Santa Monica College Earth Science


GEOL 5 - Historical Geology (with Lab)

Exam # 3 (Final) Study Guide - Fall 2007

date: December 13, 2007, at 6.45 sharp in DH 128

Professor: Dr. Alessandro Grippo, Ph.D.
 
General Information - read this!Last Updated  •  December 2, 2007
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:

  1. one Scantron Form 882-E
  2. a number 2 pencil
  3. 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 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

The final exam focuses for two thirds on the materials covered AFTER the second midterm and for one third on the main concepts we have seen since the beginning of the semester, and that were covered in the previous two tests. That is true for both textbook and lab manual chapters and materials.

ammonites


 
part 1 - lectureLast Updated  •  December 2, 2007

As always, I would suggest that, after studying, you review the summary at the end of each chapter; try to answer the review questions; try studying with other students in the class if you feel that it could help and you are comfortable with that; ask question in class so that everybody can take advantage of explanations.

For these chapters on Earth History, focus mainly on the big scale: how and when our planet changed over time, from its origins to plate tectonics, to how plates evolved, moved around and interacted (within the limits we have discussed); how and when life arose and changed through evolution (for instance the first eukaryotes, the first fishes, the first terrestrial organisms, colonization of land by plants, etc.); how and when the environment changed (for instance, what happens when oxygen increases in the atmosphere; when an asteroid hits Earth; when a glacier expands or retreats; when an organism becomes an efficient predator; when an organism depends on another for its survival).

As a rule, I will NOT ask specific organisms' names unless they are important, such as, as an example, a pelycosaur. The most common groups (and their names) WILL be in the test: for instance trilobites, corals, sponges, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, dinosaurs, birds, etc.).

You will also need to be aware of where a certain plate (know their names, starting from the Archean) was during a certain time period; you need to know the evolution of these plates in time, and within a Period-scale framework.

Finally, the chapters covered in class, 11 through 17, will be part of the test in their entirety. I will leave you with the responsibility of studying on your own the Introduction and the Chapter Summary at the end of Chapters 18 and 19, overall just four pages that will take your knowledge of the past very close to present day. There will be at least one question or two out of these two Chapters. Chapter 20 will not be part of the test.


Chapter 11 - The Archean Eon
Know the whole chapter


Chapter 12 - The Proterozoic Eon
Know the whole chapter


Chapter 13 - The Early Paleozoic World
Know the whole chapter


Chapter 14 - The Middle Paleozoic World
Know the whole chapter


Chapter 15 - The Late Paleozoic World
Know the whole chapter


Chapter 16 - The Early Mesozoic Era
Know the whole chapter


Chapter 17 - The Cretaceous World
Know the whole chapter


Chapter 18 - The Paleogene World
Know the Introduction (page 445) and the Chapter Summary (page 467)


Chapter 19 - The Neogene World
Know the Introduction (page 469) and the Chapter Summary (pages 512 and 513)


Chapter 20 - The Holocene
There would be no questions from this chapter


 
Study Guide: part 2 - LABLast Updated  •  December 2, 2007

Chapters 10, 11 and 13 deal with paleontology, fossils and classification. A list of what you need to know is indicated for each Chapter but I want to stress here that you need to study the range of the major groups, as indicated below.
Chapter 12 deals with biostratigraphy (one of the nine different tools we use in stratigraphy, as we have seen during the semester; there WILL be questions on stratigraphy). The point of this Chapter is to understand how fossils are used to determine relative age, and how do we correlate. Also, the chapter provides you with a reminder that fossils can also be useful as indicators of ancient environment. Finally, a general subdivision of marine environments, the distinction between nekton, benthos and plankton, and between herbivores, carnvores and filter-feeders are also made here. Trace fossils close the Chapter.
Chapter 14 deals with structures and we only deal with the main ones that we have seen both in class and in the lab.
Chapters 15, 16 and 17 present an introduction on general geology that we have already seen during lecture; while the exercise might have seen a little bit complex, what you need to grasp is the terminology and its the meaning. You need to know for instance, as we have seen in Chapter 15, how to tell if you have an orogen or an accreted terrain.

Chapter 10 - Fossils and Their Living Relatives (parts 1 and 2: Fossils and Living Protoctista, Sponges, Corals, Bryozoans and Brachiopods))

  1. Review the Introduction, with special attention to the paragraphs on
    • What is a Fossil?
    • Preservation of Fossils
    but also be able to discuss the main points of "Classification and Nomenclature"
  2. Fossils and Living Protoctista: main characteristics of all five groups and range
  3. Sponges: main charachteristics (structure, environments) and range
  4. Corals and related Cnidarians: main charachteristics (structure, environments) and range
  5. Bryozoa: main charachteristics (structure, environments) and range
  6. Brachiopoda: main charachteristics (structure, environments) and range

Chapter 11 - Fossils and Their Living Relatives (part 3: Mollusks, Arthropods, Echinoderms, Graptolites and Plants)

  1. Mollusca: main charachteristics (structure, environments) and range
  2. Arthropoda: main charachteristics (structure, environments) and range
  3. Echinodermata: main charachteristics (structure, environments) and range
  4. Graptolites: main charachteristics (structure, environments) and range
  5. Fossil Plants: main charachteristics (structure, environments) and range

Chapter 12 - Fossils Indicators of Age, Environment and Correlation

  1. Fossils and Age Determination: be able to use the information in the paragraph to answer possible questions on the style of your lab manual
  2. Biozones and Biostratigraphy
  3. Skip "A Graphic Method of Correlation"
  4. Know Fossils and Paleoenvironments
  5. Know The Habitat of Marine Life
  6. Know Invertebrate Trace Fossils

Chapter 13 - A Brief Survey of the Vertebrates

  1. Know the Introduction
  2. Know what fishes, amphibians, amniotes, dinosaurs, mammals, birds, and vertebrate ichnology are
  3. The questions will not involve scientific names
  4. Know the characteristics of the groups, what distinguish them one from each other, times of evolution

Chapter 14 - Geologic Maps and Geologic Structures

  1. Know the Introduction
  2. Know Attitude, Strike and Dip
  3. Know Folds
  4. Know Faults
  5. No questions from the other paragraphs (stop at page 192, no questions out of pages 193-210)

Chapter 15 - Canadian Shield and Basement Rocks of North America

  1. Know The Basement Rocks
  2. Know the main points of the Precambrian History of the Lake Superior Region
  3. Know the main points of the Yellowknife Gold District, Northwest Territories, Canada

Chapter 16 - Mountain Belts of North America

  1. Know the Hypothesis for the Origin of Mountain Belts
  2. Know where the Mountain Chains of the Appalachians, the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ranges are

Chapter 17 - The Interior Plains and Plateaus

  1. Know the Major Structural Features paragraph


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