Review - lecture quiz 1 - Friday September 19th

Format - 50 pts

Review questions

• Why is Earth Science important?
• What is the difference between a hypothesis and a theory?
• What is a mineral?
• Why do minerals have distinct physical properties?
• What allows us to recognize/identify different minerals?
• What is a rock and what are the three major categories?
• What are the two characteristics of rocks that geologists examine in order to determine the processes and history recorded in the rock?
• What are some of the differences between mafic and felsic silicate minerals?
• What is the rock cycle?
• Where do igneous rocks form and what determines their texture?
• How does loose sediment become sedimentary rock?
• What are the four parts of the Earth System, and do they interact?
• Why are silicate minerals the most common minerals?
• What does the crystal size of an igneous rock tell us about the origin of the rock?
• Why do the three major rock types have different properties, and what are a few of these properties?
• What are the two ways to melt rocks to produce magma? Where does the heat come from?
• Why are theories not considered to be absolute truths (why do theories change)?
• The source of energy for internal earth processes is the internal heat engine. What is the source of energy that powers surface processes?
• Why are controversial theories some of the strongest scientific theories?
• Why are the ocean basins situated at lower elevations than the continents?
• What are the layers of earth? Also, what are some of the differences between the layers?
• What are the two properties of an igneous rock which allow us to determine information about its origins
• What type of information can geologists read from sedimentary rocks?
• What are the four agents that can transport sediments across the surface of the earth?
• What are the two types of weathering, and where on earth is weathering generally more intense?
• What are the final two steps for converting sediment into sedimentary rock?
• What are the three layers that make up the internal structure of earth?
• If you apply too much heat to a metamorphic rock what does it become?
• How are the textures of sedimentary rocks different from igneous rocks?
• How does heat and pressure influence the texture of Metamorphic rocks?
• What is sediment?
  check back again as I will be adding questions.......Until Wed. Sept. 17th
  e-mail me leonardk@mnstate.edu if you have any problems

Review - lecture quiz 2 - Friday October 24th

Format - 50 pts

10 - 15 short answer questions
25 - 30 multiple choice
1 - 3 simple sketches

Topics Covered On Exam

Plate Tectonics - A scientific revolution

Plate Tectonics -  Mechanics & Boundaries
Volcanoes -  Types
Volcanoes -  Hazards and Predictions
Earthquakes - What are they?
Earthquakes - Hazards and Predictions
Seeing into the Earth
Geologic Time

• Why was continental drift rejected?
• What are the three types of plate boundaries?
• Why do the plates move?
• Why do oceans occur where they do?
• At what type of plate boundary do very large mountains form? Why?
• What is the driving force for a volcanic eruption?
• Why are some volcanoes more explosive than others?
• What are the two types of seismic waves, and which type is most destructive?
• Why are magnatude scales more commonly used to measure EQ strength than are intensity scales?
• What determines the amount of damage that a particular earthquake will cause?
• How do scientists locate the epicenter of earthquakes?
• Why do seismic waves travel through some earth materials with higher velocities and through some materials with lower velocities?
• What is the difference between absolute and relative geologic time?
• What aspect of a volcanic eruption can be hazardous to people 10’s of km away from the volcano?
• What causes the sudden release of energy along a fault that results in an earthquake?
• What are the two types of seismic body waves, and which type is transmitted only through solids?
• Volcanoes are most common at which type of plate boundary?
• What are the two types of body waves, and how do they move?
• What does the difference in arrival times between P and S waves on a seismogram tell us about a particular earthquake?
• How do we know that the outer core is a liquid?
• What two layers, which consist of the outer part of the mantle and the crust, are most involved in plate tectonics?
• Why is ocean crust subducted beneath continental crust at convergent boundaries?
• Even though we have no direct physical evidence from deep within the earth, how do we know so much about the properties and composition of the earth’s interior?
• What causes the sudden release in energy that results in an earthquake, and how is this energy transmitted away from the focus of the quake?
• Why is the silica content of magma significant for volcanic eruptions?
• Our methods of keeping track of time (days, months, years, etc.) are based on what?
• How can a volcanic eruption change climate ?
• What comes out of a volcano during an eruption?
• How and where do stratovolcanoes form?
• What is the greatest hazard associated with stratovolcanoes, especially for people who live some distance from the volcano?
• What are the two types of seismic waves?
• What is a tsunami and how do they form?
• What are the two frameworks of geologic time?
• What is an unconformity?
• Why can’t sedimentary rocks be used for radiometric dating (numerical time)?
• What criteria do geologists use to interpret environments from rocks?
• What are the principles of relative time?
• What is the geologic time scale?
  check back again as I will be adding questions until ..Wednesday Oct. 22
  e-mail me leonardk@mnstate.edu if you have any problems  

Review - lecture quiz 3 - Monday, November 24th

Format - 50 pts

10 - 15 short answer questions
25 - 30 multiple choice
1 - 3 simple sketches Topics Covered On Exam

Geologic Time

What is a fossil?
How do we know so much about dinosaurs?
Origins
Distant Objects/Sun & Earth/Phases of the Moon/Planetary Processes

Review questions

• What are the two frameworks of geologic time?
• What is an unconformity?
• Why can’t sedimentary rocks be used for radiometric dating (numerical time)?
• What criteria do geologists use to interpret environments from rocks?
• What are the principles of relative time?
• What is the geologic time scale?
• What is the 1/2 life of a radioactive element?
• What are the three properties of sedimentary rocks do we use to interpret the environments in which the sediments in the rock were deposited?
• What is a fossil?
• What are the requirements for fossil preservation?
• What are the differences between how fossils and living organisms are classified?
• What types of information can we learn from dinosaur trackways?
• What is the Nebular Disk Hypothesis and what is the evidence for it?
• What the basic unit of measure between objects in space, and why do we use it?
• Are the dinosaurs considered as an unsuccessful group because they went extinct, and what distinguishes them from the rest of the reptiles?
• What is the most likely cause for the extinction of the dinosaurs?
• What are the two major groups of dinosaurs and how can we tell them apart?
• How do we know what dinosaurs ate, and list a few of the properties we will probably never know about dinosaurs?
• Was T. rex a scavenger? Why or why not?
• What is the evidence for the Big Bang?
• What is the most common method for determining the distance from earth to very distant objects in space?
• What types of information do trace fossils give us that body fossils do not?
• How do we know what type of parents the dinosaurs were?
• Where did the nebular cloud of dust that became our solar system come from?
• How did the internal parts of earth become layered?
• How do we know what the environments in which the dinosaurs lived were like?
• What is solar insulation and how is it important to the seasons?
• Why isn’t our atmosphere blown away from solar winds?
• Where does the sun’s energy come from?
• Where does the energy in living communities on earth ultimately come from?
• What causes seasonality on Earth, and why is seasonality more extreme in the northern hemisphere?
• What is the difference in the position of the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon during a new moon and a full moon?
• What is and NEO and what impact can they have on the Earth system?

 
check back again as I will be adding questions until ........
e-mail me leonardk@mnstate.edu if you have any problems

Final Exam

December 16 - Noon

New Topics

Dynamics of Weather

Review Questions - (new material - use the questions above for the comprehensive part)

New questions:

• Which way do weather systems track across North America, and what is the name of the regional storm system that mixes cold dry air from the north with warm moist air from the south?
• Which produces more precipitation and why - a cold front or a warm front?
• Why does a hurricane form?
• What are the major differences between a hurricane and a tornado?
• How do tornadoes form?
• How do thunderstorms form?
• What causes lightning?
• What is the most common weather system in North America?
• Where does the energy in living communities on earth ultimately come from?
• Why is seasonality more noticable in the northern hemisphere than in the southern hemisphere?
• Why is the earth heated unevenly?
• What is the difference between weather and climate?
• What factors influence temperature on earth?
• What is the atmosphere and what is it composed of?
• What are the 4 layers of the atmosphere, and what distinguishes each layer?
• Why do certain layers in the atmosphere show increasing temperature with increasing elevation?
• What are the three physical states of water and what determines the state that water is in?
• Why does water have a major influence on weather and climate?
• What is relative humidity, and what determines how much water vapor air can hold?
• What is the difference between high and low pressure, and what type of weather is associated with each?
• Why does the wind blow?
• What is climate and how is it characterized?
• In what climate zone does Fargo/Moorhead lie?
• How do geologists measure ancient climate?