Lecture Study Guide
Geol 150: Earth Revealed

DISCLAIMER: This is a study guide ONLY! Some of these concepts may appear on the test, some may not, and some concepts may be on the test that are not included here. Refer to your syllabus to know which chapters you will need to know for each exam! Please read the appropriate chapters in your text and review your lecture notes. You may also want to check out your textbook's website.

Introduction

• The two subdisciplines of geology
• Explain the steps involved in the scientific method, including the difference between observation, hypothesis, scientific theory, and fact.
  
• Briefly explain the origin of the solar system using the nebular hypothesis.
• The four "spheres" of the Earth
  

Plate Tectonics (Chapter 4)

• Know the difference between a P and an S wave. Be able to identify which is which based upon a written description and a picture, and some of their properties
• Know the layers of the Earth, both by composition (core, mantle, crust) and physical properties (inner core, outer core, mesosphere, asthenosphere and lithosphere), and be able to identify which is which based upon a written description and a picture
• Know what continental crust is and what type of rock is compositionaly similar to
• Know what basaltic crust is and what type of rock is compositionaly similar to
• Know what continental drift is and some of the peices of evidence for it
• Know what paleomagnetism is
• Know what the theory of plate tectonics is
• Be able to name and identify the three types of plate boundaries and be able to give an example of each (a geographic place, for example, not a definition - ie, divergent boundary = Mid Atlantic Ridge)
• Know which plate CSULA is on (hint: it's NOT the North American Plate!)
• Be able to name and identify the three types of convergent plate boundaries.
• Know what a hot spot is and how they form
  

Minerals (Chapter 2)

• Define a mineral and list the characteristics that all minerals possess.
• Explain the difference between a mineral and a rock.
• Describe the basic structure of an atom, and explain how atoms combine.
• Know what bonding is and be able to name/identify the four types
• List the most important elements that compose Earth's continental crust.
• Explain isotopes and radioactivity.
• Know the definition of a mineral
• Describe the physical properties of minerals and how they can be used for mineral identification.
• Understand the silicate tetrahedron, what it is composed of, the type of structures they can form and an example of each
• List the basic compositions and structures of the silicate minerals.
• List the economic use of some nonsilicate minerals.
• Distinguish between mineral resources, reserves, and ores.
• Know which minerals are the most common in the Earth's crust

Igneous Activity And Rocks (Chapter 6)

• Describe the relation between igneous activity and plate tectonics.
• Know and be able to identify the four igenous rock compositions (felsic, intermediate, mafic, ultramafic)
• Know how silica affects a magma's behaviour
• List the factors that determine the violence of volcanic eruptions. List the factors that determine the violence of volcanic eruptions.
• List the materials that are extruded from volcanoes
• Describe the major features produced by volcanic activity.
• List and describe the major intrusive igneous features.
• Know the definition of an igenous rock
• Know the three components of a magma
• Know what factors affect crystal size
• Igneous rocks are classified by origin (extrusive/volcanic, intrusive/plutonic), by composition (felsic, mafic, etc.,) and lastly, by texture (glassy, aphanitic, etc.). Know what each of these terms mean, and be able to give an example (ie - gabbro = mafic composition, phanertic texture)
• Know and be able to identify the six igneous rock textures (aphanitic, phaneritic, porphyritic, pegmatitic, glassy and pyroclastic)
• Some intrusive igneous rocks have extrusive equvalents. Know the following intrusive igneous rocks: granite, diorite, and gabbro and their extrusive equivalents: rhyolite, andesite, and basalt. Be able to determine the composition type of each (ie, felsic, intermediate, mafic), and which rock is aphantitic or phaneritic

Weathering (Chapter 7)

• Know the following terms: weathering, mass wasting, erosion, chemical weathering, mechanical weathering, spheroildal weathering, residual soils, transported soils
• Know the different types of mechanical weathering: frost wedging, unloading, thermal expansion and biological activity. Be able to identify which is which
• Know the different types of chemical weathering: dissolution, oxidation, hydrolysis
• Know the factors which affect the rates of weathering: rock characteristics, climate, differential weathering
• Know what soil is and how it forms
• Know what a soil horizon and a soil profile are, and the five horizons of an idealized soil profile
• What mass wasting is
• the major causes of mass wasting/landslides
• how mass wasting is classified
• know the following terms: Slide, creep, slump, topple, fall, flow, torrent, lahar, debris flow

Sedimentary Rocks (Chapter 8)

• Know the definition of a sedimetary rock
• Know the two catagories of sedimentary rocks
• Know what the four chief constituents of detrital rocks are
• Know the two ways recipitation of material occurs to form chemical rocks
• Know the relative sizes of grains (ie, boulders are larger than silt, etc.)
• Know the three types of sedimentary rock environments, and be able to give an example of a rock you might find in each
• Know what a sedimentary facies is
• Know what a sedimentary structure is, and be able to identify them
• Know what a fossil is and why they are important
• for the following rocks, be able to identify whether they are detrital, chemical or biochemical in origin: shale, limestone, sandstone, coquina, conglomerate, dolostone, chert, breccia, conglomerate, coal, and evaporites

Introduction |Plate Tectonics | Minerals | Igneous Activity And Rocks | Weathering | Sedimentary Rocks | Mountain Building| Metamorphic Rocks | Earthquakes | Geologic Time | Running Water | Groundwater | Deserts | Glaciers | top | Geol 150 Home

Mountain Building (Chapter 9)

• Know what orogenesis means
• Know how mountains are formed: 1) Subduction of oceanic crust; 2) Continent - Continent Collisions; 3) Collision and accretion of small bits of crust
• Understand the difference between Andean-type mountain building and Aleutian-type mountain building
• Be able to discuss what isostacy is
• Know the types of folds and how they form
• the following terms: force, stress, strain, differential stress, compressional stress, tensional stress, shear.
• how rocks deform and under what conditions they deform
• what anticlines, synclines, domes, & basins are and how they form
• symetrical folds, plunging folds
• strike and dip

Metamorphic Rocks (Chapter 10)

• Know what metamorphism is
• the following terms: force, stress, strain, differential stress, compressional stress, tensional stress, shear.
• how rocks deform and under what conditions they deform
• Know the the three types of metamorphism
• Know the four "Agents of Metamorphism"
• Know the four types of metamorphic textures
• for the following forms, be able to identify whether they are folliated or non-folliated, and their parent rock: slate, phyllite, shist, gneiss, dolomarble, marble, and quartzite
• Be able to identify the metamorphic environments based upon the descriptions (like in the worksheet)
• Know what an index mineral is and be able to give an example of an index mineral.

Earthquakes (Chapter 5 )

• What is an earthquake
• types of faults (dip-slip: normal, reverse; strike-slip: right and left lateral)
• what footwall, hanging wall, horst, & grabens are
• know the following terms: focus, faults, epicenter, hypocenter, elastic rebound, foreshock, mainshock, aftershock
• wave types: Body and Surface. ESPECIALLY know what Love and a Rayleigh waves are!
• how earthquakes are measured
• where earthquakes occur
• what a seismogram and a seismograph are, and how they work

Geologic Time (Chapter 3) / Earth's History (Chapter 14)

• Know the six Principles used to establish relative ages for rock units
• Understand what an unconformity is (and the three types of unconformities)
• Explain correlation of rock layers.
• Describe fossils, fossilization, and the uses of fossils.
• Know what radioactivity is and the three types of radioactive decay
• Describe the geologic time scale.
• divisions of the time scale (eon-era-period-epoch)

Running Water (Chapter 11)

• Describe the process of streamflow and list the factors that influence a stream's ability to erode and transport materials.
  
• List and describe the major features produced by stream erosion and deposition.
  
• Understand how lateral and vertical erosion differ, and the types of streams & valleys each produces
  
• Distinguish between the different types of drainage patterns.know the difference between laminar flow and turbulent flow, how each forms, etc.
• the factors that determine velocity
• gradient, head, the types of base-level
• narrow valleys & wide valleys - features, which is at base level,
• how erosion occurs
• how sediment is transported
• the three types of loads
• load, capacity, competence, deposition
• stream, channel, floodplain, alluvial fan, and delta deposits
• what floods are

Groundwater (Chapter 11)

• what groundwater is
• the following terms: belt of soil moisture, zone of saturation, zone of aeration, capillary fringe, water table, gaining streams, losing streams, & interactions.
• Porosity, permeability, aquitard, aquifer
• what gyesers, hot springs and springs are, and how they form
• how, where and why caves and karst topography form
• problems associated with groundwater removal

Deserts (Chapter 13)

• Describe the climatic conditions that produce arid and semiarid regions.
  
• Discuss the role of water in arid climates.
  
• Know how wind transports sediments
  
• Describe the features produced by wind erosion.
  
• List the types of wind deposits.

Glaciers (Chapter 13)

• what, how and where glaciers form
• parts and features of a glacier
• the differences between the various types of glaciers: Ice Sheets, Ice Shelves, Ice Caps, Ice Streams/Outlet Glaciers, Icefields, Mountain Glaciers, Valley Glaciers, Piedmont Glaciers, Cirque Glaciers, Hanging Glaciers, and Tidewater Glaciers
• how glaciers move
• landforms created by glaciers: Glacial Valleys, fjords, pater noster lakes, cirques, tarns, qrêtes, horns, lateral moraine, medial moraine, end/terminal moraine, ground moraine, drumlins, eskers, kettles, erratics, and kames.
• when the last ice age occured
• effects or the last ice age
• possible causes of glaciation