SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR TEST 2,
1: The name of the major aquifer that underlies much of Nebraska
is the
a. Winnebago b. Ogalalla c. Dakota
2: T F Fine grained materials such as clay may have high field
capacities but low infiltration capacities
3: T F The rate of groundwater flow is a function of the hydraulic
gradient and the permeability of the material
4: T F Baseflow is derived from groundwater seepage into the stream
channel
5: Artesian wells require the presence of
A: a confined aquifer
B: steep topography
C: flat topography
D: dry climates
6 In a midlatitude region having a cold winter and a warm summer,
evapotranpsiration
A: is greatest in summer
B: increases when plants become dormant
C: peaks in early spring, when snow is melting
D: increases as air temperature decreases
7: The oceans contain by far most of the earth's water. Of the
remaining, most is
A: stored in solid form in glaciers and ice sheets
B: as groundwater
C: in lakes and rivers
D: as water vapor in the atmosphere
8: The saturated zone below the water table has ______occupied
by water
A: all of its pores
B:most of its pores with the remainder only coated with water
C: relatively few of its pores with the remainder only coated
with water
D: none of its pores
9: The very top of the saturated zone is known as the
a. water table b. piezometric surface c. aquiclude
10: Lag time increases
A: as watershed area increases
B: as urbanization increases
C: when forests are cut down
11: The second largest water resource is ice, most of it is located
in
a. Greenland b. Antarctica c. Iceland d. Tahiti
12: To determine stream discharge one needs to know
A: velocity and depth
B: slope and cross sectional area
C: velocity, depth and width
D: turbulence and depth
13: The oceans contain what proportion of the earth's water?
A: 2%
B: 22%
C: 54%
D: 73%
E: 98%
14: Over the oceans
A: evaporation exceeds precipitation
B: the amount of moisture is slowly increasing century by century
C: the atmosphere holds little moisture
D: is found only about 5% of total atmospheric water vapor
E: precipitation exceeds evaporation
15: T F At soil ph values lower than 7, lime is sometimes added
to make the soil suitable for certain crops
16: T F The deposition of minerals and colloids usually occurs
in the zone of eluviation
17: T F Leaching is a process whereby plant nutrients may be removed
by water percolating through the soil profile
18: Which environmental factor effects the energy forms which
drive soil forming processes?
A: climate
B: parent material
C: topography and drainage
D: vegetation
19: From which type of materials are residual soils formed?
a. granite b. glacial deposits c. weathering of rocks in the
local area
20: The following ph value indicates an acidic solution
A: 5
B: 7
C: 8
D: 9
21: Why does soil tend to be deepest on flat land?
a. less erosion b. more erosion c. higher temperatures
22: T F Laterization has the most rapid nutrient recycling of
all soil forming regimes
23: Several soil horizons together make up a
A: soil profile
B: soil series
C: ped
D: soil order
E: hardpan
24: The term soil solum applies specificially to three horizons
inthe profile. The feature that links these three horizons is:
A: the soil development influences attributable to plant root
penetration
B: the even distribution of humus throughout their depth
C: the consistent thickness of each one
D: the almost complete absence of mineral oxides
25: The soil forming processes can be grouped into several different
categories. The leachingprocess is an example of
A: removal
B: translocation
C: enrichment
D: transformation
26: A pedogenic process that accompanies extreme weathering and
exhaustion of soils in the warm humid climates
A: gleization
B: flocculation
C: podsolization
D: laterization
27: The ideal soil texture: 40% sand, 40% silt, 20% clay
A: tilth
B: loam
C: texture
D: till
28: The soils in the Omaha regions are primarily
a. acidic b. resiidual c. alluvial d. basic.
29: Primarily an organic soil
A: vertisols
B: mollisols
C: aridisols
D: histosols
E: alfisols
30: Which of the following pedogenic regimes is likely to have
the higher ph value?
A: calcification
B: laterization
C: podzolisation
31: A soil with a ph of 7
A: alkaline
B: ferrous
C: acid
D: neutral
32: The amount of photosynthesis is related to
A: intensity of sunlight
B: temperature
C: duration of sunlight
D: presence of carbon dioxide
E: all of the above
33:
Which type of soil moisture is most important for plant growth.
A: hygroscopic water
B: capillary water
C: gravity water
D: groundwater
34: During photosynthesis a plant utilizes water, solar radiation
and
A: oxygen
B: carbon dioxide
C: argon
D: nitrogen
35: Which environmental setting is favorable for stress-threshold
concept of plant cover change?
A: a bog in an area of stable groundwater levels
B: a floodplain subject to deposition and inundation
C: an area with a fluctuating water table
D: only b and c
E: a, b, and c
36: Which of the below is lower on the food chain?
A: earthworms
B: crabgrass
C: mountain lion
D: eagle
37: The functions performed by a producer (first trophic level)
for the ecosystem include
A: transforming light energy to chemical energy
B: changing inorganic compounds to organic compounds
C: furnishing food for consumers
D: b and c only
E: a,b, and c
38: Climax vegetation is usually associated with
A: a situation where people have interfered with natural succession
B: a burned over area
C: a dry season
D: the end of plant succession
E: winter
39: In the language of the food chain, herbivorous animals are
called
A: the apex
B: primary consumers
C: secondary consumers
D: tertiary consumers
E: dominant
40: The end product of photosynthesis is (are)
A: carbon dioxide
B: water
C: light
D: carbohydrates
E: unknown
41: Plant decomposition releases ________into the atmosphere
A: sulphur
B: oxygen
C: neon
D: carbon dioxide
E: nitrogen
42: Perhaps the most important functions of those plant species
termed "pioneers" include
A: the reduction of evaporation and of the soil surface temperature
B: the rebuilding of the water table and capture of plant nutrients
C: the capture of plant nutrients and reduction of evaporation
from the soil surface
D: the provision of organic matter and the reduction of soil temperature
extremes.
43: An ecosystem is composed of
A: only living components
B: only non living components
C: at times only living components and at other times non living
components
D: living and non living components which are continuously interacting
E: living and non living components which do not interact
44: The raw materials for photosynthesis are
A: carbon dioxide and nitrogen
B: water and nitrogen
C: water and carbon dioxide
D: water and phosphorus
E: oxygen and carbon dioxide
45: Which of the following exhibits the highest net productivity
per unit area?
A: temperate forests since moisture is not a limiting factor and
temperatures are cool to lessen respiration
B: tropical rainforest since moisture and energy are not limiting
factors
C: rangeland due to intensive human management
46: Biomass is
A: status of water pressure in a plant
B: the same as net photosynthesis
C: total weight of organic matter
D: flow of water through plant tissue
E: total weight of plants
47: Gradation
A: involves internal energy of the earth
B: involves removal of material from high elevations and deposition
in lower elevations
C: results in a roughening of the surface
D: results from a combination of diastrophic and metamorphic processes
48: Continents
A: consist of sialic material
B: consist of simatic material
C: consis tof equal parts sima and sial with the sima resting
on top
49: The sial and sima are found within
A: the crust
B: the mantle
C: the core
D: the Moho
50: The preent estimate of the earth's age is about _____years.
A: 50 million
B: 500 million
C: 2.8 billion
D: 4.6 billion
E: none of the above
51: The lithosphere is usually defined as the
A: crust and upper mantle
B: upper and lower mantle
C: lower mantle and outer core
D: outer andinner core
E: asthenosphere and mesosphere
52: T F A map of rock distribution at the surface in the United
States clearly shows metamorphic to be the most extensive type
53 Which of the following has the greatest density?
A: crust
B: sial
C: sima
D: core
54: T F Owing to their greater thickness, continental blocks are
drawn down and consumed in subduction zones.
55: Continents
A: are older then the ocean floors
B: are geologically much more complicated than the ocean floors
C: are made up of rocks which are less dense than the rocks of
the ocean floor
D: and ocean floor can be parts of the same plate
E: all of the previous
F: none of the previous
56: T F The mountain ranges of Middle and South America have been
built in part along a subduction plate boundary
57: T F Considering the age of the earth the ocean floors are
very young
58: Continental drift
A: is an old theory that has been entirely disproved
B: is produced by movement of crustal plates
C: could not occur because the crust is solid
D: occurred about 1 billion years ago but has since ceased
E: expains coriolis
59: The first comprehensive theory of continental drift was proposed
by
A: Darwin
B: Koppen
C: Thorndike
D: Wegener
E: Wallace
60:
Which of the following locations is most closely associated with
a mantle plume?
A: lower Mississippi River Valley
B: Hawaiian Islands
C: Florida
D: Maine
E: southern California
F: none of the above
61: When shale, one of the more common sedimentary rocks is subjected
to the forces of metamorphism it first becomes
A: slate
B: schist
C: gneiss
D: phyllite
62: What can be said of the silicate minerals?
A: they are the most common rock-forming minerals
B: they are composd of marine organisms
C: they are often ores of precious metals
D: they are only found on the continents
63: How do sedimentary rocks differ from igneous rocks?
A: sedimentary rocks form in layers, while most igneous rocks
do not
B: tectonic forces generally are important in theformation of
sedimentary rocks but are usually not important in the formation
of igneous rocks
C: sedimentary rocks comose more of the earth's crust than do
igneous rocks
D: all of the above are differences berween sedimentary and igneous
rocks
64: Which of the following does not apply to minerals
A:naturally occurring
B: inorganic
C: mostly combinations of calcium, sulfur and manganese
D: commonly aluminosilicates
65: Which of the following is not one of the ways sedimentary
rocks form?
A: broken rock
B: cooled from magma
C: chemical precipitation of minerals
D: taken out of solution by animals
66: The rock cycle implies that rock and mineral resources are
renewable
A: within a few years
B: within a human lifetime
C: within a few thousand years
D:within geologic time stretching for billions of years
67: T F Igneous rocks are produced when existing rocks undergo
mineral or crystal structure change due to heat or pressure
68: An igneous rock may have
A: developed from deep sea sediments
B: developed from the cooling of magma
C: developed from vegetative material
D: formed from the recrystallization of sediments
E: formed through the evaporative process
69: Which of the following changes in rock types is not due to
metamorphic processes
A: from shale to slate
B: from limestone to marble
C: from gneiss to granite
D: from sandstone to quartzite
70: Batholith
A: trench
B: earthquake
C: intrusive
D: composite
E: Hawaii
71: Shield volcano
A: tsunami
B: trench
C: Hawaii
D: composite
E: earthquake
72: The Hawaiian Islands are best described as
A: coral reefs
B: composite volcanoes
C: basaltic shield volcanoes
D: batholiths
73: T F All volcanic eruptions are violent
74: T F The higher the viscosity of a lava the more difficult
it is for the gas bubbles to escape.
75 T F Gas bubbles trapped in a viscous lava are often responsible
for its explosive activity.
76: T F Most geysers erupt continuously.
77: Which is more likely in Eastern Nebraska?
A: extrusive volcanism
B: earthquakes
C: alpine glaciation
D: hurricanes