Question: In maritime navigation, what name is given to an area of rocks just below the surface of the sea?
Answer: Reef
Question: Petrology is the study of rocks from which perspective?
Answer: Chemical
Question: Which of these planets is made up of gas rather than rocks?
Answer: Jupiter
Question: Rocks are broken down by the elements by what gradual process?
Answer: Weathering
Question: The word geology orginates from which language?
Answer: Greek
Question: What is the name given to the ancient remains of living things preserved in rocks?
Answer: Fossils
Question: What element makes up most of the weight of water and about half the weight of most rocks?
Answer: Oxygen
Question: Columbia is the capital of which American state?
Answer: South Carolina
Question: Columbus is the state capital of which U.S.A. state?
Answer: Texas
Question: What name is given to molten rocks thrown out by a volcano?
Answer: Lava
Question: When studying rocks and soils, which of these could you use to separate small particles from bigger ones?
Answer: Sieve
Question: What term is used for the part of the soil that is always frozen in cold climates?
Answer: Permafrost
Question: What piece of equipment is used to break up clods of soil and to cover seeds after sowing?
Answer: Harrow
Question: Moonstone is a pearly variety of which of these rocks?
Answer: Feldspar
Question: In geology, what are the distinct layers into which sedimentary rocks are divided?
Answer: Strata
Question: Which of these increases the nitrogen compounds in soil?
Answer: Lightening
Question: What is the name of the study of rocks and the earth’s crust?
Answer: Geology
Question: Which color indicates that soil is rich in organic matter?
Answer: Black
Question: Which country in the North Atlantic ocean is built entirely of volcanic rocks?
Answer: Iceland
Question: A break in the sequence of sedimentary rocks, usually seen as an eroded surface, is called… what?
Answer: Unconformity
Question: What color is the gemstone ‘peridot’?
Answer: Green
Question: Which two colors make up the naturally occurring gemstone known as ‘watermelon tourmaline’?
Answer: Green and pink
Question: What color is the gemstone ‘jet’?
Answer: Black
Question: What color is the peridot stone?
Answer: Green
Question: Sapphire is usually which color?
Answer: Blue
Question: Which of these is a precious stone?
Answer: Diamond
Question: Which gemstone can be blue, orange, yellow or colorless?
Answer: Topaz
Question: The gemstones rhodochrosite and almandine are always shades of which color?
Answer: Pink
Question: What color is the distinctive lapis lazuli gemstone?
Answer: Blue
Question: The mineral ‘cubic zirconium’ can be cut and polished to look like which precious stone?
Answer: Diamond
Question: Which of these soil types does NOT contain any rock particles?
Answer: Peat
Question: The mineral ‘galena’ is the most important source of which metal?
Answer: Lead
Question: What is the name of the molten rock that is found deep inside volcanoes?
Answer: Magma
Question: What is the name for dark volcanic glass?
Answer: Obsidian
Question: Which rock forms the greater part of the White Cliffs of Dover?
Answer: Chalk
Question: Which of these rocks is hard and impermeable?
Answer: Marble
Question: Which tectonic plate lies between the Pacific Plate and the South American Plate?
Answer: Nazca Plate
Question: Which of these rocks is the hardest?
Answer: Granite
Question: What type of rock is cooled lava from a volcano?
Answer: Igneous
Question: Which is the only type of rock that floats?
Answer: Pumice
Question: What name is given to the semi-molten rock found in the Earth’s mantle?
Answer: Magma
Question: In what sort of rock do most caves occur?
Answer: Limestone
Question: Which rock consists of quartz, feldspar, and mica crystals?
Answer: Granite
Question: What name is given to the wearing away of rocks and soil?
Answer: Erosion
Question: Earthworms in the soil help to do what?
Answer: Mix the nutrient
Question: Soil below the surface of a tundra that remains frozen permanently is called what?
Answer: Permafrost
Question: In science, what ‘L’ is a type of fertile soil consisting of sand, silt, clay, and organic material?
Answer: Loam
Question: The soil type in deciduous woodlands is what?
Answer: Brown soil
Question: Growing plants without soil is called what?
Answer: Hydroponics
Question: Which of these does not drain as well as the others?
Answer: Clay soil
Question: Which of these is the name of a type of soil?
Answer: Loam
Question: Which of these processes is responsible for America’s Monument Valley?
Answer: Erosion
Question: Which name is given to a form of rich soil?
Answer: Loam
Question: Which of these is NOT a cause of erosion of rocks and soil?
Answer: Fire
Question: Which of these is a taiga soil?
Answer: Podsol
Question: After two defeats, which European Ryder Cup captain bounced back in 1995 with a memorable victory on US soil?
Answer: Bernard Gallacher
Question: In 1587, who was the first child born to English parents on American soil?
Answer: Virginia Dare
Question: Who is considered the “Father of Geology” for his contributions to the field in the 18th century?
Answer: James Hutton
Question: In what year was the theory of plate tectonics widely accepted by the scientific community?
Answer: 1960s
Question: Who proposed the concept of continental drift in 1912, which laid the foundation for the theory of plate tectonics?
Answer: Alfred Wegener
Question: Which geologist developed the principle of uniformitarianism, stating that the geological processes occurring today have operated throughout Earth’s history?
Answer: Charles Lyell
Question: What famous geological landmark in the United States was formed by the erosion of the Colorado River over millions of years?
Answer: Grand Canyon
Question: Who discovered and named the first dinosaur fossils in the early 19th century?
Answer: William Buckland
Question: Which scientist developed the concept of the geologic time scale, dividing Earth’s history into different time periods based on rock layers and fossil records?
Answer: Georges Cuvier
Question: In what year did the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius bury the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum?
Answer: 79 AD
Question: Who is credited with the discovery of radioactivity and was the first to use radioisotopes for age dating in geology?
Answer: Marie Curie
Question: Which geologist proposed the theory of seafloor spreading in the 1960s, providing evidence for plate tectonics?
Answer: Harry Hess
Question: By mass, which element makes up 26 per cent of the Earth’s crust?
Answer: Silicon
Question: What type of stone is only mined in Mount Kilimanjaro?
Answer: Tanzanite
Question: What’s the name is given to the useless stony minerals that occur with a metallic ore?
Answer: Gangue
Question: What abrasive rock is produced by gases frothing in volcanic lava?
Answer: Pumice
Question: Which sort of stone is the Derbyshire gorge, Dovedale, formed out of?
Answer: Limestone
Question: What name is given to a volcano that is made up of layers of volcanic ash and that has a steep, conical shape?
Answer: Cinder volcano
Question: What do biostratigraphers do?
Answer: Analyze rock samples
Question: What word is used to describe the energy obtained from the Earth’s interior?
Answer: Geothermal energy
Question: What do you call a person who studies rocks?
Answer: Geologist
Question: What sort of rock makes up the walls of the Grand Canyon?
Answer: Sedimentary
Question: What type of rocks form when hot, liquid rock from deep in the earth cools and becomes solid?
Answer: Igneous
Question: Rocks emit which kind of radiation?
Answer: Gamma
Question: On which continent is the Great Rift Valley?
Answer: Africa
Question: What name is given to any naturally occurring chemical found in the Earth?
Answer: Mineral
Question: How many times have Brazil won the World Cup on European soil?
Answer: Once
Question: By mass, what percentage of the Earth’s crust is made up of just 8 elements?
Answer: 98%
Question: How much more powerful is an earthquake that measures 6 on the Richter scale than one that measures 5?
Answer: x 10
Question: After oxygen and silicon, by mass, what is the most abundant element in the Earth’s Crust?
Answer: Aluminum
Question: Which country produced almost all known diamonds until 1725?
Answer: India
Question: By mass, which gas is most common in the compounds that make up the Earth’s Crust?
Answer: Oxygen
Question: What name is given to the scale of hardness of minerals on which Talc registers 1 and Diamond registers 10?
Answer: Moh’s Scale
Question: By mass, which of these elements is the second most common element on Earth?
Answer: Silicon
Question: In the Earth’s structure, what is the name for the sharp boundary between the crust and the mantle?
Answer: Moho
Question: Where would you find the extinct volcano, Olympus Mons?
Answer: Mars
Question: Which two elements make up the greater part of the Earth’s inner core?
Answer: Iron and nickel
In 2021, a geological study of what planet, named for the Roman goddess of love, discovered that parts of its rocky surface move in patterns similar to ocean pack ice on Earth?
Answer: Venus
Mostly found shifting around under its water, what ocean is the namesake of Earth’s largest tectonic plate?
Answer: Pacific Ocean
Normal, reverse, strike-slip, and oblique are the four types of what things found in the Earth’s crust?
Answer: Faults
What variety of quartz, with chemical formula SiO2, is pink and seems to be named after a red flower with prickly stems?
Answer: Rose quartz
What “B” hill has steep sides and a flat top? They are particular known to US residents for being in Montana.
Answer: Butte
More commonly known as Louwala-Clough to the Klickitat Native American tribe, what stratovolcano erupted on May 18, 1980 and caused over $1.1 billion in damage in Washington according to the International Trade Commission?
Answer: Mount St. Helens
What type of rock is formed by the accumulation of mineral at the Earth’s surface?
Answer: Sedimentary
Sometimes called the “fire of the desert,” what is the national gemstone of Australia?
Answer: Opal
Technically a quartz monzonite dome monadnock, and the largest bas-relief in the world, what Georgian landmark attracts over 4 million tourists per year?
Answer: Stone Mountain
Common on the surface of Mars, what is the name of the extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of lava that is rich in magnesium and iron?
Answer: Basalt
A gigaannum is a term that represents a very long time—one billion years in fact! About 3.5 gigaannumms ago was when what critical process used to convert light energy into chemical energy is estimated to have begun?
Answer: Photosynthesis
What is the name of this dark igneous rock, nicknamed ‘nature’s glass,’ that forms when molten lava cools at a rapid speed?
Answer: Obsidian
What gemstone is a hydrated amorphous form of silica and has types such as Fire, Black and Boulder? It is the birthstone for the month of October and a precious one of these often displays iridescence.
Answer: Opal
On May 18, 1980, what Washington State volcano erupted, killing more than 50 people and darkening the skies for hundreds of miles?
Answer: Mount Saint Helens
What is the name for the material making up the upper layer of the Earth’s crust? The name comes from the two most abundant elements in the material.
Answer: Sial
Usually dark gray to black in color, what fine-grained volcanic rock forms the columns of the famous Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland?
Answer: Basalt
In geology, what eight-letter word means a deposit of clay, silt, sand, and gravel left by flowing streams in a river valley or delta?
Answer: Alluvium
Crater Lake, Yellowstone, and California’s Long Valley are all examples of what geological feature, which forms after a collapse of land following a volcanic eruption?
Answer: Caldera
In 2020, scientists discovered that two historic supereruptions occurred approximately nine million years ago near what famous American “hotspot”? These eruptions were named the McMullen Creek and Grey’s Landing supereruptions.
Answer: Yellowstone
Travertine, tufa, coquina, and chalk are all forms of what type of sedimentary rock?
Answer: Limestone
What geological term comes from a Latin word meaning “something spread or laid down”, and means a layer of rock or soil formed at the Earth’s surface?
Answer: Stratum
What “I” type of rock is igneous rock formed when magma is forced into older rock deposits at Earth’s crust? It is also an English word meaning causing disruption by annoying or unwanted interruption.
Answer: Intrusive rock
What 19th-century Belgian geologist and geology professor made a geological map of Europe in 1875? His last name is the same as a failed US television network of the 1950s.
Answer: Andre Dumont
What “Q” word is metamorphic rock formed when sandstone is subjected to heat and pressure?
Answer: Quartzite
Petrology is also known as the study of the history, origin, structure, and chemical composition of what objects?
Answer: Rocks
Sometimes containing diamonds, an igneous rock called Kimberlite is named for a mining town in what Southern Hemisphere country?
Answer: South Africa
The massive 1964 earthquake that killed 133 people and destroyed several villages in coastal Alaska occurred on what religious holiday? The quake’s moment magnitude of 9.2 was more than a thousand times as powerful as the famous 1989 San Francisco earthquake.
Answer: Good Friday
USGS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of the Interior with the motto “science for a changing world.” What do the initials of this organization stand for? The group is headquartered in Reston, Virginia and is a fact-finding organization with no regulatory responsibility.
Answer: United States Geological Survey
What is the watery-sounding name for an underground layer of liquid-bearing permeable rock that are occasionally used as a seasonal storage place for thermal energy?
Answer: Aquifer
Known as a mining “powerhouse,” what country is frequently the world’s top annual producer of chrome, manganese, platinum, and vanadium?
Answer: South Africa
Known as “le’ahi,” or “brow of the tuna” in Hawaiian, what is the English name of the volcanic cone that is Hawaii’s most popular state park?
Answer: Diamond Head
The gneisses in Minnesota are some of the oldest in the world, clocking in at 3.6 billion years old. What is the more general term for these structures?
Answer: Metamorphic rocks
What is the term for the rigid, outer shell of a planet or natural satellite? The crust and a portion of the upper mantle on Earth form this layer.
Answer: Lithosphere
Geologists are theorizing that a Nordic island nation known for its volcanoes, geysers, and hot springs may be part of a giant subterranean continent known by what name? Its name is kind of like the country with capital Reykjavik, but with a couple extra letters at the end.
Answer: Icelandia
What Greek philosopher of the 4th century BC created one of the first evidence-based systems of geology, theorizing that the Earth changes over time in ways one individual cannot see? He is known for being a student of Plato, and for writing such books as “Poetics.”
Answer: Aristotle
As is commonly known, diamonds are made entirely of carbon. With a single guess, name either of the two elements which make up rubies.
Answer: Aluminum and Oxygen
What P-word to a geologist means the movement of water through rock and to a barista means the movement of water through coffee grounds?
Answer: Percolation
Composite and shield volcanoes are the larger varieties and what third type is the smallest volcano, typically composed of small fragments of ejected material?
Answer: Cinder cones
Which geological time period that began 358.9 million years ago, and during which time large coal deposits formed, has a name derived from the Latin for “coal-bearing?”
Answer: Carboniferous