Review - lecture quiz 1 - Friday Feb. 7th

Format - 50 pts

Why is Earth Science important?
What is the difference between a hypothesis and a theory?
What is a mineral?
Why do minerals have distinct properties?
What are some of the differences between mafic and felsic silicate minerals?
Why do the three different rock types have different properties?
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?
Why is the earth layered? 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 .........
e-mail me leonardk@mnstate.edu if you have any problems

Review - lecture quiz 2 - Friday Mar.14th

Format - 50 pts

Why was continental drift rejected?
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?
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?

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?
What does the age of the sea floor indicate about the processes occurring there?
What clues indicate the direction that a plate of lithosphere is moving?
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?
What does finding the same species of fossil plants and animals on separate continents suggest?
Why can the plates of lithosphere float on and slide across the asthenosphere?
Why are the ocean basins situated at lower elevations than the continents?
Why is ocean crust subducted beneath continental crust at convergent boundaries?
What are some examples of the modern evidence for plate tectonics (hint: what types of maps did you look at for the plate tectonics exercise)?
What type of plate boundary is the initial stage of a mid ocean ridge?
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?
Where in the Atlantic Ocean would you go to find the youngest oceanic crust?
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 are the oceans easier to explain with plate tectonics than with continental drift?
Why is the silica content of magma significant for volcanic eruptions?
What are the major differences between the three types of plate boundaries?
What are the principles of relative time?
How do radioactive elements meet the requirements of an absolute geologic clock?

Why can’t we use sedimentary rocks for numerical dating?
Why are sedimentary rocks/strata layered?
What is correlation?
What is an unconformity?

What is a Formation?
What is a fossil?
Why is it unlikely for an individual animal that dies somewhere on earth to become a fossil? Also, What are the requirements for fossil preservation?
 
check back again as I will be adding questions until .....Wed. Mar. 12th
e-mail me leonardk@mnstate.edu if you have any problems  

Review - lecture quiz 3 - Friday, April 25th

Format - 50 pts

Topics Covered On Exam

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

Dynamics of Weather

Review questions

• 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?
• What causes the seasons on earth?
• What do the eight phases of the moon represent in terms of time?
  What is the troposphere?
• 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 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?
• Our methods of keeping track of time (days, months, years, etc.) are based on what?
• What factors would determine the size of a crater created as a meteorite strikes the surface of earth?
• 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 type 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?
• Where did the water on earth come from?
• What is solar insulation and how is it important to the seasons?
• Why isn’t our atmosphere blown away from solar winds?
• What were the phases of the moon used for in the past, and what are the differences in the position of the moon, earth, and the sun during a new moon and a full moon?
• Where does the sun’s energy come from?
• What is the difference between local Low and High atmospheric pressure?
• What causes the wind to blow?
• Why is the earth heated unevenly
• Which way does weather track across North America? Why?
• What air masses interact to cause most of the bad weather in the U.S.?
• What is a front, and what is the difference between a warm front and a cold front?
• How does water moderate climate on earth?
• Why do coastal areas have more moderate weather that areas in the middle of continents?
• What is a mid latitude cyclone?
• Where does the energy in a severe storm come from?
• What is the jet stream?
• What causes lightning?
• How does a tornado form?
• The damage done by a tornado is the result of what? How is this different from the damage produced from a hurricane?
• Why have fatalities from tornadoes gone down over 50% in the last 50 years?
• What is a hurricane, and how does it form?

 
check back again as I will be adding questions until .........Wednesday, April. 23rd
e-mail me leonardk@mnstate.edu if you have any problems

Final Exam

Schedule -  Monday, May 12th, Noon - 10 am section

Thursday, May 15th, Noon - 1 pm section

New Topics

Climate

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

New questions:

• What is a climate proxy?
• How do we know that climate has changed during the history of earth?
• What benefit can the geologic record have for solving modern problems?
• What is global warming and what are the possible causes
• How do greenhouse gasses cause global warming?
• To what climate region does Fargo/Moorhead belong, and how is this region different from neighboring regions?
• What are the localized influences on climate?
• What are the global controls on climate?
• What two features of weather do we measure and average to characterize climate?
• What is climate?