Earth System History 4th
Edition
ST
UV
TEST BANK
IA
_A
Steven M. Stanley
PP
RO
Comprehensive Test Bank for Instructors
VE
and Students
D?
© Steven M. Stanley
All rights reserved. Reproduction or distribution without permission is prohibited.
©MedConnoisseur
, Earth System History, 4th Edition, by Steven M. Stanley and John A. Luczaj
Test Bank, Chapter 01
1. Actualism is the
A) idea that the geological record provides a unique perspective on human activities.
ST
B) study of how large meteors have struck the Earth over time and thus caused mass
extinctions of life.
C) notion that fundamental physical principles operating today have done so
throughout Earth's history.
UV
D) study of ripples in sand made by water and air movements, and how those features
are always different from the ones made by water and air long ago.
Ans: C
2. The concept or philosophy of uniformitarianism is commonly summarized by saying
IA
A) catastrophic forces dominate Earth's geological history.
B) conditions existing today cannot form rocks as in the past.
C) rocks cannot be made in the laboratory.
D) the present is the key to the past.
_A
Ans: D
3. We can use the principle of actualism if
A) the rocks in question formed under conditions that no longer exist.
PP
B) we can simulate or replicate the conditions under which a rock formed.
C) we know that the conditions responsible for the formation of these rocks still exist,
but at such great depths beneath Earth's surface that we cannot observe them.
D) the conditions exist today, but produce the rocks over a long interval of geologic
time.
RO
Ans: B
4. Catastrophism is a
A) principle very similar to actualism and uniformitarianism.
B) theory advanced first by a Scottish gentleman farmer named James Hutton and
VE
expounded upon by the English naturalist and author Charles Lyell.
C) nineteenth-century concept that floods caused by supernatural forces formed most
of the rocks that we see today on Earth's surface today.
D) twentieth-century philosophy about the formation of volcanic rocks.
Ans: C
D?
Page 1
, 5. Central to Hutton's view of Earth's history was
A) vast geologic time.
B) catastrophism.
C) volcanism.
D) supernatural floods.
ST
Ans: A
6. Charles Lyell was NOT
A) the author of Principles of Geology, a popular 1830s geology text.
UV
B) an advocate of ideas similar to James Hutton's regarding Earth's history.
C) an advocate of gradual forces in Earth's history.
D) a German professor of mineralogy who promoted catastrophism.
Ans: D
IA
7. A mineral is
A) either extrusive or intrusive.
B) interlocking or bonded grains of matter.
_A
C) a naturally occurring inorganic solid element or compound.
D) formed mainly of sand grains that are cemented together.
Ans: C
8. __________ form by the cooling of molten material to the temperature at which the
PP
molten material hardens or freezes.
A) Magmas
B) Igneous rocks
C) Minerals
RO
D) Sedimentary rocks
Ans: B
9. __________ is the collective term for the chemical and physical processes that break
down rocks of any kind at Earth's surface.
VE
A) Weathering
B) Sediment
C) Erosion
D) Lithification
Ans: A
D?
Page 2
, 10. In the sedimentary debris generated by the breakdown of preexisting rocks, the most
common grains are
A) bits of broken sea shells.
B) particles of sand and clay.
C) salts precipitated from seawater.
ST
D) clay minerals derived from feldspars.
Ans: B
11. Sedimentary rocks made of the fragments of skeletons of once-living organisms are
UV
called
A) shale.
B) limestone.
C) sandstone.
D) crystalline rock.
IA
Ans: B
12. The arrangement of sedimentary rocks in discrete layers is called
_A
A) metamorphism.
B) lithification.
C) cementation.
D) stratification.
Ans: D
PP
13. A __________ is a discrete body of rock of a particular type that formed in a particular
way.
A) group
RO
B) supergroup
C) formation
D) member
Ans: C
VE
14. Steno's second principle says that
A) the laws of nature are inviolable and have not changed with time.
B) originally, all strata are horizontal when they form.
C) the oldest strata lie at the bottom of a succession of layers and that successively
higher strata are progressively younger.
D?
D) similar rocks that seem once to have been connected usually are.
Ans: B
Page 3
Edition
ST
UV
TEST BANK
IA
_A
Steven M. Stanley
PP
RO
Comprehensive Test Bank for Instructors
VE
and Students
D?
© Steven M. Stanley
All rights reserved. Reproduction or distribution without permission is prohibited.
©MedConnoisseur
, Earth System History, 4th Edition, by Steven M. Stanley and John A. Luczaj
Test Bank, Chapter 01
1. Actualism is the
A) idea that the geological record provides a unique perspective on human activities.
ST
B) study of how large meteors have struck the Earth over time and thus caused mass
extinctions of life.
C) notion that fundamental physical principles operating today have done so
throughout Earth's history.
UV
D) study of ripples in sand made by water and air movements, and how those features
are always different from the ones made by water and air long ago.
Ans: C
2. The concept or philosophy of uniformitarianism is commonly summarized by saying
IA
A) catastrophic forces dominate Earth's geological history.
B) conditions existing today cannot form rocks as in the past.
C) rocks cannot be made in the laboratory.
D) the present is the key to the past.
_A
Ans: D
3. We can use the principle of actualism if
A) the rocks in question formed under conditions that no longer exist.
PP
B) we can simulate or replicate the conditions under which a rock formed.
C) we know that the conditions responsible for the formation of these rocks still exist,
but at such great depths beneath Earth's surface that we cannot observe them.
D) the conditions exist today, but produce the rocks over a long interval of geologic
time.
RO
Ans: B
4. Catastrophism is a
A) principle very similar to actualism and uniformitarianism.
B) theory advanced first by a Scottish gentleman farmer named James Hutton and
VE
expounded upon by the English naturalist and author Charles Lyell.
C) nineteenth-century concept that floods caused by supernatural forces formed most
of the rocks that we see today on Earth's surface today.
D) twentieth-century philosophy about the formation of volcanic rocks.
Ans: C
D?
Page 1
, 5. Central to Hutton's view of Earth's history was
A) vast geologic time.
B) catastrophism.
C) volcanism.
D) supernatural floods.
ST
Ans: A
6. Charles Lyell was NOT
A) the author of Principles of Geology, a popular 1830s geology text.
UV
B) an advocate of ideas similar to James Hutton's regarding Earth's history.
C) an advocate of gradual forces in Earth's history.
D) a German professor of mineralogy who promoted catastrophism.
Ans: D
IA
7. A mineral is
A) either extrusive or intrusive.
B) interlocking or bonded grains of matter.
_A
C) a naturally occurring inorganic solid element or compound.
D) formed mainly of sand grains that are cemented together.
Ans: C
8. __________ form by the cooling of molten material to the temperature at which the
PP
molten material hardens or freezes.
A) Magmas
B) Igneous rocks
C) Minerals
RO
D) Sedimentary rocks
Ans: B
9. __________ is the collective term for the chemical and physical processes that break
down rocks of any kind at Earth's surface.
VE
A) Weathering
B) Sediment
C) Erosion
D) Lithification
Ans: A
D?
Page 2
, 10. In the sedimentary debris generated by the breakdown of preexisting rocks, the most
common grains are
A) bits of broken sea shells.
B) particles of sand and clay.
C) salts precipitated from seawater.
ST
D) clay minerals derived from feldspars.
Ans: B
11. Sedimentary rocks made of the fragments of skeletons of once-living organisms are
UV
called
A) shale.
B) limestone.
C) sandstone.
D) crystalline rock.
IA
Ans: B
12. The arrangement of sedimentary rocks in discrete layers is called
_A
A) metamorphism.
B) lithification.
C) cementation.
D) stratification.
Ans: D
PP
13. A __________ is a discrete body of rock of a particular type that formed in a particular
way.
A) group
RO
B) supergroup
C) formation
D) member
Ans: C
VE
14. Steno's second principle says that
A) the laws of nature are inviolable and have not changed with time.
B) originally, all strata are horizontal when they form.
C) the oldest strata lie at the bottom of a succession of layers and that successively
higher strata are progressively younger.
D?
D) similar rocks that seem once to have been connected usually are.
Ans: B
Page 3
