Text: Pipkin, B. W., D. D. Trent, and R. Hazlett, 2005. Geology and the Environment,, 4th edition. Brooks/Cole pub. 473 p.

The best way to study for an exam is to study continuously throughout the semester by re-writing the notes you take in class. While you are re-writing them, you can use the textbook to fill in any gaps in your notes. By gaps, I mean concepts you did not understand, or maybe could not take notes on because the professor was going too fast. (If you have questions on the material after doing that, then by all means come in and ask me or e-mail your question to me: gleasong@cortland.edu.)

To study for this exam, you must go over your lecture notes.

The test will be based on both lecture notes and on the textbook. This study guide is designed to point out aspects of the readings in the textbook that will help you understand your lecture notes. 

Chap 5: Volcanoes

Pages: 111-147

Figures: 5.1, 5.3, 5.6, 5.7, 5.14, 5.19, 5.20, 5.22, 5.21, 5.23, 5.24, 5.26, 5.27

Terms:  Andes, andesite, ash fall, basalt, Cascade Range, composite volcano, direct blast, lahar, lava, magma, Mt. Pinatubo, Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, pyroclastics, pyroclastic flow, shield volcano, stratovolcano, Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI)

Study Questions:

How would you expect the eruption of a volcano that taps low silica magma to differ from the eruption of one that taps high silica magma? What are the names of the rocks that form from each?

Which type of volcanoes are found above subduction zones?

Which type are found on above hot spots?

Would you expect to find volcanoes along transform plate boundaries?

What kind of volcanoes are Mt. Pinatubo, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. St. Helens?

What are the geographic locations of some shield volcanoes?

Which volcanic hazards are most associated with stratavolcanoes (composite volcanoes)?

Which volcanic hazards might you be able to out run?

Which ones could you definitely NOT out run?

Also study the Worksheet from the Mt. Pinatubo video: "In the Path of a Killer Volcano" ANSWER KEY

 

Chap 2: Getting Around in Geology (Rocks)

Pages: 25-32, 43-44

Figures: 2.8, 2.12, 2.13, 2.14, 2.15, 2.16, 2.17, 2.18, 2 .19, 2.21, 2.22

Terms: biogenic sedimentary rock, chemical sedimentary rock, detrital sedimentary rock (also known as clastic sedimentary rocks), extrusive, felsic, foliation, igneous rocks, intrusive, lava, lithified, mafic, magma, metamorphic rock, plutonic, recrystallization, rock, rock cycle, sedimentary rocks, stratification

Study Questions: 

How are rocks classified?

How does each of the three rock types form?

What does the grain size of an igneous rock tell us about how it was formed?

What tectonic setting (i.e., what type of plate boundary) is basalt formed at?

What tectonic setting  (i.e., what type of plate boundary) is granite formed at?

When gravel is compacted and cemented, what detrital sedimentary rock does it become?

Described how a detritial sedimentary rock might form from an igneous rock.... from a metamorphic rock.....

How may structures in sedimentary rocks be used to reconstruct past environments?

What's the difference among detrital, chemical, and biogenic sedimentary rocks?

Chap 2: Getting around in Geology (Age dating) Pages: 32-38, 45-46

Figures: 2.25, 2.26, 2.28

Terms: absolute (numerical) age dating, atom, atomic mass, atomic number, Cenozoic, element, half-life, isotope, Law of Cross-cutting Relationships, Law of Faunal Succession, Law of Original Horizonality, Law of Superposition, Mesozoic, nuclear decay (or radioactive decay), nucleus, Paleozoic, radiometric dating, relative age dating

Study Questions:

How would you use cross-cutting relationships and the other "laws of relative age dating" to determine the relative ages of geologic rocks and/or events?

What type of rock is best for radiometric age dating?

How old is the Earth based on radiometric age dating techniques?

Chap 11: Glaciation

Pages: 289-299, 323

Figures: 11.1, 11.2, 11.5, 11.6, 11.7, 11.8, 11.9, 11.10, 11.14, 11.17, and photos on page 323

Terms: ablation, arete, calving, esker, firn, firn limit, glacier, kettle lake, moraine, terminus, zone of ablation, zone of accumulation, zone of flowage

Study Questions:

What features in New York did glaciers create ~15,000 years ago?

What economic deposits have glaciers left in New York?

Mountain stream valleys are typically 'V'-shaped. What letter best describes a valley after a valley glacier has moved through it?

Explain how an esker forms.

Explain how a kettle lake forms.

Chap 11: Climate Change

Pages: 299-326

Figures: 11.19, 11.23, 11.24, 11.26, 11.27, 11.28

Terms: carbon dioxide (CO₂), climate, eccentricity, global warming, greenhouse effect, greenhouse gasses, greenhouse warming, ice cores, methane (CH₄), Milankovitch cycles, orbital factors, oxygen isotopes, paleoclimatology, precession (or wobble), sun spot activity, tilt, volcanic activity, water vapor (H₂O), weather

Study Questions:

How does climate differ from weather?

How do we use oxygen isotopes in glacial ice cores to figure out past temperatures? That is, when the ice has a low amount of heavy oxygen (O18) compared to light oxygen, was the air temperature at the time the ice formed warmer or cooler than usual?

How do ice cores tell us the composition of the earth's atmosphere in the past?

What is the Greenhouse Effect?  What type of solar radiation does the earth absorb? waht type of radiation does the Earth emit in response?

List three greenhouse gasses?

What makes these gases "greenhouse gases"?

What are some natural factors that can change climate? 

What did the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climte Change) conclude recently with regards to human-made carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere?  Or, to put it another way, explain what the diagrams below mean.

 Happy studying!

Useful links:

Syllabus Fall 2008

GLY 160: Environmental Geology web page