Geol100, Harbor Section, Review Session, 2012
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Minerals
o Modes of Formation – cooling, precipitation, metamorphosis
o Function of availability, ionic size, and charge
o Kinds of Minerals – Oxide Groups, Sed/Ig/Meta Environment
o Bowen’s reaction series & silica tetrahedra polymerization
o Physical properties & Chemical properties
o “naturally occurring, inorganic, crystalline substance with a defined chem composition
that is solid at normal surface temperatures”
Rocks
o Igneous – Classification on Texture and Chemistry (UM – mafic –intermed. – felsic)
 volcanic textures (pyroclastic, obsidian, porphyry)
 magma production – heat, chemical change (subduction), pressure release
 magmatic differentiation – partial melting, fractional crystal., stoping
(contamination)
 volcanic processes associated with plate tectonic boundaries (UM to felsic
transition)
 ophiolite sequences (ocean floors)
 Igneous rock bodies (plutons, batholiths, dikes, veins
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p. 1
Sedimentary
 Bio (coal, reef), Chem (evap, NaCl, CaCO3), Clastic (size & clast composition)
 Sorting and size indicate Env of Deposition
 Sedimentary structures; cross bedding , ripples, bioturbation, mudcracks
 bedding changes = environment change
 fossils as indicators of paleoenvironment (trace fossil types and invertebrates
from poster in the back)
 sedimentation, diagenesis, lithification, compaction
Metamorphic (>diagenesis, < partial melting)
 type of metamorphism (regional, burial, contact, hydrothermal)
 pressure and temperature regimes
 grade of metamorphism, indicator minerals
 foliation and rock cleavage (slatey cleavage)
 effect of changing protolith (shale vs basalt vs carbonate vs sandstone)
Maps
o latitude and longitude
o UTM
o bearing and distance
o topographic contours (rules can’t cross, v in streams, steep = close)
o watershed outlines
Geologic Time
o learn the geological time scale (as printed on the self-instruction lab)
o Eons, Eras, Period, Epochs
o numerical ages (isotopes and half-lives, paleomagnetism) vs relative ages
o cross cutting relations – faults, erosional contacts, intrusions, inclusions (xenoliths)
o Unconformities, 3 kinds
o Regressions and transgressions
Plate Tectonics
o structure of the earth (chemical (crust, mantle, core) vs physical (lithosphere,
asthenosphere)
o Three types of margins, rift, transform, convergent (wedges) + passive
o ? did we cover this? Driving Mechanisms (convection, slab pull, ridge push, slab
rollback, gravity sliding)
Geol100, Harbor Section, Review Session, 2012
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p. 2
o Rift to Drift, Passive Margins, active margins (arcs vs cont-cont collisions)
o Sea floor spreading
o isostacy
o Wilson Cycles
Geologic Structures
o Brittle vs Ductile behavior (function of material type, pressure, temperature and time)
o Fractures, joints,
o faults (dip-slip (normal, reverse or thrust) vs strike-slip, many oblique), hanging wall/foot
wall, detachments and ramps
o Folds – anticlines, synclines, axial planes, fold plunge directions, symmetry, overturning,
vergence
o Appalachian folds from faults and fault bends
o Geologic maps – Geologic Rule of V’s (direction of dip), stratigraphic columns, fault
patterns, plunging folds, asymmetry folds, unconformities
o Earthquakes
 frequency and magnitude relation
 release of elastic strain
 location
 types of earthquake waves
Physiographic Provinces and Topography
o Coastal plain, Piedmont, Blue Ridge, Valley and Ridge, Appalachian Plateau
o resistant rocks and linear ridges (short hills syncline, hogbacks, north mountain
monocline, brushy mtn anticline, Anthony knobs syncline)
Mass Wasting
o debris flows and block/rock slides (or the types we saw/talked about)
o enhanced by weathering, freeze/thaw, earthquakes, large rainfalls (buoyancy)
o angle of repose, function of size of material
Rivers
o runoff (floods, effect of urbanization/development/agriculture)
o energy loss is primary function, turbulence, pattern, bed shape
o flow power (function of slope and water depth) – sediment loads (dissolved, suspended,
bed), erosion by impact and scour
o meandering (erosion outside of bend, floodplains, pools and riffles, abandoned meandersoxbows) and braiding channel patterns
o floodplains and alluvial fans
o flood frequency and flood control
Groundwater and cave
o water table
o shape of cave depends on position relative to water table
o springs
o sinkholes/groundwater infiltration
Landscape evolution
o erosion of anticlines and synclines
o superimposed streams
o Blue Ridge gap (did I ever answer that question? no)