Answer Key Texas Geology
1. What is the difference between a paleontologist and a mineralogist?
Answer: A paleontologist looks for fossils and is interested in the history of the earth. A mineralogist studies minerals that make up rocks.
2. Which type of rock could have new minerals because it experienced heat and pressure?
Answer: Metamorphic rock is rock that has been changed because of heat and pressure.
3. List five events that helped shape Texas as we see it today.
Answer: Events that helped shape Texas include volcanic activity, faulting, plates separating to form the Gulf of Mexico, glaciers melting, wind and water dumping and eroding sediment, uplifting, seas forming, going away, and forming again.
4. What is the general name for the oldest rocks in the geologic time scale?
Answer: Precambrian
5. Describe the general appearance of Texas in the late Cretaceous period.
Answer: Texas was covered by a sea during this time.
6. What is the difference between the dark colored rocks in the eastern Franklin Mountains and the light colored rocks in the Western Franklin Mountains?
Answer: The rocks in the east that are dark colored came from volcanoes, or the rocks are volcanic and older; and the rocks in the west that are light colored are sedimentary rocks from ancient oceans and they are younger than the volcanic rocks.
7. How do geologists know that the sedimentary rocks in the Franklin Mountains were deposited in an ocean environment?
Answer: Geologists know the rocks were layered in an ocean environment because they have found fossils of things that lived in the ocean/marine life.
8. Explain the difference between intrusive and extrusive igneous rock, and give an example of where you can see each type in Big Bend National Park.
Answer: Intrusive igneous rock is molten rock that rises up through rock layers, and cools below the surface. You can see dikes on the road to Panther Junction, just before reaching Tuff Canyon. Extrusive igneous rock breaks through the rock layers and cools above the surface. Tule Mountain, Goat Mountain, and the Chisos Mountains are all examples of extrusive igneous rock.
9. What is the difference between a graben and a horst, and how did they form?
Answer: A graben and a horst happen because of more than one/multiple normal faults. Faults on opposite sides of each other cause rocks in the middle to fall down. A canyon, or fault block mountains form; the mountains are called horsts and the rocks that fell to the bottom make the graben.
10. Describe the area on either side of the Caprock Escarpment.
Answer: The west side of the Caprock Escarpment is a higher elevation than the east side. Erosion on the west side has produced canyons. On the east side, there are rolling plains.
11. Based on the description, what type of rock makes up Palo Duro Canyon: igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary?
Answer: Sedimentary rock forms the canyon.
12. Give the names for the major geographical area that surround Austin.
Answer: Balcones Canyonlands and Escarpment, West Austin Hill Country, and the Edwards Plateau.
13. Describe two hazards that people in the Austin area have experienced in the past 130 years.
Answer: The shape of the land makes flash flooding a danger for the people of Austin. Also, because there is a fault, earthquakes are a possibility.
14. Explain why Enchanted Rock is known as the “Haunted Mountain.”
Answer: The heating and cooling of the rock causes the rock to crack in the cooler nights.
15. What kind of rock makes this mountain?
Answer: The rock is composed of granite.
16. Based on what you have learned about Enchanted Rock, write a short advertisement to encourage people to visit the area.
Answer: Do you love camping? Do you love rock climbing? Is pink your favorite color? Come see the oldest rocks in Texas and enjoy beautiful nights under the stars at the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area!
17. .Do you think that construction of new homes and businesses should be kept a certain distance away from the karst area? Explain why.
Answer: Yes, construction should be far away from the karst landscape because new construction means that the rainwater can wash more substances, like pollutants, down through the cracks to the aquifer. The karst rock does not filter any pollutants out when the water travels from the surface to under the ground. If pollutants get into the aquifer, people will not be able to drink the water.
18. .Which type of weather would you rather have if you were visiting Natural Bridge Caverns? Explain why.
Answer: I would like to visit Natural Bridge Caverns on a hot, sunny day. If you were visiting Natural Bridge Caverns on a day of heavy rain, the bottoms of the caves could fill with water, making them hard to see or walk through.
19. Using the third paragraph in this passage, write a short recipe for finding a place to drill for oil.
Answer: Answers will vary. All recipes should include the following ingredients: one large section of source rock, one large section of reservoir rock with holes for the oil, and one trap that holds the oil in place, such as an anticline, or fault.
20. Why is there so much oil in the Permian Basin?
Answer: The land in the Permian Basin covers land that used to be mountains, so there are many cracks and faults that have trapped the oil.
21. Name the special feature of the Guadalupe Mountains. What once covered this formation?
Answer: The highest peak in Guadalupe Mountains, Captain’s Reef, is the world’s largest fossil reef. It was covered by seawater.
22. Describe how Padre Island is changing, and how it could look different from one summer to the next.
Answer: Padre Island looks different because of the action of wind waves and storms. Wind and storms are moving sand to the West side of the island, which means the island is actually getting closer to the mainland. One summer, you could see plants that hold high sand dunes in place; the next summer it could be flat because a storm would have washed or blown the dunes away.
 

Study Questions Texas Geology
1. What is the difference between a paleontologist and a mineralogist?



2. Which type of rock could have new minerals because it experienced heat and pressure?



3. List five events that helped shape Texas as we see it today.



4. What is the general name for the oldest rocks in the geologic time scale?



5. Describe the general appearance of Texas in the late Cretaceous period.



6. What is the difference between the dark colored rocks in the eastern Franklin Mountains and the light colored rocks in the Western Franklin Mountains?



7. How do geologists know that the sedimentary rocks in the Franklin Mountains were deposited in an ocean environment?



8. Explain the difference between intrusive and extrusive igneous rock, and give an example of where you can see each type in Big Bend National Park.



9. What is the difference between a graben and a horst, and how did they form?



10. Describe the area on either side of the Caprock Escarpment.



11. Based on the description, what type of rock makes up Palo Duro Canyon: igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary?



12. Give the names for the major geographical area that surround Austin.



13. Describe two hazards that people in the Austin area have experienced in the past 130 years.



14. Explain why Enchanted Rock is known as the “Haunted Mountain.”



15. What kind of rock makes this mountain?



16. Based on what you have learned about Enchanted Rock, write a short advertisement to encourage people to visit the area.



17. .Do you think that construction of new homes and businesses should be kept a certain distance away from the karst area? Explain why.



18. .Which type of weather would you rather have if you were visiting Natural Bridge Caverns? Explain why.



19. Using the third paragraph in this passage, write a short recipe for finding a place to drill for oil.



20. Why is there so much oil in the Permian Basin?



21. Name the special feature of the Guadalupe Mountains. What once covered this formation?



22. Describe how Padre Island is changing, and how it could look different from one summer to the next.



 

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