Geology Quiz

Questions

1. What are the names of the two tectonic plates that come together in our area?
2. What is the name of the transform fault west of Edgewood?
3. What is the name of the major assemblage of heterogeneous rocks found at Edgewood?
4. Most of Edgewood’s rocks were churned and scraped up from an oceanic plate onto the continental plate at a _______________ zone.
5. Which three rock types are the most common in Edgewood?
6. Edgewood’s Central Ridge is capped by what rock?
7. Edgewood’s serpentinite is derived from ultramafic materials in the earth’s _____________.
8. The hydration of serpentinite makes it___________________, allowing it to be squeezed to the surface through faults and fissures.
9. Serpentinite covers what percent of the surface of California?
10. Serpentine soils have low concentrations of elements that plants need for growth, such as ____________________ and _____________________, and high concentrations of elements that plants find toxic, such as ____________________ and _____________________.
11. Edgewood’s blue schist, which can be found near the _____________, illustrates the relativelyquick churning and erosion of Edgewood’s geology as it was formed at great depths, under________________ pressures but relatively ______________ temperatures.

Answers

1. What are the names of the two tectonic plates that come together in our area?

   Pacific Plate; North American Plate

2. What is the name of the transform fault west of Edgewood?

   San Andreas

3. What is the name of the major assemblage of heterogeneous rocks found at Edgewood?

   Franciscan complex

4. Most of Edgewood’s rocks were churned and scraped up from an oceanic plate onto the continental plate at a _______________ zone.

   subduction

5. Which three rock types are the most common in Edgewood?

   Serpentinite; greywacke; greenstone

6. Edgewood’s Central Ridge is capped by what rock?

   greenstone

7. Edgewood’s serpentinite is derived from ultramafic materials in the earth’s _____________.

   mantle

8. The hydration of serpentinite makes it___________________, allowing it to be squeezed to the surface through faults and fissures.

   more buoyant/less dense

9. Serpentinite covers what percent of the surface of California?

   1%

10. Serpentine soils have low concentrations of elements that plants need for growth, such as ____________________ and _____________________, and high concentrations of elements that plants find toxic, such as ____________________ and _____________________.

    calcium, phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium [any two are fine]; nickel, chromium

11. Edgewood’s blue schist, which can be found near the _____________, illustrates the relatively quick churning and erosion of Edgewood’s geology as it was formed at great depths, under________________ pressures but relatively ______________ temperatures.

    Sunset Gate; high; cool/moderate