36 Geology Trivia Questions for Kids
The easiest geology questions in the game, picked for younger players. Every one comes with the answer and a short explanation of why it is right.
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Easy Geology Questions and Answers
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What cave formation grows upward from the floor?
Stalagmite
It forms as mineral-laden water drips from the cave roof and deposits calcite on the floor below, building upward layer by layer. Growth is so slow that many stalagmites take thousands of years to reach just a few centimeters tall.
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Which two metals make up most of Earth's core?
Iron and nickel
Earth's core is composed primarily of iron and nickel, unlike the rocky silicate materials that dominate the mantle and crust.
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Which layer of Earth stays solid even though it is the hottest part of the planet?
Inner core
Pressure at Earth's center is so extreme, several million times that at the surface, that it keeps iron and nickel locked into a solid even though the temperature there rivals the surface of the Sun.
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Which major compositional layer of Earth is thinnest?
Crust
The crust is a thin rocky shell compared with the mantle and core.
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What surface location lies directly above an earthquake's focus?
Epicenter
The epicenter is the point on Earth's surface above the focus.
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What directly causes the shaking of an earthquake?
A sudden slip on a fault
An earthquake occurs when stress overcomes friction on a fault and the rocks suddenly slip, releasing energy as seismic waves.
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What geological process carries weathered rock and sediment from one place to another?
Erosion
Erosion transports weathered rock and sediment from one place to another, often through water, wind, ice, or gravity. Over time, it can carve valleys and reshape coastlines.
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The word 'volcano' comes from Vulcan, the Roman god of what?
Fire and the forge
Vulcan was the Roman god of fire and metalworking. The Aeolian island of Vulcano, thought to sit above his forge, passed its name on to every mountain that erupts.
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What waterway chiefly carved the Grand Canyon?
Colorado River
The Colorado River is chiefly responsible for carving the Grand Canyon.
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A preserved footprint is classified as what?
Trace fossil
A preserved footprint records an organism's activity, making it a trace fossil. The alternatives are genuine fossil categories.
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In which type of material are fossils most often found?
Sedimentary rock
Fossils form most often in sedimentary rock, because mud, sand and silt settle gently over remains and bury them before they rot away. Rock made by heat or crushing pressure destroys whatever structure was there.
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What process widens cracks when water freezes and expands?
Frost wedging
Water expands by about 9 percent as it freezes, and the resulting pressure is enough to pry rock apart along existing cracks. It does most of its damage in climates where the temperature crosses freezing point repeatedly, such as alpine and subpolar regions, rather than in places that are simply cold.
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Which common building stone is a coarse-grained igneous rock?
Granite
Granite forms as magma cools slowly deep underground, which gives the crystals time to grow large. That is why a polished slab shows visible interlocking grains of quartz, feldspar and mica.
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Which rock can form when limestone is changed by heat and pressure?
Marble
Heat and pressure can metamorphose limestone into marble, changing its texture and mineral structure without melting it completely.
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Where is new oceanic crust most commonly created?
At a mid-ocean ridge
New oceanic crust forms most commonly at mid-ocean ridges, where tectonic plates diverge and magma cools. The alternatives are real oceanic tectonic settings but are less common or do not typically produce new crust.
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What is a mineral's tendency to split along flat planes called?
Cleavage
Cleavage reflects weaknesses in a crystal lattice.
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What ranks minerals by resistance to scratching?
Mohs scale
The Mohs scale ranks minerals by their resistance to scratching. It ranges from talc at 1 to diamond at 10, though the scale is relative rather than evenly spaced.
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Which mineral is the softest standard on the Mohs scale?
Talc
Talc has Mohs hardness 1.
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What is molten rock called after it reaches Earth's surface?
Lava
Molten rock beneath Earth's surface is magma; once it erupts onto the surface, it is called lava.
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What type of rock is obsidian?
Volcanic glass
Obsidian is volcanic glass formed when viscous magma erupts as lava and cools rapidly, preventing crystals from forming.
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What is a natural concentration of minerals valuable enough to extract called?
Ore
Ore contains economically recoverable minerals or metals.
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What was the ancient supercontinent called before today's continents separated?
Pangaea
Pangaea was a single ancient supercontinent that gradually broke apart as the continents moved into their present positions.
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New seafloor is created along mid-ocean ridges. Which kind of plate boundary makes it?
Divergent boundary
A divergent boundary forms where tectonic plates move away from each other. As they separate, magma rises to fill the gap and can create new crust, especially along underwater mid-ocean ridges.
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At a convergent boundary between oceanic and continental crust, what happens?
The oceanic plate subducts
Oceanic crust is denser than continental crust, mostly basalt rather than granite, so it dives into the mantle instead of crumpling upward. This is the mechanism that built the Andes and carved deep trenches like the one off the coast of Chile.
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At what kind of tectonic setting do plates mainly slide horizontally past one another?
Transform boundary
At a transform boundary, tectonic plates slide horizontally past one another. This motion often produces earthquakes, such as those along California’s San Andreas Fault.
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What makes pumice buoyant?
Trapped gas bubbles
Pumice can float because trapped, isolated gas bubbles make it less dense than water. If water eventually fills those tiny pockets, the pumice sinks.
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What landform can build up where a river drops its sediment at the mouth?
Delta
Where a river meets the sea or a lake it slows suddenly and can no longer carry its load, so sand and silt settle out and the channel splits into branches picking their way across the deposit. The fan of land that results is a delta, named after the Greek letter for the triangular shape of the Nile's.
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Which sedimentary rock forms when grains between about 0.06 and 2 mm across are cemented together?
Sandstone
Sand grains can accumulate, compact, and become cemented into sandstone; gravel forms conglomerate and mud can form shale.
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Which seismic disturbance travels fastest?
P wave
P waves travel fastest because they move through the Earth by compressing and expanding material in the direction of travel. They can pass through solids and liquids, unlike S waves, which cannot travel through liquids.
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Which agent typically carves broad U-shaped valleys?
Glaciers
Moving glaciers can scour valley sides and floors into broad U-shaped profiles as they erode the landscape.
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Volcanic ash is made mostly of what?
Tiny fragments of rock, mineral and glass
Volcanic ash is pulverised rock: fragments of rock, mineral crystals and volcanic glass under 2 millimetres across, thrown out when an eruption shatters magma. It is hard, abrasive and does not dissolve in water, which is why it ruins jet engines and collapses roofs.
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A volcano's conduit ends at the surface in which feature?
Vent
A vent is the opening at the surface where lava, ash and gas escape. A volcano usually has a central vent at the summit, and can open smaller flank vents on its sides.
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What type of volcano has broad, relatively gentle slopes?
Shield volcano
Shield volcanoes are built by runny basaltic lava that travels a long way before it cools, spreading into a low, wide dome rather than a cone. Mauna Loa in Hawaii is the classic example.
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Mount Fuji, Vesuvius and Mount St Helens are all steep cones built from alternating lava and tephra. What type of volcano is that?
Stratovolcano
A stratovolcano, also called a composite volcano, is built up from alternating layers of lava flows and tephra, the ash and fragments an eruption throws out. The mix stacks into the steep classic cone of Fuji, Vesuvius and Mount St Helens.
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What is the breakdown of rock at Earth's surface without transport called?
Weathering
Weathering breaks rock down in place; erosion moves the products.
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Which diamond is the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found, at 3,106 carats?
The Cullinan Diamond
A mine surface manager found the stone at the Premier mine in South Africa in January 1905 and was given a bonus for the discovery. It was later cut into nine major stones, including the pear-shaped Cullinan I, or Great Star of Africa, which is now set in the British Sovereign's Sceptre.
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