STUDY GUIDE FOR EXAM #1 (This is simply a GUIDE)(Thursday, 1/28)
This exam will consist of multiple choice questions and short answer.
Major Concepts:
Topographic Maps: Be able to read topographic maps. You should know how to interpret contour lines, determine a slope’s gradient. Be able to determine the lat/long of a point on a map or find a point given its lat/long.
Formation of the Planet: Be able to describe the essential order of events that led to the formation of the planet, be able to describe the essential composition of the universe, be able to describe why the earth settled into different layers (core, mantle, etc).
Plate tectonics: Be able to describe the essential differences in seismology, volcanology, geochronology, and topography for the 6 different plate boundaries. Be able to describe what is actually happening at each boundary (in words and pictures), and name a real world example of each. Be able to make predictions based on plate tectonic theory (i.e. where is the oldest bit of ocean crust?). Be able to explain how paleomagnetic data has helped explain how continents (and plates) move around the planet. Know how to interpret the magnetic dip in an igneous rock.
PNW tectonics: Be able to identify the 5 different plates involved in the tectonics of the Northwest, know the directions of plate motion, be able to identify where earthquakes and volcanoes occur and why, know the names of the transform boundaries, divergent boundary and convergent boundary.
Magnetic Storm: What is happening to the Earth’s magnetic field? Why? How have geologists come up with this explanation? Why do magnetic reversals happen? How often do they occur? What are the consequences for the Earth ecosystem in the future?
Megaflood!: How were the Channeled Scablands formed? What was glacial Lake Missoula and how was it formed? How many floods occurred and how do we know that?
Geologic Time: Know the order of the geologic time scale (eons, eras, periods within the Phanerozoic, epochs within the Tertiary), know when some pivotal events happened in earth's history (first multicellular organism, age of dinosaurs, explosion of life, evolution of hominids, homosapiens), why did the dinosaurs go extinct, how many major extinction events have happened in earth's history and why.
Vocabulary:
Athenosphere, lithosphere, ocean crust, continental crust, convergent boundary, divergent boundary, transform boundary, continental drift, island arc, ocean trench, accretionary wedge, plate, plate tectonics, polar wandering, sea-floor spreading, subduction, Curie temperature, magnetic field, magnetic reversal, mantle, inner core, outer core, dynamo, paleomagnetism, magnetic dip, magnetic declination, mid-ocean ridge, magma, Big Bang, Nebular Hypothesis, planetesimals, differentiation (of the earth), continental slope and shelf, mid-ocean ridge, hydrothermal vent, black smoker, just to name a few...