8 USask GEOL 121 Lab Final Exam Overview

The lab final exam is comprehensive; it covers material from all the labs. It is worth 10 % of your grade for the course.

General information about the lab final exam:

1. The lab final exam is three hours long and is a closed-book exam (i.e., notes are NOT permitted during the exam). You will be required to do exercises similar to those you did in the lab.
2. Students must each bring all of the materials that they will need for the exam. Coloured pencils, pens, pencils with erasers, ruler, compass and a protractor are recommended. Blank paper will be provided for the structure cross-sections. Calculators are permitted.
3. Cheating will not be tolerated. Collaboration is NOT permitted on the final. Please familiarize yourself with the USask academic integrity policy.
4. Students are strongly encouraged to check their work when they finish their exam! If you have extra time at the end of the exam, take time to check you have answered all questions. Check your answers for accuracy and completeness.
5. AES students: arrange with AES to write the lab final exam. Their standard rules and deadlines apply for writing the lab final exam as for midterms or final exams arranged through AES. If you do not arrange in advance with them we will not be able to accommodate your request for accommodation.

Content covered on the exam:

1. Introduction to Canadian Geology: review Saskatchewan and Canadian mineral and energy resources and know approximate locations of several major resources in Saskatchewan and Canada (e.g., nickel is a resource found in Ontario).
2. Rocks and minerals will be covered on the lab final exam but there will be no actual specimens to examine during the exam. Students must know the basic properties of the rocks and minerals, including things such as what metals are found in the economic minerals, number of cleavage planes where relevant, and rock classifications. These questions will probably be fill-in-the-blank or multiple-choice style questions.
3. Relative and absolute dating: students will be provided with a cross-section diagram and they must be prepared to correctly order the strata using the principles of stratigraphy and to provide a geological history in point form based on this analysis.
4. Students are responsible for understanding the principles of topographic maps (scale, elevations, topographic profile, vertical exaggeration).
5. Earthquakes (if this lab was covered this semester): know definitions, be able to locate the epicentre of an earthquake.
6. Structural Geology – the exam will contain questions where students will be tested on their knowledge of:

1. 1. • Preparing structural sections (L.O.T.S.)

      • Calculating true thickness

      • Geological history

      • Folds – relative ages, using symbols to label fold axes and dip directions on geological maps, how to draw folds in a cross-section

      • Faults – types of faults and features of faults (hanging wall, foot wall), determining and labelling relative direction of movement, how to draw faults in cross-sections and how to indicate on geological maps

      • Unconformities – how to indicate on cross-sections and on geological maps

      • Strike and Dip – definitions, labelling correctly on maps and how to use to construct cross-sections

      • Horizontal and vertical beds and rules of Vs – recognizing features on geological maps

Good luck!