The 2015 National Schools Geology Challenge

Those of us who follow our twitter account will know that we held the national finals of the Schools Geology Challenge at Burlington House last week – culminating in the infamous quiz round!

As the school teams fought it out, in competition with their teachers and the finalists of the Early Careers Competition, we joined in on twitter, and several schools joined in as part of their revision. So we thought it would be a good idea to share some more of the questions!

Below, with thanks to Pete Loader, geology teacher and former Chair of the Earth Science Teacher’s Association is the quick fire round which was used on the day.

Follow this link for the answers….!

2016 National Schools Geology Challenge Quiz: Quick fire round

1. The texture of an igneous rock that shows crystals of the same size formed by steady cooling
2. An essential silicate mineral of both granite and gabbro
3. The name of the ore mineral that has the chemical composition
4. The name given to a poorly sorted sandstone composed of angular grains, with at least 25% feldspar by volume
5. The mineral with a hardness of 4 on Mohs’ Scale of Hardness
6. The point on the Earth’s surface immediately above the focus of an earthquake
7. A line joining points of equal seismic intensity
8. An inclusion of country rock incorporated into a magma during emplacement
9. A clastic sedimentary rock with rounded clasts >2cm in size
10. The metamorphic rock that forms when shale is subjected to HIGH heat and pressure
11. The axial portion of the cephalon of a trilobite
12. The term for the group of processes which change sediment into sedimentary rock
13. The name given to the block of rock which lies on the underside of an inclined fault or mineral vein
14. A type of fold where the interlimb angle is between 10° and zero
15. The sea-level change caused by local uplift or subsidence of the land by ice.
16. A depression in the water table around a borehole caused by a local reduction in pore water pressure
17. A smooth, often striated, surface caused by the frictional movement of rock along both sides of a fault
18. The temperature above which the remnant magnetism in a rock is lost.
19. The foliated texture caused by alignment of micas which forms in medium grained metamorphic rocks.
20. Approximately how many times greater is the increase in energy released in a magnitude 6 earthquake compared to a magnitude 5?
21. The name for low value waste minerals that are often found with the ore mineral bodies
22. The geological ‘boundary’ that scientists on the Joides Resolution Ocean Drilling vessel are attempting to drill through in the Indian Ocean?
23. A section of uplifted and exposed oceanic lithosphere that has been emplaced onto continental rocks by thrusting
24. The triangular shaped feature composed of poorly sorted sediment deposited as water flows from the mouth of steep walled canyons
25. The geological theme the Geological Society have adopted for 2016
26. The Precambrian faunal assemblage which existed between 600 – 545 million years ago
27. The well-known Scottish geologist and TV presenter who is currently President of the Earth Science Teachers Association (ESTA)
28. The subject matter of the new Geological Society website “Geology ……… Pathways”
29. The idealised sequence of sediments and sedimentary structures seen in a turbidite deposit
30. The ocean that existed between Gondwana and Laurasia during the Mesozoic

Congratulations to Altrincham Grammar School, overall winners of the Challenge, and to Angela Hillman, winner of the Early Careers Competition – more details of the winners in a coming post!