WJEC A-Level Geology 2024

OP

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https://www.whitmorehigh.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/G1-Rock-forming-processes-booklet.pdf
https://www.studocu.com/en-gb/course/exeter-college-exeter/a-level-geology/6172811
Mass movement hazards - revision notes.pdf

Original post by Matildaidk1234

What did you think of the exam ??

Honestly not too bad, I definitely got that china clay one wrong though. I know how it forms but I genuinely blanked. Other than that it was fine I think, the map was quite good though.

What did you think of it? Do you have any predictions for the other papers?

Reply 4

Matildaidk1234

5

Original post by georgielouise15

Honestly not too bad, I definitely got that china clay one wrong though. I know how it forms but I genuinely blanked. Other than that it was fine I think, the map was quite good though.
What did you think of it? Do you have any predictions for the other papers?

I didn’t even know what to put for that tbh I’m not very good at geology but I didn’t mind the long marked questions (QERs) Not really sure about predictions I honestly don’t even know what’s on paper 2 and only some of paper 3 I’ve asked my teacher loads but he just confused me 😭😭

Reply 5

katr1nasands

I've not seen a map quite like that before!

Reply 6

Harrison sands

1

Original post by georgielouise15

Is anyone else doing this exam board, how are we feeling about paper one? Any predictions?
I'll send my resources on here :smile:

Terrible exam honestly, how do u draw a plunging fold cross section with faults running through it, what was the rock specimen with garnet, was the coal the highest grade? What do you investigate for rock unit D to see its depostional environment, why were the olivine crystals in the ground mass not zoned, what angle was F2 dipping.

Reply 7

Harrison sands

1

Honestly terrible wxam ho do u draw a cross section of plunging faults, what was the angle of dip of F2, what was the rock with garnet in called, how do u investigate rock unit D (cccsss I assumed, were they dinosaur footprints?) why were the olivine crystals in the groundmass not zoned, how do you answer the question of magnetism at ridges, honestly a train wreck

Reply 8

Matildaidk1234

5

Original post by Harrison sands

Honestly terrible wxam ho do u draw a cross section of plunging faults, what was the angle of dip of F2, what was the rock with garnet in called, how do u investigate rock unit D (cccsss I assumed, were they dinosaur footprints?) why were the olivine crystals in the groundmass not zoned, how do you answer the question of magnetism at ridges, honestly a train wreck

This is real

Reply 9

Original post by Harrison sands

Terrible exam honestly, how do u draw a plunging fold cross section with faults running through it, what was the rock specimen with garnet, was the coal the highest grade? What do you investigate for rock unit D to see its depostional environment, why were the olivine crystals in the ground mass not zoned, what angle was F2 dipping.

To draw a plunging fold the angle of dip of beds will be slightly less than the true dip shown therefore if dipping at 50 degrees you'd draw on a bed that was dipping less than that amount by any amount consistently e.g. 40 degrees.

The rock specimen was either schist or gneiss as garnet forms under pressure and the foliation and fine crystals indicates that the rock is schist.

Hahah I loved that coal... I said it was anthracite the highest grade of coal because it was shiny and dark coloured, as well as iridescent a little bit but not too noticeably.

For rock unit D you can do many things to determine its depositional environment:

Determine rock type: Is it sedimentary, igneous? Therefore look for crystals or sediments.

Determine grain size with a card and hand lens: This tells you about the energy of the environment (imagine a river tumbling large pebbles but also small stones - would result in a deposit of sediment that has a mixture of grain sizes).

Determine grain shape and degree of sorting - indicates the duration of the transport of environment and through that you can determine whether it was deposited from a river, beach, alluvial fan, turbidity current, etc.

Mineralogy tells you the source the rock may have come from but mainly the maturity of the rock. E.g. more quartz equals more mature sediment.

Sedimentary structures could have also indicated the environment. For example the footprints on top of bed D indicated that the rock could have been a lake bed where dinosaurs and other animals would have come to as a watering hole and made footprints in the fine mud beneath their feet.

The olivine crystals in the groundmass were not zoned because the rock formed in two stages of cooling, the first one where a zoned crystal was produced (it was zoned because there was not enough magnesium to replace the iron in that specific area of the magma where the crystal was being formed), and the groundmass (second stage of cooling) must have had plenty of magnesium to convert the fayalite (Fe-rich olivine) to forsterite (Mg-rich olivine) and so the crystals were all uniform and the same.

F2 was a strike-slip fault/ tear fault with this model:

As you can see the angle of dip measured from the horizontal would be 90 degrees because the line of weakness (planar surface) is at 90 degrees to the ground surface.

Hope these answers make sense :smile:

Feel free to ask more questions if you don't understand it will likely help with Paper 2 and 3 content.

Reply 10

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https://www.whitmorehigh.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/G1-Rock-forming-processes-booklet.pdf
https://www.studocu.com/en-gb/course/exeter-college-exeter/a-level-geology/6172811
Mass movement hazards - revision notes.pdf

Original post by georgielouise15

Is anyone else doing this exam board, how are we feeling about paper one? Any predictions?
I'll send my resources on here :smile:

Honestly, it was a great exam. It was so much fun using the specimens and doing the cross-section. I think the specimens were gypsum, anthracite, granite and a bivalve shell. I had a blast in there and am hoping to have smashed that exam! :smile:

Reply 11

cupboardfrog

7

Everything was fine except the cross section map. Literally had no idea made most of it up so thats 14 marks gone but oh well.

Reply 12

cupboardfrog

7

Original post by Ayden68

Honestly, it was a great exam. It was so much fun using the specimens and doing the cross-section. I think the specimens were gypsum, anthracite, granite and a bivalve shell. I had a blast in there and am hoping to have smashed that exam! :smile:

I also got this for the specimens, they were rlly nice

Reply 13

bazzabeebenson

ops on paper 2 guys? Last question violated me but everything else was pretty good, 6 markers were a blessing again

Reply 14

Good paper. Not as hard as I’d thought it would be. Did you guys put trace fossil for that first question?

Reply 15

Original post by Ayden68

Good paper. Not as hard as I’d thought it would be. Did you guys put trace fossil for that first question?

Also that second to last question was horrendous. But I just said that the eastward forces must’ve been greater than the northward ones due to the velocity comparison.

Reply 16

Eiger_Swinscow

1

Thought paper 1 was really good and the cross section wasn’t that bad but paper 2 was ok just had no time and some really weirdly worded questions tbh

Reply 17

OP

Original post by Ayden68

Honestly, it was a great exam. It was so much fun using the specimens and doing the cross-section. I think the specimens were gypsum, anthracite, granite and a bivalve shell. I had a blast in there and am hoping to have smashed that exam! :smile:

Honestly I feel it went the same way aswell, do you know how to answer the china clay question? I know it came up in 2020 but I thought it woudnt come up again so diddnt go over it :frown:

Reply 18

OP

Original post by Ayden68

Also that second to last question was horrendous. But I just said that the eastward forces must’ve been greater than the northward ones due to the velocity comparison.

Same im hoping that was enough because i definatelly got that trig question wrong, no one in my class got the same answer

Reply 19

OP