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GEOL 1200 Midterm 1 - Study Guide

Physical Geology Chapters 1 through 8

Based on your textbook and lectures: Tarbuck et al. Earth an Introduction to Physical

Geology 13th edition

Where and when?

This test will be taken during your usual GEOL 1200 lecture period. You will have 1 hour and

10 minutes to complete the test.

Wednesday, Sept 23 at 2:30 pm

McEniry 124

Exam format

The exam contains 60 multiple-choice and true-false questions.

Topics you need to know:

Everything that you need to know was covered during lecture since the start of the

semester. An emphasis will be placed on your understanding of Plate Tectonic theory.

Chapter 1 Introduction to Geology

• Physical geology focuses on Earth materials and processes; historical geology

reconstructs Earth's origin and development through time.

• The scientific method uses observations, testable hypotheses, predictions, and

evidence. A scientific theory is a well-tested explanation supported by a large body of

evidence; it is not a guess.

• Uniformitarianism states that the same physical laws and many of the same

geological processes operating today also operated in the past. Rates and intensities can

vary.

• Earth is a system with interacting geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and

biosphere components.

• The rock cycle links igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks through

crystallization, weathering, erosion, deposition, lithification, metamorphism, melting, and

uplift.

Some key terms/concepts that you need to know:

Catastrophism

Uniformitarianism, Hypothesis, Scientific theory

Rock cycle: the pathways by which rocks form, change, and are recycled

Know the major layers within the Earth

Chapter 2 Plate Tectonics

Know what plate tectonics theory is and the driving forces behind it.

Know the features and phenomena on our planet that are caused by plate tectonics

Know the different plate tectonic boundaries and how they can be recognized.

Know the history of plate-tectonic theory (The slides are useful for this)

Know Wegener's evidence for continental drift and why people rejected his ideas

Evidence that established plate tectonics

Know the difference between Oceanic and Continental Crust and Lithosphere

Plate boundaries

Some key terms/concepts that you need to know:

Boundary Plate motion Major products Key facts

Convergent, Divergent, and Transform Plate boundaries

Arc Volcanism

Subduction

Rifting

Mid-Ocean ridges

Paleo-magnetism – What it is and why it is important.

Lithosphere, asthenosphere

Crust, Mantle, Core

Slab-pull, ridge push

Decompression Melting

Fluid flux Melting

Continental Collision

Mantle convection

Chapter 3 Matter and Minerals

Know what a mineral is and how it is defined

Know how minerals are made of different elements

Know how silicate minerals are constructed from silicon-oxygen tetrahedra.

Know the different silicate mineral structures, including isolated tetrahedra, chains,

sheets, and three-dimensional frameworks.

Know the mineral properties used to identify minerals (e.g., luster, hardness, cleavage,

fracture, streak, color, specific gravity, and crystal habit etc.)

Know your Major mineral groups

Silicates - dominate Earth's crust. Common groups include feldspars, quartz,

micas, amphiboles, pyroxenes, olivine, and clay minerals.

Nonsilicate groups - include carbonates, oxides, sulfides, sulfates, halides, and

native elements.

Ferromagnesian silicates - contain iron and magnesium and are commonly darker

and denser than nonferromagnesian silicates.

Some key terms/concepts that you need to know:

Mafic and Felsic

Common Mafic and Felsic minerals

Chapter 4 Magma Igneous Rocks and Intrusive Activity

Difference between a rock and a mineral

Know how magma forms and how it crystallizes to form rocks

Know the concepts of Decompression melting, Flux melting and Heat transfer melting.

Know what Partial melting is and why it is important.

Know what fractional crystallization is and why it is important

Know how rock Texture records cooling history

Know the difference between Volcanic and Plutonic igneous rocks

Know textures like: Aphanitic, Phaneritic, Porphyritic, Vesicular, Pyroclastic

Know the common igneous rock types

Know the mineral Composition of the most common representative rocks

Melt Assimilation

Intrusive bodies

Chapter 5 Volcanoes and Volcanic Hazards

Know the Controls on eruption style

What controls Magma viscosity?

Know the physical properties of Basaltic, Andesitic, and Rhyolitic magma.

Know your Volcano types and the features associate with each (e.g.,

Shield volcano

Cinder cone, Stratovolcano, etc.

Know what a Caldera and a fissure is.

Basic basaltic lava flow characteristics

What a Pyroclastic flow is.

What a Lahar is

What are the major hazards associate with Volcanoes

How is volcanic activity monitored

Chapter 6 Weathering and Soils

Know what Weathering and erosion is

Mechanical weathering

Concepts like: Frost wedging, Exfoliation weathering, Salt-growth weathering

Chemical weathering

Know the principle processes responsible for chemical weathering. E.g., Hydrolysis,

Dissolution and Oxidation

How does climate control chemical weathering

How can mechanical weathering accelerate chemical weathering. Think, grain material

size and increases in surface area.

Which minerals (and rock types) are the most and least susceptible to chemical

weathering?

What is a soil?

What controls soil formation?

Know what a typical soil profile looks like and the horizon names

Know the number of soil categories used to classify soils globally. What controls the

formation of these?

Know what kind of soil category is the most common in North Carolina and what it’s

properties are.

Chapter 7 Sedimentary Rocks

Understand the formation of sedimentary rocks and how it fits into the rock cycle.

Weathering, erosion, transport, deposition, burial, and lithification

Major components of Lithification: Compaction and cementation.

Know the different sedimentary rock categories. E.g., Detrital or clastic, Chemical,

Biochemical, or Organic

Know the most Common Sedimentary Rock Types. E.g., Conglomerate, Breccia,

Sandstone, Limestone, and Rock Salt.

What is, and how does Coal form?

Know the types of environments that Sedimentary rocks form in.

Know basic sedimentary structures like, ripple marks, Mud-cracks, graded bedding,

crossbedding, etc.

Fossils and rock characteristics help reconstruct past environments.

Sequence Stratigraphy

Chapter 8 Metamorphism and Metamorphic Rocks

What is Metamorphism?

What are the common metamorphic rock types?

What is a metamorphic rock and how does it differ from a Igneous rock.

What drives metamorphism? (E.g., changes in pressure, temperature, differential stress,

and chemically active fluids including water)

What is metamorphic grade and what controls it?

Types of metamorphism and the settings it occurs in.

Contact metamorphism, Regional metamorphism, Hydrothermal metamorphism, Burial

metamorphism, Fault-zone metamorphism

Common Metamorphic Textures

Relationship between metamorphic grade and rock type

Metamorphic grade and index minerals provide information about pressure-temperature

conditions.