Physical Geology – Spring 2006
Review Sheet – Midterm III
Chapter 7 and related materials
Some General Concepts and Questions
What is the composition of the continental and oceanic crust (rock types)? The moon? Mars?
What is the tectonic environment that formed the volcanoes of the Pacific Northwest?
What are the factors that control the explosivity of eruptions?
What precursors (signs) were there that Mt. St. Helens was going to erupt in 1980?
How do magma chambers empty when volcanic eruptions occur, and what do the resulting
deposits tell us about the magma chamber?
What has the eruption of the Bishop Tuff from the Long Valley Caldera taught us about the
construction of magma chambers and layer cake stratigraphy?
How does the composition of gases associated with volcanic eruptions vary with rock (volcano)
composition?
Layer cake stratigraphy
Aa
Ash
Caldera
Cinder cone
Columnar jointing
Crater
Active/Dormant
Flood basalt
Hot spot
Lahar
Lapilla
Lava dome
Lava flow
Magma chamber
Mt. St. Helens
Key Terms:
Obsidian
Pahoehoe
Pele’s tears and Pele’s hair
Phreatic eruptions
Pillow lava
Plinian eruptions
Pumice
Pyroclatic debris and flow
Ring of Fire
Shield volcano
Stratovolcano (composite volcano)
Tuff
Vesicles
Viscosity
Volcano
Chapter 8 and related materials
Some General Concepts and Questions
What are the major kinds of faults, and how do they relate to tectonic environment?
How do scientists locate the epicenter of an earthquake?
What are common rates of tectonic processes?
What are the 3 scales commonly used to characterize the strength of an earthquake? What are the
advantages/disadvantages of each?
How are maps of seismic risk arrived at?
How can geologists get information about the mantle and core of the Earth?
What are S-wave and P-wave shadow zones, and why are they generated?
Why are some of the largest earthquakes in US history along the New Madrid fault zone?
Why was the December 2004 tsunami in Indonesia so destructive?
How does the seismicity vary as a function of the different types of plate tectonic boundaries?
Active fault
Arrival time
Benioff zone (Wadati Benioff Zone)
Body waves
Compressional waves
Displacement
Earthquake
Epicenter
Focus
Foot wall
Hanging wall (head wall)
Intraplate earthquakes
Liquefaction
Love waves
Mercalli intensity scale
Moment magnitude
Normal fault
P-waves
Key Terms
Rayleigh waves
Reverse fault
Richter scale
S-P gap
S-waves
San Andreas Fault
Seismicity
Seismic tomography
Seismogram
Seismometer (seismograph)
Shadow zones
Shear waves
Strike slip fault
Thrust fault
Travel time
Tsunami
Chapter 9 and related materials
Some General Concepts and Questions
What are the kinds of deformation?
How can brittle materials behave in a ductile fashion?
What are the 4 factors that control how rocks respond to stress?
What are the 3 principle types of stress?
What is the symbol and how is it used to delineate folds on geologic maps?
What are the relative ages of rock layers in domes, basins, synclines and anticlines?
anticline
axial plane
basin
brittle deformation
compression
craton
deformation
dip
displacement
dome
ductile deformation
erosion
fault scarp
fold
hinge
Key Terms
isostacy
isostatic adjustment (compensation)
joint
limbs
monocline
offset
original horizontality
orogeny
plunge
relief (topographic relief)
sediment loading
stress
strike
syncline
uplift
Chapter 14 and related materials
Some General Concepts and Questions
How much of the Earth’s water is present in the oceans? Glaciers? Groundwater? Etc.
What are the ways in which rock material is transported downstream?
What are the factors that will make base level rise? Fall?
What is isostacy and isostatic rebound, and how can the concepts be used to evaluate melting
glaciers, continents floating on the mantle and water evaporating in lakes?
Where are the major divides in North America?
What are the 4 major types of drainage networks?
What is the recurrence interval of floods? How can it be used in flood prediction?
Have an understanding of the hydrologic cycle?
What is Darcy’s Law and how can it be used to help understand the behavior of streams and
rivers?
What are the main types (morphologies) of stream channels?
Alluvial fan
Bar
Base level
Bed load
Braided stream
Channels
Cut bank
Delta
Discharge
Dissolved load
Divide
Drainage basin
Flood
Fluvial deposits
Headwaters
Levee
Longitudinal profile
Meandering stream
Meanders
Key Terms
Oxbow
Point bar
Pothole
Radial network
Rectangular network
Relief
Recurrence interval
Saltation
Sediment load
Stream gradient
Suspended load
Trellis network
Tributaries
Trunk stream
Turbulence
Water gap
Watershed
Water table