GEOL 5 - Historical Geology (with Lab) Exam # 2 Study Guide - Spring 2008 date: Tuesday, November 4, 2008, at 6.45 in DH 128 Professor: Dr. Alessandro Grippo, Ph.D.   General Information - read this! Last Updated  •  October 26, 2008 NOTE: Cell-phones, electronic devices of ANY sort, dictionaries, translators, notes, books CAN NOT be used during the test. You will ONLY need to bring: one Scantron Form 882-E a number 2 pencil an eraser If you make a correction on your Scan-Tron, be sure that you erase completely your previous answer. Reading errors from the Scan-Tron machine that result from a badly erased answer can not be fixed. This study guide must be interpreted (literally) as a guide to the study of the subject and not as a listing of possible questions. It is YOUR responsability to cover the materials listed here on the lecture textbook, the lab textbook, the web pages and your notes, including those you have taken during the projection of movies, if any. For each textbook chapter that is going to be on the test, I listed all the paragraphs you need to study. I also added a list of essential concepts you need to be able to handle. This list is intended to help you outline the main points BUT it does not imply the rest is not important. It rather signifies that once you know these essential points you will be able to get to others much more easily. To be clear, there will be questions out of every paragraph that has been indicated, not only from the list of essential concepts. I would strongly recommend that you peruse your notes for completeness of information: some concepts have been expressed with much more detail in class than are explained on the book, and you are responsible for that; know what the key terms and concepts are (see the list at the end of each chapter on both your textbook and your lab manual); exercise with the questions for review also found at the end of each chapter. Read the summary at the end of each chapter, try to answer review questions, try to work with others if you find it useful. Never hesitate to ask me questions in class or during the lab   part 1 - lecture Last Updated  •  October 26, 2008 Chapter 6 - Correlation and Dating of the Rock Record This chapter is fundamental for the study of sedimentary geology. Expect detailed questions on every paragraph. Integrate the study from the textbooks with the web pages on Sedimentology and Stratigraphy and Stratigraphy. Know the names of Eons, Eras, Periods and Epochs. You do not need to know the names of Ages. Know the numerical ages listed on the Geologic Time Scale I posted (yes, the ones on the right). Know the Geologic Time Scale Know Stratigraphic Units Know Earth's Absolute Age Know Event Stratigraphy Chapter 7 - Evolution and the Fossil Record This chapter gives you the foundations for the understaning of Evolution, and you should know the whole chapter, but with the following distinctions: Know the Introduction Know Adaptations Know Charles Darwin's Contribution (there will be questions on Charles Darwin) Read, in order to better understand the ideas behind the chapter, the section "Genes, DNA and Chromosomes" (there will be no direct questions on this short paragraph) Read, in order to better understand this chapter, the section "Populations, Species and Speciations". Know what a speciation is. Read, in order to better understand this chapter, the section "Rates of Origination". Know what evolutionary radiations and adaptive breakthroughs are. Know the Molecular Clock and Evolutionary Convergence Know Extinction and Evolutionary Trends   Study Guide: part 2 - LAB Last Updated  •  October 26, 2008 Chapter 6 - Sea-Floor Spreading and Plate Tectonics (this chapter needs to be integrated with materials and notes from the lecture) Be sure you know the basic math on how to relate distance of the oceanic crust from the ridge, its age, and the rate of spreading of the plate in exam Know the whole chapter Know names and location of the main plates Know what paleomagnetism is Be able to solve any problem in this chapter Chapter 7 - Age Relations and Unconformity This and the next chapter are fundamental in the study of Historical Geology. Be sure to know everything we covered on these chapters. Know the whole chapter Know the difference, again, between absolute and relative time Know all of Steno's principles, plus cross-cutting and inclusions Know what unconformities are, what they mean, and all the kinds we encountered Chapter 8 - Rock Units and Time-Rock Units Know the difference between rock units (Formations, etc.), time-rock units (Systems, etc.) and time units (Periods, etc.) Know what a fossil is and what indicates (age, environment, etc.) and its utility for correlation Know what the Standard Geologic Column is Know all the Eons/Eonothems; Eras/Erathems; Periods/Systems: names, rank (for instance, the Cretaceous is part of the Mesozoic, which is part of the Phanerozoic) and relateive age order Know the numerical ages (number) of Eons and Eras boundaries (use values indicated above in part 1, Chapter 6, with the link to published Geologic Time Scale) Know what a geological section and a type section are Know the difference between relative and absolute age Know the basics of absolute age determination: I will NOT ask you to determine an age, but rather how to do that Know the main couples of parent/daughter isotopes and their utility (for instance, can they be used on rocks or not? which rocks? why? why is Carbon 14 different from the others?) Be prepared to solve a puzzle like that of Fig. 8.5 I will NOT ask you specific questions on the Colorado Plateau or Capitol reef National Monument, except fo generic questions on unconformities (see previous chapter) or which rock types form more resistant cliffs (question 6, page 83)   Study Guide: part 3 - CRADLE OF LIFE Last Updated  •  October 26, 2008 Chapter 3 - The Oldest Fossils and What THey Mean Be prepared to answer questions (including a possible extra-credit essay question) on any material from this chapter Chapter 4 - How Did Life Begin? Be prepared to answer questions (including a possible extra-credit essay question) on any material from this chapter (pages 101 to 109 only).