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Geo 1 Flashcards

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1
Q

Material geology

A

materials composing Earth and seeks to understand the many processes that operate beneath and upon its surface

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2
Q

Historical geology

A

the origin of Earth and its development through time.

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3
Q

Catastrophism

A

Thinking the Earth’s landscapes were shaped primarily by great catastrophes to affirm the belief that the Earth was only a few thousand years old

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4
Q

Uniformitarianism

A

Jame Hutton saying the physical, chemical, and biological laws that operate today have also operated in the geologic past

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5
Q

What are Earth’s spheres?

A

Hydrosphere
Biosphere
Solid Earth
Atmosphere

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6
Q

What % of our water is freshwater?

A

2.5 % 0.75 of this is groundwater

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7
Q

What “powers” Earth?

A

The sun and it’s internal heat

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8
Q

How long ago was the big bang?

A

13.7 million years

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9
Q

How did the Earth’s layers form?

A

Metals sank to the center and molten rock rose to create our first, primitive crust. Chemical differentiation created the basic layers. (1.5)

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10
Q

Describe the crust

A

thin, outer shell

Oceanic is made of basalt (ig)
Continental is made of lots of different rocks, and is much thicker than the oceanic crust.

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11
Q

Describe the mantle

A

A rocky shell that makes up 82% of the Earth’s volume. Split into upper & lower

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12
Q

What are the parts of the upper mantle?

A

Lithosphere-the entire crust plus the uppermost mantle

Asthenosphere- weak layer w little melting

Transition zone- lowest part

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13
Q

Describe the core

A

Made of iron–nickel alloy, with a liquid outer layer and a solid inner layer (solid due to immense pressure)

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14
Q

Simple rundown of the rock cycle

A

Magma/lava cools and solidifies into igneous rock which weathers and erodes into sediments, which lithify, compact, and cement into sedimentary rock which is buried and exposed to high heat and pressure which turns it into metamorphic rock, which then melts into magma

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15
Q

What is a mineral?

A
  1. Naturally Occurring
  2. Solid
    3.Inorganic
  3. Orderly Crystalline Structure
  4. Definite Chemical Composition
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16
Q

Rate the bonding types by order of strength

A
  1. Covalent
    2.Ionic
    3.Hydrogen
    Metallic is weak as well
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17
Q

What is diaphaneity?

A

The mineral’s ability to transmit light, translucent, transparent, etc.

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18
Q

What is a crystal habit?

A

The common or characteristic shape of individual crystals or aggregates of crystals, like fibrous, banded, cubed etc.

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19
Q

Which elements are most abundant in the continental crust?

A

Oxygen, silicon, and aluminum

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20
Q

Describe the light silicates

A

Generally 2.7 specific gravity
lacks iron and magnesium

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21
Q

Describe the dark silicates

A

From 3.2 and 3.6 in specific gravity with iron and magnesium

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22
Q

What is a silicate?

A

A mineral with silicon and oxygen, , made of the silicon-oxygen tetrahedron

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23
Q

Name some common silicate minerals

A

Olivine, Micas (biotite, muscovite), Feldspars (potassium, plagioclase), Quartz, Pyroxene (Augite) etc.

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24
Q

What is the most abundant silicate group in the Earth’s crust?

A

Feldspar! because they can form under a wide range of pressures and temperatures. Quartz is second btw.

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25
Name some important nonsilicates
Gypsum, calcite, and halite
26
What is the difference between lava and magma?
Lava is at the Earth's surface, Magma is underneath the Earth
27
How does an igneous rock form?
Magma rises to the surface
28
What are volatiles?
Components of magma, they vaporize (form a gas) at surface pressures
29
What are the 3 parts of magma?
Liquid- melt Gaseous- volatiles Solid- crystalized silicate minerals
30
What is the difference between extrusive and intrusive igneous rock?
Extrusive is formed by lava at the surface, Intrusive is formed by magma at depth (aka plutonic)
31
Texture in igneous rock is determined by ______
size and arrangement of minerals
32
Granitic vs Basaltic
Granitic: light-colored silicates, Felsic, High amounts of silica, makes up continental crust Basaltic: dark-colored silicates, Mafic, Denser, make up the ocean floor
33
What is ultramafic composition?
Rare composition of super dark rocks with high magnesium and iron, like peridotite
34
Dissect the words felsic and mafic.
Felsic= FELdspar and SILica (light) Mafic= MAgnesium and iron (Fe) (dark)
35
What does texture mean?
It is appearance of a mineral NOT the feel of a mineral.
36
What does aphanitic texture mean?
Fine-grained, phan in latin means visible so A-phanitic is not visible! This represents rapid cooling
37
What does phaneritic mean?
Coarse (large) grained This represents slow cooling (grains had time to form)
38
What does porphyritic mean?
Large crystals embedded in a matrix of small minerals. the crystals are called phenocrysts.
39
How does a vesicular igneous rock form?
When lava cools so fast that the openings that the gas bubbles are preserved. Extrusive process,
40
How does a glassy igneous rock form?
When molten rock is ejected into the atmosphere by a volcano and very quickly cooled, like obsidian
41
What factors affect crystal size?
rate of cooling amt. of silica present amt of dissolved gases
42
Describe granite
Igneous rock, phaneritic, mostly feldspar some quartz, very abundant. Rhyolite is its extrusive version
43
What are the igneous rock pairings?
Phan-Aphan Intrusive- ex felsic-mafic Granite-Rhyolite Diorite-Andesite Gabbro-Basalt Periodite- Komatite
44
What does Bowen's reaction series demonstrate?
as a magma cools, minerals crystallize in a systematic fashion based on their melting points. So like from high to low temps, mafic melts at high and felsic melts at low.
45
What is magmatic differentiation?
Generating more than one type of rock from one magma
46
What is assimilation?
Changing a magma’s composition by incorporating surrounding rocks into a magma
47
What is magma mixing?
Exactly what it sounds like, just another way for magma composition to be changed
48
Basaltic magma is made of what?
magmas migrate upward, confining pressure decreases, which reduces the melting temperature, common at the Earth's surface
49
What is an intrusion/ pluton?
The structures that result from the emplacement of magma into preexisting rocks
50
What is a dike?
A tabular, discordant pluton
50
What is a sill?
A tabular, concordant pluton
51
Whats some of the vocabulary to describe plutons?
Tabular- table-like Massive- blob shaped Discordant- cut across existing structures Concordant-inject parallel to existing features
52
What is a batholith?
large linear structures several hundred kilometers long and more than 100 kilometers wide
53
What is a stock?
Smaller than a batholith but very similar
54
How does mechanical weathering help chemical weathering?
Mechanical creates more surface area to be weathered chemically
55
How is water helpful in chemical weathering?
oxidation, rain mixing with co2 to make carbonic acid,
56
What mineral is really resistant to weathering?
Quartz
57
What factors affect weathering
Climate- temperature & rain Rock characteristics
58
What is soil made of?
mineral and organic matter, water, and air
59
What factors affect soil composition?
Parent rock, time, climate, animals and plants, topography
60
What are the soil horizons?
O.A.E.B.C.R
61
How do sedimentary rocks form?
Sediments are deposited then buried then lithified into rock
62
What is a detrital rock?
form from sediments that have been weathered and transported, distinguished by particle size fr
63
What is a chemical sedimentary rock?
When ions in solution are precipitated from like evaporation
64
What's the difference between a conglomerate and breccia
Conglomerate is rounded, breccia is sharp, poorly sorted
65
What is the distinguishing thing for sedimentary rocks?
Particle size, (gravel, sand, mud)
66
Describe shale
A fine-grained detrital rock, very common, has fissility (can break into layers) dark shale will have fossilized plants sometimes
67
Describe limestone
most abundant chemical sedimentary rock, mostly made of the mineral calcite, ex: coquina and chalk
68
What is inorganic limestone?
when chemical changes increase the calcium carbonate content of the water until it precipitates, like travertine or ooids
69
Steps of coal formation
Peat to lignite to bituminous to anthracite
70
What is diagenesis
Changes that happen after the sediment are deposited and buried, like lithification or recrystallization
71
What are the parts of lithification?
Compaction and cementation
72
Ripple marks
Small waves of sand that develop on the surface of a sediment layer through the action of moving water or air
73
Nonmetallic mineral resources
Earth materials that are not used as fuels or processed for the metals, like asbestos, graphite, gems
74
What are the types of coal traps?
Anticline- arched series of sedimentary strata, gas oil water Fault trap-strata are displaced so that a dipping reservoir rock abuts an impermeable bed, Salt dome- salt rises bc increase in pressure and deforms the strata above, pushing oil and gas
75
What does an oil trap need?
Pourous permeable resevoir rock impermeable cap rock like shale
76
Talk about carbon in all of the places in the carbon cycle
Atmosphere- CO2 is a greenhouse gase Biosphere- photosynthesis or vegetation

First Geo Test (4 decks)

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