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 review
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?
How does shear stress
influence fluid flow and sediment transport?
What is shear velocity?
How does it relate to shear stress?
What physical properties determine how
a fluid responds to flow and stress?
How do various classes
of fluids respond to shear stress?
What is the no slip
condition?
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?
Stable Isotopes, Ice Volume,
and Oxygen Isotope Stratigraphy
How are oxygen isotopes
applied to address stratigraphic questions?
What pre-depositional,
depositional, and post-depositional processes contribute to the
oxygen isotope record?
Describe the methods used to
measure oxygen isotopes.
What phases are analyzed to
generate oxygen isotopic data?
What are the advantages and
disadvantages of various phases used to measure oxygen isotope
data?
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?