2018 GEOL 454 Lab Exam Study Guide
- Logistics
- Full lab time (2:45 hours) – will likely take most of it.
- 40ish questions
- Varying length (but nothing with more than a 1-3 sentence answer)
- Focused on lab topics and methods
- Includes graphs, maps, diagrams, calculations, and explanations
- At least one question related to every lab
- I’m not trying to trick you on any of the questions, but I will ask you to evaluate whether a given answer seems reasonable—and it might not be!
- You are allowed one 8 ½” X 11”, double-sided page of notes (has to be handwritten)
- Bring:
- Pencil (not pen please!)
- Note page
- Calculator (no iPhones)
- Ruler
- Map Concepts
- Know different forms of gradient and how to convert (Degrees, Dimensionless, percent, ft/mi etc)
- Know what a dimensionless scale means and how to use it (Remember larger scale means smaller areal extent of the map)
- Understand Vertical Exaggeration and know how to measure it on a cross section
- Understand how to find locations in, Latitude and Longitude, UTMs and Township and range, from topographic maps.
- Hydrologic Concepts:
- Understand how to read flood frequency and sediment size distribution curves, and how they are created
- Understand what the recurrence interval means, and how to calculate the Risk of a flood of RI X happening in the next Y years
- Understand how flood hydrographs would change with different valley types, floodplains and confinement
- Basin Characteristics:
- Calculate stream order (Strahler and Shreve)
- Be able to identify/outline a drainage basin on a topographic map
- Know what drainage density and relief are
- Understand hypsometric curves and estimate the shape of a hypsometric curve for different types of basins.
- Be able to calculate slope on a topographic map
- Recognize the different drainage patterns (i.e. dendritic, rectangular) and channel types (i.e. meandering, braided)
- Landforms:Be prepared to pick out these landforms from maps and cross sections. You must be able to describe potential formation processes, including whether the feature was depositional or erosional, and the texture and form of deposits on the landform. Also, you must be able to differentiate between landforms whose name indicates only the form of the landform or the process that created it (e.g., inselberg indicates form, volcano indicates process).
- Hillslopes:
- Landslide slumps and scars
- Debris flow scars and alluvial fans
- Debris flow deposit characteristics
- Fluvial –
- Floodplains
- Terraces
- Meander scroll topography (levees and swales, backswamps and oxbows)
- Point bars and cut banks
- Pediments/piedmonts
- Arid –
- Inselbergs
- Alluvial fans
- Bajadas
- Playas
- Bolsons
- Karst –
- Dry valleys
- Blind valleys
- Karst Towers
- Sinkhole depressions
- Eolian –
- Dunes (be able to relate dominant wind direction and possibleresistence)
- Transverse/Barchan
- Parabolic
- Longitudinal (linear)
- Deflation Hollows/blowouts
- Coastal –
- Stacks
- Spits
- Lagoons and estuaries
- Marine Terraces
- Groins
- Glacial landforms –
- Moraines
- Terminal, lateral, and medial (Unstratified drift)
- Fluvioglacial
- Eskers
- Tarns, tarn lakes and paternoster lakes, kettle lakes
- Cirques
- Horns
- Cols vs arêtes
- Hanging valleys
- Glacial headwalls
- U shaped valleys
- Drumlins
- Understand erosional versus depositional glacier features (jagged, mountain glacial forms generally erosional, flatter continental ice sheet forms generally depositional)
- Fluvial Processes:
- Understand Manning’s Equation, Continuity equation, Hydraulic Radius, and Stream power. Understand how to use stream cross section data as inputs into these equations
- Understand how to interpret shear stresses (boundary, critical, etc).
- Coastal:
- Understand and be able to discern longshore drift from coastal landforms
- Wind:
- Understand thresholds of entrainment, and potential resistance to erosion (i.e. Cementation, vegetation, etc.)