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Geology A level OCR

Did anyone take the exam today, 22/May/2013? Unit 2, about rock and processes?

I'll post some of the things I remember and think is right lol... Geology is not too popular here but it should be :P

Rock/sediments diagram


The first diagram was Arkose, then last one Greywacke (not breccia as it had mica)

The main mineral in sedimentary rocks is quartz (i guess)
It appears in rocks because it's hard (hardness in 7), resistant etc...

From the 3 sandstones, the one that was red formed in a desert (iron oxide..), the one that was poorly sorted I said fluvial environment and the other one shallow sea as it had calcite?

In the diagrams, just had to draw a circle for the well rounded, and a some sub rounded, just similar to the circular one but with angular bits...


There was a question asking about the sorting of some seives... The first one was poorly sorted as it had sediments from all sizes, the second one well sorted...
They asked to suggest the environments.... I said deep sea for the poorly sorted one, was a guess.... And shallow marine environment for the well sorted one


Volcanoes
The less steep volcano was the shield volcano, and the other one a strato volcano.
The shield volcano has a mafic composition, low viscosity, and it flows away from the volcanic vent. It happens in divergent plate margins
The strato volcano had silicic-intermediate, high viscosity, the lava doesn't flow to far away and accumulates forming a steeper volcanic vent. It happens in convergent plate margins (hope you don't have to say which plate etc..)

I don't remember the exact order, but pillow lava (globular basalt or whatever was written there), agglomerate, tuff (forms from consolidate ash or something), and pahoehoe flow (basaltic flow but smooth something).. For the other one I didn't know...

Where it had a rock sequence, the top one was lava flow (only one baked margin, vesicles at the top, uneven surface, rock fragment of it above the overlying bed, which shows it was eroded etc)
The other one was a sill (parallel to other beds, two baked margins, rock fragments at the top, etc)

Granite and weathering

Weathering is the wearing away of a rock in situ....
The main chemical weathering that affects granite is hydrolisis...
Granite 2, the one that was smaller and had more joints was the one that would suffer more from weathering, as it had more joints, so more water and gases would be able to get in and weather it...

Frost shattering is just when water gets into cracks then expands when it gets cold/solid state...
Foliation, wasn't sure about this one, just said different mineral may expand differently, etc..
The two biological weathering were: root action and burrowing.

Turbidity currents and deep sea environments
Turbidity current is a high velocity current that flows down gentle gradients etc....
I drew the flute cast the same way I drew it in the coursework... And they form as turbidity currents eroded them then it is filled with sediments... I put the bracket from the second layer till before the clay/mud with parallel laminations..
For the calculations, I don't remember the exact numbers but it was something like 2.7, something like that, and for the second was like 0.53

And when they asked why the speed decreased, I thinki t's because it loses its energy and as you go further away the surface is less steep...

10 mark question

I think this ones were a gift, but the first one was a bit tricky, I think we had to say that sedimentary rock got bedding plane, cross bedding, fossils etc, while others didn't, and had interlocking moscaic crystals etc...

And for the other one, just the gneiss, schist and slate and its textures and the index minerals (chlorite, biotite, garnet, etc...) ... I think that was what we had to mention.




This is some of what I remember atm lol, feel free to comment, add more stuff or even correct me if I am wrong ahah ;P
Good luck
(edited 10 years ago)

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Reply 1
Gotta be honest, already forgotten a lot of it :P
Thought it was quite a nice exam all in all, loved the last 10 markers considering what they've been in the past. Just wrote pretty much everything i could think of about them... drew out the table for minerals in second one too, along with diagrams for the textures. First ten marker was a bit trickier as it was almost too broad... but again i just tried to write everything, even if i felt it unnecessary.

With the sieve sorting question, i said desert for the red cement (haematite), but cant remember what i decided for the other two, i wasnt 100% sure... I think i said the rounded one was fluvial and sub-rounded was beach, but i think thats wrong.
For the poorly sorted and well sorted bar chart ones, i said landslide (due to rapid loss of energy) and desert dune for well sorted.
For the volcanoes one there was part about predicting an eruption, with a two marker for the 'earthquake' bit, so i rambled about seismograms being used too to get the second mark :L
For the granite 1 & 2 question, i seem to remember being unsure about the question directly after the hydrolosis answer, something to do with clay? I just rambled about clay minerals separating and compacting to form clay...

Everything else I think was the same :smile: what kind of boundary do you expect? I'd say a high one compared to average, at least 75 for an A
Reply 2
Original post by Wombat96
Gotta be honest, already forgotten a lot of it :P
Thought it was quite a nice exam all in all, loved the last 10 markers considering what they've been in the past. Just wrote pretty much everything i could think of about them... drew out the table for minerals in second one too, along with diagrams for the textures. First ten marker was a bit trickier as it was almost too broad... but again i just tried to write everything, even if i felt it unnecessary.

With the sieve sorting question, i said desert for the red cement (haematite), but cant remember what i decided for the other two, i wasnt 100% sure... I think i said the rounded one was fluvial and sub-rounded was beach, but i think thats wrong.
For the poorly sorted and well sorted bar chart ones, i said landslide (due to rapid loss of energy) and desert dune for well sorted.
For the volcanoes one there was part about predicting an eruption, with a two marker for the 'earthquake' bit, so i rambled about seismograms being used too to get the second mark :L
For the granite 1 & 2 question, i seem to remember being unsure about the question directly after the hydrolosis answer, something to do with clay? I just rambled about clay minerals separating and compacting to form clay...

Everything else I think was the same :smile: what kind of boundary do you expect? I'd say a high one compared to average, at least 75 for an A


2 hours later, glad to see someone ahah, if it was biology, chemistry, psychology or something a billion people would have commented already lool

We did vlcanoes in just a lesson, where people had to do presentations, so I only learned the bit I had done.. So this morning while going college on the bus I revised all about volcanoes and had a feeling that either the prediction, consequences or benefits would come up

I wish the boundaries were the same as in January 2013, where 57 was a B and 65 an A ahah, but I read the report (so I could guess what wouldn't come), and seems that was well hard... The highest grade boundaries I have seen is 75 for an A and 65 for a B, so probably will be something like this, yesterday I was saying I would be happy with a D as I thought it would be quite hard, but now I want a B xD D you reckon you'll get a good grade?
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 3
Haha, I didnt bother making a thread because the odds were so slim :P
our teacher's awesome as she always seems to predict what will come up! We had a revision day yesterday and she knew deep oceans would come up, and something to do with living with or predicting volcanoes, and several other bits. Gotta be honest I think you'll get pretty high looking at those answers, I'm personally hoping for 75% UMS to give me an A overall, managed to ace the first module and get an A in coursework :biggrin: So, you know, fingers crossed :wink:
Reply 4
Luckyy, I like my geology teachers but I think the teaching could be better for the rock and processes... She thought glacial environments would come up, but i looked at the january 2013 reports, and saw it came already, glad t didnt come again as i am not good at it lool!
ahah thanks, hope you fet your A, what did you get in the coursework?

Last time I made a geology thread, had like 11 posts including mine, so yeah not too popular around here, but in the other hand if you become a geologist there will be less competition and higher demand :wink:

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Reply 5
Oh dont get me wrong, we have one amazing teacher and one who forgot to teach half the syllabus (he's a geography teacher at heart...) :P Aww I love a good glacial deposit question! Those beautiful varves. Err I think 19 in one, 17 in the other, not sure which was the field work and which was the paper, you?
Gotta be honest 11 sounds like quite a turn out! How many are in your class? We've got like 20 students in our year which is wayyyyy more than they;ve had before (my brother only had one other student in his class :L) you thinking of taking geology further? My brother just finished his third year, but I'm personally not too keen on field work so it's not looking like the career for me :wink:
Well after reading this I'm in an extremely good mood. I think I've at least got a B which is awesome :smile:
Reply 7
Original post by Wombat96
Oh dont get me wrong, we have one amazing teacher and one who forgot to teach half the syllabus (he's a geography teacher at heart...) :P Aww I love a good glacial deposit question! Those beautiful varves. Err I think 19 in one, 17 in the other, not sure which was the field work and which was the paper, you?
Gotta be honest 11 sounds like quite a turn out! How many are in your class? We've got like 20 students in our year which is wayyyyy more than they;ve had before (my brother only had one other student in his class :L) you thinking of taking geology further? My brother just finished his third year, but I'm personally not too keen on field work so it's not looking like the career for me :wink:


Iniatially 11 but I think 10 now lool, and we are the only class in there, theres also only one geology class in year 13, so not many! 20 is quite good! Yes, I been thinking of geology as first option, biomedical science as second (so I could go to same uni as my sister and I enjoy it much more than geology xD). This may be a mistake, as I am going for geology more for the money and opportunities I have all around the world...

And you got a solid A then? 36... I got 18 in one, 14 in the other, so 32, 1 mark from an A (last year, boundaries might change).

Well in geology is not just about field work, there are many working environments I think... What are you thinking about then?

Original post by behindblueglass
Well after reading this I'm in an extremely good mood. I think I've at least got a B which is awesome :smile:


those were some of the answers I remembered ahah, but lets hope we get a B or higher ;P
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 8
Original post by Chrisd00100
Iniatially 11 but I think 10 now lool, and we are the only class in there, theres also only one geology class in year 13, so not many! 20 is quite good! Yes, I been thinking of geology as first option, biomedical science as second (so I could go to same uni as my sister and I enjoy it much more than geology xD). This may be a mistake, as I am going for geology more for the money and opportunities I have all around the world...

And you got a solid A then? 36... I got 18 in one, 14 in the other, so 32, 1 mark from an A (last year, boundaries might change).

Well in geology is not just about field work, there are many working environments I think... What are you thinking about then?


Ah that doesnt surprise me :wink: Yea, we have just enough to split into two classes!! Which is much better imo. Oh yea, definitely consider what you'd enjoy! Don't just do it for the money, otherwise you'll have many regrets a few years down the line :P So are you doing three sciences as other A levels then?
Yea, solid A :biggrin: If you're aiming B then 32 is ample! I wanna get into bristol so I'm aiming high :3
But at Uni there'd be three years of a lot of field work, dont think I'll manage :wink: I'm thinking civil engineering, as mechanics is my fave and it incorporates a bit of geology tooo!
Reply 9
Original post by Wombat96
Ah that doesnt surprise me :wink: Yea, we have just enough to split into two classes!! Which is much better imo. Oh yea, definitely consider what you'd enjoy! Don't just do it for the money, otherwise you'll have many regrets a few years down the line :P So are you doing three sciences as other A levels then?
Yea, solid A :biggrin: If you're aiming B then 32 is ample! I wanna get into bristol so I'm aiming high :3
But at Uni there'd be three years of a lot of field work, dont think I'll manage :wink: I'm thinking civil engineering, as mechanics is my fave and it incorporates a bit of geology tooo!

This is what I call a coincidence? I have been looking at bristol uni too as it "only" asks for 3 B's to enter in the geology course.... One of my first options ahah!
Not just for the money but for the fact I can be self employed or work for a company, got opportunities all over the world, no much competition, and there's a lot to be explored ;P And I'd be happier with an A rather with a B lool, in August we'll know how we did! And yeah I am doing other science subjects, chemistry and biology! you?
I don't know what kinda work they do, but since I learn and it isn't troublesome, I'll put up with it xD Hmm, engineering... interesting! The most people I hang with at college do engineering
Hey just had a look on the ocr website. For an A grade in this exam you only needed 66/100. Ill put the link on here and someone else can have a look too and double check, because 66/100 seems very very low for an A? :smile:

http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/142071-unit-level-raw-mark-grade-boundaries-june-2013.pdf

If this is correct overall I need 77 to get an A for this year (y)
Reply 11
Hey how did you guys do??
Reply 12
I had a B for the global tectonics and an A for rock and processes :biggrin:D
Overall a high B

How about you guys?
I got a B for global tectonics and an A for rocks and processes
Overall high A
Well done guys :smile:
Reply 14
Original post by behindblueglass
I got a B for global tectonics and an A for rocks and processes
Overall high A
Well done guys :smile:


That's well good ahah, well done! what did you get for your other subjects?

Can't wait to hear my teachers feedback!
Had a B for the coursework, will retake one of them to get a better grade
Original post by Chrisd00100
That's well good ahah, well done! what did you get for your other subjects?

Can't wait to hear my teachers feedback!
Had a B for the coursework, will retake one of them to get a better grade



Thank you, its the result of revising for 6 hours a day for 2 months leading up to the exam :P
And I got an A in Environmental Studies and a C in Geography. I'm pretty gutted about the C but I'm hoping to either resit the last exam or bring up the grade in the next exams :smile:

How did you do in your other exams? :smile:
And what are you planning to do at uni/which uni?
Reply 16
Original post by behindblueglass
Thank you, its the result of revising for 6 hours a day for 2 months leading up to the exam :P
And I got an A in Environmental Studies and a C in Geography. I'm pretty gutted about the C but I'm hoping to either resit the last exam or bring up the grade in the next exams :smile:

How did you do in your other exams? :smile:
And what are you planning to do at uni/which uni?

Hmm, they are all closely related, your subjects, geography, geology, environmental studies...


I got a B for Biology, and a C for chemistry, both 5 ucs marks from the higher grade. will retake one of chemistry. And this year will have to revise like you do:P

And I really want to do geology at at uni, like bristol, southampton and that... I enjoy more bio-medical science and things related to biology, but got more opportunities with geology. how about you?
Hey, although my subjects are closely related each subject covers different topics, for example in first year Geography you cover Rivers, Coasts, Glacial environments, Energy, Tourism and urban. In Environmental studies, conditions for life on earth, wildlife conservations, life processes in the biosphere, Land resources, practical skills, atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere. So I'm hoping my three subjects will give me a good base for an Earth science degree.

I'm quiet specific I want to do environmental earth science at UEA But if for some reason I don't get in my next 4 are: Keele- geoscience, Kingston- geology, Royal Holloway- Environmental geology, and Southampton-geology. I've got a range of entry grades (AAB, ABB, ABB, BBB, CCC)

It sucks you can't do a biology related degree, I'm sure you could find a job in it if you wanted, although I do agree geology offers a lot of job opportunities :smile:
Reply 18
Original post by behindblueglass
Hey, although my subjects are closely related each subject covers different topics, for example in first year Geography you cover Rivers, Coasts, Glacial environments, Energy, Tourism and urban. In Environmental studies, conditions for life on earth, wildlife conservations, life processes in the biosphere, Land resources, practical skills, atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere. So I'm hoping my three subjects will give me a good base for an Earth science degree.

I'm quiet specific I want to do environmental earth science at UEA But if for some reason I don't get in my next 4 are: Keele- geoscience, Kingston- geology, Royal Holloway- Environmental geology, and Southampton-geology. I've got a range of entry grades (AAB, ABB, ABB, BBB, CCC)

It sucks you can't do a biology related degree, I'm sure you could find a job in it if you wanted, although I do agree geology offers a lot of job opportunities :smile:


Hmm I see, thought of UEA too, I live in Ipswich and its just in norwich:P But if I can will try to be in one of the top ones that aren't cam/oxf or in london ahah!

environmental earth science is almost the same as geology isn't it... And what do you want to do after the course, kind of jobs you looking into, and how come you got this interest in geology

I mean I can do biomedical science, is what i enjoy more, I went to an open day in sheffield for that course, and found it awesome, but I am choosing geology ahah!
Reply 19
this from a prospects website:


Range of typical starting salaries for those employed by oil and gas companies: £30,000 - £45,000.

Range of typical salaries at senior level: £35,000 - £120,000, with sometimes up to 50% extra in allowances and bonuses.

New consultant wellsite geologists can earn between £350 and £450 per day. Those with experience can earn between £800 and £1,000 per day.



Goddamn ;P

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