Exercises

I. Answer the following questions:

1. What is the solid rocky shell of the earth called? 2. In what state was the earth at one time? 3. Which part of the earth is still hot enough to become molten under certain conditions? 4. How was the solid crust formed? 5. What do we call rock formed from liquid rock? 6. What are the three types of rocks that you know? 7. What happened to igneous rocks during the long periods of geologic time? 8. Where and how were the particles of eroded rock deposited? 9. In what way was sedimentary rock formed? 10. What happened to igneous and sedimentary rocks when they were subjected to heat, pressure or movement? 11. What does the word "metamorphic" mean? 12. How large is the area of the surface of the land covered with sedimentary rock? 13. What rocks does this layer of sedimentary rock lie over?

II. Write ten questions on part II of the text.

Word-Building

III. State to what part of speech the following words belong and translate them into Russian:

erode — erosion — erosive; melt — molten — melting — melted (water); origin — original — originally — originate; compose — composition — composed of — composing — decompose — decomposition; identify — identified — identification; sediment — sedimentary — sedimentation; solid — solidify — solidified — solidification; crystal — crystalline — crystallize — crystallization; lay (down) — laid (down) — layer — layered; stratum — stra-tify — stratified — stratification

IV. Form nouns in -ness from the following adjectives. Translate the words formed into Russian:

dark, light, bright, thick, thin, sudden, close, near, heavy, cool, quick, coarse, hard (твердый), soft (мягкий), flat

V. Form adjectives in -y from the following nouns:

rain, sun, wind, fog, storm, sand, clay, earth, stone, rock, mud, fire, dust, glass, gravel

VI. Form the verbs by adding the prefix re-. Translate the words formed into Russian:

write, construct, solidify, crystallize, connect, deposit, melt, combine, appear, freeze, arrange

VII. Analyse the structure of the following words: state to what part of speech these words belong and from what words they were formed. Translate the words into Russian:

indirectly, difference, atmospheric, resolidified, countless, partially, modification, effectiveness, innermore, redeposition, strengthen, invariably, planetary, uselessness, crystal, crystalline, deformation, width, harden, basic

VIII. Give the three forms of the following verbs:

wear down, lie, lay down, set, mean, rise, sink, break

Grammar Exercises

IX. Translate into Russian paying special attention to the form of the verb-predicate in the Passive Voice:

1. The rivers of Central Asia are fed predominantly by glaciers. 2. Sand is being deposited in lakes, shallow seas, rivers, and on land. 3. It is believed by some that the action of bacteria is of real significance in connection with rock weathering. 4. Mountains may be called the skeletons of continents, and the plains and plateaus their tissues. 5. Geologists are often asked if (whether) earthquakes can be predicted. 6. In some of the young mountain systems much of the local relief was caused directly by localized crustal movements. 7. While the rocks were being made the fossils became embedded in them. 8. Some smaller planets are given the word satellite because they follow their planets in their revolution around the sun. 9. The ocean-bottom ooze (зоогеновый ил) is given different names according to the organisms that are most abundant. 10. It has been proved by actual test (gravity determination) that the materials of the oceanic segments are heavier than those of the continental segments.

X. Translate into Russian. Notice all the meanings of the verb to be (a) and to be to (b):

a) 1. The youngest stratum is at the top and the oldest is at the bottom of any pile of undisturbed strata. 2. Everyone knows that stream waters are muddy at times of flood and that they are clear at times of low water. 3. Solution is a type of action easy to understand. 4. The work of the atmosphere is to level the land surface. 5. Where waves are at work cutting into a shore of high land, a steep front facing the sea soon develops. This is the sea cliff. 6. Several hypotheses have been proposed to account for the origin of the bodies of the solar system.

b) 1. In most cases the first effect of weathering upon mountains or other elevated structures is to make them more rugged. 2. A student of geology is to know something of the kind of evidence on which geologic conclusions are based. A part of his education is to be spent in hiking and climbing in mountainous areas where he will map rocks and their structures and collect other geological data. 3. An extreme example of the effects of low humus content and heavy rainfall is to be seen in the extensive tracts of laterite which are to be found in Brazil, India, Africa, and elsewhere in the tropics and subtropics where humus is destroyed by bacterial action almost as soon as it is formed.

XI. Translate into Russian paying special attention to modal verbs and their equivalents:

a) 1. Matter may exist in three states: the solid, the liquid, and the gaseous. 2. Man can adapt himself to most kinds of climate. 3. As soon as the outer surface of the earth became cool, an ocean could form — though possibly only a small one at first. 4. Fossils can be used in the correlation of rock formations. 5. Metamorphism goes on deep beneath the surface of the earth where we are unable to observe what is taking place. 6. This molten rock was able to cool very slowly underground. 7. It seems quite certain that we shall be able to visit the other planets.

b) 1. Both oil and coal geologists must always employ structural geology in their daily work. 2. If we are to understand the origin and classification of rocks, we must learn something about the various minerals that compose them. 3. It is to be understood that weathering is ordinarily a complex process in which many different agents co-operate. 4. Geologists have to use indirect methods for getting answers to many of the questions. 5. Two things have to be considered in making an observation of the wind: velocity and direction. 6. A tremendous amount of work had to be done to make the present scientific achievements possible. 7. To be able to look directly at the sun, we shall have to wear exceedingly dark glasses. 8. The geologists should know how to make topographic or mine maps. 9. Rock structures should be studied and mapped in three dimensions. 10. It should be clearlу understood that a structure must be recognized before it can be traced and correlated. 11. We ought to understand that all mineral deposits are limited in extent. 12. A student who selects geology as his profession has a wide choice of what he shall learn and do.

XII. Translate into Russian, paying attention to the translation of the infinitive used as adverbial modifier of result:

1. The whole series of sediments may be raised to form dry land. 2. Iron in the rocks combines with oxygen to form iron oxide. 3. The wind-blown grains of rock are accumulated to form sand dunes. 4. The finer particles of dust are separated from the sand and carried over larger distances, to be deposited far away from their source. 5. The earth, once a hot gas, first cooled to form the atmosphere with a molten globe under it. 6. In certain cases magma is forced out to the surface to make streams of lava. 7. Sediments derived from the land ge-nerally are not all carried directly to the sea, some may be deposited to form definite features in the topography.