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93 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is the largest carbon reservoir?
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Limestone and sedimentary rocks
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What does it Mean for carbon to be lithified?
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turned into rock
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Where does the energy for photosynthesis come from?
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The SUN!
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What are the byproducts of Photosynthesis
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CH2O and O2
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What are the byproducts of respiration
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CO2 and H2O
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What does settling of organic matter and the decomposition of organic matter in deep water result in?
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transfer of CO2 and nutrients from the shallow waters to deep waters
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What does the thermohaline circulation of the ocean do?
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brings nutrients and carbon rich waters to the surface and then the carbon is removed by the biological pump (photosynthesis of phytoplankton)
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Why are fossil fuels considered to be non-renewable?
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takes millions of years to form
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How are oil and gas formed?
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Formed from the burial of microscopic marine organisms in anaerobic environments
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Define Diagenesis
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break down
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what are the source rocks for oil and gas formation?
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organic shales (fine-grained sedimentary rocks)
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What are the reservoir rocks for oil and gas formation?
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sandstones or limestone
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How is coal formed?
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Formed when terrestrial plants (macro-flora) dies in an anaerobic environment such as a swamp
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What are the stages of coal formation?
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Peat, lignite, bituminous coal, anthracite
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Economic Nationalism
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Encourages the aggressive accumulation of wealth on national levels.
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Frontier Mentality
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encourages using all the natural resources you possibly can because we are superior to nature.
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Population
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all members of a single species that live in a given area ex. a herd of elephants
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Community
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all of the population or organisms that live and interact with each other at a given time
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Ecosystem
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self-sustaining interaction between communities in a certain geographical area.
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Abiotic Factors
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non living components of an ecosystem
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Energy
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the ability to do work
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What is the major source of energy for the earth?
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THE SUN
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First Law of Thermodynamics
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energy cannot be created or destroyed only transformed
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Second Law of thermodynamics
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in the energy transformation process, some energy is always lost
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entropy
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the lost energy and it leads to disorder. Usually the lost energy is in the form of heat and the heat does not do work and it is lost to the environment
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Matter
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anything that has mass and takes up space
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Elements
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substances that cannot be changed to simpler substances without a chemical reaction
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Atoms
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Basic building blocks of matter and the smallest unit of an element that retains the structure of that element
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Molecules
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smallest particle of a substance that has the composition and chemical properties of that substances and is capable of independent existence
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Organic Compounds
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compounds containing carbon
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What are the abiotic factors in an ecosystem
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temperature, precipitation, wind, light, humidity, fire, salinity, and space
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What are autotrophs
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They capture energy. They are self nourishing and need water, nutrients, and an energy source
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What are Phototrophs
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producers who use light to produce food
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What are chemotrophs
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find energy in inorganic chemical compounds. An example is Archaea bacteria that live in the hydrothermal vent communities
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Heterotrophs
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Must get their energy by ingesting bodies of other living organisms
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Primary consumers
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herbivores or those that eat plants
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Secondary consumers
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carnivores or those who eat animals that have eaten plants
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Tertiary consumers
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carnivores that eat secondary consumers
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secondary consumers
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one that eats an animal that has eaten another animal
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Scavengers
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those that feed on dead animals. Can be a type of decomposer
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Decomposers
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those that feed on parts of dead organisms and consume waste products of living organisms
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Decomposers
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those that feed on parts of dead organisms and consume waste products of living organisms
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A biome
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a region with a characteristic plant community such as a desert or tropical rainforest
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A biome
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a region with a characteristic plant community such as a desert or tropical rainforest
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Range of Tolerance
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all living organisms have ranges of limiting factors where they can survive. If those ranges are exceeded or not met, then the living organism may die
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Range of Tolerance
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all living organisms have ranges of limiting factors where they can survive. If those ranges are exceeded or not met, then the living organism may die
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Biodiversity
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the number of species living in an area
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Biodiversity
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the number of species living in an area
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The more diverse an area the _____ it is
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healthier
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The more diverse an area the _____ it is
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healthier
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Biodiversity ____ towards the equator and thus ____ towards the poles
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increases, decreases
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Biodiversity ____ towards the equator and thus ____ towards the poles
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increases, decreases
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What are the three long term controls of climate?
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Carbonate-Silicate Cycle, Changes in the gaseous content of the atmosphere, Plate Tectonics, Milankovitch Orbits
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What are the three long term controls of climate?
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Carbonate-Silicate Cycle, Changes in the gaseous content of the atmosphere, Plate Tectonics, Milankovitch Orbits
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How long is the carbon-silicate cycle?
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500,000 years
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How long is the carbon-silicate cycle?
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500,000 years
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What is the carbon-silicate cycle?
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chemical weathering of carbonate rocks occurs when water falls on carbonate rocks exposed on surface (carbonic acid is formed)
Carbonic acid weathers the silicate rocks in warm climates at the bottom of the soil profile Also critters use in shells die and sink to bottom of ocean and are subducted/lithified Calcium carbonate gets dissolved in sea-water which leads to an higher concentration of CO2 in oceans which bleeds into the atmosphere causing temperature to rise. Rising of mountains such as the Himalays (contains a lot of silica) can cause increase in the weathering of the silicate rocks and the storage of CO2 and the cooling of climate |
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What is the carbon-silicate cycle?
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chemical weathering of carbonate rocks occurs when water falls on carbonate rocks exposed on surface (carbonic acid is formed)
Carbonic acid weathers the silicate rocks in warm climates at the bottom of the soil profile Also critters use in shells die and sink to bottom of ocean and are subducted/lithified Calcium carbonate gets dissolved in sea-water which leads to an higher concentration of CO2 in oceans which bleeds into the atmosphere causing temperature to rise. Rising of mountains such as the Himalays (contains a lot of silica) can cause increase in the weathering of the silicate rocks and the storage of CO2 and the cooling of climate |
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silicate rocks
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weather and cause the storage of CO2 causing temperature to decrease
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silicate rocks
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weather and cause the storage of CO2 causing temperature to decrease
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Carbonate Rocks
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weather to release carbon into the oceans and inturn the atmosphere causing warming
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Faint-Sun, Young sun paradox
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when the earth was young the solar output was 30% less than today.
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Changes in Methane content of the atmosphere caused what
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warming of the earth and made life possible when the solar output was less
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methanogenic bacteria
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those that produce methane
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Can methane produce and organic haze?
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YES! And was probably pink at the time
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What does methane and methane haze absorb?
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Visible radiation especially red near IR
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What does the absorption of visible radiation produce
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Anti-greenhouse effect due to sunlight being absorbed high in the atmosphere and being re-radiated back to space without ever reaching the earths surface
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What are the Milankovitch cycles best known for
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the correlation with ice ages but doesn't depend
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Eccentricity
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the shape of the earths orbit around the sun. At present the earths closest to the sun in january. The more eccentric the orbit, the longer the length of winter and summer. Cycles vary on time scales of 100,000 and 400,000 years.
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Why does the northern hemisphere's climate vary more than the southern?
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More landmass because land heats/cools faster than water
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Obliquity
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the tilt of the earths axis from the vertical. At present the earth is tilted 23.5 deg. from the vertical but this can vary from 22 to 24.5. The more the tilt the more pronounced the seasons. Cycle 41,000 years
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Precession
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The earths wobble on its axis. Increases the seasonal variation (hotter summers colder winters) 26,000 year cycle
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Is climate variability the norm or the exception?
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NORM
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What are the causes of short-term climate variability?
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Solar Variability and sun spots, Phytoplankton, Volcanoes, Changes in formation of the North Atlantic Deep Waters
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What are sun spots?
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dar areas of lower than normal surface temperatures
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What is the 11 year sun spot cycle
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peaks of sunspot activity
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What is the 22 year sun spot cycle?
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magnetic reversals of the suns magnetic field
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An increase in sunspots corresponds with what?
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an increase in the amount of solar radiation the earth receives
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what are plages
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areas of very bright, very hot surrounding darker cooler sunspots
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What are phytoplankton?
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microscopic floating plants, that are the foundation for the marine food chain. They are also carbon sinks so they influence climate
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What do phytoplankton require to grow?
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Iron that is brought up by cold water upwelling, thus bloom better in cold waters
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How fast do phytoplankton grow?
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Can double their population daily, but can die just as quickly. This means they can store a lot of CO2
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When do phytoplankton flourish and why?
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La Nina colder temperatures
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Formation of the North Atlantic Deep waters
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Glacial Ice melts and fresh water flows into the ocean. Fresh water is less dense and freezes faster. This would extend the ice caps south and stop the formation of the North Atlantic Deep Waters. Could also lower the atmospheric CO2 content by increasing phytoplankton numbers due to winds blowing dust into the ocean (iron)
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What is our most common mineral?
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Feldspar
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Depositional Environments
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for sediments terrestrial alluvial fan indicates a dry climate
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Palynology
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the study of pollen, spores, and other microfossils of plants
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Dendrochronology
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tree rights. If the climate is conducive to the growth of the tree a normal sized tree ring results
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Ice cores
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can offer fine climate resolution but have time limits. Most accurate taken were in greenland and were 3000 m deep.
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O16 to O18 ratio
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when similar amounts of both climate is cold and when there is a high ratio climate was waarm with increased evaporation
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Sea Sediment cores
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use oxygen ratios to analyze cores, but opposite is true when interpreting the results. The closer the O16 to O18 ratio the warmer the climate because more O18 was evaporated out of sea water
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Alpine Glaciers
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Carve U shaped valleys
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Continental Glaciers
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carve lakes, leave moraines, outwash plains
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