GEOGRAPHY 204

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

FALL 2008

FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE

Monday, May 19, 2008

THIS STUDY GUIDE HAS BEEN EDITED FOR THE SPRING 2008 FINAL EXAM

Use this Study Guide along with the Study Guides for the First and Second Midterms to get ready for the Final.

The following key words, figures, concepts and questions may be covered on the Final Exam.

Approximately 50% of the test will be comprehensive, emphasizing general concepts from the first two thirds of the term. The other 50% will emphasize topics covered in the last one third of the term, from Chapter 7, Global Climate Systems, through Chapter 16 Ecosystems and Biomes. Skip the part of Chapter 10 on Karst, and skip Chapters 12, 13, 14 and 15.. Include all topics included on the field trip, see below.

How to Study for this Test:

1. Review all quiz questions, be sure you know the right answers. Review your midterm exams, be sure you know the correct answers.
2. Study your lecture notes, get notes from another student for days you missed.
3. Look at all pictures and diagrams, and captions in text, and be sure you understand them.
4. Arrange for a study session with other students.
5. Ask questions on the listserve, ask questions in class, email Prof. Freidel.
6. If you have time, re-read sections of the text that were more difficult for you to understand
7. Ask yourself questions about topics in the study guides, then answer them out loud (this is harder).

The comprehensive part of the exam will emphasize general concepts. For example:

Earth's Systems:
Interactions and relationships between the atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere. e.g. 1. How do patterns of general atmospheric circulation influence the biosphere? Hint: think in terms of how atmospheric circulation patterns create global climate patterns, which influence vegetation types.
2. Substitute "the biosphere" in this question for "the lithosphere". Hint: think in terms of geomorphic processes dominant in different moisture regimes, i.e. moist versus dry, cold versus warm.
Notice how it's difficult to think about any of these "spheres" without considering one or more of the others.

Terms and Topics from last third of semester:

Lithosphere
Continental crust (felsic, less dense, lighter color) and oceanic crust (mafic, more dense, darker color)
Rock Cycle, see p. 416 fig 11.21

Rocks and Minerals
Mineral -- element or combination of elements with specific physical characteristics such as lustre, crystal structure, hardness, color, etc.
Rock -- made up of one or more minerals, bound together

Igneous rocks -- from cooled molten rock material, magma,
classified by:
how/where formed: intrusive (e.g. granite), extrusive (e.g. basalt);
chemistry: oceanic (mafic, e.g. basalt), continental (felsic, e.g. granite)

Sedimentary rocks -- from broken up rocks, sediment, or organic materials (e.g. shell)
classified by:
clastic, particles, size, sorting, e.g. sandstone (sand), shale (mud, clay), conglomerate (gravel, pebbles)
Chemically precipitated , e.g. limestone, evaporites (e.g. salt)
Organic, e.g. coal, (also oil, natural gas, not rocks but also hydrocarbons, from fossil plants, wetlands)

Metamorphic rocks -- formed during subduction, or contact with molten lava, transformed by heat, pressure; can be from any type of rock; usually makes rock harder, may be foliated (thin layers)
e.g. sandstone becomes quartzite; limestone becomes marble; shale becomes slate, granite becomes gneiss; basalt becomes schist

Lithospheric plates

Continental drift (plate tectonics)
Spreading zones, plate convergence
Subduction zones, mountain building, volcanoes, earthquakes
Plate boundaries -- oceanic-oceanic convergence, oceanic-continent convergence, continent-continent convergence
lateral plate contact (transform faulting)
Types of landforms associated with each type of plate boundary (e.g. volcanic island arcs with ocean-ocean convergence, mountains with continent-continent convergence, composite volcanoes & mountains with ocean-continent convergence)

Earthquakes, faults -- where do these occur? Why?
Ring of Fire

Table 9.2, p. 314

Fault types: (be able to draw Cross-Section diagrams showing directions of movement and type of stress, p. 304))
Normal (tensional),
Reverse (compressional),
Transform strike-slip, right-lateral (e.g. San Andreas), left-lateral (how can you tell?)
Horsts and grabens -- e.g. Death Valley, the Great Basin, graben valleys that have sunk down along faults
(associated with normal faults, tensional forces)

Folds, from compressional forces -- anticlines (upfold) and synclines (downfold)

Ring of Fire -- be able to draw location on map

Volcanism -- where does it occur? Why? (8.18, p. 285)
Ring of Fire -- where is it, why, what sorts of landforms, processes?
Volcanic rocks: pyroclastics -- pumice, tephra (ash), bombs
lava (aa, pahoehoe), obsidian, basalt (oceanic rock), rhyolite (continental)
Landforms: Flood basalts, composite and shield volcanoes
Hot spots (e.g. Hawaiian island chain, Yellowstone Nat. Park)

Landforms -- Geomorphology

Forces that form landscapes -- Gravity, water, wind, ice, waves.
weathering, mass movements, erosion, deposition by water, ice, wind, waves

Concepts of dynamic equilibrium, base level

Weathering -- what is weathering? (It is NOT Erosion!)

Physical Weathering (Mechanical): does not change rock composition, creates angular, sharp-edged pieces of rock,.
Unloading (stress release), salt weathering (crystallization), hydrofracturing (ice wedging)
Dominant in dry and/or cold environments

Chemical Weathering: changes mineral composition of rock, softens, makes rounder: Oxidation, hydrolysis, carbonation
Dominant in warmer and/or more moist environments, responsible for formation of clay minerals

Mass movements -- Include notes from Field Trip
Driving forces: Gravity (weight), slope angle
Resisting forces: Gravity (weight), slope angle, friction, cohesiveness
Causes of mass movements: slope loading by weight of water or building, undermining slope, cutting of slope toe, slope angle of bedrock, earthquake, thunder, etc.
Types: creep, flow, slide (translational), slump (rotational), fall, (Fast-Slow; Dry-Wet) -- Figure 10.19, p. 351

Fluvial Geomorphology -- Water in Lithosphere -- Include notes from Field Trip

Size of particle eroded, transported, and deposited is a function of velocity of fluid (includes water and air) Therefore, the higher the velocity, the larger the particle that can be picked up and moved.

Velocity of water is controlled by: slope of channel bed, roughness (slows water down), shape of channel bed (wide & shallow [slower] versus narrow & deep [faster])

Stream Channels
Erosion, transport, deposition
Sediment carried by suspension, saltation, traction (dragging, rolling along bottom)(Fig. 11.12, p. 371)
Discharge, velocity, slope, roughness, sediment load
Sources of roughness: size and sorting of rocks in channel bed, sinuosity of channel, vegetation dipping into flow, etc.
Types of sediment load: coarse (boulders, cobbles, gravel) or fine (sand, silt, clay)
Base level, level below which water cannot erode valley (e.g. sea level)

Channel Patterns

Meandering streams (Fig. 11.14, 11.15, 11.21)
Single sinuous channel,
Carries fine suspended sediment load in narrow, deep channel
Very low gradient, slope
Tends to be stable, meanders migrate gradually
Landforms: Cutbank, point bar, oxbow lake, floodplain
Associated with moist year round climates, chemical weathering, fine sediment
Braided streams (see picture, Fig. 11.13, p. 372)
Multiple channels divided by sand/gravel bars
Wide and shallow channels
Steeper slope than meandering channels
Carries coarse sediment such as sand, gravel, bedload
Tends to be unstable during floods
Associated with dry climates, cold climates, physical weathering, coarse sediment

Wind (Eolian) Processes and Landforms
Wind erosion and transport: suspension, saltation, rolling and dragging
Wind Erosion - by deflation (removing sediment from a surface) and abrasion (sandblasting)
Types of erosional landforms: deflation hollows, depth controlled by water table; ventifacts; yardangs [sphinx]
Types of depositional landforms: dunes [e.g. barchans, transverse dunes]

Topics that were not covered in lecture, such as stream terraces, deltas, and floods and river management, will not be on the exam

The Biosphere (portions of this topic were covered on field trips, to Fairfield Osborn Preserve)
Food Web
Plants -- Primary producers, store energy in carbohydrates
Herbivores, eat plants
Carnivores, Top Carnivores
Omnivores
Decomposers

Energy efficiency -- Trophic levels, ~10% passed from one level to the next
Biomass, which ecosystems are most/least productive, see Table 16.1, p. 522
Species Diversity -- high in moist tropics, low at high latitudes
Niches, Habitat
Climatic effects on ecosystems: Fig. 16.6, page 523
Limiting factors --Mean low winter temperature, mean summer high temperature, moisture in soils
Survival strategies, adaptations: leaf form, winter or drought deciduous, or evergreen, root form, timing of reproduction, etc.
Riparian zones -- vegetation along stream channels, adapted to more water than outside zone
Effects of climate change

Review Table 16.2, p. 543, Map pp. 544-545

Low Latitudes: Tropical rain forest, tropical seasonal forest and scrub, tropical savanna, warm desert
Midlatitudes: cold desert, Mediterranean shrubland (chaparral), midlatitude broadleaf deciduous and mixed forests, prairie grasslands, needle leaf coniferous forests, temperate rain forest
Polar and Alpine: arctic and alpine tundra, tree line

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Last updated 5/14/08