This document provides a study guide for a geology course. It lists 175 questions covering a wide range of topics in geology, from the formation of hypotheses and theories to plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes, rocks and minerals. It also includes assignments on writing a paper on one of several books related to history, civilizations and geopolitics. The study guide outlines the key concepts and topics students should understand for the course.

1. Study Guide
1. How does an idea turn to a hypothesis and then to a theory?
· In scientific reasoning, a hypothesis is constructed before any
applicable research has been done. A theory, on the other
hand, is supported by evidence: it's a principle formed as an
attempt to explain things that have already been substantiated
by data. (Hypothesis- An idea that has been tested many, many
times, pretty much works, still has some issues that might be
worked out.) (Theory- The BEST explanation of the facts so far.
Predictable. Testable. Most scientist agree that it is probably
right.)
2. What is a scientific fact?
· An objective and verifiable observation, in contrast with a
hypothesis or theory, which is intended to explain or interpret
facts.(An observation)
3. What is the difference between a theory and a law?
· A law is a description of an observed phenomenon in the
natural world that hold true every time it is tested. It doesn't
explain why something is true; it just states that it is true.
A theory, on the other hand, explains observations that are
gathered during the scientific process.
4. Describe the Big Bang.
· the rapid expansion of matter from a state of extremely high
density and temperature that according to current cosmological
theories marked the origin of the universe.
5. What evidence is there of the Big Bang?
·
6. When did the Big Bang occur?
·
7. What element was produce by the Big Bang? Why this
element?
·
8. How were all the elements up to iron created?

2. ·
9. What is the planetary nebula theory?
·
10. How old is the solar system?
·
11. How were all the elements from iron to uranium created?
·
12. What is the theory of plate tectonics?
·
13. What was the evidence that Wegener had to support his
theory?
·
14. What evidence did he lack? Why? When was this evidence
found to support his theory?
·
15. What is Pangaea? When did it form?
·
16. How did scientist discover that the Earth’s magnetic field
reverses? How did this support the theory of plate tectonics?
·
17. Know the difference between felsic, intermediate, and mafic
rock.
·
18. Know the densities of the lithosphere/ asthenosphere/ and
mantle.
·
19. What is the lithosphere? What is the asthenosphere?
·
20. What causes the Earth’s plates to move?
·
21. What are the two types of tectonic plates?
·
22. What are the three ways the plates can interact with each
other?
·
23. Draw, label, and describe an oceanic divergent boundary.

3. Give an example.
·
24. Draw, label, and describe an oceanic vs. continental
convergent boundary. Give an example.
·
25. Draw, label, and describe an oceanic vs. oceanic convergent
boundary. Give an example.
·
26. Draw, label, and describe a continental vs. continental
convergent boundary. Give an example.
·
27. What is a transform boundary?
·
28. What is an island arc? What type of boundary creates an
island arc?
·
29. Give an example of an island arc.
·
30. What is a hotspot? Give an example of a hot spot on the
continental crust and on the oceanic crust.
·
31. What is a mineral?
·
32. What is a proton? A neutron? An electron?
·
33. What is a rock?
·
34. How is the periodic chart organized?
·
35. List several physical properties that we use to identify
minerals.
·
36. Why is color a bad identifier of the type of mineral?
·
37. What are the five most common elements in the Earth’s
crust?

4. ·
38. What is a silicate?
·
39. Give several examples of a silicate.
·
40. What is Bowen’s Reaction Series?
·
41. Why is the Bowen’s Reaction Series important to the
understanding of how minerals are formed?
·
42. Describe feldspar.
·
43. Describe quartz.
·
44. Describe a mica.
·
45. Describe olivine.
·
46. Describe calcite.
·
47. What is an igneous rock?
·
48. What does the word volatiles mean?
·
49. What is the difference between magma and lava?
·
50. What does extrusive mean? How can you tell if a rock is
extrusive?
·
51. What does intrusive mean? How can you tell if a rock is
intrusive?
·
52. What is texture mean when talking about igneous rocks?
·
53. List and describe the different igneous rock textures.
·

5. 54. Describe using texture and magma type the following rocks.
Also list where the location the igneous rock cooled.
Granite, rhyolite, andesite, diorite, basalt, gabbro
·
55. Explain the difference between mechanical and chemical
weathering.
·
56. What are clastic sedimentary rocks?
·
57. What are nonclastic sedimentary rocks?
·
58. What are organic sedimentary rocks?
·
59. What is the difference between clean and dirty sand
sediments? What does it tell you about where the sediment was
deposited?
·
60. What is do it mean if the sediments are rounded vs. having a
lot of angles?
·
61. What is the difference between a conglomerate and a
breccia?
·
62. Where was shale, mudstone, and claystone deposited?
·
63. What is cross bedding and what does it tell us?
·
64. What is the most common sedimentary rock? What are the
next two most common?
·
65. What sort of environment would limestone be deposited?
·
66. What are evaporate sedimentary rock? Give some examples.
·
67. What is coal? How is it formed?

6. ·
68. How does petrified wood form?
·
69. What does ocean transgression and regression mean?
·
70. What are the main greenhouse gases?
·
71. Explain the theory of global warming.
·
72. What happened to most of the Earth’s carbon dioxide?
·
73. What is subduction? Which plate dives under? Why? What
happens to it?
·
74. What is an accretionary wedge?
·
75. What sort of material is wedged onto the continental plate?
·
76. What is a turbidity current? How can geologist tell in a
rock layer if a turbidity current has occurred?
·
77. Draw the rock cycle!
·
78. If you could talk to a piece of granite and ask its complete
lifecycle, what would it say???
·
This is week 1 to week 6!
79. Describe Steno’s four principles.
·
80. Rock layers at the top of a geologic column are what
relative age? What about rock layers at the bottom?
·
81. There is pieces of shale imbedded in a basalt sill. Which is

7. older? Why?
·
82. There is a basalt sill cutting through a sandstone layer.
Which is older? Why?
·
83. What is uniformitarianism? Who first promoted this idea?
What was the completing idea?
·
84. What is an unconformity?
·
85. List and describe the different unconformities.
·
86. What is the principle of fossil succession? What came up
with it?
·
87. Why is the principle of fossil succession important? How is
it used in geology?
·
88. What is absolute age dating?
·
89. Describe how radioactive age dating works.
·
90. What is a half-life?
·
91. Explain why or why not geologist could carbon 14 age date
hair from an 18,000 year old wooly mammoth.
·
92. Explain why or why not geologist could carbon 14 age date
bone material from a 63,000,000 year old T-Rex fossil.
·
93. Which isotopes do geologist use to age date very old rock?
·
94. Explain why you could or couldn’t radioactively age date
basalt.
·
95. Explain why you could or couldn’t radioactively age date

8. sandstone.
·
96. What is the difference between micro and macro evolution?
97. What is the meaning of the “Goldilock” zone?
98. How are geologic time periods bounded (start and ending)?
99. Describe the Hadean Eon. What occurs in this this time
period? How much of Earth history does this take up?
100. What was the importance of stromatolites?
101. What is a craton?
102. List the different time periods and list several important
events that happened in that time period.
103. What probably caused most of Earth mass extinctions?
104. Draw and label a volcano.
105. What is an igneous sill? How is it different from a dike?
106. What is a volcanic neck?
107. What is a batholith?
108. Describe basaltic magma.
109. Describe granitic magma.
110. Draw and describe a shield volcano.
111. How can a shield volcano cause damage? How dangerous

9. is it?
112. What type of plate boundary would cause a shield volcano?
Why?
113. List several volcanoes that are shield volcanoes.
114. Draw and describe a composite volcano.
115. How can a composite volcano cause damage? How is it
dangerous?
116. Describe a pyroclastic flow.
117. Describe a lahar.
118. What type of plate boundaries would cause a composite
volcano? Why?
119. List several composite cone volcanoes.
120. Describe a cinder cone.
121. Describe what a caldera is and how it is produced.
122. Describe how confining pressure can stress rocks.
123. Explain how tensional stresses are different from
compressional stresses which are different from shear stresses.
124. List several places where tensional, compressional, and
shear stresses are currently taking place.
125. What is elastic deformation?

10. 126. What is brittle deformation?
127. What is an anticline?
128. What is a syncline?
129. What is a plunging fold?
130. How is a dome different from a basin?
131. What is strike and dip?
132. Draw a normal fault. Label the hanging wall, footwall, and
show direction of motion.
133. What is a horst? What is a graben? What type of stress
causes these?
134. Explain how truncated ridges are formed.
135. What is a thrust fault?
136. What is a strike-slip fault?
137. List several features that occur on the surface of the Earth
that are caused by faults.
138. How would you be able to tell the difference between a left
lateral vs. right lateral strike-slip fault?
139. What is the elastic rebound theory?
140. Draw a fault. Show where the focus and epicenter is.
141. What is the difference between a focus and an epicenter?

11. 142. What are the three types of seismic waves? Describe how
the energy is transferred through the rock.
143. Which type of seismic wave doesn’t go through liquids?
Why?
144. What is a seismograph and how does it work?
145. How many seismographs are needed to find the location of
the earthquake?
146. What are the main ways earthquakes can cause damage?
147. What is liquefaction?
148. How are tsunamis produced?
149. What actions should you take if you are in an earthquake in
a building in California?
150. What actions should you take if you are in an earthquake if
you are outside a building in California?
151. What are the three ways of orogeny (mountain building)?
152. Describe how mountains can be built by volcanism. List
several mountains built this way.
153. Describe how mountains can be built by folding and thrust
faults. List several mountains built this way.
154. Describe how mountains can be built by fault blocking.
List several mountains built this way.

12. 155. Explain what riparian water rights are.
156. Explain what prior appropriation water rights are.
157. Where is most of Earth’s water?
158. Where is most of Earth’s fresh water?
159. Define unsaturated zone, saturated zone, and water table.
160. Define aquiclude, unconfined aquifer, and confined
aquifer.
161. What is a cone of depression when talking about
groundwater?
162. How are sinkholes produced?
163. What is saltwater intrusion?
164. List California’s three main aqueducts and list where the
start and end.
165. Describe how the Sierra Nevada Mountains were formed.
166. Describe how the Klamath Mountains were formed.
167. Describe how the Coastal Mountains were formed.
168. Describe how the Central Valley was formed.

13. 169. What does the landforms of the Basin and Range look like?
What type of crustal movement is occurring here?
170. What are terranes?
171. What is the Franciscan formation? What type of rock does
it contain?
172. What is the Tuscan formation? What type of rock is it and
why is it important to Butte County?
173. Why does the Transverse Range trend east/ west vs.
north/south?
174. Why do most mountain ranges in California trend
north/south?
175. Why aren’t most California rock that old? Most of our
rocks are younger than 200 mya.
Paper Assignment
Due: At the final exam
Every student in class is expected to write one paper. This is the
paper topic assignment sheet for this course. This is your work.
More than any exam, this will be a manifestation of yourself. It
will be something you produce! So, put some heart and soul into
it. Make it something of which you can be proud.
Minimum requirements: The paper must be typed. It should be

14. six to ten pages in length. It must be written in size 11 and
submitted at 1.5 spaces. Any attempt to stretch a paper by
selecting other specifications will be duly noted and your grade
shall be adjusted downward. A paper written at the last minute
will reflect that fact. I will not be fooled. Do not use
encyclopedia or textbooks as sources. Do not submit a paper
written in a voice other than your own. You will be caught as
others have been. They have regretted their unfortunate decision
to plagiarize! Do not submit a late paper. Grades will similarly
be negatively adjusted because of lateness. Excuses, even good
ones, will be listened to, noted and your grade will still likely
suffer. Please no Internet sources. Good luck. Put your heart
into it. You shall not regret it!
I cannot accept a late paper. I must file final grades
immediately. So, bring a hard copy of your paper to the final
exam. I do not accept papers by email. If you think your printer
might break or your zip drive might melt down or whatever else
might happen, have your paper done early.
Please choose one of the following books:
· The Roads to Modernity : The British, French, and American
Enlightenments by Gertrude Himmelfarb.
· The Moral Imagination: From Edmund Burke to Lionel
Trillingby Gertrude Himmelfarb.
· How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization by
Thomas E. Woods Jr
· Citizens : A Chronicle of the French Revolution by Simon
Schama.
· Napoleon: A Penguin Life by Paul Johnson.
· From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and
Racism in Germany by Richard Weikart.
· A Century of Genocide : Utopias of Race and Nation by Eric
D. Weitz.
· Civilization and Its Enemies : The Next Stage of History by
Lee Harris.

15. · The Case For Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome
Tyranny and Terror by Natan Sharansky.
· The West's Last Chance: Will We Win the Clash of
Civilizations? -- by Tony Blankley.
· The Return of Anti-Semitism -- by Gabriel Schoenfeld.
· Saddam's Secrets by Georges Hormuz Sada.
· Inside the Revolution: How the Followers of Jihad, Jefferson,
and Jesus are Battling to Dominate and Transform the World by
Joel C. Rosenberg.
· The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of
Hitler’s Germanyby Michael Beschloss.
· The Age of Reagan by Steven F. Hayward.
· A Different Drummer: My Thirty Years with Ronald Reaganby
Michael K. Deaver.
· How America Got It Right : The U.S. March to Military and
Political Supremacy by Bevin Alexander.
· The War Over Iraq: Saddam’s Tyranny and America’s Mission
by William Kristol.
· Losing Bin Laden by Richard Miniter.
· The Connection: How al Qaeda’s Collaboration with Saddam
Hussein Has Endangered America by Stephen F. Hayes.
· An Autumn of War : What America Learned from September
11 and the War on Terrorism by Victor Hanson.
· Bush at War by Bob Woodward.
· Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World
Order by Robert Kagan.
· America in Retreat: The New Isolationism and the Coming
Global Disorder by Bret Stephens (Nov. 18, 2014).
· Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace by
Leon Panetta (Oct. 7, 2014).
· The World America Made – January 29, 2013 by Robert
Kagan.
· Western Civilization and the Academy by Bradley C.S.

16. Watson
· The Intellectuals: From Marx and Tolstoy to Sartre and
Chomsky by Paul Johnson
First, read the book in its entirety. Next, give me a paper that
tells me: What are the main arguments that the author makes?
What ideas, issues and historical figures that we specifically
discuss in our class does the author discuss? How does the
author illuminate these issues, ideas and historical figures? In
what way does this book contribute to your knowledge of the
development of western civilization?
Finally, rate the book from 1-10. I work hard to give my
students books that are not a drag to read. Your rating can help
me to recommend good books and weed out losers. Did you
enjoy the book? Was it well-written, lively, and enjoyable to
read? Did you learn as much as you had hoped you might? Your
rating will not effect the grade you receive. Put it on your title
page in the upper right hand corner.
Tips on how to write a history paper at the college level:
1. Don’t write a high school paper. A high school paper
summarizes the book for the bulk of the paper and then answers
questions in the last page or so.
2. Write a college-level paper. A college-level history paper
answers some burning question or questions in your mind about
the book throughout the paper. The paper is about these answers
you’ve come up with to these questions. Perhaps you’ve heard
this called the thesis.
3. Use quotes. But do not use quotes just to use them. Use them
to further your argument. Tell me why you are using the quote.
Quote. And then ramble on for a while about the quote.
4. Use your quotes to do a close reading. What is that? It is

17. what we frequently do in class. Look at your quote and dissect
it. Squeeze it for information. Make it yield up every drop of
juice it can. Only then should you move on.
5. Dare to fall in love with your book. I go out of my way to
choose interesting, thought-provoking, controversial, well-
written books. I am constantly reading book reviews in search
of the most hotly-debated books in the history community – and
sometimes even among the presidents of nations. Now, it’s your
turn. Spend time with your book. Get to know your author and
his or her thoughts. Enjoy the experience.
6. Buy your book early. That way, when the spirit moves you,
you can begin to read.
7. If you can’t decide on a book, discuss it with me. Let’s figure
out what you want in a book. Then, maybe I can help move you
in the right direction.
8. Go to the library. See what other authors have to say about
the same subject. Then, quote those other authors. Or quote
authors we’ve read in class.
9. Make certain that you’ve read the entire book – and that that
comes through in your paper.
10. Put the book into the context of the course. Discuss the
ideas in the book that we also discuss in class. Make your paper
a part of our colloquy.
11. Use the Writing Center. They are there to help you to
improve your paper and your writing skills.
I hope that helps!
Now, go and earn an A!
--Prof. Medrow