TAMU GEOL 404 EXAM QUESTIONS ANSWERED CORRECTLY LATEST UPDATE 2026

TAMU GEOL 404 EXAM QUESTIONS ANSWERED CORRECTLY LATEST UPDATE 2026 Hydrocarbons - Answers Made of complex molecules of hydrogen and carbon Petroleum - Answers *Naturally occurring in the subsurface -Oil -Gas -Heavy tar-asphalt-bitumen. *Unrefined = Crude The petroleum business - Answers *E & P Exploration Development & Production Refining and sale US Energy consumption (Petroleum) - Answers 40% US Energy consumption (Natural Gas) - Answers 22% US Energy consumption (Coal) - Answers 23% US Energy consumption (Nuclear) - Answers 8% US Energy consumption (Renewable Energy) - Answers 7% "Risk Analysis" - Answers Source Reservoir Structure Seal Timing POSg - Answers Risk of occurrence value (the geological possibility of success) Magoon and Dow(1994) petroleum system concept - Answers -Map of hypothetical basin -cross-section (opposite) -guided a description of the "critical moment" Without source rocks we don't have a - Answers Petroleum System We will examine the distribution of source rocks from both a - Answers temporal and spatial perspective Plate Tectonics - Answers look at: -Mantle Plumes -Convection cells -convergent -divergent Plate Tectonics in addition to knowing where the basins are formed we need to look at - Answers -clastics -carbonates -evaporites Structures - Answers -Compression -tension -shear Compressional Components - Answers -folds -thrusts tensional features - Answers -normal faults -grabens Shears - Answers -pull-apart basins Mobilization of salts and shales - Answers create diapiric structures Seals - Answers -Hydrocarbon generation -Primary and secondary migration -Capillary pressure and sealing mechanisms Reservoirs - Answers -deposition environments -clastic reservoirs -carbonate reservoirs Depositional environments (continental) - Answers -Fluvial -Alluvial -Glacial -Eolian -Lacustrine -Paludal Depositional environments (transitional) - Answers -Deltaic -Esturine -Lagoonal -Beach Depositional environments (marine) - Answers -shallow marine clastic -Carbonate shelf -Continental slope -Deep marine Reservoir (Clastics) - Answers macroscopic scale complexity of depositional units: -fluvial channels -aeolian dunes -barrier bars -crevasse splays -submarine fans and channels -turbidites Reservoir (Carbonates) - Answers Subtidal carbonate factory: -warm shallow water over broad gently sloping shelpf Phanerozoic - Answers 542-488:Cambrian 488-443:Ordovician 443-416:Silurian 416-359:Devonian 359-299:Carboniferous 299-251:Permian 251-199:Triassic 199-145:Jurassic 145-65:Cretaceous 65-23:Palaeogene 23-18:Neogene 18-0:Quaternary Lithospheric Plate Analysis - Answers -Provinces-Terranes Plate interaction kinematics- Plate deformation Regional & Basin Analysis - Answers -Basins/Basin Phases/megasequences/sequences basin phase architecture-tectonostratigraphy Petroleum system and play analysis - Answers -systems/plays/play elements timing petroleum system tracks-play analysis Geologic time - Answers -convection cells in the mantle are in the process of creating and destroying the plates. - At a spreading center, the plate is being created at a subduction zone, the plate is being destroyed Continental Crust - Answers -Composed of granite and related types as well as sedimentary rocks. -Average SG of about 2.7 -Often called SIAL because of the high silica and aluminum content Oceanic crust - Answers -Dominantly formed of basalt and related types collectively know as basic rocks. Earthquake Waves - Answers -"P" (Primary) -"S" (Secondary) P and S waves - Answers - Speed increases as they travel deeper into mantle -Travel through earth in curved paths -Change paths when they pass through the boundary between substances in different states (Solid vs Liquid) Liquid Outer Core - Answers S waves cannot pass through but P waves can S waves - Answers -transverse -slow moving - travel through solids only P waves - Answers -Longitudinal -Fast moving -travel through liquids and solids Mohorovicic discontinuity - Answers The density break and contrast between the oceanic and Continental crust and the lithosphere Magnetic Polarity Reversals - Answers -Earth gives us a mechanism telling when and where plates moved Pattern of pole reversals - Answers - over the last 20 million years occurs @ every 200,000-300,000 years - In the Jurassic, about every million years Magnetic field orientation - Answers -preserved in iron-rich materials in the volcanic rocks that cool and acquired their magnetism shortly after they were erupted. Mid-ocean ridges - Answers A)High heat flow along the divergence zone B) A valley is present along the center line of the ridge C) Volcanoes are present along the ridge D) Earthquakes occur along the ridge E) Seismic wave velocity decreases at the ridges due to high temperatures Mid-oceanic ridges of the World: Divergent Boundaries - Answers the convection cells move the plates away from the spreading centers, not all the plates are travelling at the same velocity Ex.) Pacific Plate, are moving faster than the North Atlantic Plates Mantle plumes and hotspots. - Answers -1963, -Canadian Geophysicist Tuzo Wilson -single source of magma in the mantle periodically erupts onto the seafloor, forming an active volcano. -As the plate shifts the volcano away from the hot spot, so the volcano is cut-off from its supply of molten rock. -However, with a few thousand years a new volcano erupts in its former place Mantle plumes and hotspots Example - Answers Pacific Islands formed by the Pacific plate migrating over a mantle hot spot Plate Boundary types: Divergent - Answers new crust is generated as the plates pull away from each other Plate Boundary types: Convergent - Answers crust is destroyed as one plate dives under another Plate Boundary types: Transform - Answers crust is neither produced nor destroyed as the plates slide horizontally past each other Example of a divergent (constructive margin) - Answers Mid-Atlantic ridge Example of a convergent (destructive margin) - Answers west coast of South America Examples of convergent boundaries - Answers subducting plate below Japan, -look at the location and intensity of the earthquakes. -Note how the largest earthquakes are comparatively shallow (down to 50km) while smaller earthquakes occur all the way down to 200km. -Note also the small swarms of earthquakes associated with the volcanoes. Convergent boundary ~ Continent to Continent - Answers Example, The collision of the Indian plate with the Eurasian plate Transform Plate Boundaries - Answers -At transform plate boundaries, plates grind past each other side by side. This type of boundary separates the North American Plate from the Pacific Plate along the San Andreas fault, a famous transform plate boundary that's responsible for many of California's earthquakes - The relative motion of the San Andreas Fault is right lateral (dextral). -note the deflection of streams as they cross the active San Andreas fault Continental margins - - Answers - boundary between oceanic and continental crust - Active: usually a subduction zone (West coast of South America) - Passive: sedimentary wedge on the trailing edge of plate (North and South Atlantic oceans) Divergent Plate boundaries - Answers - Where new oceanic crust is generated as the plates pull away from each other (spreading centers) -Examples ~Mid Atlantic Ridge, East Africa Rift zone.