FINAL REVIEW SHEET (for old material) - material since last exam will also be about half of the final! – check out practice questions/diagrams on website!

STUFF IN RED IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT; Review old exam questions related to these topics;  Also, check out old “lecture diagrams” for topics not discussed in the book…

 

Chapters 11 and 12 – Earth Interior/Plate Tectonics/Mountain Building/Earthquakes/Volcanos

 

  • Earth’s Layers – order/relative density
  • Lithosphere/Asthenosphere
  • Magnetic Field – how formed/signature in rocks
  • Isostatic Rebound – what is isostasy?
  • Geologic Time Scale – Cenozoic/Mesozoic/Paleozoic/Precambrian
  • Plate Tectonics
    • Evidence – Earthquake Depth, Mag. Reversals, Shape of continents…
    • Types of Plates – Ocean/Continental – Relative Densities/Age
    • Types of Plate Boundaries!! and associated mountains
      • Oceanic-Oceanic – magma type/island arc
      • Continental-Oceanic – magma type/”Mt. St. Helens, Cascades”
      • Continental-Continental – no magma/”Himalayas”,”Appalachians”

-          thus convergent, divergent, and transform (i.e. San Andreas) plate boundaries

·         Orogenesis

·         Rocky Mountains à Laramide Orogeny

·         Fault Block Mountains - Sierra Nevada mtns (batholith/pluton); Tetons; Basin and Range

·         Fold and Thrust Belt Mountains

o   Canadian Rockies

o   Appalachians (Allegheny Orogeny)

·         Folding/Faulting

o   Brittle vs Ductile deformation

o   Types of folds and faults (normal, reverse, thrust, strike-slip); Horst and Graben – Basin and Range; San Andreas Fault – “Strike-Slip”

 

·         Earthquakes – where are they?

o   Focus, Epicenter

o   Moment Magnitude Scale

o   Geomorphic Effects: Landslides, Liquefaction, Tsunamis

 

·         Volcanoes

·         Type of magma in relation to plate tectonics

·         Composite Cone/Stratovolcano – Explosive

·         Cinder Cone/Caldera/Pyroclastic Flow/Lahar

·         Volcanic Neck/Dike/Batholith/Pluton/Laccolith

·         Hot Spots – Hawaii (shield volcano); Plateau Basalts (Columbia R./Deccan Traps)

·         Yellowstone Hot Spot

 

Chapters 13 and 18 – Weathering, Soils, Mass Wasting

 

  • Weathering  - what factors determine rate of weathering? Rock Type, climate, grain size, topography, etc.
  • How do physical weathering processes relate to chemical weathering processes
  • Physical/Mechanical
    • jointing
    • frost wedging/freeze-thaw
    • exfoliation/sheeting
    • salt weathering (crystallization)
    • thermal expansion
    • hydration – swelling of clays --- i.e. shales in desert

·         Chemical

§  Spheroidal Weathering

§  Hydrolysis, oxidation, carbonation (Karst topography)

 

·         Soils

    • CL,O,R,P,T – soil forming factors
    • Soil Horizons – O, A, E, B, “regolith”
    • Soil Properties – color, texture, porosity, permeability
    • Pedogenic Processes – Laterization, Podzolization, Calcification
    • Soil Orders – know these six: Oxisol, Spodosol, Aridisol, Mollisol, Alfisol, Ultisol
      • Relation of these orders to climate and pedogenic regime

 

  • Mass Wasting
    • Downhill Force: F = m*g*cos a; where m=mass, g=gravity, a=slope angle
    • Downhill force relative to resistive/friction force determines block stability
    • Angle of repose à driving force = resistive force; max slope angle
    • Factors influencing slope stability
    • Type of material very important

o   Classes of Mass movements

      • Slope Failures: slump, slide, fall (rock or debris)
      • Sediment Flows
        • “Dry”: creep, earthflow, debris avalanche
        • “Wet”: debris flow (very dense), mudflow (more liquidy)

 

 

 

Chapters 9 and 14 – Ground Water/Surface Water/Flooding/Fluvial Processes/Fluvial Landforms

 

·         Groundwater

o   Infiltration, percolation, water table

o   Permeability and porosity (hydraulic conductivity)

o   Aquiclude/Springs

o   Aquifer – confined vs. unconfined

§  Unconfined – wells, drawdown/cone of depression

·         Darcy’s Law – rate of groundwater flow: q=h/l x K

·         High Plains Aquifer/Denver Basin

§  Confined – Artesian Well, potentiometric surface; Black Hills

o   Groundwater Problems: subsidence, drawdown, saltwater, pollution

 

  • Surface Hydrology
    • Overland flow – types: infiltration excess, saturation overland
      • Factors influencing overland flow: type/intensity of precip; permeability
      • Infiltration rates: permeability/Porosity

 

§  Drainage Networks

      • Drainage density
      • Dendritic, Geologic Controls
      • Watershed, Drainage Basin, Drainage Divide

 

§  Hydrographs

      •  “flashy” vs. “subdued”
      • Factors effecting: type/intensity of precip; permeability of landscape

 

§  Flooding: Mississippi R. Floods (1993): “100-year” flood; Big Thompson Canyon

§  Dams: Ecological Effects of decreased flooding downstream from dams

 

§  Fluvial Forms and Processes

§  River Discharge: width x depth x velocity = Q

§  Longitudinal Profile – channel gradient decreases to base level or local base level

§  Shear Stress: Determines amount of sediment a river can carry

§  Sediment Load: dissolved, suspended, bed load (how do these relate to channel form)

§  Channel Form

        • Factors affecting: amount of water, amount of sediment, type of sediment
        • Braided, Meandering, Straight

·         Meandering River Landforms: oxbow, point bar, etc…

·         Mountain streams types; relation to channel slope; How is grain size related to channel slope and shear stress downstream along a longitudinal profile

·         Graded Stream

·         Nickpoints

·         Sediment Deposition

o   Floodplains

o   Terraces – factors related to how they form

o   Deltas – ultimate sediment destination; Miss. R. Delta