Test 1 study questions

a. Time Scale

The period of time that it takes for a process to occur is referred to as a _________ _________ a. Time Scale b..Technosphere c. Ecosphere d. Space Scale

formation of soils and sedimentary rocks.

The processes of weathering and erosion most directly affect ___________________.

b. cycle

A _______ is a sequence of events that continuously re-occurs such that matter is transported from one portion to another then returned. a. oscillation b. cycle c. variance d. change

the crust and uppermost mantle.

A tectonic plate consists of _______________.

Precambrian

About 88 percent of geologic time is represented by the time span called the _________________.

heated

Air becomes less dense and rises when _______________.

d. all of these answers are true

Airborne particles from dust storms connect ____ with _____ (choose the best answer) a. North Africa with Bermuda b. deserts in China with Hawaii c. viruses, bacteria, fungi and toxic metals with a way to cross long distances eventually infecting humans in some cases. d. all of these answers are true

7

An atom's mass number is 13 and its atomic number is 6. How many neutrons are in its nucleus?

the East African Rift Valley.

An example of a divergent plate boundary on continental lithosphere would be ___________.

(19 g Cl-/35 g NaCl ) x 100 = 54%

Average seawater is primarily a sodium chloride solution. Seawater contains about 35 grams of salt per kilogram of seawater, of which about 19 grams are chloride ion (Cl-). What is the percent by weight of chloride in seawater salt?

a. sustainability

Development to meet the needs of current generations without compromising those of the future is one way to define the term, _____ a. sustainability b. growth c. technosphere d. progress

weathering.

Dissolved constituents and solid particles are the two major products of _____________.

SSTs are higher, the thermocline is deeper and the rainfall is higher

During an El Nino year, how do sea-surface temperatures (SSTs), the depth of the thrmocline and rainfall differ from normal conditions over the eastern Pacific near Peru?

trade winds are generally stronger than during a normal year.

During an extreme La Nina year, how do the strength of the trade winds change from normal conditions?

radiation

Earth receives energy from the sun through what method of heat transfer?

high pressure; low pressure

Earth's surface winds are caused by air moving from a region of ______ to a region of ________.

a. tropical Pacific

El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a phenomena that exhibits variability and effects weather patterns in the ______ _____ far reaching effects. a. tropical Pacific b. North Atlantic c. Indian Ocean d. Sargasso Sea

warm tropical water, low

Energy for hurricane formations comes from _____________ in ___ latitudes. Rising air creates centers of low pressure.

d. 2-3%

From your reading of Waggoner and Audubel, 2002, what range of annual progress in consumption and technology over many decades and sectors provides a benchmark a. 20-30% b. 75-80% c. 0.2-0.3% d. 2-3%

a. a renovation of the IPAT function to measure sustainability

From your reading of Waggoner and Audubel, 2002, what was the basis of this research? a. a renovation of the IPAT function to measure sustainability b. a discourse on the impacts of peak oil c. a campaign to save the whales d. a treatise on the ability of technology to solve the world's population problems

electromagnetic radiation.

Gamma rays, X-rays, visible light and radio waves are all types of _____________.

If 1 = 1 then 400.5 = 400.5

Given that 1 mg L-1 is equal to 1 PPM (parts per million) when measuring the concentrations of something dissolved in seawater, what would be the concentration in PPM of dissolved (K+) in seawater if 400.5 mg of K+ were dissolved in one liter of seawater?

b. false

Growth and development and the same thing and are interchangeable terms. a. true b. false

global winds

Heat and moisture are distributed around Earth by _____________.

jetstreams

High velocity "rivers" of air are called ____________.

Midocean ridges allow upwelling and intrusion of magma into the oceanic crust caused by convective motions in the mantle.

How does Earth's crust spread?

through "upwelling".

How does deep water return to the surface?

divergent and counter-clockwise

How does surface air flow in a middle-latitude cyclone in the Northern Hemisphere?

generally gets older

How would you expect the residence time of the deep water to change from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean?

low; tropical

Hurricanes derive their energy from _______ pressure zones in the ______ latitudes.

landward from the trench.

If a deep ocean trench is located adjacent to a continent, active volcanoes would be located ___________.

3 cm/yr

If the reversal in magnetic anomaly patterns of the seafloor has an upper age limit of about 3.3 million years and the basaltic lava representing this time is found 100 km from the present ridge axis, what has been the average spreading rate (in cm/yr) of this portion of the oceanic crust?

decreases

In Igneous Rocks, as the rate of cooling increases, the size of the crystals that form _______________.

where an arm of seawater has been isolated from the open ocean and in a climatic region where evaporation exceeds precipitation.

In what kind of environmental setting would you expect to find marine evaporite deposits forming?

provide strong evidence for seafloor spreading.

Magnetic reversals ___________.

b. ocean acidification

Metastable systems may change dramatically after a slight disturbance. Example(s) of these "tipping points" include: a. planetary orbits b. ocean acidification c. sea floor spreading d. none of these answers are correct

d. technosphere and ecosphere

Most spheres of the Earth work together with the exceptions of the ____ and the ____ which are often in conflict with one another. a. hydrosphere and cryosphere b. lithosphere and atmosphere c. hydrosphere and biosphere d. technosphere and ecosphere

divergent boundaries.

New ocean crust is formed at _____________.

The energy is reabsorbed, keeping Earth warm

Of the 390 W/m^2 of long-wave radiation emitted by Earth's surface, 324 W/m^2 are absorbed by water vapor, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and re-radiated back to Earth. What happens to this energy, and what effect does it have on Earth?

fossils of the same organism have been found on different continents.

One kind of evidence that supports Wegener's hypothesis is that ________________.

cool, moist temperate climates

Podzols are a soil group characterized by bleached out layer, defies cultivation are principally a product of which climate?

1.08 E +12 km3

The Earth has a mass of 5.98 x 1027 g and an average density of 5.53 g/cm3. What is the volume of the Earth in cubic kilometers? Express your answer in scientific notation to two decimal places all run together with your answer unit. It's ok if the superscript function doesn't work. Hint: Start with the equation for Density (D=m/v) and rearrange it to solve for volume. Then plug in the numbers above and solve.

convergent continental-continental boundary

The Himalayas in South Asia are an example of what type of plate boundary?

c. cryosphere

The ___ is the sphere of Earth which includes the portion of the hydrosphere such as glaciers, ice sheets and snow. a. technospere b. ecosphere c. cryosphere d. atmosphere

b. ecosphere

The ______ is the sphere of Earth, which includes the biosphere and its interactions with the physical systems. a. technospere b. ecosphere c. cryosphere d. atmosphere

3800 m / 4 m yr-1 would take 950 years.

The average depth of the ocean is 3.8 km and the average upwelling rate of deep water into the surface open ocean and into coastal environments is 4 m/year. About how long would it take to upwell the vertical distance to the average ocean depth? (This is an over-simplified problem, just to get students to think about the scale of the ocean in terms of time.)

eon, era, period, epoch

The correct order of the divisions of the geological time scale from largest to shortest is _____________.

ozone

The form of oxygen that combines three oxygen atoms into each molecule is called ____.

tropics

The greatest number of thunderstorms occur in the __________.

Intertropical Convergence Zone. "ITCZ"

The low pressure area near the equator is known as the _________________.

lithosphere, asthenosphere, mesosphere

The names of the zones of the dynamic subdivisions of the Earth's interior from the outside inward are _______________.

physical characteristics, chemical composition

the Dynamic subdivisions are based on ________________ , rather than __________ .

c. hydrosphere

The sphere of Earth which includes all of the water on the planet is called the _________ a, ecosphere b. atmosphere c. hydrosphere d. lithosphere

d. technosphere

The sphere of Earth which includes human activities such as agriculture, manufacturing and industrial sectors is know as the _______________ a. ecosphere b. cryosphere c. lithosphere d. technosphere

d. scientific method

The steps of the holistic approach used to evaluate our Earth's systems (Observation, Hypothesis, Experimentation, Analysis of Results) is part of the __________ a. holistic approach b. theorizing c. scientific skepticism d. scientific method

core, mantle, crust

The subdivision of the Earth's interior based on chemical composition include the following zones, starting with the innermost outward.

c. variability

The term, _____________ , implies shifts about some mean point. a. ENSO b. change c. variability d. feedbacks

an unequal distribution of heat.

The thermal convection that drives plate motion is cause by _______.

d. I=PAT

The total impact on the environment of humans as a geologic force can be expressed as a functional equation. Which of the following expresses that equation? a. f=ma b. e=mc^2 c. p^2=a^2 d. I=PAT

d. meteorology, geology and astronomy

The traditional (old) way to study Earth Science separated the subject into discrete disciplines such as _______. a. meteorology b. geology c. astronomy d. meteorology, geology and astronomy

S waves do not pass through the core.

What is the main evidence for the conclusion that part of Earth's core is molten?

nitrogen

What is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere?

13,000 km^3/496,000 km^3=0.026 years

Total precipitation over Earth's surface is 496,000 km3/yr. The amount of water vapor in the atmosphere is 13,000 km3. If there were no replenishment of water vapor in the atmosphere, how long would it take to remove all the water from the atmosphere? (Leave your answer in years for the unit)

Four half lives would equal 6.25% of the original isotope or 0.0625 as a numerical fraction.

Uranium-235 has a half-life of 0.705 billion years. What is the fraction of U-235 remaining after four half-lives? (Hint: percentage divided by 100 gives the numerical "fraction". Regardless of the particular isotope's half-life time, the percentages break down as 50% per half life. )

c. carbon dioxide

Use of fossil fuels and deforestation both lead to a buildup of _______ in the atmosphere. a. chlorofluorocarbons b.nitrogen c. carbon dioxide d. water vapor

Polymorphs are minerals with the same chemical composition but different crystalline structures.

What are polymorphs?

N2, O2, Ar and CO2

What are the four major gases in the atmosphere?

Cl-, Na+, SO42- and Mg2+

What are the four most abundant ions in seawater?

igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic

What are the major classes of rocks?

the sun and Earth's interior.

What are the two sources of energy for the Earth system?

The formation of ice sheets least to the enrichment of 18O in surface ocean water and a higher δ18O of seawater.

What effect does the formation of great continental ice sheets at high latitude have on the δ18O of surface ocean water?

oxygen

What element is the most abundant in the Earth's crust by weight?

law of superposition

What fundamental concept states that in a horizontal sequence of conformable sedimentary strata, each higher bed is younger than the bed below it?

d. two of these are correct

What is chapter 1 of our textbook about? (choose the best answer) a. natural global environmental change b. human-induced global environmental change c. none of these are correct d. two of these are correct

4.5 billion years

What is the age of the Earth accepted by most scientists today?

Conveyor belt circulation pattern

What is the name of the pattern described below? Cold, dense waters sink in the North Atlantic east of Greenland in the Norwegian Sea. These waters flow south at depth in the ocean and on reaching the southern ocean flow east between South Africa and antarctica. They enter the Indian Ocean and continue east into the Pacific Basin. They flow north in the Pacific and rise toward the surface in the northeast Pacific Ocean. After rising, they begin their return trip as near-surface currents flowing south in the Pacific through the Indonesian Archipelago into the Indian Ocean, and back into the Atlantic. In the North Atlantic, the waters transport heat to high latitudes and then descend, starting their journey over again

As wavelengths decrease the energy levels increase.

What is the relationship between the wavelengths and energy level in the electromagnetic spectrum?

achovies die off

What might be an ecological response involving the biota to an El Nino event in the eastern Pacific near Peru?

diamond

What mineral is known as the hardest substance in nature?

10%

What percentage of land area is covered by glacial ice today?

The North Atlantic Ocean and the ocean around Antarctica have the most icebergs.

What places in the world do most icebergs form?

They move faster.

When energy is transferred to air, what happens to the particles of air?

Lithosphere

Where would one locate the following geologic processes: weathering, erosion, transportation, deposition, burial, uplift, metamorphism, orogenesis (mountain building), volcanism, and seafloor spreading?

Nitrogen does not control temperature.

Which of the following is NOT a temperature control?

They are produced solely by human activities.

Which of the following is NOT true of greenhouse gases?

only iron satisfies properties of density and earth quake wave velocity that have been previously deduced for the core.

Which of the following provides evidence for an Earth core of metallic iron?

correlation

Which of the following refers to the investigative process by which geologists identify and match sedimentary strata and other rocks of the same ages in different areas?

the oceans

Which reservoir stores the largest amount of CO2?

There is a greater percentage of water surface in the Southern Hemisphere.

Why are annual temperature ranges in the Southern Hemisphere generally smaller than those in the Northern Hemisphere?

Warm air rises near the equator creating a constant area of low pressure there, while cold air decends and accumulates at the polar regions

Why are there high-pressure caps at each pole and a low-pressure belt in the equatorial region?

The Earth is already rotating at it's fastest rate and therefore Coriolis Effect is not present at the equator.

Why are there no hurricanes at the equator?

The upward increase of temperatures in the stratosphere is mainly due to the absorption of solar energy by ozone and the release of heat in the photochemical reaction (O3 --> O2 + heat).

Why do temperatures in the stratosphere increase upward?

density of oceanic crust is greater than continental crust

Why do the continents "float high" relative to the ocean basins?

The relatively low density and thickness of continental crust prevents it from being subducted

Why is it difficult to subduct the continental crust of Earth?

The troposphere is heated from the ground surface where solar radiation that was absorbed re-radiates UV (heat) and hot air rises which is "unstable" meteorologically speaking.

Why is it said that the troposphere is unstable?

If there were no region of destruction of lithospheric plates, Earth would expand. There is no firm evidence for an expanding Earth.

Why must plates be destroyed at subduction zones?

Foliation

___________ is a strong, parallel alignment of different mineral bands in a metamorphic rock.