Introductory Geosciences-II (Geology 1122)

Summer Semester 2024

Review Sheet for Test 1

June 12, 2024

Test 1 will be given in an online format. Fifty questions are asked from the topics listed below. This test will be timed (70 minutes). I recommend answering these questions completely as a way to review the material and prepare for the Test #1. I recommend consultation with notes with your study group. I also recommend review of text where material was stressed in class. Good luck.

Review Sheet (Landscapes, Soil, Weathering, Hydrologic cycle, rivers, Ground Water)

Rock Cycle.

Know the rock cycle (cold, thoroughly). Be able to draw and describe all types of rocks and the paths/processes taking place to convert one rock to another rock (or sediment or melt).

Weathering

Two types of weathering. Name them, describe them.

Three processes of chemical weathering that we stressed in class (name and describe briefly).

Surface area, relation of surface area to weathering. Calculate surface area of a cube. Show how the surface area increases with decreased particle size.

Soil

Horizons of a soil (top soil, sub soil and weathered rock). Name processes in top (A) and subsoils (B). Which soils are the thickest? Why? How is the C-horizon recognized from the A and B horizons? Which soil order is prevalent in the SE US?

Landscapes

Name the three kinds of energy forming a landscape. Why are climate (temperature, rain) important in forming a landscape? Why so many different landscapes?

Water. Be able to describe the hydrologic cycle. What are the paths of water movement? What are the key reservoirs of water movement?

In a relative sense, how much water is in the: oceans, ice, atmosphere, freshwater and lakes, and groundwater? How much water is present in lakes and streams relative to groundwater?

After rainwater forms runoff and down cuts channels, what are the four kinds of drainage patterns? Which ones reflect the presence of joints, fractures? Folds?

Drainage basin, how defined? Highlands? Drainage divide? Meander? Braided stream? Delta?

Define the discharge of a river. Units? How is cross-section area related to velocity at a given value of discharge?

What is stream capacity? What is stream competence? How much dissolved load is present in potable fresh water? What are the dissolved constituents present in fresh surface water?

How are deltas formed? Meandering streams? Valleys? Oxbow lakes?

Floods: when can they occur? What is a recurrence interval? How does urbanization increase the likelihood of flooding?

Define an aquifer. What rocks make good aquifers? Differentiate between a confined aquifer and an unconfined aquifer. In each case, how is each aquifer charged with water?

What is meant by porosity? Permeability? Saturated zone? Unsaturated Zone?.

What is the water table and how does it change in elevation? How is the water table measured?

Calculate the velocity for water movement between two wells A and B. At well A, the water table is 325 feet. At well B, the water table is 300 feet. The distance between the two wells is 100 feet and the hydraulic conductivity is 0.5 feet/day. How fast is water moving? What direction is water moving (A to B? or B to A?) Given a velocity and distance of movement, how do you calculate the time it took for water to move from one point to the other?

Define Darcy’s law (including hydraulic conductivity and hydraulic gradient).

How does groundwater acquire total dissolved solids (TDS)? How much TDS is present in potable water?

Name several ways humankind pollutes or contaminates groundwater.

Water doctrines: Appropriation and Riparian. Which doctrine is present in Georgia? Why is that doctrine applied for Georgia? Will it likely to change?

What are sources in Atlanta of pollution into the area rivers?

Reasons for increased demand on groundwater?

Is groundwater a renewable resource on the lifetime of a human?

Name reasons for depletion of groundwater supplies. Artesian flow, how formed?