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Geology Exam 1 Questions and Answers Summary
1. How is Earth's atmosphere different from other planets?
Abundance of nitrogen and oxygen
2. What is the hydrosphere?
All the water on earth contained within the water cycle. Includes oceans, rivers, lakes, glaciers,
groundwater, and evaporated water.
3. What allows Earth to have a cyclical hydrosphere?
Earth's distance from the sun keeps the water on Earth's surface liquid.
4. What is the Biosphere?
All life contained on Earth, this includes us, all animals, insects, and plants.
5. Earth's internal structure is separated by its chemical properties into how many main parts? Can
you name them?
3 main parts: The crust, the mantle, and the core.
6. What type of mineral is the crust made up of?
Silicates
7. What type of mineral is the mantle made up of?
Silicates
8. What makes up Earth's core?
Iron and Nickel
9. What is the continental crust mostly composed of?
Sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.
10. What are oceanic crusts mostly made of?
Basalt
11. Shields, stable platforms, and folded mountains make up what?
The continental crust
12. Mid-ocean ridges, abyssal floors, seamounts, trenches, and continental margins make up what?
The oceanic crust.
13. What is a shield?
Highly deformed metamorphic rocks aka a basement complex with complex internal structure
due to erosion and uplift.
14. What is a stable platform?
Essentially, shields with dirt on top.
15. What is a folded mountain?
They occur along continental margins and are great folds and breaks in mountain belts.
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16. What is a mid-ocean ridge?
Broad, fractured rise in ocean floor.
17. What is an abyssal floor?
Broad, smooth, deep basins in the ocean floor (it is the most widespread land form on Earth)
18. What are trenches?
Steep depressions in the oceanic crust. They are the lowest places on Earth.
19. Based on physical properties, how many parts is the earth divided into? Can you name them?
5 parts: Lithosphere, Asthenosphere, Mesosphere, Outer core, Inner core
20. What are the physical properties of the lithosphere, asthenosphere, mesosphere, outer core,
and inner core?
Lithosphere- rigid, Asthenosphere- plastic, Mesosphere- solid, Outer core - liquid, Inner core -
solid
21. What percentage of Earth's water is in the oceans?
98%
22. Where is the rest of the 2% of water not in the oceans?
Over half of it is frozen in the glaciers and the rest is mostly groundwater. Very little water is
available to use.
23. What is plate tectonics?
The movement of lithospheric plates
24. Divergent plate boundaries
Two plates moving horizontally away from each other. Hot molten rock rises up to fill the void.
25. Define a system
A part of space we are interested in.
26. Transform plate boundaries
Plates slide horizontally past each other.
27. What comes out of transform plate boundaries?
Small volcanoes, little earthquakes.
28. Convergent plate boundaries
Where two plate boundaries move towards each other
29. What comes out of convergent plate boundaries?
Subduction zones, islands, big volcanoes, massive earthquakes.
30. What is a subduction zone?
When the dense oceanic plate collides with a less dense continental plate and the denser
oceanic plate subducts under the more buoyant continental plate.
31. What happens when two continental plates collide?
They push upwards and form giant mountains like the Himalayas.
Geology Exam 1 Questions and Answers Summary
1. How is Earth's atmosphere different from other planets?
Abundance of nitrogen and oxygen
2. What is the hydrosphere?
All the water on earth contained within the water cycle. Includes oceans, rivers, lakes, glaciers,
groundwater, and evaporated water.
3. What allows Earth to have a cyclical hydrosphere?
Earth's distance from the sun keeps the water on Earth's surface liquid.
4. What is the Biosphere?
All life contained on Earth, this includes us, all animals, insects, and plants.
5. Earth's internal structure is separated by its chemical properties into how many main parts? Can
you name them?
3 main parts: The crust, the mantle, and the core.
6. What type of mineral is the crust made up of?
Silicates
7. What type of mineral is the mantle made up of?
Silicates
8. What makes up Earth's core?
Iron and Nickel
9. What is the continental crust mostly composed of?
Sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.
10. What are oceanic crusts mostly made of?
Basalt
11. Shields, stable platforms, and folded mountains make up what?
The continental crust
12. Mid-ocean ridges, abyssal floors, seamounts, trenches, and continental margins make up what?
The oceanic crust.
13. What is a shield?
Highly deformed metamorphic rocks aka a basement complex with complex internal structure
due to erosion and uplift.
14. What is a stable platform?
Essentially, shields with dirt on top.
15. What is a folded mountain?
They occur along continental margins and are great folds and breaks in mountain belts.
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16. What is a mid-ocean ridge?
Broad, fractured rise in ocean floor.
17. What is an abyssal floor?
Broad, smooth, deep basins in the ocean floor (it is the most widespread land form on Earth)
18. What are trenches?
Steep depressions in the oceanic crust. They are the lowest places on Earth.
19. Based on physical properties, how many parts is the earth divided into? Can you name them?
5 parts: Lithosphere, Asthenosphere, Mesosphere, Outer core, Inner core
20. What are the physical properties of the lithosphere, asthenosphere, mesosphere, outer core,
and inner core?
Lithosphere- rigid, Asthenosphere- plastic, Mesosphere- solid, Outer core - liquid, Inner core -
solid
21. What percentage of Earth's water is in the oceans?
98%
22. Where is the rest of the 2% of water not in the oceans?
Over half of it is frozen in the glaciers and the rest is mostly groundwater. Very little water is
available to use.
23. What is plate tectonics?
The movement of lithospheric plates
24. Divergent plate boundaries
Two plates moving horizontally away from each other. Hot molten rock rises up to fill the void.
25. Define a system
A part of space we are interested in.
26. Transform plate boundaries
Plates slide horizontally past each other.
27. What comes out of transform plate boundaries?
Small volcanoes, little earthquakes.
28. Convergent plate boundaries
Where two plate boundaries move towards each other
29. What comes out of convergent plate boundaries?
Subduction zones, islands, big volcanoes, massive earthquakes.
30. What is a subduction zone?
When the dense oceanic plate collides with a less dense continental plate and the denser
oceanic plate subducts under the more buoyant continental plate.
31. What happens when two continental plates collide?
They push upwards and form giant mountains like the Himalayas.
