Exam 3 Review Material (Geology) – Earth Science

Terms:

cleavage

mineral

Mohs hardness scale

silicate

carbonate

silicon-oxygen tetrahedron

oxide

coarse-grained texture

chemical sedimentary rock

contact metamorphism

detrital sedimentary rock

evaporite

extrusive (volcanic)

fine-grained texture

foliated texture

glassy texture

igneous rock

intrusive (plutonic)

lava

lithification

magma

metamorphic rock

nonfoliated texture

regional metamorphism

rock cycle

sediment

sedimentary rock

weathering

chemical weathering

frost wedging

mechanical weathering

parent rock

surface area

crust

epicenter

fault

focus

inner core

liquefaction

mantle

outer core

P wave

S wave

seismograph

mid-ocean ridge

deep sea trench

mantle convection

transform boundary

convergent boundary

divergent boundary

mantle plumes

subduction

seafloor spreading

subduction

aa flow

cinder cone

composite cone

pahoehoe flow

pyroclastic

shield volcano

viscosity

volcano

uniformitarianism

catastrophism

half-life

parent isotope

daughter product

relative age dating

numerical age dating

cross-cutting relationships

original horizontality

superposition

  1. What is the rock cycle?  (can you draw it?) 
  2. Briefly, what are the three families of rocks, and how do we define them, generally?
  3. Where do we find igneous rocks?  What terms do we call igneous rocks that are found at and beneath the surface?
  4. By what two criteria can we identify most igneous rocks?
  5. What are differences between mafic and felsic magmas and rocks?
  6. What are other textures (besides grain size) that are common in igneous rocks?
  7. What are three basic types of volcanoes?  What are differences between these volcanoes?  What are examples of these types of volcanoes?
  8. In which types of crust do the two different compositions of magma occur?

9.  What are the various types of weathering?

10.  What are examples of mechanical weathering?  Chemical weathering?

11.  What are the two main categories of sedimentary rock?

12.  What are the varieties of detrital sediment and their corresponding sedimentary rocks?

13.  What two processes go into lithification?

14.  What does sediment size indicate about the energy of the environment?

15.  What are specific examples of high and low energy environments?

16.  What are some chemical sedimentary rocks, and how does each generally form?

17.  What are some features other than grain size that might be found in sedimentary rocks?

18.  What are the two main types of metamorphism?  How do they occur

19.  What texture is associated with each?

20.  What are some examples of foliated textures and the rocks associated with each?

21.  What degree of metamorphism is represented by each foliated texture?

22.  What are examples of the relationship between parent rock & metamorphic rock?

23.  What are examples of contact metamorphism?

24.  Who developed the theory of continental drift?

25.  What were his observations that supported his theory?

26.  What mechanism did he propose to drive continental drift?

27.  Why were his ideas not accepted?

28.  After Wegener, where did geologists generally find new information to modify Wegener’s theory?

29.  What are the three basic types of plate boundaries?  What are examples of each?

30.  Give specific types of convergent, divergent, and transform margins.

31.  How is volcanic activity related to subduction?

32.  What is the relative age of the ocean floor compared to the continents?

33.  Where is the oldest ocean crust?  Youngest?

34.  What patterns does one find in the ages of ocean crust?

35.  What mechanism drives plate tectonics?

36.  What is convection?

37.  How do earthquakes occur?

38.  The difference in energy with each increment increase of earthquake magnitude?

  1. What are major source of damage in earthquakes?
  2. How do geologists pinpoint the epicenter of an earthquake?
  3. What are two different approaches to establish the age of a rock unit or a geologic event?
  4. What are some principles of relative age dating?
  5. How is radiometric age dating used to determine a geologic age?