Geology 8 - Spring 2007

Learning Objectives for Exam #3

 

Groundwater

1.      Define and correctly use the terms "porosity" and "permeability."

2.      Explain and illustrate how flowing artesian wells occur.

3.      Define the expression “cone of depression” and explain how the cone of depression from a well can affect water supply in nearby wells.

4.      Know the name of the major watershed in which the university is located, the name of the major watershed directly south of this watershed, and be able to locate and sketch both on a map.

5.      Distinguish between confined and unconfined aquifers.

6.      Explain and illustrate how confined aquifers get recharged and pressurized.  Sketch the pressure surface on a figure similar to Figure 3.28.

7.      Explain how flowing artesian wells occur (also Figure 3.28).

8.      Compare and contrast the aquifers in the Sacramento valley and the San Joaquin valley.

9.      Compare and contrast groundwater in fractured crystalline aquifers with groundwater in detrital sediment.

 

Weathering, Soil and Mass Wasting

10. Compare and contrast mechanical and chemical weathering.

11. List, explain, and identify in pictures the agents of mechanical weathering.

12. Define the terms "soil."

13. Explain why clearing tropical and subtropical rainforest does not usually yield productive farmland.

14.  

15. Describe and label an illustration of San Joaquin soil.

16. Explain how the silica layer in San Joaquin soil is formed.

17. Define the term "Mass Wasting."

18. List factors that affect to occurrence of mass wasting.

19. Define and properly use the term "angle of repose."

20. Explain the geologic and climatic factors that contributed to the Mill Creek Landslide on Hwy 50.

21. Explain what is meant by an n-year flood (where n is a number of years).

22. Describe, illustrate, and label an illustration of the hydrologic cycle.

23. Name the source of energy responsible for driving the hydrologic cycle.

24. Describe flood control measures in the Sacramento Area.

25. Define, explain and properly use the terms "gradient", "discharge", "hydrograph", and "base level" in the context of stream flow.

26. Given a stream profile, locate those regions that have high, moderate and low gradients.

27. Given a stream profile, indicate where streams will form “V-shaped” valleys and where they will form broad flood plains.

28. Define and use properly and identify on maps or drawings the following:  Watershed, sub-basin, water divide, tributary.

29. Locate the following rivers on a map of California: Sacramento, American, San Joaquin.

30. Relate water velocity to the processes of erosion and deposition of sediment.

31. Define, sketch, or identify in a sketch the following terms: bed load, suspended load, dissolved load.

32. Correctly identify and label the quantities represented on the axes of a stream hydrograph.

33. Explain why the stream hydrograph of the American River changed in the late 1950s.

34. Distinguish between stream competence and stream capacity, and the stream processes that are responsible for them.

35. Describe how stream meanders form and migrate.

36. Define the terms "Oxbow Lake" and "bayou".

37. Know the name of the major watershed in which the university is located, the name of the major watershed directly south of this watershed, and be able to locate both on a map.

38. Sketch how the following quantities vary along a typical stream profile (and in particular for the American River): Elevation, volume of water flowing in stream, water velocity, channel shape.

39. Relate stream gradient to water velocity, the shape of a stream channel, and the development of a flood plain.

40. Correctly answer questions assigned as homework.

Earthquakes

  1. Distinguish between stress and strain.
  2. Define the following terms: Elastic strain, brittle strain (or brittle failure), plastic strain.
  3. List the 4 main factors that determine if a rock or solid strain elastically, plastically, or by brittle failure.
  4. Given a picture of a strained rock, determine if it strained plastically or by brittle failure.
  5. Define the term "elastic rebound."
  6. Define, illustrate and properly use the following terms: Epicenter, focus, hypocenter, elastic rebound, seismograph, seismogram.
  7. Describe the particle motion and relative speed of the following types of seismic waves: P-wave, S-wave, Surface wave. 
  8. Sketch the particle motion of P-waves and S-waves relative to the direction the waves travel.
  9. Given a seismogram, identify the arrival of the P-wave and S-wave.
  10. Given a map of seismograph locations, and the relative arrival time of the P-wave at each seismograph, estimate the location of an earthquake.
  11. Distinguish between earthquake magnitude and earthquake intensity.
  12. Describe some of the factors that determine earthquake intensity.
  13. Describe and illustrate the “P-wave shadow” created by the low-velocity outer core of the earth.
  14. Explain what is meant by a “seismic gap,” and explain how seismic gaps are used to help predict earthquakes.
  15. Locate the following features on a map of California: San Andreas fault, Sierra Nevada mountains, Sacramento River, San Joaquin River, American River, Lake Tahoe, Mount Shasta.

Volcanoes

  1. Describe and explain the occurrence of the “Ring of Fire.”
  2. Define and properly use the following terms: pyroclastic material, viscosity, igneous dike, igneous sill, caldera, batholith.
  3. List factors that affect the viscosity of magma; rank these factors in order of importance in determining viscosity.
  4. Given type of magma (basaltic versus rhyolitic) in a volcano, predict the magma viscosity and eruption style of volcanoes located in different tectonic settings.
  5. Describe, illustrate label an illustration of profiles of different types of volcanoes; label Figure 7.14, noting volcano sizes and the steepness of their slopes.
  6. Given a photograph of a volcano, identify it as "shield," "composite," or "cinder cone."
  7. Given a sketch of photograph of a volcano or volcanic eruption, predict magma viscosity (high or low), silica content (high or low), magma type basaltic or rhyolitic), and volcano type.
  8. Describe the formation of Crater Lake in Oregon.

Geologic Time

  1. Distinguish between relative and absolute age dating.
  2. Define uniformatarianism and explain how it is used in geology and in every-day experiences.
  3. Describe how the tools of relative age dating are applied to sedimentary rocks.
  4. Given a geologic cross-section, use the rules of relative age dating to put geologic events in their proper time sequence.
  5. Define the following terms and use the term “half-life.”
  6. Explain how radioactive decay of carbon-14 is used to age date organic material.
  7. Explain how radioactive decay is used to determine that time at which an igneous rock crystallized from magma.
  8. Given the half-life of a radionuclide, its abundance in a rock, and the abundance of the daughter product, determine the age of the rock.
  9. Provide the scientifically accepted age of the earth.
  10. Explain the conditions that are favorable for the preservation of fossils; use these conditions to determine why particular fossils were or were not preserved.
  11. Place the geologic eras (Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic) in proper time sequence; memorize the age of the boundaries between these eras.
  12. Place the following descriptions in the proper geologic eras: The age of amphibians, that age of reptiles, the age of mammals, human.
  13. Describe the evidence that one or more of asteroids hit the earth at the end of the Cretaceous Period.
  14. Describe the reasons that an asteroid impact could lead to mass extinctions.

 

78. Correctly answer questions assigned as homework