1. The table below lists topics by exam.
The "Last Topics" column lists material presented after Exam 3.
Note that the final exam is cumulative.
2.
After attending
lecture, attempt to answer as many of the questions as possible.
Use
the textbook as an
additional resource.
3. Note
that the goal is to understand the concepts behind the study questions
- writing down the answers may
just be the first step to this understanding.
4. If a
question is particularly difficult for you, think about how other
elements in the lecture might relate to that
concept. For example, when considering how one facies model might
differ
from another, recall the transport
processes that operate in each environment,
the types of sedimentary structures you might expect to find in them
and how the composition of rocks
in those environments will differ.
5. If
you have questions with a concept, ask the instructor, or TA during
office hours.
About the Final Exam:
1. The final exam is cumulative.
2. About 70%
of
the material on the final will be taken from lectures given after Exam
3 ("Seismic Stratigraphy" through
"Future of Sedimentology"). Please
use the most recent set of revew questions below
as an aid in preparing
for this part
of the exam.
3. About 30%
of
the material on the final focuses on the "big picture concepts" listed
on the Final Exam Study Sheet.
These concepts were all introduced during
earlier parts of the course ("Introduction" through "Radiometric Dating") and
were covered by the midterms.
You've learned a lot about the Stratigraphy!
Good luck with your studying!
What are the principle fields of Sedimentary Geology? How do these
subfields differ?
What questions are of interest to
softrock geologists?
What do these fields teach us
about the world around us?
What scales of processes are
important in Sedimentary Geology?
What are some examples
of processes important in Sedimentary Geology?
back to topics
Weathering rates and processes
What are the principle mechanisms of weathering?
How might these processes have
changed through time?
How does weathering influence
crustal composition?
What factors influence rates of
weathering?
What role does weathering play in
the rock cycle?
What are some of the products of
weathering processes?
Fluid flow and sediment transport
What is the difference
between laminar and turbulent flow? Between tranquil and rapid
flow?
Explain the meaning of
the various terms in the Reynolds, Froude, and Rouse number
Why do sedimentologists care
about these numbers?
What type of particle motion is
described by the impact law? By Stokes law? How are they related?
Describe the ways that
particles can be transported by (1) fluids, (2) dry mass wasting, (3)
wet mass wasting.
What is normal grading? In which
type(s) of flow processes is it seen?
What is reverse grading? In which
type(s) of flow processes is it seen?
back to topics
Describe three different
scales with which sediment grainsize can be compared?
What are the pros and cons of the
various ways of presenting grain size data?
Discuss the three measures of
central tendency discussed in class?
What is skewness?
What can the relationship between
the various measures of central tendency tell us about skewness?
Describe how to calculate
grainsize statistics using the graphical method and the method of
moments.
Particle shape and sediment fabric
Discuss the relationships
between form (shape) roundness (angularity), and surface texture?
What can we learn about sedimentary rocks from these concepts?
What determines the degree of
sorting in a sedimentary rock?
What factors control sediment
fabric?
What can we learn from
sediment fabric?
What is imbrication?
What processes can
form sedimentary structures? What can we learn from them?
What are the principle
classes of sedimentary structures? How does each form?
How can sedimentologist infer
paleocurrent direction?
What controls the size
of bedforms in sedimentary environments?
Do bedforms form any clear
progressions? If so, what?
What factors influence
ripple morphology?
Sedimentary rocks consist of what three general classes of
material?
Discuss the components
of Gilbert's classification scheme as presented in Figure 5.5 from
Boggs?
How does it differ from that of Folk
or Robinson as presented in Figure 5.4 from Boggs?
What terms are used to
describe sedimentary rocks on the basis of their formation process,
or the location in which they
formed?
What are the three stages of
diagenesis discussed in class? What processes are associated with
each of them?
Walther's law and the facies concept
What are the basic stratigraphic principles or laws?
What are facies and what is Walther's law?
Why might some sedimentologists
consider Walther's law the most important stratigraphic principle?
What processes control
the vertical succession of facies?
Fluvial and Lacustrine environments
Which terrestrial environments can generally be observed in the
sedimentary record?
Describe the sedimentary structures present in these
environments?
How does the position of these
environments relate to their distance above base level?
Describe or sketch facies models
associated with these environments?
Eolian and Deltaic environments
Describe the types
of sedimentologic features you would expect to see in an eolian deposit?
What are some of the
subenvironments found in a delta?
Discuss the classification of
deltas by Galloway. What processes define the geomorphology of deltas?
What is progradation? How does it
influence the age relationships between facies within a delta?
Describe the properties of an
idealized deltaic facies model.
Clastic Tidal and Beach Environments
What are the types of tidal forcing patterns? Why do they
differ?
What sedimentary structures and
fabrics are common in tidal environments?
Describe the components of
a simple tidal facies model?
How are beach environments
classified? How does this relate to the deltaic classification scheme
we studied?
What subenvironments are found in
barrier island and beach environments?
Why are these environments
economically important?
What types of barrier island
facies models would be generated in response to transgression,
regression?
What is the relationship between
bedding planes and time lines in the inlet facies model?
Marginal Marine Environments
What processes can transport sediment from continental shelf
environments to the abyssal plains?
How does the relative importance
of storms versus tides influence the types of bedforms and sedimentary
structures found in sediments of
the marginal marine environments?
How do linear sand ridges differ
from tidal ribbons, tidal sand ridges, and tidal sand waves?
How do these features form?
Describe facies models for
the the shelf, slope, and rise?
Why are deposits from these
regions economically important?
What are the most abundant
sedimentary environments on the planet?
How are modern sediments
extracted from the deep sea?
What are turbidites? Why do they
matter? How can they be identified?
What types of structures and
features can be found in the deep sea?
What are the principle sediment
types found in the deep sea?
What controls the distribution of
sediments in the deep sea?
back to topics
Describe the controls on shallow water carbonate precipitation.
What role does biology have in
carbonate deposition - describe the classes of mediated
precipitation discussed in
class?
Discuss the various carbonate
classification schemes describe in class. What are their relative
strengths and weaknesses?
What types of allochems and
orthochems combine to produce carbonate rocks?
How can orthochems tells us about
the history of a carbonate rock?
In what ways can lime mud form?
What factors influence the
stability of carbonate minerals?
In what ways can carbonate
rocks be influenced by diagenesis and alteration?
Shallow Water Carbonate
environments
What are the principle types of
tidal carbonate environments?
How does the biogenic carbonate
produced in various subenvironments differ?
What types of barriers can
protect tidal carbonate flats?
Discuss the differences between
subtidal and tidal carbonate facies.
What is a shallowing upward
sequence?
How do carbonate environments
respond to eustacy?
Contrast ancient carbonate
sequences with modern analogs?
Describe the growth patterns of
carbonate platforms and reef complexes.
How does carbonate rock classification
relate to paleoenvironmental interpretation?
What hypotheses have been
proposed for lime mud production in shallow water carbonate systems?
What hypotheses have been
proposed for cyclicity in shallow water carbonate systems?
Describe facies models for
carbonate systems responding to different types of forcing.
Evaporitic Environments
What evaporitic minerals are common in marine and non-marine evaporitic
environments.
What two evaporitic minerals differ
only by their water of hydration?
How does this influence evaporitic
strata?
What is "chicken wire" fabric? How does
it form?
How might thinly laminated evaporites
form?
Describe the modern environments in
which evaporites form?
Do evaporites form in the same way in all of
these environments (See the textbook for details here)?
What types of sedimentary structures
are associated with evaporitic environments?
Discuss the models for evaporite
production that have been proposed? Are they all equally plausible?
Stratigraphic Principles and Units
Describe the nature of contacts
in the stratigraphic record? What can we learn from them?
What types of grain size trends
are associated with transgression and regression?
What are the factors that
influence the symmetry of sea level cycles?
What is the nature of the
stratigraphic record according to Derek Ager?
Define the terms that
stratigraphers use to discuss strata and their temporal relationships.
How do time units, time-rock
units, and rock units relate?
Discuss the differences between
the various types of unconformities.
Sketch out the development of a lacuna in a passive marine setting
in response to a major eustatic cycle.
Lithostratigraphy: The Nature of the
Stratigraphic Record
Discuss the nature of the
stratigraphic record with respect to completeness and time.
What is “catastrophic
uniformitarianism”?
What are some biases that
may influence Derek Ager's views on the stratigraphic record?
What are some of the methods that
can be used to correlate sections?
What are some factors that can
bias or make correlation of sections difficult?
How does lithostratigraphy relate
to chronostratigraphy?
Describe some environments in which diacronous facies may be
laid down?
Describe the development of the
sequence stratigraphic concept.
What processes drive the
development of sequence boundaries and the deposition of strata in
sequences?
What are the advantages and
weaknesses of the sequence stratigraphic approach?
Discuss how nested cyclicity
relates to the sequence stratigraphic approach?
How can climate events leave a biostratigraphic
imprint?
What are the dangers of placing stratigraphic boundaries at "natural
breaks" in the biostratigraphic record?
How does a biologist's definition
of a species differ from a paleontologist's taxon?
What factors make a fossil
biostratigraphically useful?
What factors can limit the
usefulness of fossils as time markers?
Do fossils provide estimates of
absolute or relative time?
Describe the various types of
zonation schemes in use. How do they differ?
What are their strengths and weaknesses?
Discuss some of the potential
problems with classical biostratigraphy.
Do FAD's and LAD's represent
minimum or maximum estimates of the true depth of occurrence?
What alternatives for estimation
of age using biostratigraphic data have been proposed?
Describe how Shaw's method is
used?
What can be learned using Shaw's
method?
Why does Shaw's method work?
How can various aspects of the electromagnetic spectrum be used to generate stratigraphic data?
Magneto- and Chemostratigraphy
What does the Earth's magnetic field have to do with stratigraphy?What is an element, atom, isotope?
Plate Tectonics and Sedimentation
Sea Level Change and Sedimentation
Sequence Stratigraphy - Theory
Sequence Stratigraphy - Application
We discussed three applications of sequence stratigraphy in detail in
class. These were the "Jurassic Tank" experiments of
Paola et al, Holland's revision
of the Ordovician Cincinnati Arch Stratigraphy, and the Tornqvist paper
on the nature of
sequence boundaries. Here are
some study questions related to those papers.
Sedimentary Resources
What are the principle
classes of organic rich sediments or sedimentary derived resources that
we discussed in class?
In which environments would you
expect to find these resources forming?
What are the connections between
ocean circulation, bottom water oxygen content and sediment organic
carbon
content?
Applied Sedimentology (Future of Sedimentary Resources)
Discuss some of the ways in which sedimentary resources are used by our society?