Exam 4: The Habitability of Earth

Which component of Earth's geology is believed to have been largely responsible for the long-term climate stability that has allowed life to evolve?

Without the protection of the Earth's magnetic field, most of the atmosphere would by now have

Different layers of sedimentary rocks deposited over time are referred to as

A rock sample contains 1/8 micrograms of the parent radioactive isotope Al-26 and 7/8 micrograms of its daughter isotope Mg-40. If the half-life of this decay is approximately 700,000 years, how old is this rock?

The strongest of evidence that supports the giant impact model for the formation of the Moon is that the

The last ice age ended about

Geological processes on the Earth's surface are directly related to

Isotopic analysis of meteorites suggests the Earth and the rest of the solar system formed

The Earth is able to recover from a snowball phase by

A radioactive isotope is

The center of the Earth is made of

Basalt is a common type of

In geology, a crystal of a particular chemical composition or structure is referred to as a

A fossil is found in a layer of strata above one layer dated at 2 million years. From this we can deduce the age of the fossil to be

Radiometric dating of a rock reveals an age of 1.52 billion years. Given that the half-life of the parent isotope used is 14.0 billion years, what percentage of the parent isotope is still present in the rock?

Mineralogical analysis of a rock can tell us

Mild, short-term cooling periods during the Earth's history are known as

Which terrestrial planet(s) have magnetic fields?

If originally there were X atoms of radioactive isotope present and now there are only X/2 atoms, how many half-lives have elapsed?

If the entire history of the Earth was scaled to a time line the length of a football field, human civilization would occupy what proportion of the field?