Environmental Science Ch. 10-14 (edited)
Which of the following pollutants has the longest residence time? Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) CO NO2 NO SO2
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
Mercury is a heavy metal that occurs naturally in minerals and rocks. Release of mercury from natural sources has been relatively constant over time. However, anthropogenic release of mercury has increased significantly in recent years primarily due to increased fossil fuel mining and combustion. Mercury that is released into the air eventually ends up in soils or surface water. Once in water, microbes convert mercury into methyl mercury, which is absorbed quickly and concentrated in the tissues of predatory fish such as shark and swordfish. Large fish typically concentrate more mercury than small fish. People who eat fish with high methyl mercury concentrations can show tremors, deafness, muscle dysfunction, and attention deficits. Pregnant women and children are especially sensitive to methyl mercury's toxic effects. Learning disabilities and developmental delays are common in children who have been exposed to significant levels of methyl mercury. Which U.S. agency is primarily responsible for addressing issues regarding mercury pollution?
EPA
The exceptionally strong warming of the eastern Pacific is referred to as ________.
El Niño
All of the following statements are true of allergens EXCEPT: Allergens trigger an immune response when one is not necessary. Everyone is affected by an allergen at a high enough dose. Asthma can be triggered by allergies. Synthetic chemicals may trigger allergic reactions. A person's response to an allergen does not necessarily correlate with the degree of exposure.
Everyone is affected by an allergen at a high enough dose.
Why are many contaminants found at higher concentrations in polar bears and people living in Greenland than they are in bears and people living in temperate and tropical areas?
Global atmospheric circulation carries airborne toxins toward the poles, where their deposition exceeds evaporation.
Cigarette smoke and radon are two of the most common __________ hazards.
Indoor
The Toxic Substances Control Act regulates ________.
Industrial chemicals
Which of the following is an adaptation response to climate change? a Pacific island nation building higher seawalls replacing incandescent light bulbs with LED bulbs increasing fuel efficiency of new automobiles building a nuclear power plant to replace an outdated coal-burning power plant replanting a tropical rainforest
a Pacific island nation building higher seawalls
Oceans have absorbed approximately one-third of the excess carbon dioxide that humans have added to Earth's atmosphere so far. This has slowed the progression of global climate change, but it has led to ________.
a decrease in the pH (ocean acidification)
If you want to avoid buying a "blood diamond," you should avoid purchasing ________.
a diamond from Sierra Leone
All of the following are examples of point sources of pollution except ________. a large farm a car repair shop dumping waste oil into the storm drain an overturned tanker truck that spills into a creek a factory discharging wastes into a lake through a large outlet a sewer pipe
a large farm
Which of the following areas would experience the most devastation after an earthquake? a city that has invested in strengthening structural components in older buildings a city built with strict codes in place to allow for flexible buildings a marsh-like environment that was filled with landfill in order to build a city a city built on a thick bed of stone
a marsh-like environment that was filled with landfill in order to build a city
Which of the following best describes a floodplain? an area that is incidentally flooded when farming or mining operations change the course of rivers a region of land that is periodically flooded when a river overflows a region of land that has been deliberately, permanently flooded due to human disturbance, such as in dam building an area where flood irrigation of crops is used, such as a rice paddy an area that is periodically flooded because humans have altered the landscape
a region of land that is periodically flooded when a river overflows
A septic system is ________.
a rural method of processing wastewater
The rapid melting of Greenland's ice cap could disrupt the NADW formation by ________.
adding huge amounts of less-dense fresh water to the surface of the system
Which of these leads to uncertainty in our ability to predict how long a mineral resource will last? changing rates of mineral recycling development of new extraction technologies changes in product technologies that use minerals all of the above
all of the above
What is the most cost-effective solution for groundwater depletion and land-level subsidence?
allowing no more water to be withdrawn from an aquifer than is naturally recharged
Bisphenol A is ________.
an estrogen mimic used in plastic manufacturing
In 2010, geologists working for the U.S. military operations in Afghanistan discovered a literal treasure trove of mineral deposits with a preliminary estimated value at nearly U.S. $1 trillion. So far, no proposals have been made for extracting these resources, but already parallels have been drawn to the many dimensions of human rights issues that have plagued coltan production in the Congo, oil drilling in Nigeria, and the "blood diamonds" of Sierra Leone. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) manages a program called the Mining Investment and Development for Afghanistan Sustainability (MIDAS) project, whose goal is to assist the Afghan government in responsibly developing the nation's mining industry. You have been appointed as a chief advisor for the MIDAS project. As far as costs of restoration and reclamation of mining sites, you should strongly recommend that ________.
any corporation wishing to invest should post a bond for reclamation and hire Afghans to do the work
Mercury is a heavy metal that occurs naturally in minerals and rocks. Release of mercury from natural sources has been relatively constant over time. However, anthropogenic release of mercury has increased significantly in recent years primarily due to increased fossil fuel mining and combustion. Mercury that is released into the air eventually ends up in soils or surface water. Once in water, microbes convert mercury into methyl mercury, which is absorbed quickly and concentrated in the tissues of predatory fish such as shark and swordfish. Large fish typically concentrate more mercury than small fish. People who eat fish with high methyl mercury concentrations can show tremors, deafness, muscle dysfunction, and attention deficits. Pregnant women and children are especially sensitive to methyl mercury's toxic effects. Learning disabilities and developmental delays are common in children who have been exposed to significant levels of methyl mercury. As a result of ________, concentrations of methyl mercury are higher in large fish relative to concentrations in smaller fish.
biomagnification
Carbon monoxide ________.
blocks oxygen transport in human blood
Recent research that analyzed the content of commercial bottled water indicates that ________.
bottled water is no safer or purer than most samples of tap water
All of the following are anthropogenic factors contributing to climate change EXCEPT: raising livestock. deforestation. the combustion of fossil fuels. breathing. growing rice.
breathing
Upwelling ________.
brings benthic nutrients to the ocean surface promoting high primary productivity
The most obvious cause of industrial smog is ________.
burning fossil fuels
________ are substances that cause cancer.
carcinogens
The fish in the lake at the local park are dying, and a professor from the local college comes to investigate. First, she measures the levels of dissolved oxygen in order to check for ________.
hypoxia
Volcanoes are formed ________.
in subduction zones and rift valleys
A(n) ________ is a device designed to remove airborne pollutants from smokestack emissions.
scrubber
Coal mining involves which two mining techniques?
strip mining and subsurface mining
The primary causes of acid deposition are ________.
sulfur and nitrogen oxides
Earth's mantle ________.
surrounds the core as a thick, elastic rock formation
Zooxanthellae are ________.
symbiotic algae that provide energy to many species of corals
Coltan ore contains ________.
tantalum
In the troposphere ________.
temperature decreases nearly linearly with altitude
Occasionally, a layer of cool air forms under a layer of warmer air in the troposphere. This change from the normal temperature profile in the troposphere is called a ________.
temperature or thermal inversion
Which piece of legislation set strict standards for air quality and pollution control in the United States?
the Clean Air Act
A watershed is ________.
the area of land that drains into a river or lake
Tsunamis are caused by ________.
the displacement of sea water by volcanoes, earthquakes or coastal landslides
Minerals are components of ________.
the lithosphere
What can trap pollutants at ground level and cause dangerous smog?
thermal inversions
Earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides can displace large volumes of water in the ocean and trigger what natural disaster?
tsunamis
Most of Earth's liquid fresh water is found ________.
underground
"Biosolids" produced at a wastewater treatment plant are often ________.
used as crop fertilizer
Air near Earth's surface tends to be ________.
warmer and wetter; then it rises, expanding and cooling
Which of the following will contribute to water conservation? using aerial sprays for crop irrigation planting nonnative wetland plants for landscaping watering lawns at night and landscaping with native plants watering lawns during peak sunlight hours, when plants need water most washing dishes by hand
watering lawns at night and landscaping with native plants
The huge dust storms that took place in the United States in the 1930s ________.
were the result of poor farming techniques
Many present-day fisheries managers ________.
wish to set aside areas of ocean where systems can function without human interference
Carbon-based fuels in the lithosphere ________.
have been slowly sequestered over many millions of years
Smelting of iron ore involves ________.
heating beyond iron's melting point and combining the material with carbon
Infectious disease accounts for ________% of deaths globally.
17
It takes ________ energy to produce aluminum from ore than to obtain it from recycled sources.
20 times more
Recycled tantalum accounts for approximately ________ of its availability for use in manufacturing.
20-25%
Roughly ________% of U.S. citizens live in coastal counties and are thus vulnerable to rises in sea level.
50
Over ________% of the fuel you pump into your automobile does something other than move your vehicle down the road.
85
Heavy landscape damage and water pollution have occurred in ________ as a result of ________.
Appalachia; mountaintop removal mining for coal
Where do large-scale strike-slip faults, which cut through the entire lithosphere, occur?
At transform plate boundaries
Mercury is a heavy metal that occurs naturally in minerals and rocks. Release of mercury from natural sources has been relatively constant over time. However, anthropogenic release of mercury has increased significantly in recent years primarily due to increased fossil fuel mining and combustion. Mercury that is released into the air eventually ends up in soils or surface water. Once in water, microbes convert mercury into methyl mercury, which is absorbed quickly and concentrated in the tissues of predatory fish such as shark and swordfish. Large fish typically concentrate more mercury than small fish. People who eat fish with high methyl mercury concentrations can show tremors, deafness, muscle dysfunction, and attention deficits. Pregnant women and children are especially sensitive to methyl mercury's toxic effects. Learning disabilities and developmental delays are common in children who have been exposed to significant levels of methyl mercury. Mercury is to methylmercury as DDT is to ________.
DDE
The "dirty dozen" POPs targeted by the Stockholm Convention include ________.
PCBs
Thousands of young families moved "over the hills" and into the San Fernando Valley, a suburb of Los Angeles, after World War II. New neighborhoods were springing up, replacing orange groves and open space; roads and schools quickly sprang into existence, trying to keep pace with the rapid population growth. Ringed by beautiful mountains, the entire Los Angeles basin looked like a new, green, sun-filled paradise to the families seeking a fresh start. In the early 1950s, one of the common family chores in Los Angeles was to carry the trash out to the stone incinerator behind the garage where each family burned all of their dry trash. "Wet" garbage was collected and taken to a city dump, where it was burned by the city. Everyone throughout the city either used an incinerator or burned things in an open trash pile; there were over 400,000 backyard trash incinerators. On warm afternoons, eyes would sometimes sting and burn. People would stop, close their eyes, and let the cleansing tears refresh irritated eyes. They accepted this as a normal part of life in sunny California. One key to the puzzle of Los Angeles's smog is the fact that ________.
Los Angeles and its suburbs are all ringed by mountains
Managing environmental risks requires assessing the relative danger or risks and planning appropriately. As mortal creatures, we assess risks to our health and well-being on a regular basis. For example, of the following potential causes of human death (data from 2012), which posed the greatest danger to human life?
Motor vehicle accident
Within a political context, what does risk management influence with regards to environmental health and toxicology?
Policy
What is the spatial relationship between the distributions of water and people?
Populations and water resources too often have an inverse relationship (lots of people where there is little water).
________ is a naturally occurring substance that seeps up from the ground and is potentially toxic to people.
Radon gas
Which of the following statements about chronic versus acute exposure is true? Safe levels for chronic exposure to a toxicant are lower than safe levels for acute exposure. Acute exposure to a toxicant is more difficult to study than chronic exposure. A person has experienced acute exposure if the exposure was at high levels for a long period of time. Chronic levels of a toxicant are assessed for individuals with chronic conditions such as arthritis. A person getting an x-ray is experiencing chronic exposure to radiation, whereas the radiologist is trying to minimize levels of acute exposure.
Safe levels for chronic exposure to a toxicant are lower than safe levels for acute exposure.
________ are substances that cause birth defects.
Teratogens
________ are examples of naturally occurring biological hazards.
Viruses and Salmonella
We build dams to ________.
generate electricity, prevent flooding, and provide irrigation and drinking water
The area that underlies the shallow water bordering continents is called the ________.
continental shelf
At ________ plate boundaries, tectonic plates are pushed away from each other when magma rises to the surface, creating new crust.
divergent
A risk manager would do which of the following? establish rules restricting the use of a new herbicide determine the level of exposure of farm workers to a new herbicide assess the LD50 level of a new herbicide set the purchase price of a new herbicide determine the neurological effects of a new herbicide
establish rules restricting the use of a new herbicide
In 1970, ________ was/were the source of most of the airborne lead emissions in the United States.
gasoline
The formation of sinkholes has become a fairly common phenomenon in the state of Florida. Most sinkholes are small, but some sinkholes have led to catastrophic property damage and loss of life. One September day in 1999, folks began to notice that Lake Jackson in the panhandle region was shrinking. Within a few days, it was almost gone. A sinkhole had opened beneath the lake and drained it, along with all of the fish and alligators. Another sinkhole formed just 10 miles from Walt Disney World in August 2013, swallowing a 48-unit villa at Summer Bay Resort. As aquifers lose water, their substrates can become weaker and less capable of supporting overlying strata and any human structures built upon them. In such cases, the land surface above may subside. Sometimes subsidence can occur locally and suddenly, in the form of sinkholes, areas where the ground gives way with little warning. Once the ground subsides, soil becomes compacted, losing the porosity that enabled it to hold water. Recharging a depleted aquifer may therefore become more difficult. One reasonable way to prevent sinkholes might be to ________.
increase groundwater recharge by constructing artificial wetlands that use treated municipal wastewater
All else being equal, increased recycling will ________.
increase the lifetime of economically recoverable metals
One of the problems that occur as a consequence of CFC pollution is ________.
increased rates of skin cancer in humans
The formation of sinkholes has become a fairly common phenomenon in the state of Florida. Most sinkholes are small, but some sinkholes have led to catastrophic property damage and loss of life. One September day in 1999, folks began to notice that Lake Jackson in the panhandle region was shrinking. Within a few days, it was almost gone. A sinkhole had opened beneath the lake and drained it, along with all of the fish and alligators. Another sinkhole formed just 10 miles from Walt Disney World in August 2013, swallowing a 48-unit villa at Summer Bay Resort. As aquifers lose water, their substrates can become weaker and less capable of supporting overlying strata and any human structures built upon them. In such cases, the land surface above may subside. Sometimes subsidence can occur locally and suddenly, in the form of sinkholes, areas where the ground gives way with little warning. Once the ground subsides, soil becomes compacted, losing the porosity that enabled it to hold water. Recharging a depleted aquifer may therefore become more difficult. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the number of human-induced sinkholes has doubled since 1930. Insurance claims increased 1200% from 1987 to 1991, costing nearly $100 million. A major reason for this is ________.
increased water consumption through development and urbanization
In the stratosphere, ________.
increases of temperature and ozone levels are strongly correlated
Humans use more fresh water for ________ than for any other purpose.
irrigating crops
The Coriolis effect ________.
is caused by Earth's rotation
Recent research indicates that the variation in solar output ________.
is less than any of the anthropogenic factors affecting climate change
Tropospheric ozone ________.
is produced through the interaction of heat and UV light, with nitrogen oxides and carbon-containing compounds
The region of a lake where plants are able to attach to the bottom and still reach above the surface is known as the __________.
littoral zone
Longer projected lifetimes for scarce minerals can be achieved with all of the following, EXCEPT: lowering prices for products using these minerals. finding more available substitutes for these minerals. exploring for new mineral reserves. researching more efficient extraction techniques. recycling.
lowering prices for products using these minerals.
Studies of endocrine disruptors have shown that they are closely associated with all of the following EXCEPT: gonadal abnormalities. lung cancer. thyroid hormone abnormalities. male feminization. erectile dysfunction.
lung cancer
What is the downslope movement of soil and rock due to gravity?
mass wasting
If a mineral is opaque, lustrous, malleable, and can conduct heat and electricity, it is a(n) ________.
metal
Of the following greenhouse gases, ________ concentrations have increased by the greatest percentage since 1750.
methane
The U.S. Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 requires ________.
mining companies to post bonds to cover restoration of mined areas before permits are granted
If all of the stratospheric ozone suddenly disappeared, ________.
most life on Earth would cease to exist because of the amount of UV radiation penetrating the atmosphere
Which of the following statements is true? Most of Earth's fresh water is frozen. Most of Earth's fresh water would require desalination in order to make it suitable for consumption. Soil and atmospheric moisture comprise the majority of Earth's surface fresh water. Most of Earth's fresh water is found within 100 miles of densely populated areas. The majority of Earth's fresh surface water is found in rivers.
most of earth's fresh water is frozen
Mercury is a heavy metal that occurs naturally in minerals and rocks. Release of mercury from natural sources has been relatively constant over time. However, anthropogenic release of mercury has increased significantly in recent years primarily due to increased fossil fuel mining and combustion. Mercury that is released into the air eventually ends up in soils or surface water. Once in water, microbes convert mercury into methyl mercury, which is absorbed quickly and concentrated in the tissues of predatory fish such as shark and swordfish. Large fish typically concentrate more mercury than small fish. People who eat fish with high methyl mercury concentrations can show tremors, deafness, muscle dysfunction, and attention deficits. Pregnant women and children are especially sensitive to methyl mercury's toxic effects. Learning disabilities and developmental delays are common in children who have been exposed to significant levels of methyl mercury. Based upon the specific health effects described above, mercury would be best classified as a(n) ________.
neurotoxin
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a divergent boundary that bisects the entire Atlantic Ocean. What is produced at this and other mid-ocean ridges?
new oceanic crust
The Acid Rain Program established under the Clean Air Act of 1990 has been successful in reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide and ________
nitrogen oxides
Sinkholes can result from ________.
overconsumption of water from aquifers
Currently, the greatest ecological crisis facing marine food webs is ________.
overharvesting
Pathogens and waterborne diseases enter drinking water supplies from ________.
poorly treated wastewater and animal wastes from feed lots
In developed countries, the two most deadly sources of indoor pollution are ________.
radon and cigarette smoke
The dwindling supplies of rare strategic metals such as indium, tantalum, and platinum may be extended if we rigorously ________.
recycle existing supplies
Alligators in polluted lakes in Florida have been shown to have a higher prevalence of ________ than alligators in uncontaminated lakes.
reproductive abnormalities
A(n) ________ is a solid aggregation of ________.
rock; minerals
