Geology Exam One

What is a fault?

A fracture that has movement

Significance of tectonic cycle

•Global zones of resources (oil, gas, & mineral ores) • Global belts of earthquakes and volcanic activities • Impacts on the landscape and global climates • Geologic knowledge of plate tectonics: foundation for urban development and hazard mitigation

What is unifomitarianism?

* The Present is the key to the past *The Present is the key to the future *Changes of frequency and magnitude: Geological processes and human activities

Different means of measuring sustainability

*Use and consumption of non-renewable resources (oil) *Natural replenishment and renewable rates *Development and improvement of human environment versus viable environment *Not lead to environmental crisis

What are seismic P waves and their propagation properties?

-Primary, Push-pull, or compressive wave. Travels like a sound wave -Parallel -Fastest rates of propagation, first arrival to the seismograph -Body wave travels through Earth's interior and ALL media- solid and liquid

Evidence of Continental Drift And seafloor spreading

-There was no solid evidence of a mechanism for continental drift 1. Similar fossils found in rocks on different continents 2. Similar rock structures found on different continents 3. Continents fit together like puzzles 4. Climate evidence in glaciers moving in the same directions

Physical properties to identify a mineral

-made of inorganic or chemical compound -definitive chemical composition -Made of naturally occurring solids -Formed by geologic processes

Three Types of Plate Boundaries

1. Divergent- plates moving apart and new lithosphere produced in mid-oceanic ridge 2. Convergent-Plates collide, mountain building 3. Transform-two plates slide past one another *Earth's interior convection is mechanism for plate tectonics

4 types of chemical bonds

1. Ionic Bond 2. Covalent Bond 3. Metallic Bond 4. Van Der Waals Bond

4 objectives of Environmental Geology

1. To better understand environmental problems 2. Geologic knowledge for problem solving 3. Minimize environmental degradation 4. Optimize resources to maximize environmental benefits

Age of the Earth

4.6 billion years

Difference between theory and hypothesis?

A hypothesis is an educated guess to explain something. A theory is backed up with experiments and results.

Rock Structure

Brittle Deformation, joints and faults Ductile Deformation, mountains

What mineral group does limestone belong to?

Carbonate

Sedimentary Rock:

Clastic: (shale, sandstone) compacted and cemented from detrital sediments. Non Clastic:(Limestone) precipitated from chemical solutions and or accumulated chemical, biological matter.

What force formed a fold?

Compressional

Earth's Concentric Layers

Crust, Moho Discontinuity, Upper Mantle, Lower Mantle, Outer Core, Inner Core, Lithosphere, Asthenosphere

What texture could halite be?

Crystalline

Definition of Sustainability

Development which ensures that future generations have access to the resources that our planet offers

Three units for Geologic Time. Smallest to largest

Epoch, Period, Era

What has more silica? Mafic or Felsic?

Felsic

Metamorphic Rock:

Foliation:(Slate, gneiss) Preferred alignment of platy mineral particles. Non Foliation: (Marble, quartzite) Randomly arranged and interlocked mineral particles

5 Criteria a material must meet to be considered mineral

Inorganic, naturally occurring, solid, solid with orderly crystalline structure, and define chemical compound.

Igneous Rocks:

Intrusive:Crystallized/solidified beneath Earth's surface(Granite) Extrusive: Crystallized/ solidified at or near Earth's surface (Basalt)

Difference between knowledge and imagination?

Knowledge: What is known Imagination: No limits

Four subsystems of the Earth System

Lithosphere: Land Atmosphere: Air Hydrosphere: Water Biosphere: Living Things

What is the Gaia Hypothesis?

Living matter on the Earth collectively defines and regulates the material conditions necessary for the continuance of life.

Is Earth and open or closed system? Why?

Open system; transfer and exchange of matter and energy

The Law of Crosscutting

Rock is younger than the other one it cuts

The Law of Superposition

Rocks become progressively younger towards the top in an undisturbed and undeformed rock sequence

What are seismic S waves and their propagation properties?

Secondary or shear waves -Perpendicular -Slower than P waves -Body waves go through Earth's interior, but NOT liquid layers

The Law of Horizontality

Sedimentary rock layers nearly horizontal under normal conditions

Why is human population an environmental problem?

Silently aggravating global warming Environmental pollution Habitat loss

Three Rock Laws

The Law of... Crosscutting Horizontality Superposition

Main fossil of Mississippi?

Whale Bone