General Geology MCQs
General Geology MCQs
Answer these 70 General Geology MCQs and see how sharp is your knowledge of General Geology. Scroll down and let's start!
1: A ________ is a defined, recognizable, mappable, rock unit with a known age.
A. Tsunami
B. Normal
C. Richter
D. Formation
2: Seamounts ________.
A. A tectonically passive, trailing continental margin
B. Deep-sea fan at the base of a continental slope
C. Are volcanoes that form on the ocean floor
D. At the top of the continental slope
3: The core is ______. choose all that apply.
A. Iron-rich, Denser than the crust
B. S-waves are bent around the outer core.
C. The crust and the mantle.
D. Convection in the outer core
4: ________ is the maximum possible damage designation on the mercalli scale.
A. XII
B. 12.
C. 10.
D. X
5: The best tool to use to compare the size of the continents is a _____.
A. A great circle
B. Projection
C. Globe
D. Political map
6: Water penetrating into soil promotes chemical weathering by acting as a weak ________.
A. Acid.
B. Saline solution.
C. Neutral agent.
D. Base.
E. Catalyst
7: In an overturned fold, the beds have rotated ________.
A. More than 180 degrees.
B. More than 90 degrees.
C. More than 45 degrees.
D. 100 to 150 degrees
8: Ephemeral streams ________.
A. Consist of a series of intertwined channels that are overloaded with sediment
B. Have flowing water either episodically or during only a portion of the year
C. Have a channel that is highly sinuous (curvy)
D. Are those that divert flow from streams they have intersected through stream erosion
9: A gas under constant pressure will ____________ when ____________.
A. Contract; heated
B. Expand; cooled
C. Expand; heated
D. Keep the same volume when heated or cooled
10: It is always difficult to pump groundwater from _____.
A. The vadose zone
B. Temperature
C. Angle of repose
D. Hotter; cooler
11: Land has a ________ specific heat than water and therefore heats more ________.
A. Higher; quickly
B. Lower; slowly
C. Lower; quickly
D. Higher; slowly
12: The ________ is the line that marks the contact between land and sea.
A. Breakwater
B. Rip currents
C. Shoreline
D. North Carolina
13: The names primary and secondary refer to ___________.
A. Transform
B. Divergent
C. Surface waves
D. Wave speed
14: Infiltration adds water to ________.
A. The groundwater.
B. Runoff (streams).
C. The atmosphere.
D. Base level.
15: _____ igneous rocks are those that cool below the surface
A. Intrusive
B. Sedimentary rocks
C. Rock salt
D. Extrusive
16: ________ are characteristics of downcutting streams and a youthful stage of valley evolution.
A. Meandering channels and natural levees
B. U-shaped, cross-valley profiles
C. Rapids and lots of whitewater
D. Wide floodplains
17: ________ is an abandoned, cutoff, meander loop.
A. A builtrail
B. An oxbow
C. A cowhock
D. A gatorback
18: Waterfalls are a characteristic of a ____.
A. Bedrock channel
B. Alluvial channel
C. Graded stream
D. Cut bank
E. Braided channel
19: Rapids and waterfalls are more likely in ________.
A. A V-shaped valley.
B. A meandering stream.
C. A braided stream.
D. A delta
20: A tsunami is ________.
A. A sea wave generated by a displacement of water
B. A sloshing of water back and forth within a lake or a bay
C. A wave caused by unusually large tidal forces
D. The tendency of wet, clay-rich soils to behave like a liquid during an earthquake
21: Cold water is ________ than warm water and salty water is ________ than fresh water.
A. Less dense; more dnese
B. More dense; less dense
C. More dense; more dense
D. Less dense; less dense
22: Desert climate associated with a rain shadow is found ____.
A. On the windward (shoreward) side of coastal mountain ranges
B. On the leeward (inward) side of coastal mountain ranges
C. In the middle of flat plains
D. Along continental coastlines
23: ______ faults are associated with ______ plate boundaries.
A. Normal; transform
B. Megathrust; convergent
C. Reverse; transform
D. Transform; divergent
E. Strike-slip; convergent
24: Taproots, thorns, and fleshy stems are characteristics of ________.
A. Annuals
B. Xerophytes
C. Deciduous plants
D. Plants with little environmental specialization
E. Tundra vegetation
25: The concepts of ""stress"" and ""strain"" are related because ________.
A. Stress causes strain
B. Strain causes stress
C. Both
D. None of these
26: As a wave passes under a floating object, _____.
A. The object will move vertically a distance equal to that of the wave height
B. The object will travel a distance equal to the wavelength
C. The object will cause the wave to convert to a swell
D. The object will become trapped in the fetch
E. The object will become trapped in the wave trough
27: The ________ are a geologically old mountain range folded and deformed during the paleozoic.
A. The Appalachians
B. Appalachians in the eastern United States
C. Geologically different, microcontinent-sized fragments and terranes, formed elsewhere, were tectonically accreted to North America.
D. None of these
28: Magma tends to rise toward earth's surface principally because ________.
A. Water is an abundant constituent of magma
B. Silica increases the viscosity of the magma
C. Rocks become less dense when they melt
D. Of convection in the mantle
29: A fiord is a ________.
A. A large, kettle-pocked moraine left as an island when sea level rises following melting of the ice
B. A glacier-cut valley that is dammed by an end moraine and a large lake is formed
C. A stream valley, deepened by glacial erosion, that floods as sea level rises
D. A glacier-cut valley which sinks below sea level due to glacial rebound after the ice melts
30: Island arcs and andean type mountains are both examples of mountains formed by ________.
A. Subduction
B. Collisional
C. Normal fault
D. Strike-slip faults
31: Major earthquakes are often followed by somewhat smaller events known as ________.
A. Aftershocks
B. Foreshocks
C. Tremors
D. Hyposhocks
32: Mt. st. helens in the u. s. and mt. fujiyama in japan are examples of ________.
A. Cinder cones.
B. Composite volcanos.
C. Calderas
D. All of these
33: A long-lived magma source located in the mantle is called a ________.
A. Basalt spout.
B. Melt well.
C. Magma welt.
D. Hot spot.
34: ________ controls the ease (or difficulty) of groundwater transmission through a porous material.
A. Permeability
B. Permeosity
C. Potability
D. Portability
35: _____ stress results in rocks being shortened or flattened.
A. Elastic
B. Compressive
C. Tensional
D. Orthogonal
36: ________ are stratified sands and gravels carried away from the glacial terminus by meltwater.
A. Loess.
B. Outwash.
C. Till.
D. Diamicton
37: ________ describes the formation of one or more secondary magmas from a single parent magma.
A. Magmatic differentiation
B. Hydrothermal alteration
C. Both of these
D. None of these
38: A hurricane causes the most damage in the coastal zone because of ________.
A. Population density
B. Storm surge.
C. Heavy rain
D. The hurricane's width
39: Volcanoes form above subduction zones because ________.
A. The subducting lithosphere melts as it descends and the magma rises to form volcanoes
B. The lithosphere thickens above the subducting lithosphere and causes volcanoes to form
C. The asthenosphere is displaced by the subducting lithosphere and rises to the surface to form volcanoes
D. Water is squeezed out of the subducting slab and the water triggers melting of the overlying asthenosphere
40: ________ is an irregular, usually thin till layer laid down by a retreating glacier.
A. Terminal moraine
B. Outwash blanket
C. Kame sheet
D. Ground moraine
41: A ________ is an isolated remnant of bedrock standing above a wave-cut platform.
A. Sea stack
B. Sea span
C. Sea rampart
D. Sea spit.
42: A worm would stand a poor chance of being fossilized because ________.
A. Worms live in the shallow ocean
B. Worms contain no carbon-14
C. Worms have no hard parts
D. Worms were very rare during the geologic past
43: All of the following descriptions apply to stratified drift (not glacial till) except for ________.
A. Running water has little effect on shaping the landscape.
B. Deposited directly from melting ice
C. Wind is the dominant agent of erosion and sediment transport
D. Flat, upland surfaces, steep slopes and small alluvial fans
44: Among the following choices, the closest match for the east pacific rise is ________.
A. The Mariana Trench
B. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
C. The San Andreas Fault
D. None of these
45: Mechanisms that enhance or drive change are known as ________.
A. Negative feedback mechanisms
B. Positive feedback mechanisms
C. Closed feedback mechanisms
D. Open feedback mechanisms
46: ________ would have the largest capacity to naturally remove sewage pollutants.
A. Limestone with solution channels and caverns
B. Fractured granite
C. Well-sorted, coarse gravel
D. Slightly clayey sand
47: In most organisms, ________ is the most plentiful substance making up their mass.
A. Nitrogen.
B. Water.
C. Carbon dioxide.
D. Oxygen
48: Structural damage from seismic vibrations would be worse ________
A. Where buildings were built to code on solid rock
B. Where older buildings were built on a thick layer of sediment
C. Where the focus is about 800 kilometers below the surface
D. Where buildings are made mostly of wood
49: Japan's unique modernization pathway was most likely assisted by _________.
A. Its wealth of agricultural resources
B. It being an island nation
C. Its homogeneous population
D. Its relative location to other industrialized countries
50: The lithosphere of earth will not flow because it ________.
A. Is too cool
B. Greater
C. Divergent
D. None of these
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General Geology MCQs
