Chapter 1 - Introduction To Geology

Question 1

Give four examples of how geology affects our everyday lives

Answer 1

1) Natural events - earthquakes…
2) Economics and politics - minerals and energy resources are not equally distributed
3) our role as decision makers
4) consumers and citizens - we enjoy a standard of living that is directly dependent on consumption of Geologic materials

Question 2

What is geology

Answer 2

Study of the Earth

Question 3

Principle of uniformitism

Answer 3

Processes we see today have been operating throughout time. To understand and interpret evidence preserved in rock we must first understand present processes and their results

Question 4

Relative dating

Answer 4

Layers in piles of rock that show us records of the sequence of past events

Question 5

Earth as an open system

Answer 5

With many interacting subsystems that involve the transfer of energy and materials from one area to another

Question 6

Hydrosphere

Answer 6

All Earth’s water such as ice, lakes and snow

Question 7

Geosphere

Answer 7

Solid Earth from core to surface composed principally of rock and unconsolidated cement

Question 8

Catastrophism

Answer 8

Theory believing that earths features with permanent and had been produced by a few great upheavals

Question 9

According to recent studies, how old is the Earth

Answer 9

4550 million years old

Question 10

What is an open system

Answer 10

Both energy and matter flow into and out of the system

Question 11

Atmosphere

Answer 11

Mixture of gases that surround the Earth

Question 12

Biosphere

Answer 12

All of the organisms as well as any organic matter not yet decomposed

Question 13

What is a rock

Answer 13

A coherent, naturally occurring solid consisting of an aggregate of minerals

Question 14

Coherent rocks

Answer 14

A rock holds together and must be broken into separate pieces and not a pile of an attached grains the can move around

Question 15

Naturally occurring rocks

Answer 15

Manufactured materials like concrete and brick do not qualify

Question 16

What is a crystal and what is a grain

Answer 16

Crystal is a piece of a mineral that grew into its present shape and A grain is any fragment or piece of mineral, Rock glass

Question 17

Give two ways rocks are held together, and an example of each

Answer 17

1) natural cement - Mineral material the precipitates from water and fills the spaces between grains… And example is Clastic rocks
2) interlocking crystals - rocks who’s crystals interlock with one another… Example is crystalline rocks

Question 18

Clastic rocks

Answer 18

Rocks whose grains are stuck together by cement

Question 19

How can rocks best be classified

Answer 19

By how they form

Question 20

Igneous rocks

Answer 20

Form by the solidification of molten rock

Question 21

Sedimentary rocks

Answer 21

Form either by the cementing together of fragments broken off pre-existing rocks or by the precipitation of mineral crystals out of water solutions

Question 22

Metamorphic rocks

Answer 22

Form when pre-existing rocks change into new rocks in response to a change in pressure and temperature conditions

Question 23

Name for physical characteristics of rocks

Answer 23

1) grain size - in some rocks all the grains are the same size while other rocks contain a variety of different sized grains
2) composition - The proportion of chemicals as well as the assemblage of minerals the developed in rock
3) texture - The arrangement of grains in a rock
4) layering - defined either by bands of different compositions of textures or by the alignment of in inequaint grains so that they train parallel to one other

Question 24

Bedding and foliation

Answer 24

Bedding is layering in sedimentary rocks, while The layering in metamorphic rocks is called foliation