Geology 101 Final Exam Study Questions
What are fossil fuels? Where does the energy stored in fossil fuels come from?
What are the sources and approximate proportions of the energy consumed in the US in
year 2000?
What proportion of the total US energy consumption comes from fossil fuel?
What are the major differences in the general organic chemistry of terrestrial vs. marine
organic matter?
What are the important steps in the maturation of marine organic matter to form
petroleum?
Under what conditions of burial do these steps occur?
What are the major groups of organic compounds present in petroleum?
What is the relationship between molecular weight and behavior of petroleum
hydrocarbons?
What is a ‘petroleum system’?
How does the geothermal gradient influence petroleum maturation?
What are petroleum ‘traps’? How do we locate them?
What methods are used to define the extent of petroleum reservoirs?
What is overpressure?
What is a Hubbert Curve?
How has the use of coal vs. oil vs. natural gas changed in the US over the last century?
Briefly describe how natural gas and crude oil deposits form?
Why are the source materials for crude oil usually marine or lake sediments whereas coal
comes from terrestrial swamps?
What is oil shale? Kerogen?
What is enhanced recovery?
What is coal? Briefly describe the processes that give rise to coals of different rank.
What air pollution problems are especially associated with coal burning?
Why are some coals high-sulfur whereas other coals very low in sulfur?
Why does coal cause a greater output of carbon dioxide per unit of heat produced
compared to oil and especially natural gas?
What are the alternatives to fossil fuel energy?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of these alternative
energy sources? Include nuclear, geothermal, wind, hydroelectric, biomass, solar.
What sources are likely to realistically provide significant reduction
in use of fossil fuel?
What environmental trade-offs are involved in each alternative energy
source?
What materials comprise landfill leachate?
Describe using a diagram the key components of a well-designed solid waste landfill.
What elements or compounds might be used to identify a landfill leachate plume in
groundwater?
What are LNAPL? Give examples.
What are DNAPL? Give examples.
Describe the following processes involved in the movement of petroleum hydrocarbons
in groundwater: advection, diffusion, dispersion, adsorption/absorption, bioremediation
Describe the following remediate strategies: pump and treat, air sparging, reactive
barriers
What are PCB’s? Why are they a major concern in ecosystems?
Many atmospheric pollutants are naturally occurring compounds. What are the key
human activities that cause levels of these compounds to become problematic?
What is a biogeochemical cycle?
Give an example of a local or regional-scale biogeochemical budget.
Why do we care about global budgets?
What is a flux? A sink? A transformation process?
Discuss the cycling of:
sulfur
nitrogen
carbon
What sorts of atmospheric and other concerns are caused by each of these in their
‘polluting’ form?
Briefly describe the origin and problems associated with
lead
ozone
CFC’s
What are the short, intermediate and long-term carbon cycles?
How has fossil fuel consumption joined the short and intermediate cycles?
What are the big unknowns in carbon cycle and carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere?
What is the greenhouse effect?
What is the Keeling Curve?
What are the various forms of radioactive waste? How and when in the
use cycle are these materials produced?
What factors cause the disposal of radwaste to be so problematic?
Discuss the Moab tailings case study. What issues remain to be resolved in
this case?
What rock types and geological conditions are critical for long-term
radwaste disposal?
Why is Yucca Mountain favored as a long-term radwaste repository?
What are the major concerns about the Yucca Mountain site?