Geology of the Sonoran Desert Flashcards
Earth’s surface is covered by about a dozen major ‘plates’.
True or False
True
The Sonoran Desert lies in a geologic region called the B______ and R______ province.
Basin and Range
Topography is an important influence upon the unique climate of the Sonoran Desert since topographic barriers direct, confine or block ____ masses and the moisture they contain.
Air
The Sonoran Desert is considered a major earthquake area.
True or False
False
The main skyline of the Tucson Mountains visible from the Desert Museum is the remains of a volcano.
True or False
True
Looking to the south and west of the Museum, the first two basins (valleys) are called the A____ Valley and the A_____ Valley.
Avra and Altar
The major mountain ranges in the southwest view from the Desert Museum are the B__________ Mountains, home to the Tohono O’odham Creator, and the C_______ Mountains, which block the view of the Q________ Mountains, home to Kitt Peak National Observatory.
Baboquivarie
Coyote
Quinlin
Looking north from the Desert Museum, across Kings Canyon from the Ancient Arizona Exhibit, the red hills are called the __________ Redbeds, and they are at least _____ million years old.
Recreation Redbeds
150 million years old
Put these geological events in order, from oldest (1) to most recent (4).
___ The Basin and Range formed as the region stretched and brittle crust cracked along steeep fault lines. The formation of the Tucson Basin occured.
___ The region was stretched apart in a great “taffy pull”. Layers of still-warm and ductile crust slid past each other.
___ The region was squeezed and folded, creating a high plateau, higher than the current-day Catalina Mountains. Large, violent volcanoes erupted (10 to 100 times more violent that Mt. Saint Helens) which helped to create the backbone of what eventually became the Rocky Mountains, an closer to home, the Tucson Mountains.
___ Erosion from the Tucson Mountains and Catalina Mountains filled the Tucson basin.
3 – The Basin and Range formed as the region stretched and brittle crust cracked along steeep fault lines. The formation of the Tucson Basin occured.
2 – The region was stretched apart in a great “taffy pull”. Layers of still-warm and ductile crust slid past each other.
1 – The region was squeezed and folded, creating a high plateau, higher than the current-day Catalina Mountains. Large, violent volcanoes erupted (10 to 100 times more violent that Mt. Saint Helens) which helped to create the backbone of what eventually became the Rocky Mountains, an closer to home, the Tucson Mountains.
4 – Erosion from the Tucson Mountains and Catalina Mountains filled the Tucson basin.
Two minerals that are colorless in their pure form and acquire their color from other impurities or structural imperfections in the specimen are:
Calcite and quartz
Which mineral is used in toothpaste?
Flourite
Which mineral is commonly misidentified as gold?
Pyrite
Which mineral in our kit has a distinct smell?
Sulfur
Two minerals that are the principal copper ore minerals mined in southern Arizona are:
a. Chalcocite and malachite
b. Chrysocolla and malachite
c. Chalcocite and chrysocolla
d. Sulfur and gold
c. Chalcocite and chrysocolla
A mineral is a aturally occuring solid substance with a definite chemical composition that has formed by geologic processes. Which of the follow is a mineral?
Sugar
Salt
Salt
