Essay Questions Geology 303 Spring 2013
Chapter 2: INTERNAL ENERGY AND PLATE TECTONICS
Terms to Remember-asthenosphere, actualism/uniformitarianism, convergence zone,
core, crust, divergence zone, ductile, elastic, epicenter, hot-spot, igneous rock,
lithosphere, mantle, oldest rock and mineral, Pangaea, plume, radioactivity, ridge,
seafloor spreading, strain and stress, subduction and trench, plate tectonics and
tectonic cycle, transform fault
1) Describe how the Earth became segregated into layers of differing density; how did
this influence the formation of continents, oceans and the atmosphere?
2) Draw and label a cross section that shows the tectonic cycle in detail. Now explain
this cycle in words (at least on paragraph, referring to the diagram).
3) Explain evidence indicating that seafloors spread and continents move about the
Earth.
Chapter 3: EARTHQUAKE GEOLOGY AND SEISMOLOGY
Terms to Remember-amplitude, body wave, cross-section, dip, dip-slip fault, fault,
footwall, hangingwall, hypocenter, law of original horizontality, law of superposition,
magnitude, mainshock, normal fault, P-wave, reverse fault, right-lateral fault, S-wave,
strike, strike-slip fault, surface wave, wavelength
1) Draw cross sections of a normal and reverse fault. What are the differing forces
that determine which one forms? Which one involves compression? Tension?
2) What do P-waves and S-waves tell us about the nature of the Earth’s interior? Can
they be used to determine the distance to the epicenter? If so, how?
3) What are the differences between earthquake magnitude and earthquake intensity?
Describe the five main variables affecting Mercalli intensities.
Chapter 4: PLATE TECTONICS AND EARTHQUAKES
Terms to Remember: liquefaction, rift, seismic-gap method
1) Draw an idealized tectonic plate (map view; not cross-section) and explain the
earthquake hazards along each type of plate edge. In this drawing/explanation you
should recognize three types of boundaries (where plates interact along the edgesthese three are convergent, divergent and transform); now link each plate edge to a real
region on Earth where this type of boundary exists and describe the earthquake
hazards here. Also, name the geologic feature created here by the plate edge (for
example-the San Andreas Fault, a transform plate boundary of the Pacific Plate! You
cannot use this example now since I named it here).
Essay Questions Geology 303 Spring 2013
2) Explain why earthquakes at subduction zones are many times more powerful than
spreading-center earthquakes. Now compare/contrast the earthquake potential at the
Peru-Chile Trench Zone to the earthquake hazards along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
3) Compare and contrast two major earthquakes of the past (that are discussed in your
book). You cannot pick earthquakes to compare/contrast that were generated along the
same type of plate boundary (i.e., your choices are comparing convergent to divergent;
convergent to transform (strike-slip) or divergent to transform (strike-slip) generated
earthquakes). Discuss how these earthquake’s were generated, the hazards
associated with each and the effects on people.
Chapter 8: TSUNAMI VERSUS WIND-CAUSED WAVES
Terms to Remember: fetch, rogue wave, seiche
1) What is the energy source of: (a) everyday waves at the beach?; (b) tidal waves?; (c)
tsunami? Why is tsunami more powerful than everyday waves? (when explaining this,
discuss four causes of tsunami; also sketch and discuss wavelength, period and
velocity of tsunami versus everyday waves).
2) Draw a cross section and explain why an ocean wave breaks as it nears the
shoreline. Discuss wavelength and wavebase in your explanation.
3) Which two types of fault movements of the seafloor can generate the most powerful
tsunami: reverse (thrust), normal or strike-slip? Why/how (explain in detail with words
and a sketch).
TEST 1: Four Essay Questions worth 5 points each and 30 multiple choice/true
false questions.
Essay Questions Geology 303 Spring 2013
Chapter 6: VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS: PLATE TECTONICS AND MAGMAS
Terms to Remember: ash, aa, basalt, caldera, cinder cone (scoria cone), composite
volcano (stratovolcano), crater, crystallization, decompression melting, fissure, flood
basalt, lahar, lava dome, mineral, obsidian, pahoehoe, plutonic rock, pumice, pyroclastic
and pyroclastic flow, rock, shield volcano, viscosity, volcanic rock
1) Why do volcanoes above subduction zones erupt more explosively than volcanoes at
spreading centers? Explain further now, why do volcanoes in the ocean tend to erupt
peacefully, whereas volcanoes on continents tend to erupt explosively? What explains
these differences?
2) Play the three V’s game. Pick various low, medium and high values for viscosity,
volatiles and volume, and then describe the resultant eruption styles and volcanic
landforms. Do this for at least 4 landforms.
3) Compare and contrast the eruption of the volcano Krakatoa in 1883 to the creation of
the Santorini caldera during the eruption of the volcano Santorini during 1628 BCE.
Make sure to discuss the plate tectonic settings of each and the effects on people,
along with hazards generated during each eruption.
Chapter 7: VOLCANO CASE HISTORIES: KILLER EVENTS
Terms to remember:
1) Discuss four ways of creating pyroclastic flows. Why do they travel so fast? How do
they kill? Can they travel over water and still be hot enough to kill people? Discuss an
example of a case history where pyroclastic flows caused a natural disaster.
2) What three factors combine to produce lahars? (See lahars at Kelut). Draw a cross
section and explain how lahars form and move. How do they kill? Now explain the
hazard Mount Rainier presents to the Seattle-Tacoma region.
3) Compare and contrast the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980 to the 79 CE eruption
of Mount Vesuvius. Make sure to discuss the plate tectonic setting that creates each
volcano and the effects on people, along with hazards generated during each eruption.
Chapter 16: IMPACTS WITH SPACE OBJECTS
Terms to Remember: asteroid, comet, Kuiper Belt, maria, meteor, meteroid, NEO, Oort
Cloud, shooting star, solar wind, tektite
1) List and explain the evidence you could collect to demonstrate that a specific area
was the site of an ancient asteroid impact. Discuss this evidence in detail!
2) Describe the sequence of life-threatening events that occur when a 10 km (6 mile)
diameter asteroid slams into Earth. Describe in detail!
Essay Questions Geology 303 Spring 2013
3) Compare and contrast the origin of Meteor Crater in Arizona to the Chicxulub crater
in the Yucatan, Mexico. What consequences did each have on species living during
that time period?
Chapter 14: FIRE
Terms to remember: backfire, combustion, conduction, diffusion, fire, firestorm, foehn
winds, fuel-driven fire, heat, oxidation, pyrolysis, radiation, wind-driven fire
1) Sketch and explain the fire triangle and its components in detail.
2) Explain the stages of fire and the four factors influencing the spread of fire in detail.
3) If you were designing your dream house on your dream lot, what features could you
incorporate into the house and landscape design to better protect your house from
destruction by fire?
TEST 2: Four Essay Questions worth 5 points each and 30 multiple choice/true
false questions.
Chapter 9: EXTERNAL ENERGY FUELS WEATHER AND CLIMATE
Terms to Remember: climate, Coriolis effect, cyclone, adiabatic process, albedo,
Essay Questions Geology 303 Spring 2013
anticyclone, dew-point temperature, front, greenhouse effect, heat capacity, humidity,
isobar, lapse rate, latent heat, lifting condensation level, monsoon, pressure gradient,
solar radiation, stratosphere, thermohaline flow, troposphere
1) Explain the greenhouse effect in detail and name some of the important greenhouse
gases. Which greenhouse gas are we most concerned about today? Why? (see
Chapter 12 beginning on page 328 for more detail on this).
2) Explain the adiabatic cooling that occurs in a rising air mass (sketch a cross
sectional view of the lower atmosphere for this explanation). In your hypothetical
explanation, this rising air mass will reach saturation (or lifting condensation level and
the dew point temperature) at 2 km and will remain warmer than the air around it, so
explain its rise past 2km. Is the lapse rate in a rising mass of air greater in dry or moist
air? (Make sure to explain how relative humidity changes in rising/expanding air and the
effects of latent heat when water vapor changes state to liquid water which we see as
clouds).
3) (a) Use the terms high pressure, low pressure and pressure gradient to explain how
winds form; (b) What are the relationships between high and low pressure zones and
between cyclones and anticyclones?
4) What causes the surface circulation of water throughout the oceans (surface
currents)? Explain. What causes the global circulation of water deep within the ocean
(thermohaline circulation)? Explain. Now explain the general effects on climate if these
surface and deep circulation patterns stopped circulating.
Chapter 10: TORNADOES, LIGHTNING, HEAT AND COLD
Terms to remember: air-mass thunderstorm, cumulus, derecho, downburst, freezing
rain, hypo and hyperthermia, lake-effect snow, lightning, mesocyclone, nor’easter,
severe thunderstorm, supercell thunderstorm, thunder, thunderstorm, tornadoes and
tornado outbreak
1) Sketch a series of vertical cross sections showing the stages of development of a
late-afternoon thundercloud. Label the processes occurring in the cloud during each
stage. Now sketch a series of cross sections (at the vortex scale) showing the stages of
tornado formation. Why are tornadoes potentially more destruction than
thunderstorms? Discuss hazards associated with each.
2) Draw a map (map view) and explain how a Gulf of Mexico warm air mass, a
Canadian cold air mass and the polar-front jet stream can meet and generate
Essay Questions Geology 303 Spring 2013
tornadoes. Now, what land and air conditions make the central United States the
tornado capital of the world?
Chapter 11: HURRICANES
Terms to remember: eye and eyewall, hurricane, surge
1) Compare a tornado to a hurricane. Discuss how each typically forms in detail with
cross-sectional sketches. Which has the most total energy? Which has the highest
wind speeds? Label the internal flow of winds and for the hurricane, explain the eye.
2) (a)Discuss the hazards associated with a hurricane (typhoon/cyclone) and cite
examples of at least two case histories where these hazards caused much destruction
and death; (b)then discuss mitigation measures that can be taken to reduce damages
and death from hurricanes (please note: having a first aid kit isn’t a mitigation measure).
Chapter 12: CLIMATE CHANGE
Terms to remember: El Nino, extinction, La Nina, Little Ice Age, methane, Milankovitch
theory, ozone, sunspot, tipping point
1) Climate is related to the amount of solar radiation received on Earth. How is
incoming solar radiation affected by (a) continental ice sheets?; (b) volcanic ash in the
stratosphere?; (c) elevated levels of atmospheric CO2?; and (d) SO2 blown into the
stratosphere by volcanic eruptions? Explain each in detail.
2) What causes glacial advances and retreats during an ice age (see timescale in
thousands of years)? (make sure to discuss Milankovitch theory).
3) When massive continental ice sheets melt, what happens to (a) sea level?; (b) deepocean-water circulation?; (c) salinity of sea-surface waters?; (d) organisms living near
the sea surface? Discuss in detail.
4) Describe what happens to produce the El Nino phenomenon? What changes does it
bring to Australia? To California? Now discuss what happens during La Nina.
TEST 3: Four Essay Questions worth 5 points each and 30 multiple choice/true
false questions.