What does a single layer (or bed) in a clastic sedimentary rock represent? A) a day; B) a year; C) a depositional event; D) a 100-year flood; E) an earthquake.
What is the metamorphic reaction that drives subduction of oceanic plates? A) graphite to diamond; B) andalusite to sillimanite; C) sandstone to marble; D) basalt to eclogite; E) shale to schist.
If we have had two fify-year floods in the past ten years, what are the odds of a fifty year flood occurring next year? A) zero; B) 1 in 5; C) 1 in 10; D) 1 in 20; E) 1 in 50.
Contact metamorphic rocks are always associated with: A) deformation; B) chemical weathering; C) mechanical weathering; D) igneous intrusions; E) folding.
Which of the following is NOT a type of meteorite: A) chondritic meteorites; B) achondritic meteorites; C) iron meteorites; D) rhyolite meteorites; E) all of the preceding are types of meteorites.
Temperature increases downward in the earth because of: A) increased pressure; B) accumulation of heat from radioactive decay; C) energy produced by chemical weathering; D) lithification of sediment; E) the production of magma by partial melting.
Stream discharge is related to a stream's: A) width; B) depth; C) velocity; D) all of the preceding; E) none of the preceding - it is independent of those measures.
Normal faults usually result from _________ tectonic stresses: A) compressive; B) tensional; C) shear; D) subduction zone; E) transform.
A sequence of rocks that show increasing metamorphic intensity is: A) slate-schist-gneiss; B) schist-slate-gneiss; C) phyllite-gneiss-schist; D) schist-gneiss-slate; E) phyllite-slate-schist.
On the following map view of a stream, where is the undercut bank likely to form? D
On the map view of a stream above, where is the point bar? C
The amount of elevation that a stream drops for a given amount of its length is called the: A) aggradation, B) degradation, C) gradient, D) point bar, E) alluvium.
Gravel in a stream usually travels as part of the: A) dissolved load, B) bed load, C) suspended load, D) conglomerate load, E) none of the preceding.
During most of the Paleozoic, what was the tectonic setting of central Idaho? A) a subduction zone; B) a continental rift; C) an active margin; D) a passive margin; E) a continental collision zone.
The zone of aeration is defined by: A) pores that just contain water, B) pores that contain water and air, C) pores that just contain oxygen, D) pores that contain petroleum, E) rock without pores.
In the cross section pictured below, plutonium is being injected into the ground at point E. Where would be the safest place to put a domestic water well? A
In the cross section above, where would it be the cheapest to drill a water well? C
Glaciers that flow due to the build up of large volumes of ice over a broad flat area are called: A) alpine glaciers, B) valley glaciers, C) hanging glaciers, D) cirque glaciers, E) continental ice sheets.
A mound of till that marks the former end of a glacier is called a: A) cirque, B) moraine, C) U-shaped valley, D) horn, E) arete.
The following tool is used to reconstruct climatic conditions during the last glacial: A) fossils, B) oxygen isotopes, C) the distribution of moraines, D) all of the preceding, E) none of the preceding.
The difference between a breccia and a conglomerate is: a) particle size; b) particle shape; c) color; d) quartz/calcite ratio; e) mineral composition.
Which of the following types of rocks can become metamorphic rocks: a) sedimentary rocks only; b) sedimentary or igneous rocks only; c) limestone only; d) sedimentary or metamorphic rocks only; e) any rock.
The Belt group in northern Idaho is: a) Precambrian; b) sedimentary; c) deposited on the craton; d) all of the preceding; e) none of the preceding.
The earth is currently in a climatic stage called: a) a glacial; b) an interglacial; c) a superglacial; d) an ice age; e) oxygen isotope stage F.
What is the principal line of evidence that a small group of meteorites comes from Mars? A) they lack silicate minerals; B) they have abundant olivine; C) they are much younger than most meteorites; D) they contain live bacteria; E) they were found in Antarctica.
Folds form from _______ strain, whereas faults form from ________ strain: A) plastic, elastic; B) elastic, plastic; C) fracture, elastic; D) fracture, plastic; E) plastic, fracture.
The diagram below is a cross section. What is the geologic structure that is depicted? A) anticline; B) syncline; C) monocline; D) homocline; E) heterocline.
Which direction do the rocks of the north limb of the fold dip? A) north; B) south; C) east; D) west; E)
The diagram below shows two segments of a mid-ocean ridge, indicated by the double lines. What kind of fault is indicated by the single line? A) thrust; B) normal; C) monoclinal; D) right-lateral strike-slip;E) left-lateral strike-slip. (both D and E are potentially correct)
If an area is made up of schists and granite plutons that are cut by thrust faults, what type of tectonic stresses affected the area? A) tensional; B) transform; C) extensional; D) synclinal; E) compressive.
What type of faults usually surround fault-block mountains, like Idaho’s Borah Peak? A) thrust; B) normal; C) monoclinal; D) right-lateral strike-slip; E) left-lateral strike-slip.
If you wanted to find some very old rocks, where would be a good place to look? A) the Mid-Atlantic Ridge; B) Hawaii; C) central Australia; D) the Phillipines; E) the 7-Devils Mountains.
Which of the following is NOT a feature characteristic of Washington’s channeled scablands? A) giant ripple marks; B) giant gravel bars; C) giant meandering streams; D) giant braided channels; E) large rocks transported by icebergs.
What are the oldest rocks in Idaho? A) rocks from the summit of Borah Peak, the highest mountain in the state; B) xenoliths in lavas on the Snake River Plain; C) sedimentary rocks of the Belt group; D) basalts from the Snake River Plain; E) Mesozoic limestones.
Which of the following is evidence for life in the Martian meteorites? A) minerals with textures that look like bacteria; B) fossilized shells; C) the occurrence of carbohydrates and proteins; D) the meteorites lack oxygen isotopes; E) the occurrence of metallic iron.
What active geologic setting has rocks similar to those of western Idaho? A) a polar island arc like the Aleutians; B) a tropical island arc like the Philippines; C) a continental rift like east Africa; D) a continental collision zone like the Himalayas; E) a cratonic zone, like central Australia.
What was the source of the water of the Spokane flood? A) glacial lake Missoula; B) the Missoula glacier; C) Lake Coeur d’Alene; D) the Spokane River; E) glacial loess.
What region of current geologic activity most resembles that of Idaho while the Idaho Batholith was being emplaced 90 million years ago? A) the Andes; B) Iceland; C) Hawaii; D) New Jersey; E) East Africa.
Imagine that you are standing on a frozen pond. Which of the following would exert less stress on the ice? A) you are standing on a sheet of plywood; B) you are on ice skates; C) you stand on your tip-toes; D) you stand on one foot; E) the stress is equal in all of these situations.
Which group of meteorites is thought to come from the cores of planetessimals? A) stonies; B) chondrites; C) achondrites; D) SNC; E) irons.