Rock Class Final

Uranium

Mining of what substance in the 1940s and 1950s has resulted in an environmental disaster in the Four Corners area?

Transport very large particles

A fast flowing river during a flood would be able to

Fossils

What is the most useful form of evidence to determine the depositional environment of a limestone?

Wind blown sand dunes

The Jurassic Navajo Sandstone in Arches National Parks was formed in what type of depositional environment?

Antiquites Act of 1906

What legislation is Theodore Roosevelt associated with, that is used by Presidents to proclaim National Monuments?

Mandan, Hidatsa, and the Crow

Historically what Native American tribes) is/are most associated with the area that is now Theodore Roosevelt National Park?

fractures or joints

Which geologic features often controls the location of rivers, canyons, and other surface features, such as natural rock arches?

nonmarine streams, lakes, and floodplains

What types of depositional environments are recorded by the rocks in Theodore Roosevelt National Park?

Jurassic Entrada Sandstone

In Arches National Park in which rock formation do most of the natural rock arches form?

Williston Basin

In what petroleum rich basin is the Theodore Roosevelt National Park located?

Ancestral Rockies Deformation

What mountain building event was responsible for the formation of the Front Range and Uncompahgre Uplifts and orogenic sediments, such as the Permian Cutler Formation in Arches National Park?

Navajo Nation

Which Native American tribe has suffered major negative health effects from mining in the Four Comers?

upward movement of Pennsylvanian salt

What caused the uplift of rocks in Arches National Park that formed the extensive fracture system that is responsible for the development of the many rock arches? (A intrusion of a massive

overgrazing increases weathering and erosion by exposing the rock and soil as vegetation is destroyed

Why would overgrazing by cattle or bison affect surface weathering and erosion of the rocks?

an area in the Four Comers that has undergone only relatively minor faulting and folding

What is the Colorado Plateau?

less than 1%

What is the amount of Earth's total water that is available as a resource for human consumption and other lifeforms?

Delaware Basin

Within what geologic/physiographic feature is Carlsbad Cavern National Park located?

the boundary between the unsaturated zone and the zone of saturation.

The water table is

re-submergence of the cave formations, which were again attacked by weak acidic solutions

What is theorized to have caused the knobby texture of cave popcorn in Carlsbad Cavern?

the mountains were eroded by glacial ice

Why are the mountains within Yosemite National Park relatively rounded?

Mesozoic granites

What major rock type is exposed at the surface in Yosemite National Park?

low sun spot activity known as the Maunder Minimum

The period of climate cooling known as the Little Ice Age is theorized to have been partially caused by what?

building a dam in the Hetch Hetchy Valley

What event occurred in Yosemite National Park that sparked a nationwide environmental battle?

Permian Capitan Limestone

What rock formation are the cave passages of Carlsbad Cavern formed within?

karst topography

What is the landscape called that is characterized by caves, sinkholes, sinking springs, and terra rosas?

primary sedimentary bedding

What exerts the major control on the direction of the cave passageways in Mammoth Cave National Park?

it formed from dissolution by sulfuric acid

what makes Carlsbad Cavern different from most caves and caverns

stalactites

What type of speleothems "grow" down from the ceiling of a cave?

brines from nearby oil fields

What is the source of the acidic fluids that formed Carlsbad Caverns?

Black Death killing 25-50% of Europe's population.

Which of the following occurred during the period known as the Little Ice Age from 1300-1850?

Reefs limit the circulation of normal marine water.

Why are evaporite deposits often closely associated with barrier reef complexes?

solid, porous carbonate structure built by living organisms in the ocean

What is a reef?

Permian Period

What age are the reefs in Guadalupe Mountains National Park?

Pangea

What is the name of the "supercontinent" that was formed during the Permian Period that included all the large continents?

phylloidal algae and bryozoans

What organisms were the major builders of carbonate mounds in the Pennsylvanian Period?

crinoids

What organisms more than any other characterized the Mississippian Period in North America?

barrier reef complex

What geologic feature is exposed in McKittrick Canyon in Guadalupe Mountains National Park?

scleractinian corals

What organism are the major reef-builders on modern shallow water reefs?

Wallace Pratt

What geologist donated the magnificent McKittrick Canyon to the federal government to become part of Guadalupe Mountains National Park?

rudist clams, stromatoporoids, and scleractinian corals

What were the major reef building organism during the Cretaceous Period?

archaeocyathids and sponges

What organisms constructed small patch reefs during the Cambrian Period?

at the end of the Permian Period

When did the largest mass extinction in geologic history occur?

widespread coal deposits

What important rock type characterizes the Pennsylvanian Period worldwide?

Capitan Formation

In Guadalupe Mountains National Park what geologic formation contains the massive barrier reef facies?

sponges, bryozoans, calcisponges, and algae

What were the major organism that formed reefs during the Permian Period?

Pleistocene Epoch

what is the geologic era of the most caldera eruptions in Yellowstone?

debris, especially plastic trash in the oceans

what is a major environmental threat to the ocean

a caldera

what geologic feature occupies a large portion of Yellowstone National Park

74mph

What is the minimum wind speed for a tropical storm to be considered a hurricane

the youngest national park in the US

What distinction does Yellowstone National Park have

Diversion of the natural flow of surface and groundwater

what is the major environmental threat to the Everglades National Park

sea surface temperatures are highest

why do most hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean occur in late summer and early fall

A major forest fire

What natural disaster damaged 36% of Yellowstone national park in 1988

there is too much mud in the water of the bay

why are no coral reefs growing in Biscayne Bay today

age of the magma

this is not an important factor in determining the volcano type and the explosiveness of volcanic eruption

Shield VOlcanoes

the largest volcanoes characterized by quiet, non-explosive eruptions of basaltic lava are called what

it is the largest sawgrass marsh in the world

What is true about Everglades National Park

Composite Volcanoes

What type of volcano is considered the most dangerous

causes major soil and coastal erosion during storms and hurricanes

what is not an importance of coastal wetlands, like those of Everglades National Park

They are the only trees able to tolerate brackish, salty water and stabilize the shoreline

why are mangroves important in South Florida

upright petrified trees

What is Specimen Ridge in Yellowstone National Park known for?

Mauna Kea

What is the tallest mountain on Earth?

the highest rate of extinction per square mile in the world

What distinction do the Hawaiian Islands have currently?

Kilauea

what is considered the most active volcano in the world?

by headward erosion of two streams

How did the Haleakala "crater" formed?

a hot spot in an ocean plate

What is the plate tectonic setting for Hawaii Volcanoes National Park?

Shield volcanoes

what type of volcanoes are all the main Hawaiian volcanoes

fragile ecosystem with rare and endangered plant and bird species, some found only in the valley

what is important about the Kipahulu Valley in Haleakala National Park?

islands of older forested land surrounded by recent lava flows

What are kipuka's?

The andesitic rocks would have erupted more violently, with more pyroclastics.

What is the importance of the change from basaltic rocks in Haleakaka National Park to more andesitic rocks?

hydrothermally altered lava lows exposed in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River

What gives the name "yellow stone" to Yellowstone National Park?

aa lava flows

Which type of lava flow is composed of thick, sticky, viscous lava and cools to form a rough, jagged surface?

Feral and domestic cats

What animal species is considered the number one predator threat to U.S. wildlife, especially birds?

House of the sun

What does the name Haleakala mean in Hawaiian?

Loihi

What is the name of the recently formed subsea volcano east of the island of Hawaii?

supervolcano

What was the geologic setting of Acadia National Park during the Paleozoic Era?

Acadian Orogeny

Which orogenic event most shaped the park and is best preserved in Acadia National Park?

lahars

what hazard is one of the most dangerous currently associated with Mount Rainier

erosion by continental glaciers

the current topography of Mount Desert Island in Acadia National Park is the result of what geologic processes?

above subduction zone at convergent boundary

What is the plate tectonic setting for Mount Rainier National Park?

steep slope would be less stable

How would the stability of a hillside with a very steep slope compare to that of a hill with a gentle slope?

composite volcano

What type of volcano is Mount Rainier?

the volcano was glaciated.

The presence of U-shaped valleys, moraines, and till deposits on the volcanic rim around Crater Lake indicates

Only forests in United States that have never had commercial logging.

What distinction do the old growth forest in Mount Rainier National Park hold?

glacial ice and landslides

What two geologic processes form a deposit that has particles of all sizes, shapes, and is unsorted?

pumice

What type of igneous rock is so full of holes from gas bubbles that it is light enough to float in water

composite volcano

What type of volcano exploded to form Crater Lake

zone where superheated magma interacted with surrounding cool rocks or the water table

The shatter zone that outcrops around Mount Desert Island in Acadia National Park represents what geologic process?

Mount Mazama

What is the name of the volcano that exploded to form Crater Lake?

Deepest lake in United States.

What record does Crater Lake hold?

Olympic National Park

A temperate rain forest, rocky coastline, and mountain glaciers are all found in which of the following national parks?

Elwha River

The largest dam removal in the United States history occurred from 2011 to 2014 is restoring the vital salmon runs on the

hottest, driest, lowest place in North America

What distinctions) does Death Valley National Park hold?

the first fossil evidence of multicellular life

What is important about the Ediacara Fauna found in Death Valley National Park?

Death Valley National Park

In which national park is the interesting geologic feature, known as Racetrack Playa, which has big rocks that mysteriously slide along the ground located?

Precambrian-aged gneiss and granite

What are the age and rock type forming the core of the Grand Teton mountain range?

the Yellowstone supervolcano

What was the source of the Cenozoic-aged volcanic deposits preserved in Jackson Hole, just east of the Grand Tetons?

alluvial fans

Common in Death Valley National Park, these fan-shaped deposits are formed where a high gradient stream in a canyon flows onto the flat valley floor. They are known as

turbidite

The deposit from an underwater landslide is known as a

salmon

What species is known as a keystone species in the rivers in Olympic National Park, especially the river with recent dam removals?