GEOLOGY 1010 EXAM 1 DR. COULSON CLEMSON - 158 QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS | 2026 UPDATE | WITH COMPLETE SOLUTION.
What is science? - (answer)One way of viewing the world around us ex.(historical, religious,
philosophical)
What does science rely on? - (answer)Facts
What is a principle? - (answer)A fact that was a revelation in the field.
What are the 4 steps of the scientific method? - (answer)Observation (Step 0), Question, Hypothesis,
Collect Data, Evaluate
What is a Theory? - (answer)A hypothesis that has been tested with a significant amount of data.
What is a law? - (answer)A law is an almost irrefutable hypothesis.
What must you have to challenge scientific ideas? - (answer)You must have data and you must use facts.
What is geology? - (answer)Study of the earth
How old is Geology? - (answer)Very young, about 200 years old.
What is Catastophism? - (answer)Everything can be explained by 6 catastrophes that shaped the Earth.
Who is the grandfather of Geology? - (answer)James Hutton
Where is James Hutton from? - (answer)Scotland
Who wrote "The Theory of Earth" and when was it written? - (answer)James Hutton wrote The Theory
of Earth in 1795.
,GEOLOGY 1010 EXAM 1 DR. COULSON CLEMSON - 158 QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS | 2026 UPDATE | WITH COMPLETE SOLUTION.
What principle did James Hutton write about in his book? - (answer)Principle of Uniformitarianism
What is the Principle of Uniformitarianism? - (answer)The processes that are going on on Earth today
have been going on since the beginning of Earth. "Present is the key to the past"
What is actualism? - (answer)Principle of Uniformitarianism but the processes don't have to happen at
the same rate.
What did the solar system look like > 6 bya? - (answer)No solar system, just a nebula of H atoms.
How fast do meteorites come into our atmosphere? - (answer)40km/s or 90,000 mph
What is a nebula? - (answer)A cloud of gas and dust in outer space
What are the steps of the Nebular Hypothesis? - (answer)Step A: Gravity
Step B: Solar Disk Model
Step C: Protostar
Step D: Fusion
What is Step A of The Nebular Hypothesis? - (answer)Gravity pulled the H atoms together.
What is Step B of the Nebular Hypothesis? - (answer)Solar Disk Model: flattens to a disk, gas rotates.
What is Step C of the Nebular Hypothesis? - (answer)Protostar: Early formations of a star.
What is Step D of the Nebular Hypothesis? - (answer)High temps create Fusion: Atoms combine by
fusion
, GEOLOGY 1010 EXAM 1 DR. COULSON CLEMSON - 158 QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS | 2026 UPDATE | WITH COMPLETE SOLUTION.
What happens to a Protostar once fusion stars happening? - (answer)A Protostar becomes a Star
What does Ga mean? - (answer)Billion years ago
What is planetary accretion? - (answer)Dust and ice begin to collide, building bigger and bigger objects.
(ex. Meteors striking the Earth)
About how long ago did Earth come together? - (answer)4.5 Ga
Does planetary accretion still happen? - (answer)Yes! The rate is just slowed down.
What is the Theia Impact? - (answer)50 mil yrs into Earth's existence and Earth collides into another
planet the size of Mars called Theia.
What two things happened due to the Theia impact? - (answer)1. Lunar Formation of Moon
2. Earth became a molten planet
What happened when Earth was a molten planet? - (answer)Since a lot of the rock was magma or lava it
allowed the Earth to stratify based on density. This is why Earth has different layers. The layers then re-
solidified and this is why they have different densities.
What does Ma stand for? - (answer)Million years ago
Explain what the Popigai Crater is in Russia, when it happened, and why it is special. - (answer)The
Popigai crater in Russia is 100km wide and occurred about 35 Ma. It was caused by a 5 - 8 km asteroid. It
is special because the diamonds in the crater have been found to have some of the best quality in the
world.
AND ANSWERS | 2026 UPDATE | WITH COMPLETE SOLUTION.
What is science? - (answer)One way of viewing the world around us ex.(historical, religious,
philosophical)
What does science rely on? - (answer)Facts
What is a principle? - (answer)A fact that was a revelation in the field.
What are the 4 steps of the scientific method? - (answer)Observation (Step 0), Question, Hypothesis,
Collect Data, Evaluate
What is a Theory? - (answer)A hypothesis that has been tested with a significant amount of data.
What is a law? - (answer)A law is an almost irrefutable hypothesis.
What must you have to challenge scientific ideas? - (answer)You must have data and you must use facts.
What is geology? - (answer)Study of the earth
How old is Geology? - (answer)Very young, about 200 years old.
What is Catastophism? - (answer)Everything can be explained by 6 catastrophes that shaped the Earth.
Who is the grandfather of Geology? - (answer)James Hutton
Where is James Hutton from? - (answer)Scotland
Who wrote "The Theory of Earth" and when was it written? - (answer)James Hutton wrote The Theory
of Earth in 1795.
,GEOLOGY 1010 EXAM 1 DR. COULSON CLEMSON - 158 QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS | 2026 UPDATE | WITH COMPLETE SOLUTION.
What principle did James Hutton write about in his book? - (answer)Principle of Uniformitarianism
What is the Principle of Uniformitarianism? - (answer)The processes that are going on on Earth today
have been going on since the beginning of Earth. "Present is the key to the past"
What is actualism? - (answer)Principle of Uniformitarianism but the processes don't have to happen at
the same rate.
What did the solar system look like > 6 bya? - (answer)No solar system, just a nebula of H atoms.
How fast do meteorites come into our atmosphere? - (answer)40km/s or 90,000 mph
What is a nebula? - (answer)A cloud of gas and dust in outer space
What are the steps of the Nebular Hypothesis? - (answer)Step A: Gravity
Step B: Solar Disk Model
Step C: Protostar
Step D: Fusion
What is Step A of The Nebular Hypothesis? - (answer)Gravity pulled the H atoms together.
What is Step B of the Nebular Hypothesis? - (answer)Solar Disk Model: flattens to a disk, gas rotates.
What is Step C of the Nebular Hypothesis? - (answer)Protostar: Early formations of a star.
What is Step D of the Nebular Hypothesis? - (answer)High temps create Fusion: Atoms combine by
fusion
, GEOLOGY 1010 EXAM 1 DR. COULSON CLEMSON - 158 QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS | 2026 UPDATE | WITH COMPLETE SOLUTION.
What happens to a Protostar once fusion stars happening? - (answer)A Protostar becomes a Star
What does Ga mean? - (answer)Billion years ago
What is planetary accretion? - (answer)Dust and ice begin to collide, building bigger and bigger objects.
(ex. Meteors striking the Earth)
About how long ago did Earth come together? - (answer)4.5 Ga
Does planetary accretion still happen? - (answer)Yes! The rate is just slowed down.
What is the Theia Impact? - (answer)50 mil yrs into Earth's existence and Earth collides into another
planet the size of Mars called Theia.
What two things happened due to the Theia impact? - (answer)1. Lunar Formation of Moon
2. Earth became a molten planet
What happened when Earth was a molten planet? - (answer)Since a lot of the rock was magma or lava it
allowed the Earth to stratify based on density. This is why Earth has different layers. The layers then re-
solidified and this is why they have different densities.
What does Ma stand for? - (answer)Million years ago
Explain what the Popigai Crater is in Russia, when it happened, and why it is special. - (answer)The
Popigai crater in Russia is 100km wide and occurred about 35 Ma. It was caused by a 5 - 8 km asteroid. It
is special because the diamonds in the crater have been found to have some of the best quality in the
world.
