OCR A-Level Geology Earth structure, sedimentary environments and basin analysis overview quiz quiz

P waves, because they are compressional longitudinal waves

S waves, because they cannot travel through a liquid

Both P and S waves are blocked equally by the outer core

Neither wave is affected by the liquid outer core at all

The boundary deep down between the liquid outer core and the solid inner core

The exact geometric centre of the Earth at its deepest point

The boundary between the crust and the mantle, marked by a velocity increase

The surface of the ocean floor where seismic waves enter the crust

Both the inner and outer core are liquid

Both are solid

The outer core is solid and the inner core is liquid

The outer core is liquid and the inner core is solid

Thinner, denser, basaltic and younger

Thicker and noticeably less dense overall

Thicker, granitic and considerably older

It is too buoyant to ever subduct at all

Any coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock formed by slow cooling deep below the surface

A body of rock whose characteristics reflect a particular depositional environment

A type of normal fault produced by extensional tectonic forces

The absolute age of a rock measured by radiometric dating methods

A fast-flowing river channel with a one-way current

A wind-blown desert dune migrating across the land

A shallow-marine setting with oscillating waves

A deep-marine turbidite deposited by a density flow

A wind-blown desert dune migrating across the land

A river channel in flood depositing coarse sand

Wave action reworking sediment on a sandy beach

A turbidity current in a deep-marine setting

Periodic drying out (subaerial exposure)

Permanent continuous deep-water marine conditions

Rapid burial by a thick fall of volcanic ash

Persistent high-energy currents across the bed

A marine regression as the sea retreats

A marine transgression (sea advancing)

No change in the relative sea level

A major explosive volcanic eruption

The total rock volume contained within an entire eroding mountain belt

The vertical depth measured from the ground surface down to an earthquake focus or hypocentre at depth

The available vertical space for sediment to accumulate, between the basin floor and base level

The overall thickness of the continental crust beneath the basin floor

Thermal contraction of the lithosphere after a phase of stretching

Only the weight of accumulating sediment loading the basin floor

Sea-floor spreading at a mid-ocean ridge creating new oceanic crust there

Flexural loading as the lithosphere bends down under a mountain belt

Mechanical stretching and faulting first, then slower thermal subsidence

Flexural loading alone as the lithosphere bends down under a load

Thermal subsidence alone, with no extensional faulting at any stage

Sediment loading alone as the basin floor is steadily weighed down by infill

Fill up and shallow, because sediment supply outpaces the subsidence

Deepen, because space is created faster than it is filled

Stay at exactly the same depth as the rates balance each other out

Be eroded away entirely as the basin floor is uplifted above sea level

It records the surface colour and weathering of the exposed rocks at outcrop, which is used to identify the lithology of each separate bed

It directly measures the magnitude and focal depth of every earthquake recorded across the sedimentary basin over geological time

It shows how fast the basin subsided and was buried, indicating whether source rocks reached temperatures to generate hydrocarbons

It dates the fossils contained within the basin directly by counting annual growth rings preserved in the sediment layers