The Student Room Group

OCR environmental geology June 6th 2016

How did everyone else do in this paper?
i thought it was brutal, luckily i revised every topic that came up right before the exam and geo comes very naturally to me so i dont think its impacted upon my chances of an A(* maybe) but I normally finish these papers with like 5 minutes to spare but this time i only had 10 spare seconds to quickly flick through and check i'd finished every page (not that i could have done anything at that point if i hadn't finished). Also thought they expected way too much for a mark in this paper? like evaluating 3 different types of roadstone for only 3 marks? 2 physical and 2 chemical properties of bituminous coal and anthracite for 2 marks? way too much for how many marks they wanted.
(edited 7 years ago)
Yeah this one I had barely any time left to look back over it as well. What did you put for the rock that is permeable but not porous?
Original post by Vikingninja
Yeah this one I had barely any time left to look back over it as well. What did you put for the rock that is permeable but not porous?


I put limestone because it's often jointed so allows water to run through but is fine grained and (as long as it's not oolitic) so not porous
Original post by savingwonderland
I put limestone because it's often jointed so allows water to run through but is fine grained and (as long as it's not oolitic) so not porous


also was it just me or did you think there was a lot of evaluation in this paper compared to other ones? like discuss the effectiveness ect. (also wtf was up with that question about why hydrogeologists would need to know porosity and permeablility)
Original post by savingwonderland
I put limestone because it's often jointed so allows water to run through but is fine grained and (as long as it's not oolitic) so not porous


I put jointed granite, mostly just followed that it's normally impermeable but joints give it secondary permeability, weird though since secondary porosity would also be set up.

Original post by savingwonderland
also was it just me or did you think there was a lot of evaluation in this paper compared to other ones? like discuss the effectiveness ect. (also wtf was up with that question about why hydrogeologists would need to know porosity and permeablility)

There was a lot of graphical questions in that with analysing diagrams etc. That question I just said about finding whether its to find if the rock is suitable to be used as an aquifer or not.

I really did not like the masses of water resources stuff, absolutely nothing on mining or extraction of oil.
Original post by Vikingninja
I put jointed granite, mostly just followed that it's normally impermeable but joints give it secondary permeability, weird though since secondary porosity would also be set up.


There was a lot of graphical questions in that with analysing diagrams etc. That question I just said about finding whether its to find if the rock is suitable to be used as an aquifer or not.

I really did not like the masses of water resources stuff, absolutely nothing on mining or extraction of oil.


yeah thats what i thought surely if you're increasing permeability you have to be increasing porosity? i knooow, im glad the essay question was on the magmas and ores though cause i know them inside out so i managed to get out two pages of essay with diagrams fast. im worried about how difficult palaeo will be now though..
Original post by savingwonderland
yeah thats what i thought surely if you're increasing permeability you have to be increasing porosity? i knooow, im glad the essay question was on the magmas and ores though cause i know them inside out so i managed to get out two pages of essay with diagrams fast. im worried about how difficult palaeo will be now though..

OMG that essay was glorious like the unit 2 last year. Unit 5 I'm hoping the essay is comparing adaptations of variants of a fossil type and their modes of life or similarities and differences of bivalves and brachiopods.

If the essay is on amphibians or past climates/dating and correlation I'm just gonna be like:
(edited 7 years ago)
I thought the paper was pretty damn hard, and very different compared to papers in the past. Having done most of the other ones, 2012 being the hardest, this one has to top it all for me. Im just wondering how the grade boundaries will be set now.
Reply 9
Original post by Vikingninja
How did everyone else do in this paper?


the paper was a joke

it couldn't have been easier
Original post by Toucanator
I thought the paper was pretty damn hard, and very different compared to papers in the past. Having done most of the other ones, 2012 being the hardest, this one has to top it all for me. Im just wondering how the grade boundaries will be set now.


Was it one of the 2012 papers set at 65% for an A?
Original post by Vikingninja
Was it one of the 2012 papers set at 65% for an A?


Yes, it was the June paper
Reply 12
Original post by Vikingninja
I put jointed granite, mostly just followed that it's normally impermeable but joints give it secondary permeability, weird though since secondary porosity would also be set up.


There was a lot of graphical questions in that with analysing diagrams etc. That question I just said about finding whether its to find if the rock is suitable to be used as an aquifer or not.

I really did not like the masses of water resources stuff, absolutely nothing on mining or extraction of oil.


I put jointed granite too, the question i didn't like was the feasibility of geothermal in the UK, wasn't too sure what to put - ended up putting stuff like only hot dry rocks and aquifers in the Uk not volcanic sources, geothermal gradient is low in the uk so would have to dig deeper to get the temperatures which would cost more etc
Reply 13
for unit 5 I'm banking on a radiometric dating question and a essay on differences in echinoids or evolution of cephalopods but it could also be on climate and links to mass extinctions which would be a hard one imo. Worked out a broad list of topics that haven't come up in a while if anyones interested
Original post by 12lowww
I put jointed granite too, the question i didn't like was the feasibility of geothermal in the UK, wasn't too sure what to put - ended up putting stuff like only hot dry rocks and aquifers in the Uk not volcanic sources, geothermal gradient is low in the uk so would have to dig deeper to get the temperatures which would cost more etc


Yeah I put that the UK lacks volcanic sources but there is a large amount of hot dry rock sources and in some places there are geothermal aquifers. Also put about how it limits the use of geothermal energy since only volcanic sources can be used for electricity production, said that geothermal energy in the UK is limited to heating water and spaced heating.

Original post by Toucanator
Yes, it was the June paper


I love low grade boundaries since I tend to get rather similar marks in my past papers.

Original post by 12lowww
for unit 5 I'm banking on a radiometric dating question and a essay on differences in echinoids or evolution of cephalopods but it could also be on climate and links to mass extinctions which would be a hard one imo. Worked out a broad list of topics that haven't come up in a while if anyones interested


I'm hoping on an essay question on adaptations of different bivalves or the changes of graptolites/cephalopods in evolution. I really don't want amphibians or correlation/relative dating. I like these in short questions but not essays.
Can someone tell me what they essay questions and some of the major topics?

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