D. the wobble of the Earth's axis of rotation

 
29. At what time in Earth's history do some geologists speculate that the Earth was completely covered in ice?
A. 1.8 to 0.01 million years ago (Pleistocene)
B. 300 to 250 million years ago (Pennsylvanian–Permian)
C. 750 to 600 million years ago (Late Proterozoic)
D. 4.5 to 4.0 billion years ago (Hadean)

 
30. When searching for coal deposits, geologists look for sedimentary rocks deposited in a __________.
A. deep ocean environment
B. desert environment
C. swampy environment
D. volcanic environment

 
Reference: Ref 22-2
31. The cross section above depicts an oil trap, and X, Y, and Z represent three distinct fluid layers within the permeable reservoir rock. If the pore spaces in layer X contain natural gas, what will the pore spaces in layer Y likely contain?
A. air
B. coal
C. oil
D. water

 
32. Most metal ore deposits consist of ______.
A. metal oxides
B. metal silicates
C. metal sulfides
D. native metals

 
33. What important metal is extracted from the large open-pit mines of the southwestern United States and Chile?
A. copper
B. iron
C. nickel
D. zinc

 
34. All oil traps contain a(n) __________.
A. anticline
B. fault
C. impermeable layer
D. syncline

 
35. Which of the following energy sources does not generate greenhouse gases?
A. coal
B. natural gas
C. nuclear
D. oil

 
36. Which of the following types of ore deposits contains may contain large crystals of gem-quality tourmaline (among others)?
A. ophiolites
B. pegmatites
C. placers
D. porphyry deposits

 
37. Based on ice core data, how rapidly can Earth shift from cold to warm temperatures (sometimes up to 6 degrees C)?
A. 10 to 30 years
B. 100 to 300 years
C. 1000 to 3000 years
D. 10,000 to 30,000 years

 
38. By which processes does the ocean take up and remove CO2 from contact with the atmosphere and thus moderate greenhouse warming?
A. Dissolution of atmospheric CO2 into cold, high-latitude seawater
B. Photosynthesis and subsequent sinking of phytoplankton and their remains
C. Formation of deep-water in the Greenland Sea
D. All of the above

 
39. Over the next century the warming and expanding of oceans due to global warming would result in a rise in sea level of as much as ____________.
A. 90 centimeters
B. 9 meters
C. 90 meters
D. 900 meters

 
40. Chemical analysis of ice cores demonstrates that as temperature increases, concentrations of atmospheric __________.
A. carbon dioxide and methane both decrease
B. carbon dioxide decreases while methane increases
C. carbon dioxide increases while methane decreases
D. carbon dioxide and methane both increase

 

Answer Key
 
1. D
2. A
3. C
4. B
5. C
6. D
7. B
8. C
9. D
10. C
11. D
12. B
13. D
14. C
15. C
16. A
17. A
18. B
19. A
20. D
21. B
22. B
23. B
24. B
25. C
26. D
27. B
28. D
29. C
30. C
31. C
32. C
33. A
34. C
35. C
36. B
37. A
38. D
39. A
40. D