Name ______Period ______Date ______

Earth Science Assessment Review

Midterm

Scientific Method

1.  Define each of the following terms

a.  Hypothesis

b.  Independent variable

c.  Dependent variable

d.  Control

e.  Constant

2.  Indentify a hypothesis for the following topics

  1. More tornadoes were sighted in Maryland in 2012 than in the previous three years
  2. There were earthquakes in Virginia and Ohio in 2012
  3. The earthquake centered in Midland, Virginia was felt as far north as the Canadian border

3.  Identify 5 steps in the scientific process

Structure of the Interior of the Earth

4.  The Earth’s interior consists of rock and metal. It is made up of four main compositional layers. Describe each layer in terms of temperature, pressure, composition, and thickness.

Layer of the Earth / Temperature / Pressure / Composition / Thickness
Inner Core
Outer Core
Mantle
Crust

5.  The Earth’s interior can be separated into five main mechanical or structural layers. Describe each layer based on the movement of energy, its phase (solid/ liquid),

Layer of the Earth / Phase of matter (solid/liquid) / Description (viscose, brittle, plastisized) / How energy travels from the core/outward / Thickness
Inner Core
Outer Core
mesosphere
Asthenosphere
Lithosphere

Minerals

6.  Define a mineral.

7.  Minerals are classified by their ______and ______

8.  What defines the structure of minerals?

9.  What is density? Describe how differences in density will affect how a substances/objects will behave when placed in water.

10.  Use the table below to describe the properties used to identify

Property / Description / Examples
Color
Luster
Streak
Crystal Structure (form)
Hardness (using what scale?)
Cleavage/Fracture
Reactivity (e.g. to acids)
Magnetism
Mineral / Color / Hardness (Mohs Scale)
Gold / Metallic gold / 2.5-3
Apatite / Blue, green / 5
Pyrite / Metallic pale brass, gold / 6 -6.5
Garnet / Red, deep red, brown / 7.5 - 8
Corundum / Red, deep red / 9

11.  According to the table which mineral is capable of scratching garnet? ______

Rocks

12.  Define rock:

13.  Rocks are made up of ______and found in the ______

14.  What processes form the types of rocks below and where are you most likely to find them?

a.  Igneous rock –

b.  Sedimentary rock-

c.  Metamorphic rock-

15.  For each rock, label it as (igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary) and give a short description of its appearance.

a.  Sandstone

b.  Obsidian

c.  Siltstone

d.  Gneiss

e.  Granite

f.  Limestone

g.  slate

16.  What are the different textures for each rock type? Explain the processes that lead to different textures.

  1. Igneous
  2. Metamorphic
  3. Sedimentary

17.  Explain the relationship between surface area and weathering rates.

The Earth’s Crust

18.  What are the two types of Earth’s crust?

19.  Complete the following Venn diagram to compare these two types of crust. Be sure to describe the elements that make up the crust, the thickness, location, age, and density.

Continental Crust Oceanic Crust

The Earth’s History

20.  What is a fossil?

21.  In what type of rocks are fossils typically found?

22.  What is necessary for fossil formation? Are fossils always formed? What can limit fossil formation?

23.  What is the name of the tool scientists use to describe the age of the Earth and all of it’s’ life forms?

24.  The tool described in number 3 and the fossil record show changes in organisms over time. The mechanism for this change is natural selection. Describe this process.

25.  What can fossils tell us about the environment when the organism lived as well as what has happened since the organism died?

The Age of Rocks

26.  What are the two methods for identifying the age of rocks? Describe each.

27.  There are several laws listed below that are used in identifying the age of rocks. Describe each law.

  1. Law of superposition –
  1. Law of Horizontality –
  1. Law of Cross-Cutting Relationships –
  1. Law of Baked Contact (contact metamorphism) –
  1. Uniformitarianism –

28.  What is an unconformity? Describe 3 types of unconformities.

Unconformity / Description
Disconformity
Angular unconformity
Nonconformity

29.  Compare the age of continental rocks to those along the mid-ocean ridges.

Refer to the picture below to answer questions 5-8.

30. Which of the following was deposited first?

a. lower sandstone

b. limestone

c. shale

d. sandstone

31. What principle tells us that the dike is younger than the granite?

a. superposition

b. absolute dating

c. cross-cutting relationships

d. radioactive decay

32. Which occurred first?

a. limestone was deposited

b. limestone was tilted

c. limestone was eroded

d. sandstone was deposited

33. The dike is a kind of

a. cross-cutting relation

b. bridge

c. intrusion

d. granite

34.  Describe radioactive decay. How is it used in radiometric dating of rocks and fossils?

35.  Describe the term half-life.

Refer to the image below to answer questions 10-12.

36. At what half life is the rock newly formed?

a. 0

b. 1

c. 2

d. 6

37. What percent of the isotopes contain parent rock at point B?

a. 100

b. 75

c. 50

d. 25

38. If each half-life on this graph represents 3 million years, how old is a rock that has experienced 3 half-lives?

a. 3 million years old

b. 6 million years old

c. 9 million years old

d. 12 million years old


39. Give the approximate range (length in years) of each of the geological eras.

40. In what era, period and epoch were human fossils found?

Continental Drift / Plate Tectonics

41.  What is continental drift? What are the four pieces of evidence that Wegener used to support this theory?

42.  Which of the following supported the theory of continental drift?

  1. Matching fossil plant remains on two different continents
  2. Matching animal remains on two different continents
  3. Identical sedimentary rocks of the same age at widely separated locations
  4. All of the above

43.  Fossils used by Wegener to support the theory of continental drift had to be found on
______continents. The ______continents a fossil was found upon the greater the
more helpful it was in finding connection points between the continents.

44.  There is also evidence that the continents are moving apart from one another due to magma rising out of the mid-ocean ridges. What do scientists call process? Describe this process starting with a ball of magma in the asthenosphere.

45.  List the evidence that supports the hypothesis of sea floor spreading.

46.  Describe paleomagnetism. How is the study of paleomagnetism used in Earth science?

47.  Describe the theory of plate tectonics.

48.  What are lithospheric plates?

49.  Describe the process of subduction. Explain why ocean plates are subducted below continental plates.


50.  What are the different kinds of plate boundaries that form between two lithospheric plates?

51.  What geological features do you expect to find at the different plate boundaries?

52.  According to scientists why do the tectonics plates move?

53.  Explain how hotspots can lead to the production of island chains?

Use the diagram below to answer questions 51 and 52.

54.  Which type of plate boundary occurs at X?

55.  What feature occurs at Y and how does it form?

Volcanoes and Earthquakes

Directions: Fill in the blanks below and then draw pictures in the boxes provided.

Volcanoes usually form at ______plate boundaries. Oceanic plates are forced under continental platesat a ______zone. There are three major kinds of volcanoes, ______, ______,

and ______.

Volcanoes erupt because magma is ______dense than the solid rocks surrounding it in the mantle of the earth. As this magma nears the surface, the gases expand and boil out of the rock, and this force of explosion propels lava from the vent.

Earthquakes usually occur along cracks in the surface

called faults. There are three kinds of faults, ______, ______, and ______. The exact place where the rocks break is called the ______. The point directly above this on the Earth’s surface is called the ______. Earthquakes cause three kinds of seismic waves, ______, ______, and surface waves. We measure these waves using a machine called a ______. The first waves detected by this machine are the ______waves. The last waves detected are the slow ______waves although they cause the most destruction. ______waves do not travel through liquids.

56.  Compare and contrast the kinds of seismic waves.

57.  Practice reading seismographs: Can You Read a Quake?

(http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/lessons/indiv/davis/inprogress/reading.html)

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