Earth Sciences 80A - 1995 Quiz #1
Instructions:
This is the first of 3 exams in this class. Each will count as 25%
toward the total point accumulation possible for the course, and each
will cover 1/3 of the lecture and reading material. The attendance
and short paper in the discussion section will count for the other
25%. The quiz is to be completed in-class in 60 minutes or less. You
cannot use any notes, and you are to do your own work (no discussion
with classmates, no inspection of their answers). This exam has a
total point value of 100.
Please write or print your short essay answers very clearly, so
that your work can be easily read. Use appropriate size lettering so
that you can fit your answer into the allowed space. Do not spill
over onto the back of pages. Use reasonable grammar, but the
substance of your answers is more important than style.
PRINT YOUR NAME CLEARLY in the indicated place at the top of each
sheet of the exam (DO THIS NOW), because the graders will disassemble
the exams.
When you have completed the quiz, take the entire exam to the
front of the room and place it in the appropriate pile, and you are
free to leave. Please try to minimize the disturbance of those around
you as you depart. Good luck!
- Summarize your knowledge about the BIG BANG and expansion of
the universe. When did the Big Bang occur; what are the lines of
evidence supporting this hypothesis; what materials were produced
during the process, etc.? (13 points)
- Consider the iron in your hemoglobin. Where in the universe
did iron atoms originate? What processes and conditions were
necessary, and what has happened to the place were the iron was
formed? How did iron find its way to Earth? (13 points)
- Speculate, as we did in class, on how different the Earth
system would be if the Mars-sized body which collided with it to
produce the Moon had actually missed the Earth. List at least 3
major things that would be different. (10 points)
- In the left column there is a list of terms and names, each of
which is associated with a concept in the column on the right (in
the context of this class). In the blank space next to the terms
on the left, write the letter of the term in the right hand column
with which it is mostly clearly associated. There is a single
'best' association between all of the terms from the lectures, but
some of the terms on the right do have secondary relationships to
those on the left and you will get credit for picking a secondary
relationship. (12 points)
Gradualism __________ A) Primordial soup
Tycho's Star __________ B) Earth Chemical Differentiation
Doppler Shift __________ C) Punctuated Equilibrium
Condensation Sequence __________ D) White Dwarf
Amino Acids __________ E) Anoxic bacteria
Crust,Mantle,Core __________ F) Supernova
Magnetic field __________ G) Planetisimal bombardment
Magma Ocean __________ H) Charles Lyell
Sun's Fate __________ I) Big Bang
Spectroscopy __________ J) Inhomogeneous Accretion
Ocean thermal vents __________ K) Cosmic abundance
Extinctions __________ L) Geodynamo
- Geologists love puzzle solving. The sketch below represents a
cross section observed in a rock exposure. Using the basic ideas
of "original horizontality", and "superposition", and your common
sense, list the order in which the 6 rock formations were
deposited, from first to most recent. A dike is an intrusion of
molten rock, which would not have been deposited horizontally, but
must be deposited in pre-existing rock. (6 points)
Oldest Rock _______ ______ ______ _______ _______ ______ Youngest
- Summarize your knowledge of the Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction
event. What are two hypotheses for the cause of this event, and
what evidence supports each hypothesis? Is this event unique? (13
points)
- List at least 4 'Cosmic Coincidences' that have made the Earth
a hospitable environment for our life form, and explain their
significance (8 points)
- Describe how a combination of basic geologic ideas about rock
depostition, fossils, and radioactive dating have yielded the
geologic time scale. Discuss both relative and absolute time. (13
points).
- For each of the following statements, circle the most
appropriate response (12 points total)
- Which of the following terms is not associated with ideas
about how the dinosaurs went extinct:?
- a) Deccan Traps
- b) Iridium
- c) Magma Ocean
- d) Nemesis
- Nucleosynthesis is the process by which atoms are split by
fission to produce new atoms.
- Which of the following terms is least associated with the
idea that the Earth's core is mainly molten iron alloy?
- a) cosmic abundance
- b) radioactivity
- c) magnetic field
- d) density structure
- If you are a advocate of Uniformitarianism you are most
likely to believe in which?
- a) punctuated equilibrium
- b) gradualism
- c) bolide impacts
- d) creationism
- As a modern Neo-Catastrophist (a modern Earth Scientist),
which of the following Lyell doctrines are you least skeptical
of:
- a) Uniformity of Rate
- b) Uniformity of Process
- c) Uniformity of Physical Law
- Once life got started on Earth it was probably totally
wiped out many times.
- We think the Earth's core existed before the Moon was
formed because the Moon is enriched in iron.
- If you look at the very oldest stars in the Universe that
are about the size of our sun, you would expect their
spectroscopic 'fingerprints' to mainly indicate the presence of
Hydrogen and Helium.
- About every 26 million years there has been a major
extinction event on the Earth.
- The relative abundance of refractory materials in the Earth
is not expected to be the same as the relative abundance of
refractory materials in the sun.
- A rock at the surface of the Earth is not representative of
the bulk composition of the Earth because the Earth is a
chemically differentiated planet.
- The Earth had to build up an oxygen atmosphere before life
as we know it could begin.
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