Physical Geography Discussion Assignment

Physical Geography Discussion Assignment
1) Describe each of the seven properties for identifying minerals
2) Explain the differences between minerals and rocks
3) Briefly describe the processes that lead to the formation of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks
4) Discuss the processes that take place during the cooling and crystallization of magma, and the typical order of crystallization according to the Bowen reaction series
5) Explain the relationships between plate tectonics, the formation of magma, and volcanism
6) Describe the main processes of mechanical weathering, and the types of materials that are produced when mechanical weathering predominates.
7) Describe the main processes of chemical weathering, and the products of chemical weathering of feldspar, ferromagnesian silicates, and calcite.
8) Define cobbles, pebbles, sand, silt, and clay and describe the differences between cobbles, pebbles, sand, silt, and clay.
9) Define group, formation, and member and explain the importance of and differences between groups, formations, and members.
10) Describe the mechanisms for the formation of foliation in metamorphic rocks.
11) Describe the various settings in which metamorphic rocks are formed and explain the links between plate tectonics and metamorphism.
12) Summarize the history of the geological time scale. Define eons, eras, periods, and epochs. Describe the relationships between eons, eras, periods, and epochs.
13) Describe the types of unconformities and make sure you describe what types of rocks are below and what types of rocks are above the unconformity.
14) Describe the conditions under which rocks fracture.
15) Briefly describe the different types of faults, including normal, reverse, thrust, and strike-slip and what forces cause each of them.
16) Describe the processes by which sediments are moved by streams and the flow velocities that are necessary to erode them from the stream bed and keep them suspended in the water. Include a discussion of gravel, sand, silt, and clay size particles.
17) Define aquifers, aquitards, confining layers, and the differences between confined and unconfined aquifers.
18) Describe the main types of mass wasting – creep, slump, translational slide, rotational slide, fall, debris flow, and mudflow – in terms of the types of materials involved, the type of motion, and the likely rates of motion.
creep
slump
translational slide
rotational slide
fall
debris flow
mudflow
19) Describe the various landforms related to alpine glacial erosion and explain how they form, including U- shaped valleys, aretes, cols, horns, hanging valleys, truncated spurs, drumlins, roches moutonees, glacial grooves, and striae
U- shaped valleys
aretes
cols
horns
hanging valleys
truncated spurs
drumlins
roches moutonees
glacial grooves
striae
20) Summarize the origins of beaches, spits, baymouth bars, tombolos, and barrier islands and discuss how each of these unique features form.
the origins of beaches
spits
baymouth bars
tombolos
barrier islands