Geology 12 - Historical Geology
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Potential Final Questions

For the final, any questions from the previous exam guides that have not already appeared on an exam are fair game. This includes the remaining scenarios from the Essay for Exam #2.

The Final will include a last Geologic Time Quiz.

Potential Short Answer Questions

  1. What is natural selection? What are the conditions necessary for natural selection to operate? Illustrate with an example.
  2. How did the Franciscan Formation and the Great Valley Sequence of California form?
  3. Describe (that means more than just naming) four important consequences of Pleistocene glaciation in North America.
  4. Describe (that means more than just naming) four lines of evidence for a global glaciation in the Pleistocene.
  5. What is the plate setting of Western North America from the late Paleozoic to the Mesozoic? What is the evidence?
  6. How did the San Andreas Fault form? What other changes accompanied the formation of the fault?
  7. There are three models for where and how life originally formed on earth. Describe each of the models, and cite at least one line of evidence that supports each one.
  8. How are the patterns of life different from Cambrian to Paleozoic to Mesozoic with respect to size of organisms, skeletons, ecological complexity, and the dominant organisms?

Potential Essay Questions

1. The Western Cordillera of North America has a terribly complicated tectonic history throughout the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. Describe the change in plate configurations in this part of the world from  (1) the Jurassic to (2) the Cretaceous to (3) the Cenozoic. What is the evidence for each step of the history you are describing?

2. The East Coast of North America (Appalachian region) had a violent history throughout the Paleozoic. Describe the evolution of the East Coast from the Cambrian to the Permian. Feel free to use a chart if that helps your organization.  Your answer must:

3. Although the continents are well spaced around the globe today, geologists say that in the Late Paleozoic all the world's continents were assembled into a single supercontinent, Pangaea. What is the evidence 1) that this continent existed, 2) that it finished forming in the Late Paleozoic, and 3) that it broke up again in the Triassic?