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Environmental Geology Final Exam Study Guide

Terms in this set (20)

Which of the following is NOT a source of renewable energy?
a) water
b) wind
c) solar
d) nuclear
e) wood
D-nuclear
What is the name given to any volume of rock that is capable of generating and expelling commercial quantities of oil or gas?
Source rock
What type of oil trap is formed by the shifting and offset of layers underground?
a) anticline
b) stratigraphic
c) volcanogenic
d) salt dome
e) fault
E-fault
What is the impermeable rock mass that lies above oil-bearing strata called?
a) source rock
b) aquifer
c) cap rock
d) sandstone
e) reservoir rock
C- cap rock
What is a structure formed by the upward arching of layers called?
a) monocline
b) syncline
c) formation
d) Patsycline
e) anticline
E - anticline
Someone has offered you shares in a sure-shot wildcat oil-drilling venture in the Sierra Nevada of California. Which of the following is the most important reason you should reject his offer?
a) Movement along the San Andreas fault has caused all existing oil to leak to surface
b) There is no prior oil or gas production in California
c) Oil and gas production only occurs at present day plate boundaries
d) The Sierra Nevada is composed of granitic and metamorphic rocks
e) Drilling is prohibited in the entire Sierra Nevada because it is all national forest
E- Drilling is prohibited in the entire Sierra Nevada because it is all national forest
Which of the following statements is false?
a) After a 3-year study, the EPA reported there was no evidence of the presence of toxic chemicals associated with fracking in contaminated well water in Pavillion, Pennsylvania
b) Discharging of fracking blowback waste through wastewater treatment
c) Contamination of groundwater supplies by fracking blowback wastewater leaking through a cracked pond liner is a very real possibility
d) The fracking blowback wastewater includes chemicals that are carcinogenic, neurotoxic, and radioactive
e) Between 10-40% of the fracking fluid pumped down a well returns to the surface as toxic fracking blowback wastewater
A- After a three-year study, the EPA confirmed the presence of toxic chemicals associated with fracking in Pavillion, Wyoming
If oil and tar sands are included, where is the largest oil field in the world?
a) Canada
b) Venezuela
c) Kuwait
d) Saudi Arabia
e) United Arab Emirates
A-Canada
Which of the following statements about natural gas is false?
a) Natural gas is a feedstock for manufacturing fertilizers
b) Natural gas is mostly methane, a potent greenhouse gas
c) Natural gas must be processed to remove impurities
d) About 100 million cubic feet of natural gas is flared each year in the U.S.
e) The U.S. has greater natural gas reserves than Russia
E- The U.S. has greater natural gas reserves than Russia
Which of the following statements regarding coal is false?
a) Coal mining results in acid mine drainage (X)
b) Coal provides energy at a higher cost than oil shale (Y)
c) Coal combustion results in acid rain and mercury pollution (X)
d) Electrical utilities consume about 90% of U.S. coal production (X)
e) Coal deposits are known in every geological period since the Devonian (X)
B- Coal provides energy at a higher cost than oil shale
What is contaminated water that drains out of a solid waste disposal site called ?
a) sewage effluent
b) leachate
c) artesian water
d) hazardous waste
e) hydrophoric fluid
B- leachate
Why is the dump-and-cover approach used in sanitary landfills called the 'cell' method?
a) Because it isolates waste in cell-like compartments (Y)
b) Because it handles chemical reactions in the fill at the cellular level (X)
c) Because of the way the waste is attenuated (X)
d) Because, if it is misused, you will be thrown in jail (X)
e) Because the pattern of dumping is circular (X)
A- Because it isolates waste in cell-like compartments
Which of the following is the most often recycled plastic?
a) PVC (X)
b) HDPE (Y)
c) Styrofoam (X)
d) PET (X)
e) LDPE (X)
B - HDPE
What is the greatest contributor to total U.S. solid waste?
a) Municipal (Y)
b) Agriculture (X)
c) Mining and milling (X)
d) Utility (X)
e) Industrial (X)
A - Municipal
How long must a high-level nuclear waste facility be able to provide safe isolation?
a) 25 years
b) 25,000 years
c) 250,000 years
d) 250 years
e) 2,500 years
C -250,000
Dry cleaning, printers, gas stations, and septic tanks undergoing chemical cleaning are all considered of what kind of contaminants?
a) floating
b) sinking
c) reactive
d) soluble
e) conservative
B - Sinking
Which of the following statements about leachate is false?
a) The size and shape of leachate contaminant plumes are related to groundwater flow velocity (x)
b) Leachate should be considered dangerous to the environment until established otherwise (x)
c) Leachate are classified based on the chemical reactivity and/or density of the leachate (x)
d) Contaminant plumes of leachate can extend up to kilometers from their source (x)
e) Leachate is known as garbage juice with a moderately uniform composition (y)
E - leachate is known as garbage juice with a moderately uniform composition
On average, around how much municipal solid waste do Americans recycle ?
a) three-fourths
b) one-third
c) one-half
d) one-fourth
e) two-thirds
B = one-third
How was low-level nuclear waste deposited prior to 1970?
a) added to cement
b) recycled into nuclear fuel
c) on-site incineration
d) dumped into the ocean
e) sanitary landfills
D - dumped into the ocean
Recycling which of the following produces an energy savings of 96% versus processing it from metallic ore?
a) copper
b) aluminum
c) glass
d) plastic
e) steel
B - aluminum
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