Geoscience Education in the Mountain State:
CATS Historical Geology Telecourse, Spring 2001
Quiz #3 (20 Points)

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.)

• fax to Dr. Behling:

        fax number:       304-293-6522
     

• 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 6600
                     Morgantown, WV  26506-6600
     

• handing a hard copy to your facilitator:
• 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, behling@geo.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 #3 :

9. (+5) When in the geologic record do we find the first occurrence of amphibians? Reptiles? What are the environmental conditions most conducive to the preservation of tracks and footprints? Where in the rock record in West Virginia would you look for tracks and footprints?
10. (+5) What do the Triassic deposits of the eastern U.S. tell us regarding events of Plate Tectonics? We can find numerous tracks and trails in Triassic deposits in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Speculate as to why bones and skeletons are conspicuous by their absence.
11. (+5) We know of no sedimentary rocks of Mesozoic age in West Virginia, and it is quite unlikely that any will ever be found. Yet, Loudoun County, Virginia, has a rather nice assemblage of Triassic deposits! What were the conditions that allowed for red beds and igneous rocks to be preserved so close by, but not in, West Virginia?
12. (+5) Speak to your understanding of the cause-and-effect relationship between Pangea and the predominance of redbed deposits and dune deposits, both of Triassic age, in the American southwest.

Page last revised: November 9, 2005.