2009-05-07 | by Chris | Full Article | Comments (6)

Callan at NOVA Geoblog has a new meme going:

What are ten things that every geology major ought to know about? The only restriction is you’re not allowed to list anything that has already been listed by a previous geoblogger. You don’t have to list everything, just ten important things

Mel at Ripples in the Sand has added to the list (both can be seen at the bottom of this post) and now it’s my turn. Embarrassingly I know nothing of “Pedogenesis” or “How aquifers work” as listed by Mel, but this is all about brushing up, isn’t it? : )

Here’s my list of 10 things every geology major should know:

1. The difference between absolute and relative radiometric dating.
2. Uranium-lead dating and how each element on the uranium 238 decay chain interacts differently with the environment.
3. The difference between a continent and a tectonic plate.
4. The properties of felsic, intermediate and mafic lava types.
5. How and why the melting temperature of a rock changes depending on the the concentration of volatiles therein.
6. What an ophiolite is and the significance of very old ophiolites.
7. The structure of the deep Earth (the upper and lower mantle including the MoHo and other zones)
8. The biological explanation for the formation of banded iron formations.
9. The insignificant difference between a volcanic sill and a volcanic dike.
10. How to spot changing environments in a stratigraphic column.

I could go on, but those seem pretty important. Below are Callan and Mel’s lists

Callan’s list:

1. The relationship between cooling rate and crystal size in igneous rocks.
2. The fact that rocks can flow, given sufficient temperature and pressure [and low strain rate, for the purists out there].
3. The idea that sedimentary rocks reflect specific depositional settings. By studying modern depositional settings and the sediments they contain, we can interpret ancient sedimentary rocks in light of the conditions under which they accumulated.
4. The fact that the chemical stability of molecular configurations (minerals) changes with different temperatures and pressures (metamorphism).
5. Large Igneous Provinces, and their potential role in tectonics and expressing mantle plumes.
6. Elastic rebound theory for the origin of earthquakes.
7. The notion of partial melting, and its relationship to Bowen’s Reaction Series.
8. An understanding of the carbon cycle, and an understanding of the atmospheric physics that facilitate global warming.
9. The role that rivers play in shaping the landscape: nickpoints, terraces, quarrying, abrasion, drilling of potholes, etc.
10. The Earth is 4.6 billion years old, which is extremely old in comparison to human life — and the reasons we think it’s so old [Pb isotopes, etc.].

Mel’s list:

1. Evolution.
2. Evidence for plate tectonics.
3. That fossils (and trace fossils) can provide more information about the rocks they reside in – depositional environment, chronology and correlation, water temperature, stratigraphic up, relative rate of deposition, water depth, etc.
4. And vice versa, the rocks can tell you a lot about the fossils that are contained within them – geography, taphonomy, chronology and correlation, etc.
5. The relationship between sediment production –> sediment transport –> sediment deposition.
6. How to identify minerals.
7. Differentiation and fractionation and how they apply to the planet, the solar system, and isotopes.
8. How aquifers work (or don’t work if we drain them too quickly).
9. Where our energy supply comes from. All facets from petroleum products, to solar radiation, to conductive metals extraction, etc. (These are also useful for seeking gainful employment as a geologist.)
10. Pedogenesis. How it takes thousands of years of chemical reactions and transport to generate the soils we use for agriculture. (And how we should be taking better care of them.)

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