Geology & Geography Trivia Question: 1 Which type of rock is obsidian: igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic? View the answerHide answer Igneous. Question: 2 Which country has the longest coastline? View the answerHide answer Canada, due to the number of northern islands. Question: 3 Which crystalline formations are on cave ceilings: stalagmites or stalactites? View the answerHide answer Stalactites. Question: 4 What formation on Earth can have the names tabular, blocky, wedge, dome, pinnacle, dry dock, growler or bergy bit? View the answerHide answer Icebergs Question: 5 Is a tsunami and a tidal wave the same thing? View the answerHide answer No. Tsunamis are caused by water displacement as a result of an undersea earthquake or a landslide. Tidal waves are caused by the moon & Sun's gravitational pull combined with prevailing winds and water currents. Question: 6 What is the definition of dust? View the answerHide answer A particle small enough to be carried by air currents. Question: 7 When was the first seismograph invented? View the answerHide answer Approximately A.D. 200 in China. Question: 8 Are rubies and sapphires the same mineral? View the answerHide answer Yes! They're both forms of corundum (Al2O3), with small traces of iron in the mineral creating the red colour in rubies whereas traces of titanium or chromium create the blue colour in a sapphire. Question: 9 What is the most abundant element in the Earth's crust? View the answerHide answer Oxygen at roughly 46.6% Question: 10 Which element's addition to a diamond makes it turn blue? View the answerHide answer Traces of boron turn a diamond blue. Question: 11 What is the name of the heat transport mechanism that cycles magma in the mantle? View the answerHide answer Convection. Question: 12 What type of plate boundary is mostly found at ocean ridges? View the answerHide answer Divergent plate boundaries. Question: 13 What caused the rise of the Himalayan Mountains? View the answerHide answer The convergence of the Indo-Australian plate with the Eurasian plate. Question: 14 What is the name of the famous fault along California? View the answerHide answer The San Andreas fault, a transform plate boundary. Question: 15 What is the original source of coal? View the answerHide answer Decaying organic material in boggy, anoxic environments. Question: 16 Does anyone 'own' Antarctica? View the answerHide answer No, Antarctica is under a special agreement called the Antarctic Treaty (1959) whereby originally 12 countries who had scientists active on the continent agreed to diplomatic cooperation on land found below the latitude 60°S. As of 2016 there were 53 nations involved in the treaty. Question: 17 True or false: the Great Lakes hold more than 20% of the world's available fresh water? View the answerHide answer True. Question: 18 How are sedimentary rocks formed? View the answerHide answer Deposition, compaction and solidification of sediments (eg. sand, silt and mud). Question: 19 What is limestone formed by? View the answerHide answer Crushed shells or coral. Question: 20 What is the name of the scale that rates the hardness of rocks? View the answerHide answer Moh's scale. Question: 21 What is the name given to the deepest part of the ocean? View the answerHide answer The Mariana Trench, which extends about 11 kilometres below sea level. Question: 22 What is the largest lake in the world? View the answerHide answer The Caspian Sea. Question: 23 What is the largest ocean in the world? View the answerHide answer The Pacific Ocean. Question: 24 ‘Vulcan,’ the god by which volcanoes got their name, is the Roman god of what? View the answerHide answer Fire, metals work, and forging. Vulcan was the blacksmith of the gods, and the volcano was believed to be his workshop. Question: 25 What rock floats in water? View the answerHide answer There is only one - pumice. However, once water enters into the rock itself it will then sink. Question: 26 What is the deepest lake in the world? View the answerHide answer Lake Baikal in southern Russia, at 1,187 meters deep. Question: 27 What is the hardest known substance? View the answerHide answer Diamonds Question: 28 Which is rarer: diamonds or emeralds? View the answerHide answer Emeralds. Question: 29 Which country has the largest landmass? View the answerHide answer Russia. Question: 30 What is the largest desert in the world? View the answerHide answer The Sahara Desert. Question: 31 True or False: Tiny tiny gold particles are purple. View the answerHide answer True. Nano gold is purple! Particle size can change the colour we see. Question: 32 At what temperature does gold boil? View the answerHide answer 2700°C Question: 33 A measure of the size of a volcanic eruption is the VEI. What does VEI stand for? View the answerHide answer Volcanic Explosivity Index Question: 34 What do we call the point where an earthquake starts? View the answerHide answer Hypocentre. This is where the earthquake rupture originates, the epicenter is the point directly above it on the earth’s surface! Question: 35 Which mountain produced the largest volcanic eruption recorded in human history? View the answerHide answer Mount Tambora Question: 36 True or false: The Antarctic has been covered by ice for more than 15 million years. View the answerHide answer True It hasn’t always been like that though. 90 million years ago, Antarctica was covered in a huge, lush, rainforest! Question: 37 The Grand Canyon, in Arizona, USA, was carved by... View the answerHide answer A river slowly wearing away the rock. Water dissolves some of the minerals in the rock, and slowly but surely, erodes the rock away. At first this might just leave a little furrow in the rock, but the Grand Canyon took around 6 million years to form. That’s a lot of time, and that means a lot of erosion. Question: 38 True or false: The peak of Mt Everest was once under the sea. View the answerHide answer True Mt Everest is part of the Himalayas, a mountain range formed by tectonic plate movement. The Indian plate, moving forward about 4.3 cm per year, is being slowly pushed under or subducted by the Eurasian plate, which obstinately refuses to move. As a result, the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau continue to rise about 5 to 10 millimeters each year. The summit of Mt Everest is made of marine limestone that contains 400-million year old fossils of sea creatures and shells. Love Science? Subscribe! Join our newsletter Receive more lesson plans and fun science ideas. PROGRAMS COURSES SHOP SCIENCE PARTIES Calendar of Events HIGH SCHOOL Science@Home 4-Week Membership 12PM: March 2024 Feb 26, 2024 - Mar 29, 2024 12PM - 12PM Price: $50 - $900 Book Now! 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No. Tsunamis are caused by water displacement as a result of an undersea earthquake or a landslide. Tidal waves are caused by the moon & Sun's gravitational pull combined with prevailing winds and water currents.
Yes! They're both forms of corundum (Al2O3), with small traces of iron in the mineral creating the red colour in rubies whereas traces of titanium or chromium create the blue colour in a sapphire.
No, Antarctica is under a special agreement called the Antarctic Treaty (1959) whereby originally 12 countries who had scientists active on the continent agreed to diplomatic cooperation on land found below the latitude 60°S. As of 2016 there were 53 nations involved in the treaty.
Fire, metals work, and forging. Vulcan was the blacksmith of the gods, and the volcano was believed to be his workshop.
Hypocentre. This is where the earthquake rupture originates, the epicenter is the point directly above it on the earth’s surface!
True It hasn’t always been like that though. 90 million years ago, Antarctica was covered in a huge, lush, rainforest!
A river slowly wearing away the rock. Water dissolves some of the minerals in the rock, and slowly but surely, erodes the rock away. At first this might just leave a little furrow in the rock, but the Grand Canyon took around 6 million years to form. That’s a lot of time, and that means a lot of erosion.
True Mt Everest is part of the Himalayas, a mountain range formed by tectonic plate movement. The Indian plate, moving forward about 4.3 cm per year, is being slowly pushed under or subducted by the Eurasian plate, which obstinately refuses to move. As a result, the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau continue to rise about 5 to 10 millimeters each year. The summit of Mt Everest is made of marine limestone that contains 400-million year old fossils of sea creatures and shells.
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