Natural Hazards, 3e (Keller)
Chapter 14 Impacts and Extinctions
1) How old is the sun, approximately?
A) 14 billion years old
B) 14 million years old
C) 5 billion years old
D) 5 million years old
E) 5 thousand years old
Answer: C
Section: 14.1
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
2) What triggered the formation of the sun?
A) Supernova explosion
B) Big Bang explosion
C) Radioactive Decay of materials
D) Electromagnetic attractions
E) No one knows
Answer: A
Section: 14.1
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
3) How are particles in the solar system classified by scientists?
A) Based on diameter and temperature
B) Based on speed of entry and mass
C) Based on diameter and speed of entry
D) Based on composition and diameter
E) Based on mass and composition
Answer: D
Section: 14.1
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
4) Which of the following describes a meteorite?
A) Large diameter (10m-1000km) object originating from belt between Jupiter and Mars
B) Moderate diameter (<10m) object originating from collisions of asteroids
C) Small diameter (<10 cm) object destroyed in Earth's atmosphere
D) Variable-sized object that intersects the Earth's surface
E) Icy object that appears to have a tail as it burns, originates outside our solar system
Answer: D
Section: 14.1
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
5) Which of the following is not an extraterrestrial particle?
A) Asteroid
B) Meteoroid
C) Meteor
D) Comet
E) Cupid
Answer: E
Section: 14.1
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
6) Why do particles like meteors and comets glow in the evening sky?
A) They are made from gases that burn in the Earth's atmosphere
B) They are very hot while they are in space and they cool off in the Earth's atmosphere
C) They glow like the sun until they enter the Earth's atmosphere
D) Friction from the Earth's atmosphere causes them to heat up
E) Friction from the Earth's atmosphere causes them to cool down
Answer: D
Section: 14.1
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
7) What is the significance of the Tunguska River Valley in Siberia in terms of asteroids?
A) It is where the largest comet was sighted
B) It is where a large airbust of an asteroid occurred in recent history
C) It is the site of a crater that marks the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs
D) It is the site of the largest impact crater ever recorded on Earth
E) It is a site of enormous wildfires in prehistoric times
Answer: B
Section: 14.2
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
8) How are impact craters different from volcanic craters?
A) They aren't. Scientists have to use other methods to determine whether the crater is volcanic or from asteroids.
B) Impact craters are larger than volcanic craters
C) Impact craters involve heating of underlying rocks and volcanic craters do not
D) Impact craters involve pressure on adjacent rocks and volcanic craters do not
E) Impact craters involve pressure and heating to rocks in much greater degrees than with volcanic processes
Answer: E
Section: 14.2
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
9) What is the significance of the rock Breccia?
A) It is filled with ash, indicating a large explosion
B) It is composed of angular fragments indicating that rocks had been shattered
C) It is layered indicating multiple sedimentary environments
D) It is composed of iridium indicating that it was created quickly
E) It is composed of clay indicating a strong impact
Answer: B
Section: 14.2
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
10) Which of the following statements about impacts is true?
A) Asteroid impacts have been very rare in the Earth's history
B) Asteroids move very quickly when they enter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up in the atmosphere
C) Asteroid impacts can not be distinguished from volcanic craters
D) Asteroid impacts are not as severe as some earthquakes that we have experienced
E) Impact craters are all roughly the same size
Answer: B
Section: 14.2
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
11) Which of the following will not cause mass extinctions?
A) Plate Tectonics
B) Volcanic Activity causing global cooling
C) Volcanic Activity causing global warming
D) Extraterrestrial impact
E) All of the above may cause mass extinctions
Answer: E
Section: 14.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
12) Why did scientists FIRST hypothesize that extraterrestrial impact caused the extinction at the K-T Boundary?
A) They found evidence of a giant tsunami on the Gulf coast
B) They found evidence of an impact crater in Mexico
C) They found evidence of wildfires in many regions throughout the globe
D) They found evidence of Iridium deposits in a clay layer that led them to believe that the layer formed quickly possibly after an impact
E) They found evidence of acid rains in the rocks in the Southern Hemisphere
Answer: D
Section: 14.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
13) About how many major Mass Extinctions have there been in the Earth's history?
A) One, just the dinosaurs
B) About 6
C) About 50
D) About 100
E) About 1000
Answer: B
Section: 14.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
14) Why couldn't researchers find the crater from the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs?
A) It was in a remote part of the world that no one had seen
B) It was too small for anyone to notice
C) It was too shallow to be considered a crater
D) It was buried by slumps and debris
E) It was buried in snow and ice
Answer: D
Section: 14.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
15) Which of the following natural disasters was not associated with the asteroid impact at the K-T boundary?
A) Tsunamis
B) Volcanoes
C) Earthquakes
D) Wildfires
E) Acid Rain
Answer: B
Section: 14.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
16) If there was an asteroid of the same size as the one at the K-T Boundary, would it mean a Mass Extinction of humans? Choose the best answer.
A) Yes. Humans could not survive an asteroid
B) Yes, but only of the humans that were near the impact site
C) No. Humans have too much technology to be hurt
D) No. Asteroids aren't strong enough to cause a mass extinction
E) Probably, humans are at the top of the food chain, which makes them vulnerable
Answer: E
Section: 14.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
17) Which of the following hazards is not linked to an asteroid impact?
A) Volcanoes
B) Hurricanes
C) Tsunami
D) Landslides
E) Earthquakes
Answer: B
Section: 14.4
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
18) Is the risk of disaster from Asteroid Impacts, high or low? Choose the best answer.
A) High because asteroid impacts can cause catastrophic damage such as mass extinction
B) Low because asteroid impacts only cause damage in a very local region
C) High because asteroid impacts are fairly common
D) Low because asteroid impacts are very rare
E) No one really knows because Asteroid impacts are unpredictable
Answer: A
Section: 14.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
19) What is the recurrence interval for asteroid impacts such as the one that killed the dinosaurs?
A) About one thousand to one hundred thousand years
B) About one million to 10 million years
C) About ten million to 100 million years
D) About 100 million to 1 billion years
E) About 1 billion to 10 billion years
Answer: C
Section: 14.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
20) How are scientists preparing for a possible asteroid impact?
A) They are fortifying areas most likely to be hit
B) They are devising shielding devices to reflect impacts if necessary
C) They are cataloging all of the objects in the sky that might be potentially dangerous
D) They are working on supercooling devices to decrease the incidence of wildfires
E) They aren't doing anything. Asteroid impacts are not likely enough for scientists to be concerned.
Answer: C
Section: 14.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
21) What is our best option if an asteroid was detected and closing in on an impact with Earth?
A) Blow it up in space before it enters our atmosphere
B) Divert it so that it doesn't collide with Earth
C) Blow it up in our atmosphere to break it up
D) Send the space shuttle up to tow it out into space
E) Evacuate areas that might be impacted
Answer: B
Section: 14.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
22) Why shouldn't people be more worried about asteroid impacts?
A) The incidence of asteroid impacts is very rare
B) Risk, although high, is averaged over thousands of years
C) Objects that might hit the earth would probably be detected 1000's of years before impact
D) Scientists are working on methods to prevent possible asteroid impacts
E) All of the above are reasons that people should not stay up nights worrying about asteroid impacts
Answer: E
Section: 14.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
23) The first stars in the universe probably formed a million years after the Big Bang.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 14.1
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
24) Larger stars have longer lives than smaller ones do.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 14.1
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
25) The solar system that we live in started as a spinning "pancake" of matter.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 14.1
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
26) Asteroids mostly originate in a belt found between Mars and Jupiter.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 14.1
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
27) Meteorites are just asteroids or meteors that make impact with the Earth's surface.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 14.1
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
28) Comets are meteors that are a larger in diameter.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 14.1
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
29) Most meteorites are found in Antarctica.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 14.1
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
30) Airbursts are not really dangerous to life on Earth's surface since they explode so high in the atmosphere.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 14.2
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
31) Craters formed by meteorites are unique from craters formed by other processes.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 14.2
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
32) Impact craters are much more common on the moon than here on Earth.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 14.2
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
33) Impact craters on Earth are really hard to find because they may be buried on the ocean floor or by sediment on land.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 14.2
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
34) Extinctions of species is fairly uncommon in the Earth's history because extinctions tend to be caused by humans.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 14.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
35) Mass extinctions are usually caused by some kind of rapid climate change.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 14.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
36) The dinosaurs became extinct because of an ice age that changed their habitat.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 14.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
37) Scientists hypothesized that the Mass Extinction at the K-T boundary was due to an asteroid impact by looking at the rock record without actually finding a crater.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 14.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
38) The asteroid impact found at the Yucatan peninsula was probably big enough to cause wildfires across most of the globe.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 14.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
39) The dinosaurs were killed by the asteroid because their habitat was near the impact area, whereas mammals were not killed because their habitat was much further away.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 14.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
40) An asteroid impact of the size found in the Yucatan peninsula would have global consequences far from the impact site.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 14.3
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
41) The risk from asteroid impacts is higher than that of drowning or a car accident.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 14.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
42) Asteroid impacts are rare, which makes our risks very low from death.
Answer: FALSE
Section: 14.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
43) If scientists spot an object that might collide with Earth, they will probably have 1000's of years to study it before the collision.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 14.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Knowledge
44) Although the risk from asteroids is high, we probably should not worry too much because incidence is extremely rare.
Answer: TRUE
Section: 14.5
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
45) Explain why one needs to know about the formation of the solar system in order to understand asteroids.
Bloom's Taxonomy: Analysis
46) Explain briefly how an impact crater is formed.
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
47) Describe how an asteroid impact is capable of causing a mass extinction.
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension
48) Why did the asteroid impact mean a mass extinction for dinosaurs, but other species survived?
Bloom's Taxonomy: Analysis
49) A large asteroid impact would probably cause a mass extinction, but an airburst might be more of a worry for people. Why?
Bloom's Taxonomy: Evaluation
50) In terms of avoiding an impact from an asteroid, what do you think is the best solution? Why?
Bloom's Taxonomy: Analysis
51) Imagine that a large asteroid was not detected until it was two days away from hitting off the coast of California. Describe the effects that Californians would expect to see. In addition, mention any other areas that may be affected by the impact. Finally, how would you prepare people for the impact?
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension, Application
52) There is actually a high risk from an asteroid impact. Explain why this is. Next, since the risk is so high, what kind of public awareness of asteroid impact should there be? Describe the measures that should be taken to increase public awareness or explain why it would not be necessary.
Bloom's Taxonomy: Comprehension, Evaluation
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