Geoscience Education in the Mountain State: CATS Environmental Geology Telecourse, Fall 2001 Quiz #1 (30 Points) Due date is October 29.

Quiz Instructions:

You may submit your quiz answers using one of the following four methods. (Regardless of the method you use, don't forget to include your name.)

1. fax to Dr. Behling:

         fax number:       304-293-6522
      

2. regular mail to Dr. Behling postmarked no later than the quiz due date:

            address:  Department of Geology and Geography
                      West Virginia University
                      P.O. Box 6300
                      Morgantown, WV  26506-6300
      

3. handing a hard copy to your facilitator:

4. electronically:
   Please read and follow the instructions shown below to submit your answers electronically.
   • Compose your answers in a word processor such as WordPerfect or Word.
   • Save a copy of your answers.
   • Click on the quiz e-mail submission address, rbehling@wvu.edu.
   • Cut and paste your answers from your word processor into the body of the e-mail box. You do not need to retype the questions. But, please number the answers to correspond to the question number.
   • Make sure that your e-mail address is clearly visible.
   • Send the e-mail.
   • Dr. Behling will confirm that your submission was successful with a short response.

QUIZ #1 :

1. (+6) In your own words, explain the difference between alluvium and colluvium. Where is each found in West Virginia? How thick a deposit might be formed in nature (for each unconsolidated material)? Where would each be the thickest? (Locate with respect to the slope position or to the location somewhere in West Virginia.)

2. (+6) Identify which plate boundaries are likely to support the presence of volcanoes. Describe the potential violent nature (the VEI) of volcanoes at each boundary condition.

3. (+6) Speak to the issue of the nature (the VEI) of volcanic activity due to:
   • A hot spot beneath an oceanic plate.
   • A hot spot beneath a continental plate.
   Specifically identify one of each type in one (or more) of the 50 states.

4. (+6) Why might you at your school be able to “feel” an earthquake with a focus in Wise County, Virginia, or Ashtabula, Ohio, yet NOT be able to feel a much stronger (say 7.8 Richter Scale) event from San Francisco? If you had a professional seismograph at your school, based on bedrock, would the equipment be able to pick up earthquakes from all three locations? Explain why or why not.

5. (+6) Explain the occurrence of each of the following conditions in West Virginia as a function of a specific chemical weathering process.
   • Caves in Germany Valley, and in Greenbrier and Monroe counties.
   • The presence of abundant clay minerals in the B horizon of soils beneath the trees in the George Washington National Forest.
   • Acid mine water that is green in a deep mine but leads to the formation to a yellowish/orange slimy coating on rocks and anything else in a stream where the acid mine water comes to the surface to add to the surface runoff.

Page last revised: October 11, 2001