Answer: b [Reason:] The behaviour of a mineral towards the forces that tend to break, bend, cut or crush it is described by the term tenacity. Thus, when a mineral can be cut with a knife, it is described as sectile.

Answer: c [Reason:] Some minerals are not only flexible but elastic, that is, they regain their shape when the force applied on them is removed. Micas are best example. Hence they are both flexible and elastic.

Answer: a [Reason:] The mineral occurs in the form of a flattened, square, rectangular or rhombohedral shape if it is said to be tabular. In other words, flattening is conspicuous compared to lengthwise elongation.

Answer: b [Reason:] When the mineral is in the form of a thin or thick elongated, column-like crystals, it is said to be elongated. Example, Beryl.

Answer: c [Reason:] The mineral appears as if composed of thin, flat, blade-like overlapping or juxtaposed parts, if it said to be bladed. Example: Kyanite.

Answer: b [Reason:] The mineral is made up of relatively thick, flexible, leaf-like sheets, if it is said to be lamellar. Example: Vermiculite.

Answer: b [Reason:] The foliated structure is similar to lamellar in broader sense but in this case the individual sheets are paper thin, even thinner and can be easily separated. Example: Muscovite mica.

Answer: c [Reason:] The mineral is made up of needle like or fibrous crystals which appear originating from a common point thereby giving a radiating appearance, if it is said to be radiating. Example: Iron pyrites.

Answer: a [Reason:] The mineral occurs in the form of densely packed mass of small garin-like crystals, in the case of globular structure. Example: Chromite.

Answer: b [Reason:] Reniform is similar to globular but the shape of the bulbs or projections resembles to human kidneys. Example: Hematite.

Answer: c [Reason:] Mammillary is similar to globular but the projections are conspicuous in size, overlapping in arrangement and rounded in shape, best example is malachite.

Answer: d
Specific gravity is the ratio between density of a mineral and that of water at 4° Celsius. Since is a ratio, it has no units.

Answer: a [Reason:] Limestones are the most common sedimentary rocks from the non-clastic group and are composed chiefly of carbonate of calcium with subordinate proportions of carbonate of magnesium.

Answer: c [Reason:] In view of the diverse ways in which the limestones are formed, these rocks show a variety of textures. The most important texture feature of limestones is their fossiliferous nature.

Answer: b [Reason:] Kankar is a common nodular or concretionary form of carbonate material formed by evaporation of subsoil water rich in calcium carbonate just near the soil surface. It is non-marine in origin.

Answer: a [Reason:] Limestones and dolomites find important applications in many industries and engineering practice. Thus, limestone is a primary source material for manufacture of Portland cement and for a variety of limes.

Answer: c [Reason:] Coal may broadly be defined as metamorphosed sedimentary rocks of carbonaceous character in which the raw material has mostly been supplied by plants of various groups.

Answer: a [Reason:] Peat is the lowest grade coal that constitutes of only slightly altered vegetable matter. It may not be even considered as a coal. It has very low calorific value, high percentage of moisture and is rich in volatile matter.

Answer: b [Reason:] Lignite is also known as brown coal and forms the poorest grade of coal with calorific value ranging between 6.00-8300 B.th.U.

Answer: b [Reason:] Lignite is compact and massive in structure with an upper specific gravity of 1.5 and hardness of 2.5 on Mohs’ scale of hardness. Some varieties of lignite may still show to a good extent the traces of original vegetable structure.

Answer: d [Reason:] Anthracite is considered the highest grade coal with fixed carbon ranging between 92-98 percent. It has highest calorific value in coals and burns without any smoke, as the volume matter is negligible.

Answer: b [Reason:] Sedimentary rocks cover a great part of the crust of the earth; they make up more than 75 percent of the surface area of the land mass. It is with these types of rocks that an engineer has to deal with in majority of cases. It is therefore, essential for a civil engineer to know as much as is possible about the salient features of these rocks.

Answer: b [Reason:] All those intrusive bodies that have been injected into the strata without being influenced by their structural disposition (dip and strike) and thus traverse across or oblique to the bedding planes etc. are grouped as discordant bodies.

Answer: c [Reason:] Bysmalith is a type of laccolith which is again a type of concordant body and not a discordant body. The dykes, volcanic necks and batholiths are usually the widely studied types of discordant bodies.

Answer: a [Reason:] Dykes may be defined as columnar bodies of igneous rocks that cut across the bedding plane or uncoformities or cleavage planes and similar structures.

Answer: d [Reason:] In composition, dykes are generally made up of hypabyssal rocks like dolerites, porphyrites and lamprophyres, showing all textures between glassy and phaneritic types.

Answer: b [Reason:] Dykes generally tend to occur in groups or sets. Thus, the term dyke-set is used for a couple of parallel and closely spaced dykes.

Answer: d [Reason:] In some cases vents of quiet volcanoes have become sealed with the intrusions. Such congealed intrusions are termed volcanic necks or volcanic plugs.

Answer: c [Reason:] Batholiths are huge bodies of igneous masses that show both concordant and discordant relations with the country rocks.

Answer: a [Reason:] The dimensions of batholiths vary considerably but is generally agreed that to qualify as a batholith the igneous mass should be greater than 100 square kilometres in area and its depth should not be traceable.

Answer: b [Reason:] When the surface area of batholith-like igneous mass is less than 100 km, it is commonly termed as stock. When such a stock has roughly circular outline, it is further distinguished as a boss.

Answer: b [Reason:] In composition, batholiths may be made of any type of igneous rock. They also exhibit many types of textures and structures. But as a matter of observation, majority of batholiths shows predominantly granitic composition, texture and structure.

Answer: c [Reason:] Granitization may be broadly described as a set of processes by which already existing sedimentary and other rocks are changed into granit-like without actually passing through a magmatic stage.

Answer: b [Reason:] The volcanic sheets may be horizontal or slightly inclined depending upon the original topography and subsequent geological history of the area.

Answer: a [Reason:] In volcanic eruptions, huge quantities of lava are thrown out suddenly under great pressure and with a big bang, causing tremors all around volcanic earthquakes, as these are called, are rarely felt outside the regions of active volcanoes.

Answer: c [Reason:] The collapse earthquakes are invariably of a local nature, and rare occurrence. These are caused when a portion of ground collapses suddenly because of removal of support from below due to natural processes of rock wastage.

Answer: a [Reason:] The Elastic Rebound Theory propounded originally by H.F.Reid in 1906 is, at present, widely acclaimed as a satisfactory explanation. It was proposed by him, on the basis of elaborate studies of San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 that it was related to displacement along the San Andres fault.

Answer: b [Reason:] The rupture phase takes place along the fault and all or part the stored elastic energy is released as seismic waves and also transformed into heat or potential energy. Main shock is the characteristic of this phase.

Answer: a [Reason:] The preparatory phase is the phase in which a non-hydrostatic stress field is created in a certain region around a fault; the direction of the preparatory phase is to ultimately define the size of the actual earthquake. A number of “foreshocks” are often recorded during this phase.

Answer: c [Reason:] The post failure adjustment is the phase during which the medium is restored to a state of equilibrium involving series of “after shocks” which are simply manifestation of release of residual strain from the rocks.

Answer: a [Reason:] Already exhaustive data has been collected to show that earthquakes occur along the boundaries of plates moving apast each other.

Answer: a [Reason:] The tectonism involving earthquakes is related to those boundaries, which are stressed and where stress is released by way of thrust faulting, block faulting or transcurrent faulting. The inner regions of plates are by and large free from tectonic earthquakes.

Answer: d [Reason:] Since the plate movements at the boundaries are very slow, stresses go on building up in the rocks of the immediate neighbourhood till the limits are reached.

Answer: b [Reason:] According to the Elastic Rebound Theory, rocks are believed to behave as elastic masses towards operating stresses. When these are stressed, the rocks respond by bending as a first reaction.

Answer: a [Reason:] The various causes of folding that are studied are, folding due to- tangential compression, intrusions and differential compression. Hence first option is not correct.

Answer: b [Reason:] Folding may be either due to tectonic causes or due to non-tectonic causes. The tectonic folding of the rocks is bending or warping of rocks due very conspicuously to superficial processes.

Answer: b [Reason:] Under the influence of tangential stresses, folding may develop in either of the three ways: flexural folding, flowage folding and shear folding.

Answer: c [Reason:] Thickness of the layers and nature of the contact are important factors on which the amount of slip depends. Thicker the layer, greater is the slip.

Answer: d [Reason:] Types of the rocks involved: siltstones, sandstones and limestones are more prone to flexure slip folding compared to soft clays and shales.

Answer: c [Reason:] During the compression due to flowage folding, the material of the involved layers behaves almost as a viscous or plastic mass and gets buckled up and deformed at varying rates suffering unequal distortion. In such cases the thickness of the resulting fold does not remain uniform.

Answer: b [Reason:] Flowage folding is the principal process of folding in incompetent or weaker, plastic type of rocks such as clays, shales, gypsum and rock salt etc.

Answer: a [Reason:] Distance from hinge point is also an important factor on which displacement of folding depends. Greater the distance from the hinge points, larger is the displacement.

Answer: b [Reason:] Flexural folding is also distinguished as flexural-slip-folding in which the slip or movement of the strata involved takes place parallel to the bedding planes of the layers.

Answer: c [Reason:] In many cases, folding is attributed to shearing stresses rather than simple compression. It is assumed that in such a process, numerous closely spaced fractures develop in the rock at the first stage of the process.

Answer: d [Reason:] The converging plates may be- two continental plates, a continental plate and an oceanic plate or a continental plate and an island plate but not two oceanic plate.

Answer: b [Reason:] Greater the distance from the hinge points, larger is the displacement, so much that it may be negligible at the hinge point. Hence the statement above is not true.