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55 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Energy |
The capacity to do work |
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Energy Resource |
Can be used to produce heat, cool houses, produce electricity, or move vehicles etc. |
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Five Fundamental Sources of Energy |
1. Nuclear Fission in the sun 2. Pull of Gravity 3. Nuclear Fission reaction 4. Energy store in the interior of the Earth 5. Energy stored in chemical bonds |
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Nuclear Fission in the sun |
Reactions happen in the sun and then transport to Earth via electromagnetic radiation |
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7 Ways to access energy resources |
1. Solar Energy 2. Energy from gravity 3. Wind and hydroelectric 4. Photosynthesis 5. Energy from chemical reactions 6. Energy from fossil fuels 7. Nuclear fission |
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Non-renewable resource |
A resource that will not be replenished within our lifetime |
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Which nonrenewable resources are considered hydrocarbons? |
Oil and Gas |
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How are hydrocarbons described? |
Their length: gas is short, oil is long Short chains are less viscous (they flow more easily, and tend to be gases) |
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How did oil and gas form? |
Plankton and algae settle and are buried and form an ooze (in oxygen poor water) Lithifies eventually and becomes black organic shale Under right conditions it becomes oil or gas |
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Kerogen Rocks |
Waxy intermediate between shales and oil -- heating of the kerogen in the oil window generates oil -- temp. is the primary control |
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Oil and gas reserves require... |
1. A source rock: lithified organic black shale made from organic materials 2. A migratory pathway: needs to be good in order for a lot of hydrocarbons to move 3. A reservoir rock: rock that contains, or could contain a lot of easily accessible oil and gas 4. A trap: oil and gas must be trapped underground in the reservoir rock by means of a geologic configuration |
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Reservoir Rock |
-- Can't pump from a source rock -- Good reservoir rock has high porosity and high permeability |
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Porosity |
How much of the rock is pore space/porous |
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Permeability |
How connected the pores are |
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Migration from source to reservoir |
-- Oil and gas are less dense than water and rise upwards through groundwater -- Migration is promoted by rock fractures -- Seal rock is required to stop migration to the surface, which would form a seep |
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Two varieties of traps |
--Salt Dome Trap: Shale etc over top of salt layers; salt floats up and is compacted; leaves a dome open; oil and gas eventually float up -- Fault Trap: Occurs when a fault lines up to create an impermeable seal |
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Where are most oil fields located? |
In oil fields in the Persian Gulf |
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Why are oil fields not on land? |
Oil and gas require thick sediment for burial and formation |
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What is the Seismic Profile method? |
-- explosion generates seismic waves -- reflect off of contacts between rock layers -- return to surface and measured by special instruments |
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Pros and Cons of Seismic Profile? |
Cons: expensive Pros: accurate, and better than drilling randomly |
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Coal |
-- Black, brittle carbonaceous sedimentary rock -- Remains of organic matter from vegetation (not plankton like oil) -- Significant CO2 emitter |
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Coal formation |
-- Wetland deposit must occur in oxygen-poor setting to prevent organic decay -- Compaction and partial decay transforms it into peat -- Temp increases, burns away plant fibers, gases seep out and leave behind coal residue |
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Three types of Coal |
1. Lignite: dark brown, upon burial 2. Bituminous: forms when lignite heats up; dull and black 3. Anthracite: hotter temperatures; shiny and black |
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As the carbon content in coal increases... |
the coal rank increases -- the transformation reflects completeness of the chemical reaction |
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Two ways of mining coal |
1. Strip mining 2. Underground mining |
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The Greenhouse Effect |
-- Atmosphere sealing the air around the Earth which causes it to warm -- Some infrared escapes, some doesn't and heats the Earth -- Changing composition of the atmosphere keeps infrared gases in |
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Most abundant greenhouse gases |
Water Vapor CO2 Methane: small amount, but big effects NO2 Ozone CFCs: deplete the ozone so they're illegal |
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Water Vapor Feedback |
Warming causes increase in humidity, which causes additional warming |
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Drought in California |
The seasonal snow on Sierra Nevada is one of the major water resources for California. However, when there is not enough precipitation there is not enough water for California. |
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Milankovitch Cycles and the warming of the Earth |
-- Every 40,000 years the Earth goes from cold, to warm, to cold again because of Earth's rotation(that temperature change is normal) -- Tilt of the Earth changes every 40,000 years |
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Glaciers and Sea Level Rise |
During ice age, all of the water is captured in ice so the sea level is much lower High sea level now is partially natural because the ice sheets are melting |
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Ice Sheet and Glacier Formation |
Cold is not enough to form ice sheets -- Also need precipitation Need a slope less than 30 degrees, otherwise avalanches occur |
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Continental Glaciers |
Spread across entire continents (Greenland, and Antarctica) |
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Mountain Glaciers |
Flow Downhill; function like a stream network with trunks and tributaries All glaciers flow in the direction of their surface slopes |
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Valley Glaciers |
Flow downhill; still moves about 10 m per year |
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Piedmont Glaciers |
emerge from a valley and spread out to form a fan or lobe |
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Basal Sliding |
--Liquid water exists at the base of the glacier -- Dominates glacier motion for temperate glaciers |
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Cracking vs Flow |
Above, ice undergoes brittle deformation and forms crevasses Below, transition/plastic transition leads to flow |
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Accumulation |
Glaciers accumulate because of precipitation |
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Ablation |
due to sublimation, melt, and calving |
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Calving |
the process of iceberg formation from ocean-terminating glaciers |
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Ice Shelves |
Glaciers that end in oceans and are floating in the ocean |
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Glacial Landforms: Cirque |
is a bowl-shaped depression filled by a glacier |
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Glacial Landforms: Horn |
is a peak surrounded by three or more cirques |
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Glacial Landforms: Hanging Valley |
is where a tributary fed a trunk glacier; the trunk carved deeper into the landscape |
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Water Scarcity/ Stress |
Lower population leads to less stress and less people fighting over water supply High Stress can be caused by= high population, precipitation, land type and economy |
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Global Water Cycle |
1. Precipitation 2. Earth stores this 3. Evaporation |
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Three ways water flows into rivers |
surface runoff interflow baseflow |
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Evapotranspiration |
Evaporation: water evaporates from soil Transpiration: water evaporates from plants |
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Water Balance |
Water is conserved precipitation= evapotranspiration + runoff input= output |
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Water Storage |
Water that stays and does not evaporate |
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Describing water in soil |
-- There is always some amount of water in soils -- Near the surface, there is usually some fraction of voids or spaces in soil not filled by water -- Saturated zone |
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Saturated Zone |
Can't let anymore water in; any added water will run off |
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Artesian Wells |
wells that were drilled into aquifers and flow at the surface without pumping needs to be drilled at the bottom of the slope |
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What happens during water pumping? |
Pumping with a well causes soil to be depressed which makes the water table lower When you take more than the Earth can recharge the water table lowers which can dry out water sources on the surface |
