Geology 110 Preparation Questions
I will list on this course web page a few questions for each lecture. These will serve as preparation for each class and be drawn from lectures and links. Please come to class with answers to these questions, I do draw on these heavily for the quizzes and class discussions.
For the week of 2 December
Review items:
- Here are review slides for the final: Review_slides_final
Watch this Ted Talk it talks about the future of Nuclear.
Additionally here is an explanation of some of the promising work on CCS.
1 – The final week – categorize the wedges to slowing carbon dioxide emissions.
2 – We will have the final quiz this week on Friday – a sort of review quiz.
3 – Friday I will summarize the course.
For the week of 25 November
1 – Short week – just Monday – we will have an ENSO quiz.
2 – The next three classes will be spent on Fixing Climate. It is a big job and we will approach it by “Hacking the Carbon Cycle”.
3 – Which reservoirs and which fluxes in the modern carbon cycle can we modify to prevent carbon dioxide landing in the ATM? Let’s start there.
For the week of 18 November
1 – What is ENSO?
2 – Who was Sir Gilbert Walker?
3 – What is upwelling in the oceans?
4 – We will have a quiz Monday on the ATM Circulation and the Ozone.
For the week of 11 November
1 – We will have a quiz Monday.
2 – The following questions will be on the quiz:
a – What do we mean by non-stationary? – give an example.
b – What is the 100-year flood and how can it be possible that a river could have a 100-year flood multiple times in one year?
c- The rest of the semester will focus on Climate Change, past, present and future. What aspects of this global challenge would like to learn more about? (note there is no wrong answer here and I will only take off points if you leave the question blank)
For the week of 4 November
1 – What is the crux of the challenge with the Colorado River Compact and water resources in the American West?
2 – How can we use geologic proxies to get an idea of past variability in water supply – look up tree-rings and the reconstruction of Colorado River flow?
3 – How can tree-rings be proxy for past precipitation and river discharge – remind yourself of the hydrologic equation.
4 – What is a climate proxy record?
For the week of 28 October
1- Exam on Friday
2 – What is a water table aquifer?
3 – What does the GRACE satellite measure?
4 – Be familiar with the material we covered on the field trip.
For the week of 21 October
1 – What do we mean by residence time in the stock (reservoirs) of water in the hydrologic Cycle?
2 – What is evapotranspiration?
3 – Look up the terms consumptive use how does it differ from water use?
4 – Why is it getting wetter in Wooster, Ohio?
For the week of 14 October
1 – We need to move on the the Hydrosphere.
2 – Where is the most water stored in the world and where is the most freshwater stored in the world?
3 – With Climate Change and larger global populations what are the big issues today?
4 – Write out with a diagram the hydrologic cycle – note that is is a biogeochemical cycle.
5 – What is no-till agriculture and how might it help in the realms of soil erosion, carbon sequestration and crop yields?
Over Break
1 – Have a good break.
For the week of 30 September
1 – We will have a quiz Monday.
2 – What are the five soil-forming factors?
3 – Know the basic characteristics of Oxisols, Alfisols, Aridisols, Histosols and Gelisols.
4 – Who was Norm Borlaug?
For the week of 23 September
1 – Note there is no class on Monday – Wiles is in Phoenix to talk about melting glaciers (as I said I did buy greenhouse offsets to mitigate the impact of the flight however…).
2 – Since we are in the Climate strike weeks – you should listen to Greta Thunberg – if you have not already. Here is one of her presentations and this may be one of her more impactful presentation.
3 – How can soils pay a role in the Climate Crises?
4 – What is no-till agriculture and how can it help?
For the week of 16 September
1 – How does the modern carbon cycle differ from the long-term tectonic carbon cycle that we have been talking about earlier in the course?
2 – How does the Keeling record (aka Mauna Loa Record) figure into the modern carbon cycle?
3 – What is the upshot of all the carbon going into the oceans?
For the week of 9 September
1 – We thought about Snowball Earth and how in the deep past the Earth may have been frozen over for some time – list the conditions and changes in continental location with respect to the equator, the Earth’s Energy Balance, the Geologic/tectonic Carbon Cycle, history of the sun’s output and global hypsometry might have played in freezing the Earth.
2 – What is fracking and why is it controversial?
3 – List the pros and cons of fracking and what do you think?
For the week of 2 September – Dating and Time, Storing up Fossil Fuels
1 – What is the difference between absolute and relative time? How does it related to the Geologic timescale?
2 – We will focus on Radiocarbon – see here for the diagram I want you to know.
3 – How does oil and gas form?
4 – Which country is leading in production of oil AND gas?
5 – This is true largely because of two innovations: (1) – Hydraulic Fracturing (aka fracking) and (2) Directional drilling. Looks these up what are they?
For the week of 26 August – Earth Materials and the Geologic Carbon Cycle
1 – What is the definition of a mineral?
2 – Limestone is made of the mineral calcite. What is the chemical composition of calcite?
3 – How does calcite figure into the Geologic carbon cycle?
4 – When was the Big Bang?
For 21 August – Learn the Geologic timescale.
1 – What are the four Revolutions in Geology – go to Ruddiman Reading on the course readings page. It is a chapter out of the book Plagues, Plows and Petroleum.
2 – How is the geologic timescale delineated.
3 – What is the approximate age of the Earth and how do we know?
4 – What are the layers of the Earth and their approximate depths (thicknesses)?
The ones below are what I assigned last time the course was taught.
1 – This week global climate talks begin. Read about them here.
2 – The US is at the talks – but we have withdrawn from the Paris Agreement.
3 – How many degrees of warming should we aim for?
4 – Sea level rise is a major challenge – what are the top 2 reasons for the rise – where is the water coming from?
For the week of 26 November –
Climate Change remains the topic.
1 – Watch this short video.
2 – This report has just been released and we need to talk about it.
3 – What is Ozone?
4 – There is good and bad ozone – explain.
5 – What is the relationship between Ozone and Climate Change? Read this.
5 – What is the Montreal Protocol?
For the week of 19 November –
Short week – go to Dr. Crawford blog on ENSO visualization. Get a good feel of its importance and impacts. Scroll through the blog to see what Wooster Geologists are up to..that is your assignment for the break.
For the week of 12 November –
1 – Who is Richard Alley and who is he related to in the Earth Science Department?
2 – What are the layers in the ATM – which one do we live in?
3 – Review the gaseous composition of the ATM.
4 – What drive circulation in the ocean and the ATM?
For the week of 5 November –
1 – What is a 100-year flood?
2 – Wheat is Darcy’s law?
3 – Who was Henri Darcy?
For the week of 28 October –
1- We have an exam Friday.
2 – What are the characteristics of a braided and meandering river?
3 – We say that streams/rivers and groundwater are connected – what do we mean by this?
4 – What is Darcy’s Law?
For the week of 22 October –
1 – We will recap the field trip. It was cold but we survived.
2 – We need to talk abut groundwater – what is the definition?
3 – Ground water and surface water are connected – what is a perennial stream? an intermittent stream? What is a gaining stream? a losing stream?
4 – What is the geologic history of the Killbuck Aquifer – where our water comes from?
For the week of 15 October –
1 – What is a drainage basin?
2 – What is a hydrograph?
3 – What is stream discharge and how is it measured?
For the week of 2 October –
1 – What is no-till agriculture?
2 – What are the advantages and disadvantages?
3 – What is the moldboard plow?
4 – When was agriculture started (big picture during The Holocene).
For the week of 24 September –
1 – What is a soil?
2 – When was the Dust Bowl in North America?
3 – What were the causes of the Dust Bowl?
For the week of 17 September – Exam on Friday
1 – We will spend some time on Monday looking at Limestones, Sandstones and Shales. What roles do these rocks have in Petroleum generation and production?
2 – We will also look at some igneous rocks including granites and gabbros and their extrusive equivalents.
3 – On Weds. hand-in your one-page essay – are you a prophet or a wizard?
For the week of 10 September – Link here to the writing assignment podcast. The one page essay is due next Weds.
0 – What is the chemical formula for Limestone?
1 – We will briefly discuss the Hot House during the Cretaceous Period. When was the Cretaceous and what characterizes this period.
2 – We will also discuss a bit about Snowball Earth – read a bit about it.
For the week of 3 September –
1 – Be sure to look up and think about the definition of a mineral.
2 – How does oil and gas form in the Earth’s crust?
3 – How does the Earth put away carbon in the form of coal?
4 – What is the Petroleum Window?