- 1. What is the term used to describe small pieces of weathered rocks?
A) bedding
B) crystals
C) meanders
D) sediment
- 2. What is the term used to describe the process of breaking down rock?
A) erosion
B) sedimentation
C) weathering
D) deposition
- 3. What is the process of rock being reduced to smaller pieces by chemical reactions between water and the rock grains?
A) chemical weathering
B) physical weathering
C) erosion
D) deposition
- 4. What is the weathering agent in which frozen water causes rocks to break apart?
A) biological wedging
B) frost wedging
C) fusion wedging
D) root wedging
- 5. Which of the following are characteristics of older mountains?
A) erupting lava flows
B) rounded, rolling hills
C) tall, jagged peaks
D) snow-capped peaks
- 6. In which of the following environments would a rock weather the fastest?
A) in a cold, ice-covered mountain
B) In a hot, wet rainforest
C) in a deep, dry valley
D) in a cold, dry cave
- 7. Jon was riding his skateboard on the sidewalk when he noticed the sidewalk was cracked and buckled. What MOST LIKELY caused the sidewalk to break?
A) Oxidation
B) Water puddle
C) Squirrels
D) Tree roots
- 8. Cynthia was examining a rock her father brought home from a trip to Maine. The rock was smooth with no rough edges. What MOST LIKELY caused this rock to weather?
A) Moving water
B) Snow
C) Still water
D) Animals
- 9. Weathering breaks rock into bits and pieces called sediment.
A) True, because weathering uses mechanical or chemical forces to break apart rock into smaller pieces.
B) False, because weathering is the process where sediments stop moving.
C) True, because weathering uses heat from Earth's core to break down rocks.
D) False, because weathering is the process where sediments move from one place to another.
- 10. What are the similarities between root wedging and frost wedging?
A) Both types of weathering use water to break apart rock.
B) Both types of weathering use weak acids to break apart rock.
C) Both types of weathering use pressure to break apart rock.
D) Both types of weathering use cold temperatures to break apart rock.
- 11. Why are the Appalachian Mountains more gently sloping with rounder tops than the Sierra Nevadas Mountains?
A) The Appalachian Mountains are older than the Sierra Nevadas.
B) Humans have built more roads in the Appalachians.
C) The Appalachian Mountains are younger than the Sierra Nevadas.
D) There is more rain in the Sierra Nevadas.
- 12. Theresa was absent from school when her class learned about abrasion. Thomas was trying to give an analogy of weathering by abrasion. Which of the following would be the BEST analogy of abrasion?
A) Using a fingernail file.
B) A plant growing in a pot.
C) Using a hammer.
D) Peeling an orange.
- 13. What MOST LIKELY caused the change in appearance of the Egyptian Great Sphinx which is located in the desert terrain of Giza?
A) water dissolving minerals
B) sand moved by wind
C) weathering by moving water
D) oxygen and water
- 14. What would be the BEST title for the following list of topics? Exfoliation, Biological, Animals, Root Wedging, Frost Wedging, Plant Roots
A) Chemical Weathering
B) Geological processes
C) Mechanical weathering
D) Mountain Erosion
- 15. Thomas was examining a rock. The rock was very smooth, round, and had no rough edges. Which of the following agents most likely caused the weathering?
A) Frost wedging
B) Acid rain
C) Moving water
D) Plant roots
- 16. Jess was examining a boulder (huge rock) that has a large crack in it. The rock had been weathered when water soaked into the rock, froze in the rock, and, eventually, the rock broke. Which agent of weathering does this describe?
A) Exfoliation
B) Plant roots
C) Frost wedging
D) Acid rain
- 17. Geologist Dr. Benson was examining Half Dome Mountain in Yosemite National Park. He discovered that the rock had round edges. He suspects that the rock has weathered when the rock layers peeled away as the rock expanded in the heat of the sun and contracted with the coolness of the night. Which of the following agents of weathering does this describe?
A) Wind
B) Plant roots
C) Exfoliation
D) Frost wedging
- 18. Malik went to ride his bicycle and noticed his bicycle chain was rusting. Malik remembered that in his science class he learned about weathering. Which agent of weathering was causing Malik's chain to rust?
A) Moss and lichens
B) Oxidation
C) Soaking in water
D) Acid rain
- 19. Katrina was hiking with her family along side a stream. She noticed that some rocks near the edge of the stream were covered with moss and lichen. What type of weathering would this describe?
A) Mechanical weathering only
B) Chemical Weathering only
C) Neither mechanical nor chemical weathering
D) Both mechanical and chemical weathering.
- 20. When Mr. Goodman took some seventh grade students on a field trip to New York City, they visited the Statue of Liberty. Jorge remembered studying weathering in sixth grade and knew the statue did not start out as green. What caused the statue to change from brown to green?
A) Abrasion
B) Frost wedging
C) Oxidation
D) Exfoliation
- 21. Tori was absent when the class learned about biological weathering. Cynthia is explaining what Tori missed. Which of the following choices would be the BEST answer to explain biological weathering?
A) Biological weathering is when abrasion and gravity cause rocks to break.
B) Biological weathering is when plants and animals cause rocks to break.
C) Biological weathering is when exfoliation and abrasion cause rocks to break.
D) Biological weathering is when ice and gravity cause rocks to break.
- 22. How is chemical weathering different from mechanical weathering?
A) Chemical weathering breaks or chips rocks, and mechanical weathering dissolves rocks.
B) Mechanical weathering breaks or chips rocks, and chemical weathering dissolves rocks.
C) Chemical and mechanical weathering are exactly the same; there is no difference.
D) Only chemical weathering uses water to cause weathering; mechanical weathering does not use water.
- 23. Limestone is a weak sedimentary rock. Water that soaks into the ground and trickles down to limestone can form caves as the limestone dissolves. What type of weathering does this describe?
A) Mechanical weathering
B) Volcanic weathering
C) Chemical weathering
D) Biological weathering
- 24. Old mountains look very different than young mountains. How long would this weathering process take?
A) Hundreds of years
B) A few days
C) Millions of years
D) Thousands of years
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