Question: Short Answers (Two 2 to 3 paragraphs answers each)
Pick two essays from this list. I'm looking for a couple of paragraphs of detail. 10 pts each, 20% of test.
1. Which one of the five principles of relative time we discussed do you consider most useful, and why? Give examples of how geologists might use this principle.
2. Describe the 3 major problems the city of Fremont, California, faces following a Hayward fault earthquake.
3. How do geologists use the concept of a terrane to understand the complexity of rocks, especially in places such as California?
4. Explain how the concept of paleomagnetism, and especially inclination, helped geologists understand the truth about plate tectonics?
5. Describe how the theory of plate tectonics explains major aspects of the world, such as trenches, mid-ocean ridges, terranes, and locations of volcanoes and earthquakes.
6. What do you think would be the most important thing people can do to prepare for a coming San Francisco Bay Area quake, and why is it so important?
7. Compare and contrast uniformitarianism versus catastrophism as ways geologists think about the world.
Longer Answer (3 double space pages)
Pick one essay from this list of three. I'm looking for a couple of pages of detail. 30 pts, 30% of test.
1. You happen to have a time machine. Of course you go back in time and meet a young Alfred Wegener. He's pretty surprised to hear that his continental drift idea will eventually be accepted by everyone. What can you discuss with him about his evidence-what did he come up with? What parts did he get right? What parts were problematic? Then explain to him all the evidence that came after his death and how he could have used this to support his claims. In other words, in this essay I want you to detail Wegener's evidence and the evidence that came after his time.
2. Earthquakes are a big problem in the San Francisco Bay Area. Why? What faults are most problematic here? What major earthquake effects do we expect to have in the Bay Area? What areas will be most affected by these earthquake effects and why?
3. Compare and contrast the principles of relative time with how we determine the ages of rocks using radiometric dating, and explain how we use both relative and radiometric dating in determining geologic time.