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GeoJeopardy!

Geological Trivia

Over the almost 50 years Jeopardy! has been on the air, it has had numerous geology based questions. Here is a collection of some of them. The green boxes are the categories, the blue boxes were the point values.

To find out the answer please click on the question box.

The answer will then pop-up (you will need to have pop-up's enabled).

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The Earth

$200

An atoll is a circular one of these that has grown around a sunken volcanic island

 

The Earth

$400
It's believed the Earth is over 4.5 billion yrs. old, based on 4.6 billion yr. old rocks found on this neighbor
The Earth
$600

Dolomitization is the process by which this rock, including its fossils, turns into dolomite

 

The Earth

$800

Term given to the tundra's always-frozen soil layer

 

 

 

The Earth

Daily Double

Until this 19th century French scientist, no one had proved the Earth rotated

 

 

A Matter of Some Gravity

$200

British scientist Henry Cavendish made the first reliable measurement of gravity late in this century

A Matter of Some Gravity

$400
NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Lab puts astronauts in a simulation of this condition that's experienced during space flight

A Matter of Some Gravity

$600

The Sun's gravity is said to perturb, or affect, this path of the Moon relative to the Earth

 

 

A Matter of Some Gravity

Daily Double

Building on the work of Galileo and Kepler, he published the first quantitative theory of gravitation in 1687

 

A Matter of Some Gravity
$1000

There's "gravity" in this term for the point in an object that, if supported, puts the whole object in equilibrium

 

 

Rock Band

$200

The law of superposition states that any bed of rock must be older than another bed here

 

 

Rock Band

$400

A 250-million-year, old grayish-white limestone layer of sea fossils is referred to as this canyon's "bathtub ring"

 

Rock Band

$600

The earth's outermost layer of rock, it comes in oceanic & continental types (sorry, no whole wheat)

 

Rock Band

$800

Layers of rock are commonly referred to as these, from the Latin for "something spread out"

 

 

Rock Band

$1000

Most exposed rock on the earth's surface is this type produced by the weathering & erosion of older rock

 

 

 

Volcanoes

$100

Popocatepetl, a volcano near this capital city, is a source of sulfur

 

Volcanoes

$200
Mount Taranaki in this country gets its name from a Maori word for "Barren Mountain"

Volcanoes

$300
Because of the May 18, 1980 eruption, this Washington volcano is now about 1,300 feet shorter

Volcanoes

Daily Double

Mount Etna is part of this mountain system

 

 

 

Volcanoes

$500

Mount Erebus in this continent's Victoria Land region was discovered by Sir James Ross in 1841

 

Where the Wild Things Were

$200

In prehistoric times 10 foot tall "terror birds" ranged over much of this continent, including Patagonia

Where the Wild Things Were

$400

The shamainu or Honshu type of this canine, died out early in the 20th century

 

 

Where the Wild Things Were

$600
Though specimens still exist in zoos, the Barbary lion, native to the north of this continent, is extinct in the wild

Where the Wild Things Were

$800

The Xerces Blue of this insect, native to sand dunes in San Francisco's Sunset District, became extinct in the 1940s

Where the Wild Things Were

$1000

The bulldog rat disappeared around 1900 from this Aussie-owned island named for a holiday

 

 

Geology

$400

Corundum makes up much of this rock used to make an abrasive "board"

 

 

Geology

$800

The sword of Damocles is a large one of these formations in Carlsbad Caverns

 

Geology

$1200
Shatter cones, with radiating fracture lines, are only found at the sites of space object impacts & of these tests

Geology

$1600

This fancy French word refers to a deep fissure in a glacier

 

 

 

Geology

$2000

A giant ocean called Panthalassa once surrounded this supercontinent, whose name means "all earth"

 

Volcanoes

$200

The names of 2 types of lava flow, pahoehoe & aa, come from this language

 

 

Volcanoes

$400

This Indonesian volcano just west of Java erupted in 1883 causing sea waves almost 130 feet high

 

Volcanoes

$600
A 1963 underwater eruption began the formation of the island of Surtsey off this north Atlantic country

Volcanoes

$800

In Roman mythology, this god of fire's blacksmith shops were located under Mount Etna

 

Volcanoes

$1000

Paricutin Volcano in this country began in a farmer's field in 1943; within 6 days, it had a cinder cone 500 feet high

 

Mountains

$400

At 14,433 feet, Colorado's Mount Elbert is the highest peak in this mountain chain

 

 

Mountains

$800

Lake Kawaguchi is famous for its inverted reflection of this peak on its still waters

 

 

Mountains

$1200
Worn down by wind and rain, the mountains of this range that includes the Vesuvius are among the lowest in Europe

Mountains

$1600

Now dormant, this volcano in Eastern Turkey last erupted on June 2, 1840

 

 

 

Mountains

$2000

This range forms an arc from Slovakia to Romania with both ends lying on the Danube river

 

 

 

Harvard Museum of Natural History

$200

A relative of the plesiosaurs, this 42-foot reptile terrorized the seas of the early Cretaceous period; called Kronosaurus queenslandicus, it was discovered on a 1931 Harvard expedition to this continent

 

Harvard Museum of Natural History

$400

The museum has 4,000 handcrafted glass flowers; created from 1887 to 1936, their accuracy allowed study in Boston of flowers from these regions, between 23° 27' north & south

 

 

Harvard Museum of Natural History

$600
The Harvard Museum has part of the famous Zagami meteorite, which fell to the Earth in Nigeria in 1962; gases trapped inside match those found by Viking spacecraft, confirming the rock's distant origin on this planet

Harvard Museum of Natural History

$800

Suspended above the museum's dramatic Great Mammal Hall are the skeletons of three whale species--a finback whale, a right whale, & this, the largest of the toothed whales

 

 

 

Harvard Museum of Natural History

$1000

Weighing in at more than 1,600 pounds, the giant chunk of amethyst here is one of these stones that form under pressure inside cavities, from the Latin for "earth"

 

 

 

 

 

It's Extinct

$100

They include Mount Shasta in California & Kilimanjaro in Africa

 

 

It's Extinct

$200

Known for its overbite, this prehistoric cat could be found throughout much of the world

 

It's Extinct

$300

These birds became extinct on Reunion Island about 1750 & on Rodrigues Island about 1800

 

It's Extinct

$400

Coccolithophorids that lived 70-100 mil. yrs. ago fossilized to form this famous seaside site in England

It's Extinct

$500

Known & named for its 3 horns, this dinosaur became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period.

 

Rock

$400

More than half of sedimentary rock is this type from which oil & natural gas can be obtained

Rock

$800
Trachyte & rhyolite are the most common varieties of this porous igneous volcanic rock

Rock

$1200

On average rocks consist of 46.5% this gaseous element

 

 

Rock

$1600

In its purest form, this rock used in the cement industry contains only calcite

 

Rock

Daily Double

Chert, a hard, dense sedimentary rock, is called jasper if it's brightly colored, & this if it's dark

 

Volcanoes

$200

About its eruption in 79 A.D., an observer wrote that "broad sheets of fire and leaping flames blazed at several points"

 

Volcanoes
$400

At least 57 people died as a result of this U.S. volcano's May 18, 1980 eruption

 

 

Volcanoes

$600
This youngest surface volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii has distinctive lava formations like Pele's Hair

Volcanoes

$800

In 1908 members of Ernest Shackleton's expedition became the first to climb this continent's Mount Erebus

 

Volcanoes

$1000

This lake lies in a caldera formed when Oregon's Mount Mazama volcano collapsed 7,000 years ago

 

 

Earth Science

$100

There are 2 major ice sheets on Earth; one covers most of Antarctica & the other most of this island

Earth Science

$200

The Bay of Fundy is famous for its range of these, the widest on Earth

 

 

Earth Science

$300

This 19th C. chemist, famous for a burner, devised a still-accepted theory on how geysers work

 

Earth Science

$400

The sling psychrometer & hair hygrometer are used to determine the relative amount of this

Earth Science

$500

The Earth is surrounded by the magnetosphere, which is shaped by this particle stream

 

 

Earthquake!

$200

The palace hotel in this U.S. city had to be rebuilt after it was gutted by fire following a 1906 earthquake

Earthquake!

$400

The center of this Nicaraguan capital was almost completely destroyed in a 1972 earthquake

 

Earthquake!

$600

The standard scale is logarithmic, so an 8.0 has waves this many times larger than a 7.0

 

Earthquake!

$800

The August 23, 2011 5.8 quake near D.C. really shook up the scientists in Reston, Virginia at the USGS, short for this

Earthquake!

$1000

Roman emperor Trajan was nearly killed in a 115 A.D. quake in Antioch, now Antakya in this country

 

The Style of Elements

$400

Humphry Davy named this element after potash, its much older name

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Style of Elements

$800

The Chem Time Clock helps chemistry students learn the periodic table by using element's symbols in place of numbers. It's 1:35, or these two elements

 

 

 

The Style of Elements

$1200

This element, atomic no. 17, is used as a bleach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Style of Elements

Daily Double

Make no bones about it, it's the fifth most abundant element in both the earth's crust & the human body

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Style of Elements

$2000

For hundreds of years people have believed in the rejuvenating qualities of the Dead sea's black mud. Among its many components this element, symbol Mg, said to remove toxins from the skin. Makes you feel good.

 

Earth Science

$100

An analysis of seawater shows that about 78% of the total solids are this one mineral

 

Earth Science

$200

It's a fracture of the Earth's rocky outer shell where sections of rock slide against each other

 

Earth Science

$300

Larger than dust, this particulate matter from volcanoes ranges from .01 to .16 inches in diameter

 

Earth Science

$400

From the Latin for "flowing together", it's where 2 or more streams flow together to form one

 

Earth Science

Daily Double

This electrically charged layer of the atmosphere makes long-distance radio communication possible

 

Down to Earth

$400

When it's closest to the Earth, this planet with a 687-day year is about 33 million miles away

 

Down to Earth

$800
Eratosthenes calculated this c. 230 B.C. using the difference between the sun's angles at 2 places during June

Down to Earth

$1200

The Lambert one of these formations in the Antarctic is over 250 miles long

 

 

Down to Earth

Daily Double

"Cast" in the role of the fourth most abundant element in the Earth's crust, its atomic number is 26

 

Down to Earth

$2000

A clue for alien astronomers looking for life on Earth is the large amount of this gas, CH4, in the atmosphere

 

Earth Science

$100

In a mining lode, the gangue is the junk & this is the mineral with the good stuff in it

 

Earth Science

$200
Venice is sinking because Italy is actually part of this continent's plate & it's sliding under Europe's plate

Earth Science

$300

It's not just oil -- Saudi Arabia has reserves of over 200 trillion cubic feet of this

 

Earth Science

Daily Double

Seismographers use the difference in speed between P waves & S waves to locate this point

 

Earth Science

$500

Some ocean sediment is radiolarian ooze, made of these parts of tiny protozoans

 

 

Pick A Planet

$400

Its "day" is 24 hours & 39 minutes

Pick A Planet

$800
It's the third largest in our solar system

Pick A Planet

Daily Double
It's never observable when the sky is fully dark

Pick A Planet

$1600

It was the first to be discovered with the aid of the telescope

Pick A Planet

$2000

Leda is its 13th moon

 

Rock Your World

$400

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Geology Museum has the state rock of Wisconsin; not to be confused with the state rock of New Hampshire, it's the red type of this

Rock Your World

$800

Formed by magma, this one of the 3 major types of rock may be plutonic, or formed deep in the Earth

 

 

 

Rock Your World

$1200

A schism is a division into faction; this type of rock, one letter different from "schism", has distinct layers

 

 

 

Rock Your World

$1600

Dacite is volcanic rock characterized by the presence of this common form of silicon dioxide

 

 

 

 

Rock Your World

Daily Double

Scattered material that can include sand & dust is called this "rock", after the layer below the Earth's crust

 

 

 

 

Volcanoes

$200

Eruptions in 512 were so violent that Theodoric the Goth of Italy suspended taxes for those living on its slopes

Volcanoes

$400
Lassen Peak in the southernmost part of this range was believed extinct until it erupted on May 30, 1914

Volcanoes

$600

This volcano on the southeast slope of Mauna Loa has had a hotel on its rim since 1866

 

Volcanoes

$800

Figurative name of the volcanic belt that nearly encircles the Pacific Ocean

 

 

Volcanoes

$1000

This Philippine volcano's 1991 eruption was one of the largest of the 20th century

 

 

Quakes

$100

In early 2001 L.A. got 14" of rain; this city got 5" of rain & a 6.8 jolt that trapped people in its Space Needle

Quakes

$200

In December 2000 this country felt several small quakes around Popocatepetl

 

 

Quakes

Daily Double
The Jan. 26, 2001 quake centered in this country was felt in Bangladesh, 1,200 miles across the Bay of Bengal

Quakes

$400

A 1964 quake in this state caused tsunamis as far away as Siberia, & Hawaii & California

 

Quakes

$500

On Jan. 13, 2001 a 7.6 temblor rocked this tiny Central American nation; a 6.6 quake hit exactly one month later

 

Period

$400

The rocks of the Carboniferous period provide the Earth with this, some of it bituminous

 

Period

$800

The Cenozoic's Tertiary period is logically followed by this period

 

 

Period

$1200

As evidenced by Dover, England, the Cretaceous period's name derives from this type of limestone

 

Period

Daily Double

Meaning "all Earth" in Greek, this hypothetical supercontinent tore apart during the Triassic period

Period

$2000

A period is one of 4 major units of geologic time; these are the other 3, & they all start with "E"

 

 

How Continental!

$200

July temperatures on this continent range from about -94 to a balmy high of around -40

How Continental!

$400
This continent covers only about 5% of the earth's land area; deserts cover about 1/3 of the continent

How Continental!

$600

This continent has the longest freshwater lake, 420 miles, in the world

 

How Continental!

$800

Both the highest & lowest places on earth are on this continent

 

How Continental!

$1000

A waterfall on this continent has the longest drop in the world, 3,212 feet

 

 

Volcanoes

$100

Magma that reaches the earth's surface is called this

 

 

Volcanoes
$200

The word volcano comes from the name of this Roman god of fire

 

Volcanoes

$300
Of the world's active volcanoes, about 60% are along the perimeter of this ocean

Volcanoes

$400

57 people died when this volcano in the Cascade range erupted in 1980

 

Volcanoes

$500

This island nation has more than 100 active volcanoes including Krakatoa

 

 

Earth Science

$400

The caldera of a supervolcano that last erupted 640,000 years ago covers much of the 2.2 million acres of this national park

 

 

Earth Science

$800

This class of rock is made by changes in heat, pressure or shearing to pre-existing rocks

 

 

 

 

Earth Science

$1200

Used to date artifacts because it has a half-life of 5,730 years, this isotope has 6 protons and 8 neutrons in its nucleus

 

 

Earth Science

$1600

The Mohorovicic discontinuity separates the Earth's crust from this

 

 

 

 

 

Earth Science

$2000

South America & Africa fit together like puzzle pieces; this theory says they were connected 200 million years ago & have been moving away from each other up to 4 inches a year

 

Prehistoric Times

$400

The Megaloceros was the largest one of these mammals that ever lived; it was over 10 feet tall & had 11-foot antlers

Prehistoric Times

$800

Cultivation of this 3-letter tree fruit may have started in the Middle East over 10,000 years ago

 

Prehistoric Times

$1200
Anthropologists say this was the first of the genus Homo to leave Africa, sometime after 1.8 million years ago

Prehistoric Times

$1600

The Mousterian industry was the tool culture associated with these humans who predated the cro-magnons

Prehistoric Times

Daily Double

These 3-lobed sea creatures breathed through gills on their legs

 

 

 

Geology

$400

At the mouth of the Mississippi River, this major class of rock is said to be more than 40,000 feet thick

 

Geology

$800

Intense glaciation has formed these long, steep-sided coastal inlets; the ones in Norway & Chile are especially deep

Geology

$1200

This landmark in Rio's Guanabara Bay is an example of an inselberg, or "island mountain"

 

 

Geology

Daily Double

This crater is formed when a volcano explodes & the cone collapses; Oregon's Crater Lake is an example

 

Geology

$2000

Meaning "rock globe", it's the layer of rock encompassing the crust & outermost part of the upper mantle

 

Earthquakes

$400

This well-known fault is considered the main boundary between the North American & Pacific plates

 

Earthquakes

$800

The biggest quake ever recorded, a magnitude 9.5, occurred in 1960 off this South American nation's west coast

 

Earthquakes

$1200

S, or secondary, seismic waves travel fairly slowly, but these waves deep in the earth exceed 25,000 mph

 

Earthquakes

Daily Double

The USA's most powerful quake occurred in 1964 in Alaska on this Christian holiday also associated with a quake

Earthquakes

$2000

A 2005 quake beneath Lake Tanganyika on this 3,500-mile-long "Great" African fault was felt 600 mi. away in Nairobi

 

Volcanoes

$200

In 2010 stranded airline passengers learned that Eyjafjallajokull is a volcano in this country

Volcanoes

$400

A Japanese proverb says, "he who climes" this peak "once is a wise man, he who climbs it twice is a fool"

Volcanoes

Daily Double

According to National Geographic, it's the most dangerous volcano in the lower 48 states

 

Volcanoes

$800

In Sicilian it's called Muncibeddu, meaning "mountain"

 

 

 

Volcanoes

$1000

A specific eruption style is named for this Caribbean volcano that erupted in 1902, killing thousands

 

Prehistoric Times

$400

Scientists believe that Eohippus, about the size of a small dog, was the earliest ancestor of this animal

 

Prehistoric Times

$800

Scientists have placed 5 species of prehumans into the genus Australopithecus, which means "southern" this

Prehistoric Times

Daily Double

This prehistoric people that followed Neanderthal man produced the first examples of human artwork

 

Prehistoric Times

$1600

The 2 dinosaurian orders are saurischia, which means "lizard hips", & ornithischia, which means this

 

 

Prehistoric Times

$2000

This coal-forming period of geologic time is split into Mississippian & Pennsylvanian periods

 

 

Rocks & Stuff

$200

A rock called pridotite produces this hardest gem

 

 

 

Rocks & Stuff

$400

This form of molten rock deep within the earth can reach a temperature of over 2100 degrees

 

Rocks & Stuff

$600
This agreeable-sounding metamorphic rock has alternating bands of dark- & light-colored minerals

Rocks & Stuff

$800

Most rocks are composed primarily of oxygen & this element

 

 

Rocks & Stuff

$1000

Soapstone, used as an electrical insulator, is a greenish-gray variety of this soft mineral

 

 

What Planet Are You From?

$200

It has seasonal weather patterns & iron-rich minerals in the soil, giving it a distinct red color

 

What Planet Are You From?

$400

Greater in mass than all the other planets combined, it's surrounded by dozens of moons

 

What Planet Are You From?

$600

Its mean distance from the Sun is only about 36 million miles

 

 

What Planet Are You From?

$800

It's the smallest & densest of the outer gas giants & has an appropriate name, as it has a watery interior

What Planet Are You From?

$1000

Bands of debris & ice surround it, as do its satellites, including Titan

 

 

 

Geology

$400

A placer is a deposit of sand containing metals such as this, which brought an influx to Placer County, California

Geology

$800

A cauldron subsidence is when a mass of solid rock sinks into a pool of this subterranean molten rock
Geology
$1200
In geology, BYO isn't on a faculty party invitation; it stands for this, in Canada's Acasta Gneiss, about 4 BYO

Geology

$1600

In the mountain type of this, rock projects above the frozen stuff

 

 

 

Geology

$2000

William Smith's 1815 map "of New England and Wales" showed these rock layers in different colors

 

Dinosaur

$100

Amherst's Pratt Museum has the largest collection of these markings left by dinosaur strolls

 

Dinosaur

$200

Along with the famous plates that ran down its back, it also had 4 tall, deadly spines on its tail

Dinosaur

$300
Ash from an asteroid impact on this peninsula in Mexico may have covered the globe & killed off the dinosaurs

Dinosaur

$400

In 1922 the first of these to be discovered came from a mommy protoceratops

 

Dinosaur

$500

This "king" of the carnosaurs wasn't from the Jurassic period, but the late Cretaceous

 

 

Minerals

$100

You’ll discover not gold, but a black mark, after rubbing this “gold” on porcelain

 

Minerals

$200

A scratch test won’t reveal a mineral’s allergies, but this property

 

 

Minerals

$400

Over half the use of this mineral in the U.S. is for spreading on roads & highways to melt ice & snow

 

Minerals

$1200

Steatite, or soapstone, is a compact variety of this soft mineral

 

 

Minerals

Daily Double

German geologist Abraham Werner gave this mineral its name, derived from a Greek word for "to write"

 

Shake, Shake, Shake

$400

These waves, from the Greek for "shake", that pass through the Earth's rocks are caused by earthquakes

Shake, Shake, Shake

$800

The force of these smaller post-earthquake tremors decreases quickly over time

 

Shake, Shake, Shake

$1200
Herculaneum had not yet recovered from a 62 A.D. earthquake when this calamity occurred 17 years later

Shake, Shake, Shake

Daily Double

These, like the thrust type, are defined as narrow zones where rock masses move in relation to one another

Shake, Shake, Shake

$2000

Differing from Richter, the MM or "modified" this scale uses witness observations to gauge intensity

 

Geology

$400

Around 132 A.D. Chinese scientist Chang Heng invented an early form of this earthquake detector

Geology

$800

One of the world's busiest geyser areas lies in a lava field near this Icelandic capital

 

Geology

$1200

In the science of geology, petrographers are concerned with classifying these

 

Geology

$1600

In 2003 it was located at 82 degrees north latitude, 112 degrees west longitude near Ellef Ringness Island

Geology

$2000

The glaciers in Alaska are remnants of the last Ice Age, which ended about 11,500 years ago during this epoch

 

Dinosaur Lore

$100

The oviraptor's name means "stealer of" these, which might also apply to some fossil hunters

 

Dinosaur Lore

$200

In diplodocus, these individual back bones were hollow, keeping the animal's weight to 12 tons

 

Dinosaur Lore

$300

Its two longer horns each could extend more than three feet

 

 

 

Dinosaur Lore

$400

Robert Bakker "heated" up paleontology by suggesting dinosaurs were homeothermic, also called this

Dinosaur Lore

$500

Term for a meat-eating dinosaur like the Tyrannosaurus, or the title of a 1993 Roger Corman film

 

 

Rocks & Minerals

$400

Green serpentine, seen here, is made into a gemstone that's a common substitute for this one

Green Serpentine

 

Rocks & Minerals

$800

Kernite, a major source of borax, is named for Kern County in this California desert where it is mined

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rocks & Minerals

$1200
The chief ore of iron, this mineral, is named for the fact that its powder, or the streak that it leaves, is blood red

Hemetite

Streak Plate

Rocks & Minerals

$1600

Carrara, Italy is famous for its quarries of this rock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rocks & Minerals

$2000

Obsidian is described as having this type of luster, from the Latin for "glassy"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Geology

$400

The Mercalli scale measures the intensity of these from I to XII

 

 

Geology

$800

Geysers aren't common; major centers include Yellowstone, Iceland & this country's North Island

Geology

$1200

This rock can be formed by the accumulation of shells or coral, but not from citrus fruit

 

Geology

Daily Double

This 9-letter geologic science is the study of the movement & distribution of all the Earth's waters

 

Geology

$2000

A 6-mile-wide caldera, or volcanic crater, is a highlight of La Palma in this Spanish Island group off Africa

 

Know Your Earth

$400

Giovanni Arduino classified rocks oldest to newest as primary, secondary & this, a term still used

 

 

Know Your Earth

$800

Temperatures range from about 2,000 to 8,000 degrees Fahrenheit in this part of the Earth between the crust & the core
Know Your Earth
$1200

Essential minerals can give rocks their names: ferromagnesian minerals contain this &/or magnesium

 

Know Your Earth

Daily Double

Change 2 letters in magnetism & you get this term for the formation of igneous rocks in the Earth's crust

 

Know Your Earth

$2000

Named for the tiny time period that followed it, this interval covers 80% of geological time

 

 

 

Prehistoric Critters

$400

As the "avis" suggests, Argentavis' distinction was being able to do this, even at over 250 pounds

 

 

 

 

 

Prehistoric Critters

$800

The best guess on the purpose of Spinosarus' sail was that by turning it the beast could regulate this

Spinosaurus

Prehistoric Critters

$1200

The sharklike acanthodians were the first vertebrates with these; earlier ones had vacuum-cleaner mouths

 

 

 

 

Prehistoric Critters

$1600

Fossils in Niger indicate the "super" type of this animal was the size of a bus; it often drowned its prey

 

 

 

 

Prehistoric Critters

Daily Double

If Horton climbed his family tree, he'd go from elephant to stegodon to stegolophodon to this

 

 

 

 

 

Minerals

$200

Talc is at one end of the Mohs scale of hardness & this is at the other

 

 

 

Minerals

$400

This phosphate popular in the jewelry of the Southwest U.S. derives its name from a Eurasian country

Minerals

$600

Minerals like pyrite, galena & sphalerite all contain this element, S, so they are grouped together

 

 

Minerals

$800

The white sands of New Mexico's White Sands National Monument are this plaster material

 

 

Minerals

$1000

A form of magnetite that has natural magnetic polarity is known as this "stone"

 

 

 

 

Geology

$400

This molten volcanic rock was given its name by those who lived around Mount Vesuvius

 

Geology

$800

The oxbow type of this is formed when a meander or stream is cut off from the principal channel

 

Geology

Daily Double

A sonar transducer is used by hydrographers to obtain knowledge about earthquake activity here

Geology

$1600

This "old" scientist's 37-volume "Historia Naturalis" covered all Roman knowledge of rocks & minerals

 

Geology

$2000

It's believed that a land mass called Pangaea later split into 2: Laurasia & this one

 

 

Prehistoric Times

$400

Scientists have identified over 4,000 species of these "3-lobed" sea creatures that lived during the Paleozoic era

Prehistoric Times

$800

Scientists say that North America had 4 of these: Nebraskan, Kansan, Illinoian & Wisconsin

 

Prehistoric Times

$1200

The Stone Age lasted until this metal replaced stone as the primary tool-making material

 

Prehistoric Times

$1600

In 1868 Louis Lartet dug up the first skeletons of this prehistoric man in a cave in Les Eyzies in southwest France

Prehistoric Times

$2000

The name of this earliest human species is Latin for "skillful human being"

 

 

Dinosaurs

$400

In 2006 a fossilized one of these containing 22 broken eggs sold at auction for $420,000

 

 

 

Dinosaurs

$800

In 2001 Chinese scientists said a group of these made by dinosaurs included one 1 1/2 yards long

 

 

Dinosaurs

$1200

No one knows the purpose, but like modern birds, the stegosaurus has a small hole in its skull called a fenestra, from the Latin for this

Dinosaurs

$1600

We grew up calling the alleged apatosaurus this; to us it'll always be this--so there!

 

 

 

Dinosaurs

$2000

Known for long necks & small heads, dinosaurs like diplodocus belonged to this "lizard foot" group

 

 

 

Rocks & Minerals

$100

Term for a lump of gold; the farther it's traveled from its source, the more rounded it is

Rocks & Minerals

$200

The most prized turquoise is this bird-related shade

 

 

Rocks & Minerals

$300

Like graphite, molybdenite is used as a solid one of these for moving parts

Rocks & Minerals

$400

Calcite is recognizable from the bubbles that form when this is applied during a test

Rocks & Minerals

Daily Double

Deposits near the mouth of the Orange River have been a rich source of these precious gemstones

 

Geology

$400

A deep ravine that's often dry in the summer, it shares its name with a "grand" dam in Washington state

Geology

$800

This layer of rock between the earth's core & crust makes up about 85 percent of the planet's mass

 

Geology

$1200

From the Greek for "without shape", this term refers to rocks & minerals that have no crystalline structure

Geology

$1600

Lamina is a layer in this type of rock that is less than 1 cm. in thickness & is visually separable from other layers

Geology

$2000

"Bovine" term for a crescent-shaped lake formed in an abandoned river bend

 

 

Darwin

$400

This 1859 book was a "natural selection" for readers; the first edition sold out in one day

 

 

Darwin

$800

Darwin spent just 17 days ashore in these islands in 1835, but his studies there still reverberate today

 

 

Darwin

$1200

Though he later became an agnostic, in his youth Darwin followed the traditions of this church

 

Darwin

$1600

Darwin & his wife were these close blood relatives, as Darwin's mother & his wife's father were siblings

 

Darwin

$2000

Darwin's paternal grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, declined an offer to become private physician to this 18th C. king

 

Geology Test

$400

One estimate says there are about 326 million cubic miles of this compound in, on & above the Earth

 

 

Geology Test

$800

It runs from the Gulf of California to the Gorda Ridge off Oregon between the North American & Pacific plates

 

Geology Test

$1200

BMW engineers are working out the kinks to use this most abundant element in the universe as an auto fuel

Geology Test

$1600

Calcium bicarbonate from this, the most abundant soluble rock, is used by sea creatures in forming shells

 

Geology Test

$2000

Deposits inside these are called speleothems & include stalactites & stalagmites

 

 

 

Dinosaurs

$200

This "king" of the dinosaurs had a muscular jaw that, it's thought, could rip off 500 pounds of meat at once

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinosaurs

$400

This plant-eater is the largest, most common & best known of the horned dinosaurs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinosaurs

$600

This dinosaur was swift, but not as fast or as smart as in "Jurassic Park"; it did have that scary sickle-like claw, though

 

 

 

 

 

Dinosaurs

Daily Double

The name of the Laplatasaurus honors a river on the border of Uruguay & this country

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinosaurs

$1000

The famous 50-foot beast in the American Museum of Natural History is this dinosaur whose name comes from the Greek for "weight", as in an atmospheric meter

 

Rocks and Minerals

$200

This class of rocks is formed from deposits on lake beds & sea floors

 

Rocks and Minerals

$400

Any old salt can tell you epsomite is this color

 

Rocks and Minerals

$600

To identify a meteorite, Peterson's guide says to look for iron & this metal

 

Rocks and Minerals

$800

The fossils in this type of rock may remain even after it's changed into marble

 

Rocks and Minerals

$1000

Shale changes into this rock metamorphically & also by changing 2 letters

 

Minerals

$400

Drywall is also called gypboard, the "gyp" short for this

 

 

 

Minerals

$800

The heavy mineral ilmenite, FeTiO3 , is the main source of this lightweight metal, symbol Ti

 

Minerals

$1200

Vermiculite makes good insulation, but sadly the former main mine produced vermiculite riddled with this
Minerals

$1600

Formed in lava, leucite is common on the slopes of this mount above the Bay of Naples

 

Minerals

$2000

Galena, Wisconsin's state mineral, is an ore of this metal seen on the state flag

 

 

 

The Earth

$100

The Alps are an example of the fold type of these; the Tetons are the fault-block type

 

The Earth

$200

Outside the U.S., the main areas where these spouting hot springs occur are Iceland & New Zealand
The Earth

$300

The inner core of the Earth is thought to be a solid ball composed mainly of nickel & this metal

 

The Earth

$400

About a tenth of the Earth's surface is covered by this treeless region of the Arctic

 

The Earth

$500

Triggered by earthquakes, these destructive sea waves have been known to travel at nearly 500 mph

 

Walking With Dinosaurs

$400

You might encounter a real Stegosaurus if you can go back to the late part of this geological period, a good one for dinosaurs

 

 

 

 

Walking With Dinosaurs

$800

Until the recent discovery of the Gigantotasaurus fossil, 3 tons bigger, T. rex was thought to be the largest dinosaur of this dietary class... aaaagh!

 

 

Walking With Dinosaurs

$1200

The Stegosaurus' plates could have been used in mating, may have been for defensive purposes, or may have served as living solar panels and helped the dinosaur regulate this

 

 

Walking With Dinosaurs

Daily Double

Named for its cattle-like horns, this 9-tonner whose name means "bull lizard" had the largest head of any known land animal

 

 

 

 

Walking With Dinosaurs

$2000

If a bite that could puncture a car roof wasn't enough, T. rex's teeth have recesses where these live; if the bite didn't kill you, the infection would

 

 

 

 

Rocks for Jocks

$200

Geologists dig up & study these organic remains, whose name is from the Latin for "dug up"

 

 

Rocks for Jocks

$400

Slate is this type of rock, the result of alterations to existing rocks

 

 

 

Rocks for Jocks

$600

A speleologist studies caves; this is another name for a caver who explores caves as a hobby

 

 

Rocks for Jocks

$800

Until it's cooled, the object seen here was this substance

Basalt Flow over Road

Rocks for Jocks

$1000

2-word term for the branch of geology that studies the phenomenon of continental drift

 

 

 

Gems and Minerals

$200

Old masters could grind up hematite or cinnabar to make shades of this primary color

 

Gems and Minerals

$400

The ancients called jade lapis nephriticus, as they thought it a stone that could cure this organ's ailments

Gems and Minerals

$600

You can find caledonite in this country that lent its ancient name to the mineral

 

Gems and Minerals

Daily Double

A beryl named for a New York financier isn't johnite or pierpontite, but this

 

 

Gems and Minerals

$1000

Antimony is the usual base of this dark eye shadow used by Middle Eastern women

 

 

Official State Dinosaurs & Fossils

$200

The Triceratops found in this state's Black Hills won official fossil status

 

 

Official State Dinosaurs & Fossils

$400

Montana's state fossil, the Maiasaura, had this type of mouth, like the platypus

 

Official State Dinosaurs & Fossils

$600

Haddonfield, in this Eastern state, was the site of the first "nearly complete" dinosaur find - a Hadrosaurus
Official State Dinosaurs & Fossils

$800

The teeth from Maryland's Astrodon were cut open in 1858 & revealed this pattern, hence its name
Official State Dinosaurs & Fossils

$1000

Saurophaganax was named this state's official fossil in 2000 & you can see one at the Sam Noble Museum in Norman

 

The Earth

$100

The modified Mercalli scale ranks these 1-12: 1 - not felt except by few, 12 - total destruction
The Earth

Daily Double

We're in the holocene epoch of the quaternary period of the Cenozoic one of these
The Earth

$300

Basalt is an igneous rock & rock salt is this type

 

 

The Earth

$400

William Smith was the 1st to date rocks using these found within them

 

The Earth

$500

The stratosphere includes this layer of the atmosphere that absorbs ultraviolet light

 

Rocks and Minerals

$500

Originally these were quartz pebbles found in the Rhine River

 

 

Rocks and Minerals

$1000

There are deposits of this type of coal under half of West Virginia

 

Rocks and Minerals

$1500

Some of these fine-grained laminated sedimentary rocks are a source of oil

 

Rocks and Minerals

$2000

Connemara, Ireland is famous for the green-streaked variety of this stone

 

Rocks and Minerals

$2500

Now under the Coronation Chair, this stone came to England from Scotland

 

Dinosaurs

$400

Many now think that unlike modern reptiles, dinosaurs were homeothermic, meaning this

 

 

Dinosaurs

$800

Edmontosaurus, discovered in this Canadian province in 1917, was almost defenseless & was preyed upon by the T-rex
Dinosaurs

$1200

Despite its great size, this "plated lizard" had a brain the size of a walnut

 

 

 

Dinosaurs

$1600

This city's Carnegie Museum of Natural History has the first Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, found in 1902

 

Dinosaurs

Daily Double

This name of the ferocious predator seen in "Jurassic Park" means "one who seizes quickly"

 

 

 

Geology

$200

It's a circular hollow often formed by volcanic action or by a meteor strike

 

 

 

Geology

$400

It's a valley formed between 2 parallel faults; there's a "Great" one in the Eastern Hemisphere

 

 

Geology

Daily Double

Name of the type of formation seen here:

Geode

Geology

$800

A moraine is the rocky material left behind by one of these

 

 

 

Geology

$1000

When discussing sedimentary rock, this term means formed of layers or beds

 

 

 

The Earth

$200

An ocean wave's speed largely depends on the speed of this phenomenon in the air above
The Earth

$400

The Mer de Glace is the 2nd longest of these in the Alps

 

 

The Earth

$600

The Greek & Latin words for this fuel were "anthrax" & "carbo"

 

The Earth

$800

You find one of these at the point where an aquifer intersects the slope of a hillside

 

The Earth

$1000

Geologists named the material of the Earth's crust "sial'" because of these 2 main elements

 

Dinosaurs

$200

Anatosaurus was this type of dinosaur named for a feature it shared with the platypus

 

Dinosaurs

$400

Guinness says the smallest one of these among the dinos was the walnut-sized one of the 30-foot Stegosaurus
Dinosaurs

$600

The BBC's "Truth About Killer Dinosaurs" staged a fight between T. rex & this 3-horned beast

 

Dinosaurs

Daily Double

Patagosaurus thrived on this continent 160 to 170 million years ago

 

 

Dinosaurs

$1000

Also a type of modern bird, this word follows "ovi" & "Utah" in dinosaur names

 

   

Geology

$400

This rock from Georgia was used to sculpt the statue of Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial

 

Geology

$600

Crude oil can be extracted from this rock, the most abundant sedimentary rock in the Earth's crust

Geology

$1200

The Hawaiian islands consist mostly of this hard, dark volcanic rock

 

 

Geology

Daily Double

Due to its luster, German miners gave this "pleasant" rock its name, which means "spark"

 

Geology

$2000

The Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown is the tallest structure in the U.S. made entirely of this

 

Dinosaurs

$200

Although its name suggests that it had 5 of these, the Pentaceratops had just 3; 2 were merely enlarged cheekbones

 

Dinosaurs

$400

Scientists believe that dinosaurs lived through 3 geologic periods: Triassic, Jurassic, then this next one

 

Dinosaurs

$600

The name Psittacosaurus means this type of lizard; it had a strong beak like that on this present-day bird

 

Dinosaurs

$800

High levels of this metal, at. #77, in rocks near dinosaur fossils led to the asteroid theory of their demise

 

Dinosaurs

$1000

Similar to an Apatosaurus, this 52'-tall herbivore whose name means "arm lizard" had longer forelegs than hindlegs

 

Geology

$200

The mineral Andalusite was discovered in & named for a region in this country

 

Geology

$400

Fluvial is a term that refers to these geographic features

 

 

 

Geology

$600

Granite is composed mainly of feldspar & this transparent crystalline material

 

 

Geology

$800

A 79 A.D. letter about the death of this "Elder" scientist had the first accurate description of a volcanic eruption

Geology

$1000

In 1812 this German scientist devised a scale to measure the hardness of minerals

 

 

 

Sham Rocks

$200

Some colorless forms of this element with the chemical symbol Zr are known as matura diamonds

 

Sham Rocks

$400

Gary Dahl used 3 tons of stone from Rosarito Beach to create these 1970s fads that couldn't even fetch
Sham Rocks

$600

Many experts have doubted the authenticity of a kouros statue at this oilman's L.A. museum
Sham Rocks

$800

In 2000 NASA helped bust a man who pled guilty to trying to sell these fake items from Apollo 11
Sham Rocks

$1000

To stop graffiti on the real thing, visitors can now sign a fake replica of this in the Juyongguan section

 

The Good Earth

$400

Of 10%, 50% or 80%, the portion of an iceberg that floats above the water

 

 

The Good Earth

$600

Ruffles chips have these & so do ocean floors, but they're underwater mountain ranges

 

The Good Earth

$800

The eruption of this Indonesian volcano in 1883 was heard more than 2,000 miles away

 

The Good Earth

Daily Double

Because it passes through a London borough, the Prime Meridian at 0 degrees longitude has this other name
The Good Earth

$2000

From the Greek for "middle life", it's the era on Earth that ended with the demise of the dinosaurs

 

Geology

$200

This precious stone is crystalline carbon

 

 

 

 

Geology

$400

This aluminum ore was discovered at Le Bau, France

 

 

 

Geology

$600

You'll find stalactites and stalagmites in caverns made of various types of this sedimentary rock

 

Geology

$800

Since it doesn't transmit an earthquake's S-waves, scientists believe this must be partly liquid

Geology

$1000

The process of coalification runs from peat to this type of coal

 

 

 

Fun With Dinosaurs
$400

In 1902 in Montana, paleontologist Barnum Brown unearthed the first specimen of this dinosaur "king"

 

Fun With Dinosaurs
$800

Hadrosaurus & Corythosaurus are among dinosaurs that had this type of bill, like a platypus

 

 

Fun With Dinosaurs
Daily Double
The Oviraptor's name means that it stole these from other dinosaurs but new evidence suggests that it was misnamed
Fun With Dinosaurs
$1600

This 3-horned plant-eater's 10-foot-long head is said to be the largest ever possessed by a land animal

 

Fun With Dinosaurs
$2000

This dinosaur known for the bony plates along its back had multiple spikes at the end of its tail for protection

 

 

The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906

$200

Estimates are that it would have measured 8.25 on the scale named for this man

The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906

$400

Most of the destruction came from these that followed the quake

 

The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906

$600

The quake was this fault's fault

 

 

 

The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906

$800

This Italian tenor was in town to perform when the earthquake struck

 

The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906

$1000

This author from nearby Oakland surveyed the damage & declared, "San Francisco is gone"

 

Paleontology

$100

500-million-year-old fish are the first known fossils of this backboned group of animals

 

 

Paleontology

$200

Its tooth, mentioned in "Mack the Knife", is Georgia's state fossil & can date back 375 million years

 

 

Paleontology

$400

The Sandhill type of this can fly; Diatryma, the predatory 7-foot "terror" type, couldn't

 

Paleontology

$500

Trilobites were among the first creatures to have these; they were compound crystals that survive as fossils

 

-Ologies

$400

From the Greek meaning "study of ancient existence", it's the study of prehistoric plants & animals from fossil remains

 

Geology

$200

One of these struck Boston in 1755, Missouri in 1811 & Charleston in 1886, so it's not west coast-specific

Geology

$400

Of the 3 main classes of rock, this one accounts for about 75% of all the exposed rocks on land

Geology

Daily Double

From the Greek kryos, "ice", it's the shape a mineral grows into when unrestricted

 

Geology

$800

Term for a plate pulling apart; a great valley in Africa has been formed by & named for it

 

Geology

$1000

1 of the 3 minerals on the Mohs scale that can be scratched with a copper penny

 

 

 

Rocks and Minerals

$400

For its state mineral, Colorado chose rhodochrosite, which is a deep shade of this primary color

Rocks and Minerals

$800

Scoria, a dark, glassy rock created from this, is heavier than pumice & has bigger holes

Rocks and Minerals

$1200

Galena is the principal ore of this metallic element, symbol Pb

 

Rocks and Minerals

$1600

This blackboard rock is formed when shale is subjected to immense heat & pressure

Rocks and Minerals

$2000

On the Mohs scale, this mineral can be scratched by every other mineral

 

 

Destination Earth

$400

The hardest substances in nature are wurtzite boron nitride & lonsdaleite; this gem is actually third
Destination Earth

$800

Despite their name, spring these, caused by alignment of the Sun, Moon & Earth, happen in the ocean in every season
Destination Earth

$1200

On the Earth's surface, it's 24,901 miles long

 

 

 

Destination Earth

$1600

The 4 types of these waves are primary, secondary, Rayleigh & Love

 

 

Destination Earth

$2000

The axial this of the Earth is 23.5 degrees

 

 

 

 

 

Dinosaurs

$200

Nicknamed Sue, the largest of these, the "King of the Dinosaurs", was uncovered in South Dakota in 1990

 

Dinosaurs

$400

This plant-eater named for the 3 horns on its face was at least 25 feet long

 

 

 

Dinosaurs

$600

The 75-foot-long Apatosaurus has also been known by this name, which means "thunder lizard"

 

 

Dinosaurs

Daily Double

The Mamenchisaurus could really stick this out -- it had the largest of any dinosaur, about 36 feet
Biology

$500

Found even in dinosaurs, this world's oldest known disease is still considered incurable

 

 

 

Geology

$100

Derived from Latin meaning "dug up", it's the remains of a plant or animal preserved in rock

 

Geology

$200

A fracture in the earth along which the sides are displaced; the San Andreas is a dramatic example

Geology

$300

It's the shallow body of water enclosed within an atoll

 

 

 

Geology

$400

This "powdery" mineral is number 1 on the Mohs scale of hardness

 

 

Geology

$500

Longer than an era, this is the longest geological time unit

 

 

 

 

Paleontology

$200

It describes the mouth of the ancient hadrosaur & the mouth of the modern platypus

Paleontology

$400

The name of the Ichthyornis comes from the Greek for "bird" & this type of animal

Paleontology

$600

It was similar to the mammoth but it had different teeth

 

 

Paleontology

$800

Continent that was home to the Albertosaurus

 

 

Paleontology

$1000

The fossils of these common 3-lobed primitive arthropods are useful date markers

 

Rocks and Minerals

$100

Term for the minerals from which metals are extracted

 

 

Rocks and Minerals

$200

Single-letter chemical designation of a diamond

 

 

Rocks and Minerals

$300

Largest block ever found of it in U.S., 56 tons, was used for Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Rocks and Minerals

$400

Mark Twain defined it as a hole in the ground with a liar standing at the top

 

Rocks and Minerals

$500

Fizzing when acid is applied, this mineral is the base of the Portland cement industry

 

Geology

$200

The Star of India is what kind of precious stone?

 

 

Geology

$400

The mouth of the Mississippi or a Helen Reddy "Dawn"

 

 

Geology

$600

Pliny the Elder, Roman geologist, died while observing this volcano erupting

 

Geology

Daily Double

Earth's atmosphere layer which lies between the troposphere & the mesosphere

Geology

$1000

Rainwash, wind action & differential weathering formed this S. Dakota area

 

You can find an archive of Jeopardy! questions over at J!-Archive.com. Videos present are courtesy of J!-Archive.com. Images used in the questions are a mixtures of ones used in the show and my interpretation of what they might have been and still get across the intent of the clue. Images used on this site are from J!-Archive.com unless linked to another source.