GEOLOGY 240
LECTURE EXAM
STUDY GUIDES
EXAM 1
I have not specifically listed the key words. They make great true/false and multiple choice questions. They are the bold faced words in each chapter.
Chapter 1
Can you explain the principle of
uniformitarianism? catastrophism?
What are the three laws or principles that Steno recognized and how do they
affect relative dating?
You might as well begin to learn the geologic time scale, at least through the
periods.
What are the lithosphere and the asthenosphere and their interrelationship?
Chapter 2
What is a mineral? How do we identify
them? Know the various mineral groups and what complex
ion is found in
each.
Know the types of rocks, and how we identify them. Be able to match rock
names with textures.
Be able to describe the rock cycle.
Be able to discuss the stories that the different rocks can tell about geography
and depositional
environments
Chapter 3
How are fossils formed? How is an organism
fossilized? What is the difference in a body fossil and a
trace fossil?
Be able to identify and discuss the various Kingdoms of life.
What does the phrase "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" mean?
Chapter 7
This chapter is about evolution and how our concepts have
evolved over time, pun intended.
what did Darwin notice during the voyage of the HMS Beagle that
began his thinking about the
concept of evolution? What observations did he make that lead
him to the concept of natural
selection?
Discuss the concept of paleontological and biological species.
What effect does extinction have on evolution?
What is Cope's Rule and what support is there for this concept?
What is meant by the phrase the ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny? Is it
true? give examples for your
answer.
Chapter 4
In this chapter we are concerned with the diversity of life and
the constraints that limit its range. You will cover in lab more about the
diversity and how to identify the various phyla. In lecture I am more
concerned with the constraints or limitations that restrict where life is found.
What adaptations have been made for certain locations, i.e. tropics vs. arctic.
Be able to discuss the different limiting factors.
What comprises an ecological community? an ecosystem?
Can you discuss the food chain concept?
Chapter 8
What are the differences between the concept of Continental
drift as espoused by Wegener and Global
Plate Tectonics? what evidence did Wegener
marshal to support his concept of Pangea?
Can you discuss the problems people had with the Continental Drift concept?
What evidence pointed towards the concept of Sea Floor Spreading?
Can you identify the different types of faults?
Can you discuss the differences in the types of volcanic activity and earthquake
activity at each of the
different types of plate boundaries? Types of motion
and stress?
Can you match the geographic examples of each type of boundary with its type
name?
Can you discuss the importance of the ophiolite sequence and how to recognize
one?
Chapter 9
How do divergent boundaries start and develop? what types
of faulting and sedimentation would you
expect to find at such locations?
What are the differences between passive and active continental margins?
Types and amounts of
sediment?
Can you identify the types of folds?
Can you discuss the differences between orogenesis with and without continental
collision? The
locations of forearc and foreland basins and how they
develop? The types of sediment and the
order of its appearance?
EXAM 2
Remember that I said that Plate Tectonics will be on all future exams!
Key words, the bold faced words in the text, are good for true/false and
multiple choice questions. The
exams will get progressively harder. If
you have question bring them up in class or see me during my office hours, or
e-mail your request to me!
I did not include any questions on Mountain building on the last exam,
even though we had covered that in lecture.
I intend to have some questions about our modern concept of mountain
building, specifically with the problems of where and what types of sediment
would be found and how we explain the development of mountain belts.
Chapter 5 Sedimentary Environments
Can you explain the development of a soil and the
constraints on its development? Do
you know the soil horizons and what happens in each. Can you describe the three
main types of soil that were given in class?
What is a paleosoil and how would you identify it?
Can you describe the physical characteristics that shape the types of sediment
found in
the fluvial, the lacustrine, the paludial environment? Can you describe the types of
sediment and fossils that should be found in each?
Can you do the same with the high energy and low energy environments of the
marine
realm?
Chapter 6 Correlation and Dating of the Rock Record
Can you explain the differences between the
stratigraphic unit, the biostratigraphic unit,
and the chronostratigraphic unit?
Explain magnetic polarity. How can
it be used to help in correlations?
Can you describe several of the ways in which early geologists tried to
determine the
age of the Earth and the problems that beset each of
these techniques?
What is the concept of radioactive decay and how can it be used to determine
radiometric ages?
Are they absolute? What are
the problems with these
techniques?
What are some of the isotopes that are used in radiometric dating?
Can you determine the approximate age of a sample if given the amount of parent
and
daughter product?
Can you describe other dating techniques?
Chapter 10 Chemical Cycles
In this chapter we discussed the various chemical cycles, particularly those involving CO2 and O2. We also discussed the uses of isotopic analysis as a proxy for temperature and for indications of rapid burial of organic carbon, sequestering it from the normal cycle.
Do you understand the greenhouse effect and how it works? What about
the various greenhouse
gases?
Do you know where chemicals are stored? Their fluxes? Their positive
and negative feedback
mechanisms?
How are CO2 and O2 cycled? Where are they stored and
how are they released from storage?
How do we store large amounts of carbon, taking it out of the cycle? How
does that affect the content
of O2.
Can you describe which of the carbon isotopes are preferentially used by life
and why?
What about atmospheric O2?
How does temperature and precipitation affect the rates of weathering?
How does salinity of the ocean affect the isotope ratios?
Chapter 11 Archean
In your textbook, the Archean covers from 4.6 By to 2.5 By. Remember
that I divided it into two periods, the Hadean from 4.6 to 3.8 By and the
Archean from 3.8 to 2.5 By.
Do You know what I meant by the Hadean? What was it known for? How
does that affect the
development of life on Earth?
What was going on tectonically and with the development of continents during the
Archean? What about the types of sediment deposited? How do we know
this?
What is the difference in mature and immature sediment? Textural and
compositional maturity?
Can you explain the development of Banded Iron Formations?
There was glaciation, why?
What are greenstones and how did they develop and why are they preserved?
What is the oldest fossil known and what was it? What implications does
they have for the
development of life?
What were stromatolites and how did they develop? What organisms formed
them and what
organisms lived within them?
Chapter 12 Proteroczoic
The Proterozoic is a period of great changes. Rodinia formed and rifted
apart. Another supercontinent may have formed prior to the end of the
Proterozoic. Life was changing as well. Experimentation with
different life forms appears to have occurred.
Do you know the three part division of the Proterozoic, what time each covered
and what happened in
each?
There is a definite sequence of sediments, with implications about size of
continents and climate, that
are known from the Proterozoic. Can you discuss these
and their implications?
What evidence do we have for glaciation?
Great changes in life were happening. When and based upon what do we know
that eukaryotic forms
developed, that sexual reproduction developed? That predation
developed? What were the
advantages of each, speaking of adaptational advantages.
Can you arrange the probable order of the organisms based on anaerobic vs.
aerobic and hetertrophy
vs. autotrophy?
What is the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic forms? What
organelles are found in
eukaryotic forms and where did they most likely come from and
why?
What do we know about the development of life? What have we proven about
the development from
inorganic processes? What stages must the development
have gone through?
The atmosphere changed chemically during this period. How do we know that?
What consequences does this change have? How does the growing
concentration in O2 probably affect the development of
life forms?
What was the Ediacarin fauna? How does it fit into the scheme of the
development of life?
the final 30 My of the Proterozoic were ones in which the
diversity of life exploded. Why? How do
we know? What changes in feeding occurred and how do we
know?
North America assembled during this time period. Where was it in the
supercontinent of Rodinia?
What developed in the rifting that destroyed Rodinia?
Where was North America in the second
super continent? What was the center of that
supercontinent?
Chapter 13 Early Paleozoic
Can you characterize the life forms and their modes of life in the early
Cambrian? What changes
occurred in the later Cambrian? What are stromatolites?
What were the reef formers? What is
meant by Evolutionary Experimentation? What about the
Burgess shale fauna?
What about Ordovician life, can you characterize it as well? What were
their different modes of life?
Why did diversity reach a plateau during the Ordovician?
When did plants invade the land? What
evidence do we have that they may have been there earlier and
where would they have been?
What can you tell me about the paleogeography during the Cambrian (N. America
only please)? What
about the Ordovician? What is the great Sauk
Transgression? What evidence do we have for it? What types of
sediment and what can we deduce from those sediments about the interior of the
N.
American continent and its climate?
EXAM 3
Remember that my questions frequently have a "why" or "how" component. Read the Chapter Summary for each chapter. That is a good indication of the important points of the chapter. Also review the Visual Overview at the beginning of the chapter. This is a good summary of the major points, both biologically and paleogeographically for the time period. I may phrase questions in reference to the exhibit at the San Diego Museum of Natural History, only to remind you of what you have seen. This guide covers the entire Mesozoic. I will include on the test only that portion that I cover in class next Tuesday!
Chapter 14 Middle Paleozoic
During this time period we see the radiation of the fish group,
hence the nickname of Age of Fishes. Can you describe in
general terms the major groups of fish and their unique
characteristics?
We also see the development of land plants. Can you provide the same
information about them? What unique adaptations
were necessary for plants to come out of the aquatic
environment and take up residence on land? What about the first
animals on land?
Who was ichthyostega? What were his "fish-like"
characteristics? His "amphibian-like" characteristics?
Where there any extinctions during this time period? What caused
them? What evidence do we have to support that?
What is going on during this period paleogeographically? Where were the
orogenies?
What do the carbon isotopes tell us was going on?
Chapter 15 Late Paleozoic
This time period continues the diversity and radiations started
in the middle Paleozoic. Land plants become large and we
develop tropical forests. This gives rise to what
geologic formations? Great quantities of vegetable matter are
buried.
What impact does that have on the climate? Carbon and
oxygen isotopes? There is a changing of the flora. What is it?
What changes do we see among the insects?
Amphibians become Pelycosaurs which become Therapsids which will eventually
become? What do we know about the|
"sails" of the Pelycosaurs? What do we know
about their ectothermic or endothermic attributes?
This is a time of "aragonite" seas. Why the change from calcite
to aragonite? Yes this was discussed in a prior chapter, but
it comes up again now.
This is the time of the formation of Pangea. What orogenies, collisions,
etc. occur now? What sedimentary evidence do we
have for these events? What are the cycles of orbital
and axial rotation variations that may control the advance of the ice
sheets?
There is a massive extinction, or two, events at the end of Permian time.
What evidence do we have to explain them?
Chapter 16 & 17 Mesozoic
This is the time of the breakup of Pangea. It doesn't
happen all at once. What is the sequence of events? Why were there
dry areas on Pangea?
I will be talking about the swimming reptiles. There are several main
types. Can you describe their unique features?
I will also be talking about the flying reptiles. There are two main
types. Can you describe their unique features?
We will be talking about dinosaurs, of course. How have our ideas of their
behavior changed over the last few decades?
Why did early paleontologists think of dinosaurs as they
did? What new evidence do we have to support our "new"
ideas?
We will also talk about the origin of birds. I will ask some questions
about this lineage, including Archaeopteryx.
There was a massive extinction at end of Cretaceous time. What evidence do
we have to explain it? What are the two main
competing theories about this extinction? Why have we
not been able to tell which one was the actual cause?
FINAL EXAM
Left over from the last material is the question above on the competing theories about the great extinction event at the end of Cretaceous. This really focuses on all extinction events with respect to how do we determine why it happened.
I will have presented a short lecture on the
Cenozoic. I am going to concentrate paleogeographically on the development
of California. Then I will discuss the radiation of the mammals, part of
which occurred in the Mesozoic.
Can you explain why arc volcanism did not occur in the early Cenozoic in
California and Nevada? How did the Basin and Range develop? Can you
explain the climatic change from a hot house world to an ice house world such as
we have today? What climatic changes occurred and how did they influence
the diversity of mammals? Can you describe the relatively consistent
changes that occurred in mammals as they adapted to the changing climate and
flora?
Finally I would like to ask a few questions on the how's and why's of the changing earth. I want to discuss these topics in the review session we will have on Tuesday. Such as how do we change climate? (greenhouse gasses, moving continents, burial of organic matter, volcanism) What evidence do we look for, paleogeographically or paleontologically, to support these reasons? (isotopes, paleomagnetism) How do we change the environment? (transgression and regression, mountain building and rainshadow effects, changing climate) What causes sea level to change? (the amount of water or the size of the ocean basin) How do we determine which is active? (glaciers or divergent boundaries) How do fossils help determine when and whether continental masses have broken apart or sutured? (a good example is that of the flightless birds found on the Gondwanaland continents)