1. The giant lava flows of the Columbia River province moved: A) as thick sheets; B) as ignimbrites; C) as thin sheets that progressively inflated; D) as overlapping thin sheets; E) as thick sheets that deflated.

2. Seismic rays refract as they pass through materials with different: A) color, B) grain sizes, C) velocities, D) all of the preceding, E) none of the preceding.

3. The asthenosphere is characterized by: A) high seismic velocities, B) low seismic velocities, C) strong gravity anomalies, D) molten iron, E) solid iron.

4. Most meteorites that are available for study were collected in: A) Africa; B) Asia; C) the deep Pacific; D) Antarctica; E) Australia.

5. The ancient volcanoes near Twin Falls, Idaho are 10 million years old. Twin Falls is 350 km southwest of Yellowstone. What is the absolute motion of the North American plate? A) 35 km/hr; B) 3.5 km/yr; C) 35 cm/yr; D) 3.5 cm/yr; E) this cannot be calculated without knowing the width of the magnetic stripes on the hotspot track.

6. In the early Mesozoic, the west coast of North America was near: A) the present coast; B) there was no coast, N. America was connected to Siberia, C) the Cascades, D) the Idaho-Oregon state line, E) southeast Missouri.

7. The rocks exposed in Hell’s Canyon are like those in present-day: A) tropical island arcs, B) continental margins, C) trenches, D) glaciated valleys, E) cratons.

8. The present-day east coast of the U.S. is this type of continental margin: A) active; B) trench; C) passive; D) subduction; E) transform.

9. Magma making up the Idaho Batholith is thought to have formed in response to: A) continental rifting, B) subduction beneath North America, C) sea floor spreading, D) the Yellowstone hotspot, E) the Hawaiian hotspot.

10. Transform faults are oriented: A) parallel to a plate’s relative motion, B) perpendicular to a plate’s absolute motion, C) perpendicular to subduction zones, D) near hotspots, E) parallel to magnetic stripes.

11. From oldest to youngest, which series of events below best describes the geological evolution of northern Idaho?: A) Belt rocks, Idaho batholith, Columbia River basalts, B) Idaho batholith, Belt rocks, Columbia River basalts, C) Belt rocks, Columbia River basalts, Idaho batholith, D) Idaho batholith, Columbia River basalts, Belt rocks, E) Columbia River basalts, Idaho batholith, Belt rocks.

12. The rocks overlying the granitic gneiss at Granite Point are: A) sandstone; B) limestone; C) rhyolite; D) basalt; E) pyroclastic rocks.

13. Rocks _______ with distance away from a mid-ocean ridge: A) get older, B) get hotter, C) get younger, D) are the same age, E) none of the preceding.

14. Continental drift was supported by: A) fit of the continents, B) the distribution of glacial deposits, C) the distribution of rock types, D) paleomagnetism of continental rocks, E) all of the preceding.

15. The earth’s outer core is made of: A) peridotite; B) eclogite; C) molten iron; D) solid iron; E) chondrules.

16. The Mazama ash in the Lewiston area is: A) black; B) white; C) olivine-rich; D) a lava; E) none of the preceding.

17. Basaltic pillows tend to have ________ margins: A) green; B) fine-grained, glassy; C) coarse-grained; D) chondritic; E) none of the preceding.

18. Wegener’s theory of continental drift was supported by: A) the fit of the continents, B) correlation of fossils, C) correlation of mountain ranges, E) all of the preceding, E) none of the preceding.

19. If the first magnetic stripe is 40 kilometers (= 4,000,000 cm) away from a mid-ocean ridge, and we know that the youngest magnetic reversal is 800,000 years old, what is the relative velocity of the plate? A) 1 mile per hour, B) 1 cm per year, C) 5 cm per year, D) 10 mm per year, E) 32 cm per year.

20. The force of gravity between two objects depends on: A) the mass of the two objects, B) the colors of the two objects, C) the distance separating the two objects, D) A and B, E) A and C.

21. Most meteorites are about: A) 1.2 billion years old, B) 45,000 years old, C) 3.1 million years old, D) 450,000 years old, E) 4.5 billion years old.

22. The calculation of the rate of accumulation of sediment requires knowing: A) the age of a subsurface layer; B) the average particle size, C) the depth of the water that deposited it, D) all of the preceding, E) none of the preceding.

23. The elevation of the older Hawaiian Islands is lower owing to: A) erosion, B) thermal contraction of the lithosphere, C) isostacy, D) all of the preceding, E) none of the preceding.

24. What attribute most strongly controls a plate’s velocity? A) length of surrounding mid-ocean ridges, B) length of surrounding subduction zones, C) # of transform faults, D) area of continental crust, E) thickness of crust.

25. The oldest rocks in Idaho are: A) Precambrian, B) Paleozoic, C) Mesozoic, D) Cenozoic, E) Hyperzoic.

26. Oceanic crust is generally ___________ than continental crust: A) thicker, B) thinner, C) lighter, D) higher, E) A and C.

27. The following is a geologic hotspot: A) Yellowstone, B) Mt. Rainier C) Hawaii, D) The Corner Club, E) A and C.

28. The active landslide in Lewiston is made up of debris from: A) granite of the Idaho Batholith; B) an older landslide; C) sediments of the Belt group; D) gneisses and schists; C) limestones of the Wallowa terrane.

29. The contact between the Idaho batholith and the Columbia River basalts is a(n): A) intrusive contact, B) thrust fault, C) normal fault, D) strike-slip fault, E) unconformity.

30. What feature moves the least on our planet, relative to the geographic poles? A) direction of the magnetic field, B) continental crust, C) mid-oceanic ridges, D) hotspots, E) the subducted plates.

31. SNC meteorites are thought to come from Mars because: A) they are much younger than most other meteorites; B) they have chondrules; C) they have no metal; D) they have loads of metal; E) this statement is incorrect: they come from the Moon.

32. . One piece of evidence that Africa and the Americas were at one time connected is that: A) fossils older than 200 million years are similar, but younger ones are different, B) fossils younger than 200 million years are similar on the two continents, C) the Atlantic ocean lacks magnetic stripes, D) there are no hotspots in the Atlantic, E) gravity anomalies are lacking on both continents.

33. Evidence for life in the SNC meteorites includes: A) live bacteria that do not occur on earth; B) flying saucers; C) minerals that are in forms that look like small microbes; D) fossil DNA; E) giant ants.

34. The silt that makes up the Palouse hills was deposited by: A) rivers; B) lakes; C) the ocean; D) wind; E) volcanic eruptions.

35. Giant gravel bars in the Snake River were made by: A) giant beavers; B) slow accumulation of material deposited by floods each spring; C) debris flows; D) the Bonneville flood; E) glaciers.

36. During the Mesozoic, Idaho experienced a(n) ___________ orogeny: A) compressional; B) extensional; C) transform; D) volcanic rift; E) none of the preceding.

37. Which of the following rocks would you be surprised to find in the Seven Devils terrane? A) limestone; B) pillow basalt; C) andesite; D) quartzite; E) none of the preceding.

38. We know that the earth's outer core is liquid because: A) P-waves are absorbed; B) gravity anomalies; C) S-waves are absorbed; D) earth's tides deform the planet at the equator; E) the geographic poles have moved relative to the hotspots.

39. Chondrules are thought to be: A) from the inner core of a planet; B) from Venus: C) droplets of material from the early solar system; D) from solar flares; E) evidence of extraterrestrial life.

40. Alluvial fans are common features: A) at the beach; B) in the ocean; C) in arid climates; D) at the front of glaciers; E) under the surface of large rivers.