Note: Answers to “short-answer” questions should be no longer than a few sentences.

Note 2: As per instructions (“How to Turn In Assignments”)– make sure that you copy this assignment into a MICROSOFT WORD DOCUMENT, and place your answers below each question…. save it on your computer, and then UPLOAD the assignment using the “SUBMIT ASSIGNMENT” button!

1) Visit

http://landslides.usgs.gov/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Poke around on the website (OR ON OTHER WEBSITES) and find either an interesting event or perhaps a landslide event that happened near where you live and then answer the following:

When? Where? How far is this from your home? Type of mass movement? Triggered by? Loss of lives? Financial impact?

2) What is the difference between chemical and mechanical weathering?

3) A shale layer on a mountainside in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia opened a window on a fantastic interval in the history of life, around 540 million years ago.
Read about it—

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/cambrian/burgess.html (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

AND,

http://park.org/Canada/Museum/burgessshale/formation.html (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

A) Consider how shale forms. Why is shale often a better rock type for preserving fossils than say sandstone or conglomerate?

B) What sort of “depositional environment” is represented by the Burgess Shale?
(Definitely make sure that you look up, and understand, the use of the term “depositional environment” before answering this question.)

4) Very slow mass movement is called creep. How slowly can creep occur (e.g. meters/yr, feet/yr, millimeters/yr)?

5) Bouldering on Flagstaff Mountain (near Boulder, Colorado) takes place on the Fountain Formation. It is a combination of what detrital sedimentary rock types?

6) After viewing the entire group of “Geology Rocks” video segments, explain what sort of features associated with the Fountain Formation suggest that it represents the erosion of an ancient mountain range.

7) For a rock to be considered truly metamorphic, it must have undergone ______ .

A) melting B) recrystallization C) extreme pressure D) cementation

8) If a rock undergoing metamorphism reaches a temperature high enough to initiate partial melting, what sort of rock is formed?

9) Go to the web and look for information on the geology of mars.
You might try http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. But there are many other sites. And, you can also use the final chapter of your textbook on planetary geology.

What is the evidence for either modern or ancient LIQUID water on mars? Explain.

Other possible (trustable!) web resources
http://www.nasa.gov/mp4/692707main_CoM20120928-320-jpl.mp4 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-na… (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.