chapter 20

Multiple Choice Questions for Mountain Building - Chapter 20

Each chapter will include a few questions designed to test your knowledge of material covered in the chapter and in the Internet-based resources. Your answers are not being recorded. Try the following.

  1. Which of the following mountain chains was not the result of a continental collision during the assembly of the supercontinent Pangaea?

    Applachians
    Caledonides
    Himalayas
    Urals

  2. Oceanic crust provides a record of about ________% of Earth's history.

    5
    25
    50
    75

  3. Continental crust provides a record of about ________% of Earth's history.

    5
    25
    50
    95

  4. Approximately how old are the oldest continental rocks?

    50 million years old
    250 million years old
    1 billion years old
    4 billion years old

  5. What is the general term for periods of mountain-building that include folding, faulting, magmatism and metamorphism?

    rejuvenation
    convergence
    orogeny
    sedimentation

  6. The oldest rocks tend to be found __________.

    in the interiors of ocean basins
    on the margins of ocean basins
    in the interior of continents
    along the margins of continents

  7. What is the name of the mountain chain that runs along the western margin of South America?

    Applachians
    Andes
    Himalayas
    Cordillera

  8. Which region contains he oldest rocks in North America

    A
    B
    C
    D

  9. Which region consists of folded and faulted rocks that formed during the Paleozoic era

    A
    B
    C
    D

  10. Which region represents the Cordilleran orogenic belt?

    A
    B
    C
    D

  11. Which region is characterized by flat-lying sedimentary rocks at the surface?

    A
    B
    C
    D

  12. Which region contains the thickest sedimentary deposits

    A
    C
    D
    E

  13. Large areas consisting of very old, exposed crystalline basement rocks are called __________.

    orogenies
    cordillera
    basins
    shields

  14. Where are the oldest rocks in North America found?

    Canadian Shield
    Rocky Mountains
    Applachian Mountains
    Ural Mountains

  15. What type of geologic contact separates the rocks of the Canadian Shield from the rocks of the Great Plains?

    an unconformity
    a glacial moraine
    a thrust fault
    an intrusive contact

  16. How thick is the sequence of sedimentary rocks that underlies the Great Plains?

    about 400 meters
    about 2 kilometers
    about 10 kilometers
    about 50 kilometers

  17. The rock assemblages in the Interior Platform of North America indicate deposition _____________

    in extensive shallow seas
    on alluvial plains
    in lakes and swamps
    all of these

  18. What types of faults are depicted in the cross section given above?

    normal faults
    strike slip faults
    reverse faults
    thrust faults

  19. If B represents the Himalayas then _________.

    plate A is Asia and plate C is Europe
    plate A is India and plate C is Asia
    plate A is Asia and plate C is India
    plate A is Europe and plate C is Asia

  20. If the cross section depicts the southern Applachian Mountains approximately 250 million years ago, then ___________.

    plate A is Africa and plate C is Europe
    plate A is Africa and plate C is North America
    plate A is North America and plate C is Europe
    plate A is North America and plate C is Africa

  21. The Himalayas began to form approximately _________ when the Indian subcontinent began to collide with Tibet.

    5 million years ago
    50 million years ago
    500 million years ago
    1 billion years ago

  22. The Valley and Ridge province of the Appalachian Mountains consists of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks that have been thrust to the _________.

    northeast
    northwest
    southeast
    southwest

    Development of the Himalayas:

    I. formation of the Main Boundary Thrust
    II. formation of the Main Central Thrust
    III. collision of the Indian and Eurasian continents
    IV. formation of a volcanic arc on the southern edge of Eurasia

  23. Which of the events listed above occurred before the collision of India and Eurasia?

    I
    II
    IV
    I, II and IV

  24. Which of the following lists correctly gives the sequence of events that led to the development of the Himalayas?

    I > II > III > IV
    IV > III > II > I
    III > II > I > IV
    II > I > IV > III

  25. Which of the following physiographic regions is not part of the Applachians?

    the Valley and Ridge
    the Piedmont
    the Blue Ridge
    the Basin and Range

  26. Most of the Applachian Mountains formed during ________ time.

    Cenozoic
    Mesozoic
    Paleozoic
    Precambrian

  27. Which of the following physiographic regions in the Appalachian Mountains is the most intensely deformed?

    the Applachian plateau
    the Blue Ridge
    the Piedmont
    the Valley and Ridge

  28. In the Applachian Mountains, a second orogenic period occurred in _______time when an island arc collided with North America.

    Ordovician
    Jurassic
    Permian
    Devonian

  29. When did Africa collide with North America?

    Ordovician
    Jurassic
    Permian
    Devonian

  30. The Applachian Mountains consist of _________.

    deformed continental shelf sediments
    an accreted island arc
    an accreted continental fragment
    all of these

  31. The thrust sheets of the Blue Ridge and Piedmont provinces moved approximately _____ over the continental shelf sediments of ancient North America.

    250 meters
    2.5 kilometers
    25 kilometers
    250 kilometers

  32. When did the modern North Atlantic Ocean begin to open?

    about 100 million years ago
    about 200 million years
    about 300 million years ago
    about 500 million years ago

  33. Which of the following mountain belts formed as a result of a collision between two continents?

    Applachians
    Himalayas
    Urals
    all of these

  34. Which of the following mountain belts is a mirror image of the Appalachians?

    Alps
    Himalayas
    Urals
    Mauritanides

  35. The North America Cordillera formed by the collision of North America and _______.

    Asia
    South America
    Africa
    numerous continental and oceanic fragments - microplates

  36. Which of the following regions contains numerous fault-block mountain ranges?

    Applachians
    Basin and Range
    Canadian Shield
    Great Plains

  37. The Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado is an example of a ______.

    fault block mountains
    folded mountain
    upwarped mountain
    volcanic mountain

  38. Which of the following did not form as a result of the collision between Asia and India?

    the Himalayas
    the Tiebetan Plateau
    the Altyn Tagh strike-slip fault
    the Ural Mountains

  39. The North American Cordillera formed over a period of _________

    10 million years
    50 million years
    250 million years
    1 billion years

  40. The topography of the Basin and Range province in western North America is caused by ___________. ?

    normal faulting
    thrust faulting
    strike-slip faulting
    collision

  41. Which of the following occurred most recently?

    initial rifting of the Atlantic Ocean
    Basin and Range
    uplift of the Himalayas
    collision of North America and Africa

  42. Which of the following is an example of a fault-block mountain range?

    the Adirondacks of New York
    the Cascade Mountains
    the Tetons
    all of these

  43. Which of the following rivers runs along a rift valley?

    the Mississippi
    the Connecticut River
    the Colorado
    the Ohio

  44. How thick are the sedimentary rocks in the Gulf of Mexico?

    200 meters
    1000 meters
    10,000 meters
    100 kilometers

  45. Gradual vertical movements of the crust without significant deformation are called ______.

    fault blocks
    orogenies
    cratons
    epeirogeny

  46. In which of the following regions would you expect to find the thickest sequence of sedimentary rocks?

    on continental platforms
    along mid-ocean ridges
    in the middle of the ocean basin, away from a ridge
    on continental shelves

  47. Which of the following is an example of an epeirogenic sedimentary basin?

    Connecticut River valley
    Michigan Basin
    Atlantic coastal plain
    none of these

  48. Which of the following mountains formed by general upward movement without major faulting?

    Teton Range
    Black Hills
    Sierra Nevada
    Cascade Mountains

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