1. Understand the processes of uranium dating and carbon dating. What kinds of materials are can be effectively dated with these processes.
2. How old are the oldest rocks on Earth? Why are they usually found on continental shields?
3. When do scientists believe life to have originated? About when did the dinosaurs live? When did humans arise? Review the following: Eras – Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic; Periods – Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, Quaternary; Epochs – Pleistocene, Holocene.
4. How do igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks form? How does the rock cycle work?
5. What are the two principal kinds of igneous rock? How do they differ? What is the significance of that difference to understanding the surface of the planet
6. What are the three different kinds of sedimentary rocks and how do they form?
7. What sorts of processes would create a metamorphic rock?
8. What are the different layers of the planet Earth and what are these layers made of? How do we know what these different layers are?
9. What causes plate tectonics? What evidence do we have that indicates Earth’s crust is fractured and mobile?
10. What are the three kinds of plate boundaries? Think of some locations where each of these occur.
11. When two plates converge, the collision produces three different results, depending on the kinds of rocks (granitic or basaltic) that are colliding. What are these results? Think of some locations where each of these occur.
12. What are terranes (microcontinents) and what role do they play in Alaskan geology?
13. Understand isostasy, warping, folding, faults, horsts and grabens.
14. What were the names of the former supercontinents and when did they exist? Why would plate tectonics have an impact upon regional and global climates?
15. What are the geologically oldest parts of Alaska? What parts of Alaska appeared in the Jurassic Period? The Cretaceous Period? The Tertiary Period? Which terranes are some of the more recent arrival to Alaska?
16. Understand the relationship between the Peninsular and Chugach Terranes. Where can these be seen today?
17. Why might Mt. McKinley be so big?
18. What are the two kinds of volcanoes and how do they differ? What kind of location does each occur in? Think of some examples of each kind. What are hot spots and where do they occur?
19. Understand calderas, flood basalts, plutons, dikes, sills, volcanic necks, hot springs and geysers.
20. What is the difference between a focus and an epicenter? Explain the Richter Scale. What are P and S waves?
21. Where do Earthquakes usually occur? Why?
22. What is a tsunami?
23. What were the major causes of damage in the Alaska Earthquake of 1964?
25. Understand ground water systems.
26. What is a karst landscape? What are some unique features of karst landscapes? Why would these occur?
27. What are: discharge, gradient, suspension, saltation, traction, and alluvium?
28. How are discharge, gradient and erosion related? What happens when a river gains energy and loses energy?
29. What are the differences between upper and lower courses of rivers?
30. Why might a river meander? Why might it become braided? How do entrenched meaders and terraces form?
31. How can climate change affect the fluvial landscape?
32. What are some human impacts on fluvial systems?
33. Why is water the principal factor in shaping desert landscapes?
34. Why might salt lakes form in a given location?
35. Know the following: mesa, arroyo/wadi/wash, inselberg, alluvial fan, sand dune, desert pavement and playa.
36. What climatological factors are necessary for glaciers to form?
37. What was the most recent glaciation and when did it end? What are some consequences of global warming and cooling?
38. Understand the following: cirque, crevasse, fjord, hanging valley, glacial till, end moraine, lateral moraine, medial moraine, esker, and drumlin.
39. Which features on the landscape of
Southcentral Alaska indicate past glaciation?