ees

The amount of solar energy reflected by a surface is known as ________.

Albedo

Which greenhouse gas has the greatest total importance in retaining radiant energy from the Earth?

CO2 (carbon dioxide)

(Q035) Identify the true statement.

During northern hemisphere summer, the North Pole sees sunlight even at midnight.

How are greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane different from other atmospheric gases like nitrogen and oxygen?

Greenhouse gases are more efficient at absorbing thermal energy and reradiating it than the other atmospheric gases.

Today, continental glaciers are limited to Antarctica and ________.

Greenland

(Q030) Which of the following statements is true?

Groundwater is the largest reservoir of liquid freshwater on the Earth, but having enough accessible groundwater can be a problem.

Which of the following takes place when water condenses?

Heat is released.

(Q005) Which of the following statements about how humans have influenced erosion/deposition is true?

Pavement seals the ground surface and causes runoff to spill into streams rather than into the ground.

Which statement best summarizes the development of the geologic time scale?

Relative ages for sedimentary strata were known before accurate numerical dates for these rocks were measured.

(Q012) Identify the true statement.

Sea-surface temperature varies much less than do seasonal temperatures on land.

The Coriolis effect causes the apparent deflection of currents as a result of

The Coriolis effect causes the apparent deflection of currents as a result of

Why is radiocarbon dating rarely applied in geological work?

The half-life of carbon-14 is so short that it can only be used to date materials that are less than 70,000 years old.

Which of the following statements is true regarding the clasts (labeled 5) inside the granite pluton?

The inclusions are older than the pluton.

Why is the surface salinity in the tropics so much higher than that of the equator or high latitudes?

There is a higher evaporation rate in the tropics.

Glacial ice cores can be used to determine the atmospheric concentration of CO2 during the Earth's history. How do scientists come up with these data?

They break the ice apart, release the air trapped in bubbles, and then measure the gases.

(Q024) Identify the statement that is true about thunderstorms.

They form when a cold front moves into a region of warm, moist air.

(Q025) Which of the following statements about thunderstorms is true?

They form where large pressure gradients exist.

Consult the figure below. During which part of the Earth's history was the oxygen saturation in the atmosphere highest?

Triassic and Jurassic

What is the difference between weather and climate?

Weather represents short-term conditions; climate is the long-term average.

(Q011) Identify the true statement.

Winds develop whenever a pressure gradient exists, and they always blow from high-pressure areas to low-pressure areas.

(Q001) Which of the following statements is true?

Withdrawal of groundwater faster than natural recharge occurs has caused extreme land subsidence in the San Joaquin Valley, California.

As an air mass rises, it generally experiences ________.

a decrease in temperature because of adiabatic cooling

(Q033) Which of the following factors contribute(s) to regional climate?

all of the these contribute to regional climate

Dendrochronology involves dating of historic and geologic events through the study of

annual growth rings in trees.

(Q013) Surface currents

are influenced by the Earth's rotation.

The greenhouse effect is caused by ________.

atmospheric gases, which trap heat radiated from the Earth's surface

Which of the following is ALWAYS the same for different isotopes of a single element?

atomic number

Dissolved ions in groundwater

can precipitate out as carbonate minerals and clog plumbing pipes.

(Q014) Theoretically, "snowball Earth" conditions of the late Proterozoic Eon would have persisted forever, were it not for greenhouse warming caused by

carbon dioxide.

The hole in the ozone layer has been brought about by anthropogenic emissions of ________.

chlorofluorocarbons

Thermohaline circulation carries ________ water from the poles to the equator, where the water becomes ________.

cold; warm

(Q006) Which of the following sedimentary units would have the highest primary porosity?

conglomerate

A(n) ________ in global sea level is ultimately the result of a ________ event.

decrease; global cooling

The density of seawater increases with ________ temperature and ________ salinity.

decreasing; increasing

(Q031) Hurricanes

do damage with their intense winds and rainfall, huge waves, and storm surges.

(Q011) The Great Oxygenation Event, which added abundant oxygen to the atmosphere beginning about 2.4 Ga, was due to the

evolution of photosynthetic organisms in oceans.

(Q014) This image shows the ocean "conveyor belt," which

exhibits thermohaline circulation of the ocean basins.

The figure below shows changes in sea level since the last ice age ended. Based on this, if the Earth were to enter another ice age similar to the last one, what would the sea level most likely do?

fall about 120 m

By increasing the albedo of the Earth, global ice sheets produce conditions that are ________ to their further advance, thus providing an example of ________ feedback.

favorable; positive

(Q021) Clouds

form when water condenses on pre-existing solid or liquid particles.

The very first Earth atmosphere, forming with the Earth itself, was probably dominated by the cosmically abundant gases ________ and ________.

hydrogen; helium

(Q013) Banded iron formations (BIFs) formed

in the Proterozoic deep ocean.

The primary cause of recent global warming is believed to be ________.

increased burning of fossil fuels

(Q018) The Paleozoic Era ended with a mass extinction event that was likely caused by

intense volcanic activity.

(Q034) El Niño

involves eastward-flowing warm surface currents that suppress the upwelling of nutrient-rich cold water along the coast of South America.

(Q013) The air-flow pattern at latitude 60° N

is called the subpolar low, which occurs at the polar-front convergence zone.

(Q006) When air moves from a region of high pressure to a region of low pressure, with no addition or subtraction of heat,

it expands.

(Q021) Groundwater contaminants

like sulfur, iron, calcium carbonate, and methane may come from the rock the water flows through.

How much of a radioactive parent isotope will remain after three half-lives have passed?

one-eighth

(Q017) Jet streams in the northern hemisphere

originate over the polar front (latitude 60° N) and over the horse latitudes (latitude 30° N).

The long-term buildup of oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere is a result of ________.

photosynthesis

Winds form where ________.

pressure gradients exist

(Q020) A high-pressure air mass

produces clear, dry weather.

The small cells of bacteria lack nuclei and are termed

prokaryotic

Ice is a substance with a high albedo, which means it ________.

reflects most of the light that falls on it

(Q028) Which of the following affect(s) the shape and character of coastlines?

sediment supply

The Milankovitch cycles describe the change in ________ because of changes in the ________ of the Earth relative to the Sun.

solar insolation; orientation

According to the graph below, continental crust was mostly done forming by

the early Proterozoic.

The Cambrian Period is a time in the Earth's history when

the first abundant shelly organisms appeared in the fossil record.

(Q001) The Earth's atmosphere

was initially composed of gases pulled from the surrounding solar nebulae, but soon changed to being composed of volcanic gases.

(Q002) Atmospheric oxygen

was originally introduced by the photosynthesis of cyanobacteria.