NATS101 Fall 2008

Exam 3 Study Guide

Introduction to Earth surface landforms and processes

- What is geomorphology? What questions do geomorphologists ask?
- Be able to describe the fundamental relationship between the internal and external processes
in shaping the land surface.
- Importance of time in landscape formation?
- What is the concept uniformitarianism? Why is it so important?

Earth materials – rocks

- Know the basic internal structure of the Earth. Understand how earth materials are sorted
with depth. For instance, which is denser, continental crust or oceanic crust? What are the
implications for plate tectonics?
- What are minerals?
- What are rocks? What are the three major classifications of rocks?
- Know how each of these form and be able to give an example:
Igneous (intrusive and extrusive), sedimentary, metamorphic
- What type of rocks are most common in the entire planet? On the surface?
- Understand the relationships between the rock types through the rock cycle.

Plate tectonics
- What global phenomena are plate tectonics responsible for?
- What evidence did Alfred Wegner use in his proposal of continental drift?
- In terms of the paleontological evidence, what other theories existed to explain the patterns of
ancient plant and animal distributions?
- Was Wegner’s theory accepted? Why or why not?
- What evidence became available in the 1950s-60s that led to the widespread acceptance of
plate tectonic theory?
- What are the different types of plate boundaries?
- Understand what is happening tectonically at the different types of plate boundaries with
different types of crust (oceanic vs. continental).
- What are the results of this tectonic activity on the surface at each type of plate boundary (i.e.
volcanoes, earthquakes, mountain formation)?
- What may ultimately be the driver of plate movement?

Vulcanism
- In what geologic settings are volcanoes and volcanic activity found?
- Be able to describe the two different types of volcanic activity – what specifically does one
observe on the surface in terms of lava, eruptive explosiveness, etc? What is the main cause
for the difference between the two?
- What are the three major types of volcanoes and what are their characteristics? How and why
are they different? Be able to give an example of each.
- What are plutonic landforms? How do they form? What are some of the major types? Be
able to identify a stock, dike, and volcanic neck.
- Understand role of volcanic activity in climate change.
- What are some benefits of volcanism to human societies?
Diastrophism – folding and faulting
- What does diastrophism refer to?
- What is it caused by?
- What are the types of stress placed on rocks?
- What is strain and why is it important?
- Difference between folds and faults.
- Be able to identify the different types of folds (fig. 14-46). Where in the US are these folds
very common?
- How and why might an anticline form a valley and a syncline a ridge?

Weathering
- The external processes result from the interaction of what elements of the earth system?
- What is weathering? What two factors does the rate and type of weathering depend on?
- In broad terms, how do the three classes of weathering vary by location?
- What factors make rocks more or less susceptible to weathering? What types of openings are
found in rocks?
- Be able to compare and contrast mechanical vs. chemical weathering. Know the general
relationship between these and climate and thus where one would dominate over the other.
- Understand the three types of mechanical and three types of chemical weathering discussed in
lecture. How do they operate? Under what conditions are they most effective? What is
required for chemical weathering? (You need not remember the chemical formulas, but you
should know what substances are involved).
- What type of landscape is dominated by the solution of carbonate rocks? What are some of
the major features that characterize this landscape?

Mass wasting
- How does mass wasting fit in to the denudation process?
- What are the forces involved and how do they interact? What role does water play?
- Be able to explain the angle of repose and the pile of sand example discussed in class.
- What triggers slope failure?
- How are the main types of mass wasting events classified? Be able to explain the difference
between creep, a slump, a landslide, and a flow.

Erosion, transport, deposition

- Be familiar with the basics, as discussed in class, on fluvial, glacial, and aeolian processes
and landforms.
- Where is each dominant?
- With fluvial – difference between hillslope and channel processes. How effective is a
raindrop at erosion? What is sheetwash, a rill, a gully? What processes are at work in a
channel? What are some of the macro-scale effects we see on landscapes due to fluvial
processes?
- With glacial – how does a glacier move? Know the difference between continental and alpine
glaciation in terms of landforms and movement. What are some of the macro-scale effects we
see on landscapes due to glacial processes?
- With wind - where is it most effective and why? Be familiar with aeolian processes and
landforms discussed in class.