Multiple Choice Questions Sedimentary Rocks - Chapter 6

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. Shale refers to a rock formed from:

    sand sized material
    plant remains
    clay minerals
    carbonate

  2. Which one of the following is a biochemical sedimentary rock?

    sand sized material
    coal
    shale
    conglomerate

  3. A clastic rock is:

    a rock formed from the cementation of transported grains
    a rock formed from evaporation of sea water
    transformed by heat into limestone
    transformed by pressure into limestone

  4. Which one of the following features is NOT associated with sedimentary rocks?

    bedding
    foliation
    fossils
    all may be associated with sedimentary rocks

  5. Which of the following types of sediments are most abundant?

    coarse clastics
    fine clastics
    chemical
    biochemical

  6. The tendency for variations in current velocity to segregate sediments on the basis of particle size is called _____.

    lilthification
    compaction
    metamorphism
    sorting

  7. Which of the following types of currents can transport sand grains?

    rivers
    wind
    ocean waves
    all of these

  8. In which of the following sedimentary environments would you expect the sand deposits to be poorly sorted?

    alluvial
    beach
    desert
    glacial

  9. Which of the following environments is an example of a shoreline/transitional environment?

    alluvial
    continental shelf
    deltaic
    organic reef

  10. Most shells of marine organisms are composed of ________ .

    silica
    calcium carbonate
    calcium phosphate
    calcium sulfate

  11. Coarse clastic material can be transported into a deep marine environment by ______ .

    rivers
    wind
    turbidity currents
    all of these

  12. Marine sediments deposited in water depths greater than about 12,000 feet usually lack ________ .

    carbonate shells
    silica-rich shells
    fine grained material transported by the wind
    all of these

  13. In which of the following environments would you expect to find oscillation ripples?

    alluvial
    beach
    deep-sea
    desert

  14. Which of the following processes is not an important cause of subsidence during the development of a sedimentary basin?

    cooling and contraction of the crust
    deposition of sediments
    erosion of sediments
    tectonic down faulting

  15. Which of the following lists is written in order of decreasing particle size?

    sandstone, siltstone, conglomerate
    sandstone, conglomerate, siltstone
    conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone
    siltstone, sandstone, conglomerate

  16. What is the difference between a breccia and a conglomerate?

    breccias are coarse grained and conglomerates are fine grained
    conglomerates are coarse grained and breccias are fine grained
    breccias have rounded fragments and conglomerates have angular fragments
    breccias have angular fragments and conglomerates have rounded fragments

  17. A feldspar-rich sandstone is called a(n) ________ .

    arkose
    litharenite
    quartz arenite
    shale

  18. A sandstone with abundant rock fragments and clay minerals is a(n) ______ .

    arkose
    litharenite
    quartz arenite
    shale

  19. Which of the following rocks is deposited only by non-biological, chemical precipitation ?

    halite
    limestone
    chert arenite
    coal

  20. The most common lithification process for fine clastics is _______ .

    cementation
    compaction

  21. Which of the following lists is written in the order of increasing temperature ?

    sedimentation, metamorphism, diagenesis
    diagenesis, sedimentation, metamorphism
    sedimentation, diagenesis, metamorphism
    metamorphism, diagenesis, sedimentation

  22. Which of the following processes does not occur during diagenesis?

    compaction
    cementation
    lithification
    metamorphism

  23. The term "aeolian" refers to transport and deposition by:

    the wind
    streams
    ocean waves
    pocket gophers

  24. With time, sediment transported by glaciers ___________.

    becomes rounded
    becomes smaller
    becomes rounded and smaller
    none of these

  25. WIth time, sediment transported by a fluvial system ___________.

    becomes rounded
    becomes smaller
    becomes rounded and smaller
    none of these

  26. Which of the sand grains above has been transported the furthest?

    1
    2
    3
    4

  27. Coal is formed from ______.

    natural gas
    oil
    limestone
    preserved plant material

  28. In which of the following sedimentary environments would you least expect to find gravel?

    active margin beach
    alluvial fans
    glacial
    deep marine

  29. Which of the following sedimentary environments is characterized by sand, gravel and mud?

    active margin beach
    alluvial fans
    glacial
    deep marine

  30. Which of the following sedimentary environments is dominated by waves and tidal currents?

    glacial
    alluvial fans
    deltaic
    deep marine

  31. Siliceous environments, named for the silica-rich shells deposited in them, occur ________.

    in an evaporite environment
    in a swamp environment
    in a reef environment
    in a deep-sea environment

  32. In the cross section of a sand dune given above, the wind was blowing?

    <-------
    -------->
    <------->
    cannot determine direction from information given.

  33. In the cross section of a sand dune given above, the diagonal layers are called_____.

    cross beds
    graded beds
    point bars
    ripple marks.

  34. What is the most abundant biochemical precipitate in the oceans?

    halite
    limestone
    chert
    coal

  35. Ripples occur:

    on sand beneath the waves at beaches
    on underwater sandbars in streams
    on the surface of windswept dunes
    all of these can have ripples

  36. In which of the following environments would you expect to find symmetrical ripples?

    alluvial
    beach
    deep-sea
    desert

  37. What is the approximate temperature of a sediment that is buried to a depth of 3 km?

    0 degrees C
    100 degrees C
    300 degrees C
    1000 degrees C

  38. Which of the following processes occurs during lithification?

    recrystallization
    compaction
    cementation
    all may occur

  39. Which of the following is an example of a physical, as opposed to a chemical, diagenetic process?

    recrystallization
    compaction
    cementation
    all are physical in nature

  40. What is the porosity of newly deposited mud?

    less than 5%
    between 5% and 25%
    between 25% and 50%
    > 50%

  41. Which of the following groups represent the most abundant sedimentary rocks?

    limestones and dolomites
    sandstones and conglomerates
    cherts and evaporites
    mudstones and shales

  42. What type of sandstone is depicted in the illustration above?

    quartz arenite
    litharenite
    arkose
    this is a granite!!

  43. Which of the following sandstone types is most likely to form by the mechanical weathering of a granite?

    quartz arenite
    litharenite
    arkose
    shale

  44. Which of the following sandstone types is most likely to form by the mechanical and intense chemical weathering of a granite?

    quartz arenite
    litharenite
    arkose
    shale

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