Madrid PAU Geology & Environmental Sciences cheat sheet

Geology and environmental science: Earth systems, materials, time, resources, hazards and evidence

• Lithosphere = crust + uppermost mantle; it is not the same as the crust.

• S-wave shadow beyond 103° and P-wave shadow between 103° and 142° prove a liquid outer core.

• Slab pull is the dominant plate-driving force; ridge push is secondary.

• Calc-alkaline andesite–granodiorite suites mark subduction; tholeiitic MORB marks ridges.

• Weathering breaks rock in place; erosion removes and transports it.

• The Hjulström curve explains why cohesive clay resists erosion but stays suspended.

• Cross-cutting relationships and inclusions date events relative to one another.

• Angular unconformity = folding and erosion before renewed deposition; nonconformity = sediments over basement.

• Mineral definition requires natural, inorganic, solid, crystalline and a definite composition.

• Silicate classes follow tetrahedron arrangement: neso, soro, cyclo, ino, phyllo, tecto.

• A prescribed 6.5°C/km environmental gradient differs from a dry adiabatic parcel rate; most ordinary weather occurs in the troposphere.

• Earth's average albedo is about 30 %; greenhouse gases re-emit long-wave radiation.

• Biodiversity has genetic, species and ecosystem levels; richness plus evenness describe diversity.

• Soil horizons O-A-B-C-R; formation depends on climate, organisms, relief, parent material and time.

• Risk depends jointly on hazard, exposure and vulnerability; define quantities before calculating a product.

• Lorca 2011 and the Betic cordillera illustrate Spanish seismic risk; La Palma 2021 illustrates volcanic risk.

• Convert scale before computing: 1:50,000 means 1 cm = 500 m.

• Gradient (%) = vertical difference / horizontal distance × 100.