The document appears to be a quiz or test covering various topics in geology and earth science. It contains 51 multiple choice questions testing knowledge of topics like rock types, geologic time, plate tectonics, volcanoes, earth structure and more.

1. The route of the planned Galway City outer bypass is entirely underlain by which two rock types?
a) Limestone and sandstone
b) Limestone and granite
c) Limestone and shale
d) Limestone and basalt
2) Which of the following are among the most abundant ions found in groundwater?
a) Calcium, chloride, sulphate
b) Calcium, iron, lead
c) Calcium, zinc, copper
d) Calcium, strontium, lead
3) The distinction between joints and faults is that ...
a) Faults are joints that are greater than one square meter in areal extent
b) Faults are fractures along which displacement has occurred; displacement does not occur
along joints
c) Joints are fractures along which displacement has occurred; displacement does not occur
along faults
d) There is no distinction; the two terms are synonymous
4) Stretching and thinning of the crust results from...
a) Brittle deformation and tensional stress conditions.
b) Ductile deformation and tensional conditions.
c) Brittle deformation and shearing conditions.
d) Ductile deformation and compressive conditions.
5) Geothermal resources are found mainly within what type of tectonic environments?
a) Divergent
b) Convergent
c) Strike-slip
d) There is no preferential tectonic environment
6) The youngest geothermal heat sources are referred to as ...
a) Active b) Recent c) Inactive d) Extinct
7) Accurate radiometric dating is possible only if a rock contains a measurable amount of ...
a) parent isotope atoms
b) daughter isotope atoms
c) either parent or daughter atoms
d) both parent and daughter atoms
8) A biozone is...
a) An interval of rock strata defined by its characteristic fossil content
b) An interval in rock strata where a group of fossils disappear (i.e. go extinct)
c) An interval in rock strata where a group of fossils first appear
d) An interval of rock which is rich in fossils
9) All other factors being equal, if a body of magma becomes more felsic, its viscosity will...
a) increase

2. b) decrease
c) stay the same
d) vary independently of chemical composition
10) As compared to coarse-grained igneous rocks, fine-grained igneous rocks...
a) cool and solidify more slowly
b) cool and solidify more quickly
c) solidify at higher temperatures
d) solidify at lower temperatures
11) Broadly speaking, metamorphism involves...
a) the settling of crystals in a melt as it cools
b) the sorting of grains by size, as accomplished by rivers and beach waves
c) the cementation of loose grains and the precipitation of new minerals into pore spaces
d) changes in mineralogy and texture in response to heat and stress
12) The Earths magnetic field is generated by the...
a) flow of the liquid inner core
b) flow of the liquid outer core
c) convective flow of the mantle
d) magnetic minerals within the crust
13) If a sandstone lies on top of a shale...
a) the shale must be older, according to the principle of superposition
b) the sandstone must be older, according to the principle of superposition
c) the shale must be older, according to the principle of components
d) their relative ages cannot be determined from the information given
14) From oldest to youngest, what is the correct sequence for the following chronostratigraphic
units?
a) Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous
b) Carboniferous, Devonian, Ordovician, Silurian
c) Devonian, Ordovician, Carboniferous, Silurian
d) Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Ordovician
15) In the 1800s, when Lord Kelvin estimated the age of the Earth he made a number of
assumptions. Which wrong assumption was the primary reason why his estimate (approximately
20 million years) was so wildly inaccurate?
a) that the Earth was once hotter than it presently is today
b) that the Earth may have been molten when first formed
c) that no new heat has been added to the Earth since its initial formation
d) that the Earth would lose heat over time through radiation into outer space
16) The oldest Irish rock is found on Inishtrahull (off Malin Head) and is...
a) 1779 million years old
b) 177 million years old
c) 717 million years old
d) 17.9 million years old

3. 17) The oldest dated rocks on Earth are found in...
a) Canada
b) Mexico
c) Greenland
d) Australia
18) Oxygen in the Earths atmosphere is derived from...
a) volcanic outgassing
b) photosynthesis
c) animal respiration
d) water from the oceans breaking down into hydrogen and oxygen during evaporation
19) Which gas found in todays atmosphere was absent during the Hadean and Archean eons?
a) nitrogen
b) water vapour
c) oxygen
d) carbon dioxide
20) The earliest forests containing woody trees appeared during the...
a) Late Precambrian
b) Ordovician
c) Devonian
d) Permian
21) The famous Sepkoski plot of marine animal (family-level) diversity is divided into three broad
groupings (or evolutionary faunas). Which one of the four options below is NOT one of these?
a) Cambrian Fauna
b) Paleozoic Fauna
c) Mesozoic Fauna
d) Modern Fauna
22) What was the largest and most severe mass extinction of all time?
a) Late Precambrian extinction
b) Late Devonian extinction
c) Permian-Triassic boundary extinction
d) Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary extinction
23) An iridium-rich layer of clay, glass spherules, and shocked quartz grains strongly suggests that
the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary extinctions were at least in part caused by...
a) a long trend of global warming
b) a long trend of global cooling
c) worldwide explosive volcanism
d) the impact of a bolide (meteoroid or comet)
24) The Mesozoic Era is a time in Earth history when...
a) the first abundant shelly organisms appeared in the fossil record
b) Earths interior was so hot that a solid outer crust, if present, was likely being extensively
remelted
c) stable continental interiors, termed cratons, first formed

4. d) the dinosaurs appeared and came to dominate large-scale terrestrial life.
26) Ooids
are...
a) Diplodocus
b) Blue whale
c) Tyrannosaurus
d) Elephant
a) Non-skeletal grains found in limestones, formed due to precipitation of CaCO3 in agitated water
b) Non-skeletal grains found in limestones, representing pellets of animal waste
c) Skeletal grains found in limestones, representing fossilised eggs of marine bivalves
d) Made of chert
27) The limestones which make up much of the bedrock geology of the Irish Midlands are...
a) Cretaceous in age
b) Devonian in age
c) Carboniferous in age
d) Triassic in age
28) The end of the significant Neoproterozoic glacial event, often termed Snowball Earth, was
likely caused by...
a) The explosion in biological diversity during the Cambrian
b) Global warming due to the increase in atmospheric CO2 sourced from extensive limestone
dissolution
c) Global warming due to the increase in atmospheric CO2 sourced from extensive
volcanism
d) The albedo effect
29) Sediments deposited directly by glaciers as they melt are characterized by...
a) uniformly coarse grain size
b) uniformly fine grain size
c) an absence of sorting
d) graded bedding
30) Symmetrical ripples form when...
a) wind blows in a consistent direction and deposits sediment in an arid climate
b) water flows in a consistent direction and deposits sediment in layers
c) water deposits sediment in layers, but the direction of flow periodically changes
d) a mountain stream reaches a flat basin and sediment is deposited in a fan-shaped pattern
34) Tsunamis are more destructive than wind-driven storm waves primarily because...
a) tsunamis always have larger heights (amplitude)
b) tsunamis have longer wavelengths and thus larger volumes of water are involved
c) the tides that cause tsunamis can be very erratic and unpredictable
d) tsunamis also generate seismic waves that can destroy buildings
35) Which of the following statements about tsunamis is NOT true?
a) They can be generated by uplift of the seafloor during an earthquake.

5. b) They are just as dangerous away from the coast where water depths are great.
c) They can travel at speeds approaching that of a jet in the open ocean.
d) They grow taller as they approach coastlines because friction slows the wave.
36) If a drilled well encounters both oil and natural gas, the...
a) gas will naturally be floating on top of the oil
b) oil will float above the level of the gas
c) gas and oil will be thoroughly mixed together
d) oil will be in the sandstone, and gas will be in the shale
37) Irelands electricity is dominantly...
a) generated by the combustion of fossil fuels
b) produced from a mix of wave and wind energy
c) imported from the UK and Europe
d) generated by the combustion of peat and biomass
38) The aeolian dunes on Titan are mostly likely made from the accumulation of ...
a) grains of feldspar and quartz
b) grains of dry ice
c) grains of frozen methane
d) fragments of basalt
39) The discovery of ripple cross lamination on Mars by the Mars Explorer specifically suggests
that...
a) Powerful wind storms frequently occur on the planet
b) Water once flowed over the Martian landscape
c) CO2 exists on the planet in a solid state
d) Ice is present at the Martian poles
40) Which of the following is a renewable resource?
a) coal
b) oil
c) wind
d) natural gas
41) Grains become rounded primarily during ...
a) weathering at the outcrop
b) lithification
c) transportation
d) deposition
42) Fine-grained sediment, such as dust and silt, is transported by wind in ...
a) suspension
b) saltation
c) deflation
d) surface creep
43) The process of lowering the land surface by wind erosion is known as ...
a) saltation

6. b) deflation
c) desertification d) escarpment
44) In biostratigraphy, desirable attributes for a guide (or index) fossil are...
a) a very distinct morphology and restricted (global) geographic occurrence
b) a very distinct morphology and long-ranging in the geological timescale
c) a very general morphology and long-ranging in the geological timescale
d) widespread occurrence, a very distinct morphology and relatively short-lived in the
geological timescale.
47) Cleavage in minerals refers to...
a) a tendency to break in an irregular pattern
b) a tendency to break along planes of weakness
c) the sharpness of edges between crystal faces
d) the development of well-formed crystal faces
48) Generally, which type of earthquake waves travel with the slowest velocity?
a) S-waves
b) P-waves
c) surface waves
d) all earthquake waves travel at the same speed.
49) Magnetostratigraphy takes advantage of the fact that Earths magnetic field...
a) only arose 10,000 years ago
b) has been uniformly strong, with constant polarity, throughout Earths history
c) has experienced numerous polarity reversals, with periods of normal and reversed polarity
of varying lengths
d) has experienced numerous regular, predictable polarity reversals
50) Scientists monitor volcanoes to help predict when eruptions will occur. Which of the following
is NOT a potential sign to look for when predicting volcanic eruptions?
a) changes in earthquake activity
b) changes in Earths magnetic field
c) small changes in the shape of the volcano
d) increases in gas and steam emissions
51) U-Pb zircon age dating is carried out using...
a) Mass spectrometry
b) Gas chromatography
c) Scanning electron microscopy
d) Smoke and mirrors