Chapter 16 - Earthquakes

Chapter 16
Earthquakes

True / False Questions

1. As a dense oceanic plate begins to bend down into a trench, it stresses slightly at the top of
the bend and normal faults occur.
TRUE

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

2. P-waves are compressional waves in which the rock vibrates back and forth parallel to the
direction of wave propagation.
TRUE

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

3. Earthquakes occur more or less uniformly throughout the Earth in the recent past.
FALSE

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

4. The elastic rebound theory involves the sudden release of progressively stored energy in
rocks.
TRUE

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

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Chapter 16 - Earthquakes

5. Most earthquakes occur at great depths.

FALSE

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

6. Surface seismic waves originate at the epicenter of an earthquake.

TRUE

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

7. Small earthquakes following the main surface wave arrival are called foreshocks.
FALSE

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

8. The point on the earth's surface immediately above the focus is the seismic center.
FALSE

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

9. The time interval between the first arrival of a P-wave and the first arrival of an S-wave
increases with distance from the focus of an earthquake.
TRUE

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

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Chapter 16 - Earthquakes

10. Body waves are seismic waves that travel through the Earth's interior.
TRUE

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

11. By studying seismograms of an earthquake on a distant fault, geologists can tell which
way rocks moved along that fault.
TRUE

Bloom's Level: 3. Apply

Topic: Earthquakes

12. A seismogram is a recording device that produces a permanent record of earth motion.
FALSE

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

13. Surface waves are the fastest earthquake waves.

FALSE

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

14. The Modified Mercalli Scale determines earthquake intensity, a measure of an

earthquake's effect on people and buildings.
TRUE

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

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Chapter 16 - Earthquakes

15. S-waves pass through solid rocks and liquids.

FALSE

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

16. An earthquake of Richter magnitude 5 releases 32 times more energy than an earthquake
of magnitude 4.
TRUE

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

17. During an earthquake, buildings built on hard rock are damaged more than buildings built
on soft sediment.
FALSE

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

18. Earthquakes occur most commonly in the plate boundaries.

TRUE

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

19. Paleoseismology studies the past record of earthquakes.

TRUE

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

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Chapter 16 - Earthquakes

20. The most important concentration of earthquakes in the world is the Mediterranean-
Himalayan Belt.
FALSE

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

Multiple Choice Questions

21. A(n) _____ is a trembling or shaking of the ground caused by the sudden release of
energy stored in rocks beneath the Earth's surface.
A. tsunami
B. volcano
C. rupture
D. rumble
E. earthquake

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

22. Rupture begins at the _____ and then spreads rapidly along the fault plane.
A. epicenter
B. point of contact
C. plate boundary
D. focus
E. shear plane

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

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Chapter 16 - Earthquakes

23. Both P-waves and S-waves can pass through ____.

A. brittle zones
B. solid rock
C. solid rock and liquids
D. liquids
E. elastic zones

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

24. The __, the distance between the epicenter and focus, for earthquakes is about 670 km.
A. p-wave
B. first arrivals
C. travel-time curve
D. depth of focus
E. Love wave

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

25. ____ are the waves of energy produced by an earthquake.

A. Seismic
B. Light
C. Tsunami
D. Ocean
E. Electrical

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

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Chapter 16 - Earthquakes

26. The paper record of an earthquake is a ____.

A. hypocenter
B. Mercalli Intensity scale
C. travel-time curve
D. seismogram
E. moment magnitude

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

27. _____ maps are useful for assessing how different areas respond to seismic waves and
provide valuable information for earthquake planning.
A. Focus
B. Intensity
C. Epicenter
D. Magnitude
E. Intermediate

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

28. ____ focus earthquakes are the most common.

A. Deep
B. Hypocenter
C. Intermediate
D. Shallow
E. All depths are equally represented.

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

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Chapter 16 - Earthquakes

29. A ____ plots seismic-wave arrival time against distance.

A. travel-time curve
B. seismogram
C. seismometer
D. Mercalli Intensity scale
E. Richter scale

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

30. _____ waves tend to be incredibly destructive to buildings because they produce much
ground movement and take a long time to pass.
A. Body
B. Love
C. Rayleigh
D. S
E. P

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

31. The point within the earth where seismic waves first originate is the _____.
A. scarp
B. epicenter
C. focus
D. trace
E. origin

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

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Chapter 16 - Earthquakes

32. The ______ is the most famous example of a right lateral transform fault.
A. New Madrid Seismic Zone of Arkansas
B. San Andreas Fault in California
C. East African Rift
D. Choctaw Fault of Oklahoma
E. Dead Sea Rift

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

33. Perhaps 90 percent of the destruction in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was caused by
____.
A. fires
B. building collapse
C. landslides
D. soil displacement
E. tsunamis

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

34. The greatest loss of life in the 1964 southern Alaska earthquake was from _________.
A. landslides
B. tsunamis
C. fires
D. building collapse
E. soil displacement

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

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Chapter 16 - Earthquakes

35. In the elastic rebound theory, earthquakes are caused by the sudden release of
progressively stored _____ in rocks.
A. seismic waves
B. strain
C. stress
D. tectonism
E. ductile behavior

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

36. A _____ is the first wave to arrive at a recording station following an earthquake.
A. Love wave
B. Rayleigh wave
C. S-wave
D. P-wave
E. surface wave

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

37. ____ are seismic waves that travel through the Earth's interior, spreading out from the
focus in all directions.
A. X-waves
B. R-waves
C. Surface waves
D. Refracted waves
E. Body waves

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

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Chapter 16 - Earthquakes

38. ____ are earthquake waves that cause the most property damage.
A. Surface waves
B. P-waves
C. X-waves
D. S-waves
E. Body waves

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

39. ____ -waves are the slowest body waves.

A. M
B. S
C. R
D. P
E. X

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

40. The time interval between the first arrival of P-waves and the first arrival of S-waves ____
with distance from the focus of an earthquake.
A. does not change
B. cannot be measured
C. increases
D. varies irregularly
E. decreases

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

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Chapter 16 - Earthquakes

41. Tsunami waves may move faster than ____.

A. a speeding bullet
B. P-waves
C. S-waves
D. 800 km/hr
E. 2000 mph

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

42. On the modified mercalli intensity scale the maximum value is _______.
A. XVI
B. XV
C. XIV
D. XIII
E. XII

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

43. A series of earthquakes that occurred near _____ in 1811-1812 were the most widely felt
earthquakes to occur in recorded history.
A. New Madrid, Missouri
B. Plymouth, Massachusetts
C. Charleston, South Carolina
D. San Francisco, California
E. Attica, New York

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

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Chapter 16 - Earthquakes

44. Although large earthquakes are rare in the central and eastern United States, when they do
occur they tend to be very destructive because _______.
A. they occur infrequently
B. the crust there is cool and brittle
C. more people live in that region
D. the faults in that region are older and larger
E. the crust in that region is thicker

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

45. The effects of ground motion caused by an earthquake do not include _____.
A. permanent land surface displacement
B. fire
C. volcanism
D. landslides
E. soil liquefaction

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

46. A(n) _______ is a seismic sea wave.

A. body wave
B. S-wave
C. R-wave
D. tsunami
E. tidal wave

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

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Chapter 16 - Earthquakes

47. First motion studies of mid-ocean ridges show that the faults there are ____, and parallel
to the rift valley.
A. subduction
B. strike-slip motion
C. compression
D. deep focus earthquakes
E. normal

Bloom's Level: 3. Apply

Topic: Earthquakes

48. One suggested cause of deep focus earthquakes is ______.

A. collapse of minerals into denser forms
B. collapse of pore space in sedimentary rocks
C. collision of convection currents
D. friction between the core and the mantle
E. the rise of core material into the mantle

Bloom's Level: 3. Apply

Topic: Earthquakes

49. ______ would be associated with Benioff zones.

A. Andesite volcanoes
B. Oceanic trenches
C. Edges of continents
D. Island arcs
E. All the answers are correct.

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

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Chapter 16 - Earthquakes

50. Deep focus earthquakes occur at a maximum depth of ______.

A. 100 km
B. 550 km
C. 670 km
D. the Earth's center
E. the core mantle boundary

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

51. If the measured amplitude of vibration of a rock is 1 cm for a magnitude 4 earthquake then
the rocks will move ______ during a magnitude 5 earthquake.
A. 2 cm
B. 4 cm
C. 8 cm
D. 10 cm
E. 20 cm

Bloom's Level: 3. Apply

Topic: Earthquakes

52. The most important concentration of earthquakes by far is ______.

A. the Mediterranean-Himalayan belt
B. the San Andreas fault
C. the Arctic zone
D. the Atlantic basin
E. the Circumpacific belt

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

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Chapter 16 - Earthquakes

53. Richter scale values above 7 are not accurate. The ______ scale is a more objective
method of measuring the energy of a large earthquake.
A. seismic trace
B. moment magnitude
C. P-wave amplitude
D. Modified Mercalli
E. gravity meter

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

54. For most of the 20th century earthquake magnitude was reported on the _______ scale, a
scale that has never exceeded a magnitude 8.6.
A. moment magnitude
B. surface-wave
C. Richter
D. Gutenberg
E. Modified Mercalli

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

55. _____ earthquakes probably occur along older faults that are no longer at plate
boundaries, for example the New Madrid Missouri earthquakes of 1811-1812.
A. Interplate
B. Normal
C. Intraplate
D. Transform
E. Subduction

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

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Chapter 16 - Earthquakes

56. Deep rocks behave as _____ material under stress rather than breaking.
A. liquid
B. brittle
C. ductile
D. isotropic
E. vacuum

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

57. Which of the following is not used to aid in earthquake prediction?

A. tsunamis
B. foreshocks
C. increase of radon emissions from water wells
D. patterns of earthquakes
E. seismic gaps

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

58. _____ is a measure of an earthquake's effect on people and buildings.

A. Intensity
B. Magnitude
C. Amplitude
D. Duration
E. Longevity

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

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Chapter 16 - Earthquakes

59. _____ can occur when water-saturated soil turns from a solid to a liquid as a result of an
earthquake.
A. Creep
B. Liquefaction
C. Solifluction
D. Soil collapse
E. Gelatinization

Bloom's Level: 1. Remember

Topic: Earthquakes

60. ___ stations are the minimum needed to determine the location of an earthquake
epicenter.
A. Five
B. Two
C. Three
D. Four
E. Six

Bloom's Level: 2. Understand

Topic: Earthquakes

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