Individual Week 1 Review Questions
GLG/220
10/02/2013
Critical and Creative Thinking Questions
Chapter 1
3. How do you think the principle of uniformitarianism accounts for occasional catastrophic events such as meteorite impacts, huge volcanic eruptions, or great earthquakes?
The principle of uniformitarianism states the processes occurring on Earth today are very similar in manner as those throughout much of geologic times. In other words “the present is the key to the past.”(Murck, B. W., Skinner, B. J., & Mackenzie, D. (2010)). When looking at past geological events and occurrences that happened in the past with additions of new testing and technology they can predict when and if volcanic eruptions may occur,
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Chapter 3
3. How old are the rock formations in the area where you live and attend college or university? How can you find out the answer to this question?
I live and attend college in the Valley of the Sun. Many of the rock formations here are extremely old dating back nearly 2 billion years during a time period geologists called the Precambrian Period (GeoHistory). Information to answer this question can be found in news articles, biology journals, historical websites, and government and educational readings as well.
4. Choose one of the geologic periods or epochs listed in Figure 3.8 and find out all you can about it: How are rocks from that period identified? What are its most characteristic fossils? Where are the best samples of rocks from your chosen period found?
Rocks formed during the cretaceous period are identifiable in more ways than one would think. The cretaceous period occurred at the end of the Mesozoic Era. Rocks such as limestone, basaltic, clays, salts, gypsum, sandstone, conglomerates, and shale’s were found during this time period (Cretaceous Period). Sedimentary rocks hold many fossils of the predominant organisms to inhabit the planet Earth dinosaurs. Many of the rocks can be identified by the variation in their lithological character and thickness of their sequences, or by the fossils that are discovered in them. Some of the best samples of rocks from this time period can be found right here in Arizona at the
The collection of the rocks was based on just picking up the most amount of difference looking rocks that was possible and bringing them home to analyze. This was done for about two months from many difference locations including campgrounds, beaches, rivers, highways as well as construction sites. After about two months there were many rocks so I started to analyze and take out the rocks that were of the same kind. I found many granite, basalt and conglomerate rocks.
III: My group had the geography map. Which was based off of elevation, so we had determine the highest and lowest points of theses plate tectonics. First, we observed all of the boundaries and determined the differences. Once we found some differences, we had to determine
Next, these rocks undergo erosion, which is the process of moving sediments from one place to another. Then, these sediments are deposited all at one place and over time they start to converge and cement as layers which are also known as strata. As time keeps going, new sediments deposit and cement together over old ones forming new layers. This is a repetitive process that eventually build up layers to make up a Sedimentary rock. Approximately 40 major sedimentary rock layers exposed in the Grand Canyon National Park area range in age from about 200 million to nearly 2 billion years old. As you can see, sedimentary rock formation takes an excessive amount of time.
The oldest rocks found in the Death Valley region were formed in the Precambrian time period no more than 1.8 billion years ago during the latter half of the Proterozoic Eon. The rocks are seen on the steep face of the Black Mountains above the current area of Badwater and were formed via deposits of mud and sand from an ancient volcanic mountain belt. Sometime between 1.8 and 1.7 billion years ago, the volcanic and sedimentary rocks were severely altered when chemical or structural changes occurred because of intense heat or pressure from the Earth's core. Because of this process, any fossilized information about the region was lost making it impossible to truly understand the origin of the region. There is some debate on whether basalt or schist was the original and dominate rock in the region before it was transformed into contorted gneiss, but again, there is no way to prove either theory.
8.1 – Briefly describe what you notice about the distribution patterns for each species on the following days. Do both species settle on the same parts of the rock face? Do their distribution patterns of the rock face change over time?
The youngest of these rocks are dated at about 220,000 years ago. Rhyodacties and quartz latites in the modern caldera area extruded from about 320,000 years ago to 260,000 years ago, and then silica-rich rhyolites at Glass Mountain northeast of the caldera erupted from about 210,000 years ago to 80,000 years ago. The scattered distribution of the initial mafic eruptions indicates that they were erupted from the mantle, while the slightly younger domes and flows were from a deep-crustal source. The youngest rhyolite eruptions erupted at the northeast rim of the caldera at Glass Mountain and were the first activity of the silicic Long Valley magma chamber (Bailey, et. al., 1989).
Despite a family history of geophysicists and rock enthusiasts, I’ve never found the subject of rocks particularly fascinating. However, an exploration of Earth Science has lead me to the discovery that rocks are actually hidden gems (often literally), and that there’s more to the topic than one would think.
Determine the relative age each of the geologic structures shown in the geologic cross section below (Figure 9.17) from youngest to oldest; then answer the questions below. As before, a wiggly line running across the geologic cross section indicates an unconformity and a fault is indicated with a bold straight line.
3. Question : If you were traveling from west to east across the Great Plains in the United States what would be the correct sequence of grassland types that you would encounter?
As I looked out the window, I saw walls of rocks all over the place. I also saw a lot of good rock exposure on the top of the mountain where the rock was to steep for the snow to stick to. You will notice that Mount Baker has an abundance of all sorts of rocks. From the rocks I examined I observed a lot of extrusive igneous rock, metamorphic rock and sedimentary rocks and you will find few places where you can walk continuously from shale or basalt into well-metamorphosed gneiss (Tabor & Haugerud). I observed rocks such as gabbro, shale, and types of extrusive and intrusive igneous rock such as basalt. The ages of the rocks range from about as old as the mountain, which is about 140,000 years old.
| |us the approximate age |other and studying the fossils |these layers of sediment might |
The Grand Canyon has plenty of volcanic rocks near the bottom and the top. ICR, Institute for Creative Research, has been involved in a project for years to date these volcanic rocks. this study has come a long way to show that many of the Grand Canyon strata could have formed rapidly, and that the erosion of the Canyon by the Colorado River has not been going on for millions of years.
When we think of history, we think of important people, places, cultures, events, and much more. The backbone of history rests on its chronology. It gives us the "when" of basic analysis. It gives us a frame of reference, the order of things. Before having an "absolute" way of determining dates, history was based in guesses and assumptions. Many attempts were made to organize the dates of the past. Some of these attempts were made by geologist. Geologist used the idea of "stratigraphic succession" (Renfrew, 1973) which is based on the "principle that when successive layers or strata are observed in position, the underlying ones are the earliest." (Pg. 23 Renfrew, 1973) By setting the layers in
Change, creativity and innovation are essential elements for survival and growth of an organization. Creativity is vital for the birth of fresh and beneficial ideas. Creative thinking allows groups and individuals to solve problems or stimulate to think differently in order to bring forth fruitful ideas. The above mentioned creative thinking enabled our team of six different personalities to come together and implement a plan to solve a complex problem in a hospital. Our assigned task was to recommend a plan in order to alleviate hospital readmission among elderly population within thirty days of discharge. In this paper the author is narrating the team dynamics, functionalities and personal competencies in the process of recommending a change in the system. As a member in the innovation leadership team the author is also reflecting on the assessment, capacity for innovation in the organization which is the hospital where the team is assigned.