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Chapter 1

Chapter Test

Chapter Test
Choose the best possible answer to the following questions for all of "Chapter 1."


This activity contains 41 questions.

	The two broad areas of geology are physical geology and structural geology.    True  False

	More than 2300 years ago, Aristotle's keen observations and experiments helped the early Greeks correctly explain many things about the natural world.    True  False

	During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, catastrophists believed that Earth's landscapes had been shaped primarily by great disasters.    True  False

	Uniformitarianism is a fundamental principle of geology that states that the physical, chemical, and biological laws that govern geological processes remain unchanged through time.    True  False

	The principle of uniformitarianism indicates that ______.   geologists must wear uniforms tomorrow is the "key" to the past the present is the "key" to the past the past is the "key" to the present

	The geologic time scale was developed using principles of relative dating.    True  False

	The law of superposition and the principle of fossil succession are each used for relative dating.    True  False

	The theory of plate tectonics provides geologists with a comprehensive model of Earth's internal workings.    True  False

	The age of Earth is about 6.4 billion years.    True  False

	All science is based on the assumption that the natural world behaves in a consistent and predictable manner that is comprehensible through careful, systematic study.    True  False

	The scientific method is the standard used by scientists so that _________.   provided we can ask a question, there is an answer, even if we cannot understand it observations are used to make hypotheses that are required to be “testable” when hypotheses “pass” tests, we should devise additional tests until the hypothesis fails all of these

	The geological time scale has been constructed based upon which of the following?   Global correlation of strata. "Superposition" relations. The fossil succession record. All of these.

	A scientific hypothesis is a tentative (or untested) explanation.    True  False

	Scientific theories that explain a large number of interrelated aspects of the natural world are called paradigms.    True  False

	As the Earth was forming, an early period of chemical segregation established the basic divisions of its interior.    True  False

	There is a fixed path that scientists always follow that leads unerringly to scientific knowledge.    True  False

	The Earth and the other planets formed at the same time from an enormous rotating cloud called the solar nebula.    True  False

	A system is a group of interacting or interdependent parts that form a complex whole.    True  False

	Earth can be thought of as consisting of four spheres: the hydrosphere, the atmosphere, solid Earth, and biosphere.    True  False

	Approximately how much of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans?   70% 20% 90% 50% 65%

	Humans are not considered parts of the Earth system.    True  False

	The Earth system is powered by two parts: the Sun, and heat from burning fossil fuels.    True  False

	The Earth system that involves glaciers, oceans, and rain is the .

	The Earth system that involves the surface expression of Earth's dynamic interior is the .

	All of the following are fundamental Earth systems except _______.   chemosphere solid Earth atmosphere hydrosphere biosphere

	The composition of Earth's core is thought to be an iron-nickel alloy with minor amounts of oxygen, silicon, and sulfur.    True  False

	Earth's outermost layer, consisting of the crust and upper mantle, is called the lithosphere.    True  False

	Earth's outer core is liquid, whereas the inner core is solid.    True  False

	Over 82 percent of Earth's volume is contained in the crust.    True  False

	As defined by composition, Earth's internal structure consists of the core, mantle, and crust.    True  False

	Shields (flat expanses composed largely of crystalline rocks), are parts of stable continental interiors.    True  False

	On average, continental rocks are more dense than the rocks of the oceanic crust.    True  False

	The boundary between the continents and the deep-ocean basins lies along the continental shelf.    True  False

	Extremely deep, relatively narrow depressions on the ocean floor are called abyssal plains.    True  False

	Magma is molten material that forms in Earth's interior where temperatures and pressures are such that rock melts.    True  False

	Lithification is a term that means "conversion into rock."    True  False

	The rock cycle illustrates the origin of the three basic rock types and the role of various geologic processes in transforming one rock type into another.    True  False

	Geology is the science that pursues an understanding of __________.   planet Earth Earth's biosphere Earth's atmosphere the solar system none of the above

	The Earth system is powered by energy from two sources: __________ and __________.   the Sun/Earth's interior the Sun/internal combustion friction/wind tidal power/fossil fuels none of the above

	Earth's outermost layer, consisting of the crust and uppermost mantle, is a relatively cool, rigid shell called the __________.   core lithosphere asthenosphere mesosphere "D" layer