Knowledge Survey Questions - Physical Geology

Bloom's Taxonomy Level - 1

• What variables are important to soil formation?
• What factors determine the location of deserts?

Bloom's Taxonomy Level - 2

• Explain the effect of water on the eruption style of a volcano?
• Explain the formation of an angular unconformity.

Bloom's Taxonomy Level - 3

• Given a geologic cross-section of a region, determine the sequence of events and history of the region.
• If you were buying a house, what would you look for to evaluate the risk of damage by mass wasting?

Bloom's Taxonomy Level - 4

• The outer part of the earth consists of asthenosphere, lithosphere, crust, and mantle. Compare the compositions and properties of these different regions.
• What are the likely effects that construction of a new dam will have on a river? Specifically, how will it affect the sediment budget?
• Compare the character of erosional, depositional, drowned, and uplifted coastlines.
• What is the relationship between tectonic setting and earthquake magnitude, depth, and motion?
• Explain how two adjacent regions can experience different sea level changes (in one region sea level rises and it falls in the other) at the same time.
• What if the plate tectonics were suddenly to stop. How might the earth look in one year? A thousand years? A million years? One hundred million years?

Bloom's Taxonomy Level - 5

• What would the earth be like without an "internal heat engine?"
• Formulate a plan for assessing the potential hazards of a volcano to a nearby population.
• Synthesize the evidence from volcanism, seismicity, and topography into a tectonic model for a region.

Bloom's Taxonomy Level - 6

• Evaluate the types of criteria that might be used to locate the site for a new landfill. Are all criteria the same? Explain?