Geology
of California Robert Lopez
1)
Be
sure that you can sketch a cross-section of the continental margin of
California during the late Mesozoic and identify the Sierra Nevada batholith
(arc), Great Valley sequence (arc-trench gap), Franciscan Complex (subduction
zone), Melones Fault zone, Coast Range Ophiolite, and the Farallon Plate.
2)
Sketch
in cross-section, the asymmetry of the Sierra Nevada (Fig. 8-4).
3)
Why
is the Sierra asymmetrical?
4)
Approximately
when was the Sierra Nevada uplifted?
5)
What
is the evidence that the Sierra Nevada uplift is young?
6)
What
are inverted valleys?
7)
What
are Table Mountains?
8)
What
are the two divisions of rocks in the Sierra Nevada? Give at least two examples
of each.
9)
What
kinds of rocks form the Minarets and the Ritter Range, and when did the form?
10)
What
is the name of the geological structure the Minarets and Ritter Range form?
11)
What
evidence do we have that Rodinia existed and formed 1.0 to 1.2 Ga (pp.
485-486)?
12)
What
group of rocks now found in Death Valley and in the Mojave show evidence that
Rodinia rifted about 700 Ma (p. 488)?
13)
The
Trailing Continental Margin sediments found in Death Valley (Noonday/Ibex
Dolomite, Jonnie/Sterline Quartzite) are analogous to which Paleozoic rock
group in the high Sierra (roof pendant now).
14)
What
are the four Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic metamorphic units of the Western
Metamorphic Belt (Fig. 8-25, p.183)?
15)
What
is the name of the first mountain-forming event (orogeny) in the Sierra Nevada?
16)
What
rocks collided with ancestral California during this first orogeny?
17)
What
marine sedimentary complex and island arc rocks collided with ancestral
California during the Sonoma Orogeny?
18)
What
marine complex and island arc rocks collide with ancestral California during
the Nevadan Orogeny?
19)
What
is Nevadan Cleavage and when did it form? Where are the Tombstone Slates
exposed and what type of metamorphism gave them their unusual structure?
20)
What
are the Shoo Fly Complex, Northern Sierra Terrane, Calaveras Complex (and
Sonoma Arcs), Foothills Metamorphic Belt (marine rocks and Nevadan Arcs)?
21)
Know
the ages, type of rocks, and terranes involved in the three orogenies (Antler,
Sonoma, Nevadan) that formed mountain ranges prior to the present Sierra
Nevada?
22)
When
did Foothills subduction occur? What
caused this Paleozoic, Early Mesozoic subduction to set westward to form the
Franciscan Subduction?
23)
What
fault zone represents the Late Paleozoic to Early Mesozoic ancient subduction
zone in the Foothills terrane?