APUS WEEK 8 FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE
SOLVED QUESTIONS VERIFIED 2026
◉ Physical Geology. Answer: Examines Earth materials and seeks to
understand the many processes that operate on our planet.
◉ Historical Geology. Answer: Seeks an understanding of the origin of
Earth and its development through time.
◉ Catastrophism. Answer: Earth's landscapes were shaped primarily by
catastrophes
◉ Uniformitarianism. Answer: The physical, chemical, and biologic
laws that operate today have operated throughout the geologic past,
work pioneered by Scottish physician James Hutton.
◉ James Hutton. Answer: "The present is the key to the past" in his
Theory of the Earth, 1795.
◉ Relative Dating. Answer: Date objects against one another based on
sequence, but do not know the true age.
, ◉ Law of Superposition. Answer: Youngest layer of rock is on top,
oldest on bottom.
◉ Hypothesis. Answer: A tentative (or untested) explanation
◉ Theory. Answer: A well-tested and widely accepted view that the
scientific community agrees best explains certain observable facts
◉ Hydrosphere. Answer: the water portion
◉ Atmosphere. Answer: the gaseous envelope
◉ Geosphere. Answer: the solid Earth
◉ Biosphere. Answer: all plant and animal life
◉ Nebular Theory. Answer: The proposes that the bodies of our solar
system evolved from an enormous rotating cloud called the solar nebula
◉ Crust. Answer: Earth's thin, rocky outer skin, divided into the
continental and oceanic crust