OCE 1001 Final Questions with Correct Answers (Grade A+)
Question 1: Which of the following ideas support our current scientific understanding of the
development of life on Earth?
Answer: ALL but the most primitive life
Question 2: The explorer who advanced oceanography by introducing systematic soundings, or depth
measurements, was __________.
Answer: James Cook
Question 3: The mechanism by which populations evolve and new species develop is called:
Answer: natural selection
Question 4: According to the geological time scale, which selection lists the correct order of coexistence,
from earliest to latest?
Answer: Trilobites and amphibians, insects and dinosaurs, dinosaurs and birds, flowering plants and fishes,
humans and reptiles
Question 5: Which layer of the Earth behaves in a plastic manner?
Answer: Asthenosphere
Question 6: The oldest fossilized remains of organisms are primitive ________ bacteria recovered from
rocks formed on the sea floor about 3.5 billion years ago.
Answer: Photosynthetic
Question 7: Who left Spain in September 1519 and became the first person to complete a
circumnavigation of the globe when he returned to Spain three years later?
Answer: Juan Sebastian del Caño
Question 8: Which of the following contributed to the salinity of the ocean?
Answer: 1. Chlorine Gas 2. Runoff 3. Creation of acid rain
Question 9: How did the view of the ocean by early Mediterranean cultures influence the naming of
planet Earth?
Answer: Mediterranean cultures believed Earth was composed of large land masses surrounded by marginal
bodies of water.
Page 1
,Question 10: Who of the following is thought to be the first Viking to have seen what is now called
Newfoundland?
Answer: Bjarni Herjolfsson
Question 11: Which of the following is the most convincing piece of evidence set forth to support the
concept of sea floor spreading?
Answer: The oceanic pattern of alternating reversals of Earth's magnetic field
Question 12: Fossils of ancient tropical plants are currently found near the poles because the:
Answer: plants lived in the tropics, but landmasses have drifted to current locations.
Question 13: Most large earthquakes occur along which of the following?
Answer: ocean trenches
Question 14: The Red Sea is an example of ________ plate boundary.
Answer: a continental-continental divergent
Question 15: Based on the Theory of Plate Tectonics, you would expect to find ________ heat flow at
the mid-ocean ridge and ________ heat flow at subduction zones when compared to other parts of the
crust.
Answer: increased;decreased
Question 16: Compared to the rest of the planet, an unusually high concentration of hotspots and
rifting is located on the continent of Africa. A likely explanation for this is that __________.
Answer: the African Plate is essentially stationary with respect to Earth's interior and the thick continental
crust acts as a "heat blanket"
Question 17: The flipping of Earth's magnetic field takes an average of about ________ years.
Answer: 5,000
Question 18: Which of the following is characteristic of oceanic-continental convergent plate
boundaries?
Answer: andesitic volcanoes
Page 2
, Question 19: Spreading centers have ________ earthquakes, while trenches have ________
earthquakes.
Answer: shallow;deep
Question 20: Which of the following was not used as evidence for continental drift?
Answer: Paleomagnetic reversals
Question 21: What do all plate boundaries have in common?
Answer: They are all associated with zones of earthquakes.
Question 22: What piece of evidence supports Wegener's hypothesis of continental drift?
Answer: Modern-day species that evolved in isolation share a common ancestor.
Question 23: Which of the following is an example of the embryonic stage of the Wilson Cycle?
Answer: East Africa
Question 24: The Pacific Ocean is an example of the ________ stage of the Wilson Cycle.
Answer: Declining
Question 25: What was the one line of evidence that Alfred Wegner could not explain with continental
drift?
Answer: The mechanism for the movement of the plates
Question 26: What type of plate boundary will result in the formation of a volcanic island chain or arc
near a deep-sea trench?
Answer: Oceanic-oceanic convergent boundaries
Question 27: The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is an example of a:
Answer: divergent plate boundary.
Question 28: What is the motion of a juvenile stage of the Wilson cycle?
Answer: Divergence
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Question 1: Which of the following ideas support our current scientific understanding of the
development of life on Earth?
Answer: ALL but the most primitive life
Question 2: The explorer who advanced oceanography by introducing systematic soundings, or depth
measurements, was __________.
Answer: James Cook
Question 3: The mechanism by which populations evolve and new species develop is called:
Answer: natural selection
Question 4: According to the geological time scale, which selection lists the correct order of coexistence,
from earliest to latest?
Answer: Trilobites and amphibians, insects and dinosaurs, dinosaurs and birds, flowering plants and fishes,
humans and reptiles
Question 5: Which layer of the Earth behaves in a plastic manner?
Answer: Asthenosphere
Question 6: The oldest fossilized remains of organisms are primitive ________ bacteria recovered from
rocks formed on the sea floor about 3.5 billion years ago.
Answer: Photosynthetic
Question 7: Who left Spain in September 1519 and became the first person to complete a
circumnavigation of the globe when he returned to Spain three years later?
Answer: Juan Sebastian del Caño
Question 8: Which of the following contributed to the salinity of the ocean?
Answer: 1. Chlorine Gas 2. Runoff 3. Creation of acid rain
Question 9: How did the view of the ocean by early Mediterranean cultures influence the naming of
planet Earth?
Answer: Mediterranean cultures believed Earth was composed of large land masses surrounded by marginal
bodies of water.
Page 1
,Question 10: Who of the following is thought to be the first Viking to have seen what is now called
Newfoundland?
Answer: Bjarni Herjolfsson
Question 11: Which of the following is the most convincing piece of evidence set forth to support the
concept of sea floor spreading?
Answer: The oceanic pattern of alternating reversals of Earth's magnetic field
Question 12: Fossils of ancient tropical plants are currently found near the poles because the:
Answer: plants lived in the tropics, but landmasses have drifted to current locations.
Question 13: Most large earthquakes occur along which of the following?
Answer: ocean trenches
Question 14: The Red Sea is an example of ________ plate boundary.
Answer: a continental-continental divergent
Question 15: Based on the Theory of Plate Tectonics, you would expect to find ________ heat flow at
the mid-ocean ridge and ________ heat flow at subduction zones when compared to other parts of the
crust.
Answer: increased;decreased
Question 16: Compared to the rest of the planet, an unusually high concentration of hotspots and
rifting is located on the continent of Africa. A likely explanation for this is that __________.
Answer: the African Plate is essentially stationary with respect to Earth's interior and the thick continental
crust acts as a "heat blanket"
Question 17: The flipping of Earth's magnetic field takes an average of about ________ years.
Answer: 5,000
Question 18: Which of the following is characteristic of oceanic-continental convergent plate
boundaries?
Answer: andesitic volcanoes
Page 2
, Question 19: Spreading centers have ________ earthquakes, while trenches have ________
earthquakes.
Answer: shallow;deep
Question 20: Which of the following was not used as evidence for continental drift?
Answer: Paleomagnetic reversals
Question 21: What do all plate boundaries have in common?
Answer: They are all associated with zones of earthquakes.
Question 22: What piece of evidence supports Wegener's hypothesis of continental drift?
Answer: Modern-day species that evolved in isolation share a common ancestor.
Question 23: Which of the following is an example of the embryonic stage of the Wilson Cycle?
Answer: East Africa
Question 24: The Pacific Ocean is an example of the ________ stage of the Wilson Cycle.
Answer: Declining
Question 25: What was the one line of evidence that Alfred Wegner could not explain with continental
drift?
Answer: The mechanism for the movement of the plates
Question 26: What type of plate boundary will result in the formation of a volcanic island chain or arc
near a deep-sea trench?
Answer: Oceanic-oceanic convergent boundaries
Question 27: The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is an example of a:
Answer: divergent plate boundary.
Question 28: What is the motion of a juvenile stage of the Wilson cycle?
Answer: Divergence
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