Eas: Prelim 1

Front 1

Universe filled with ionized gas

Back 1

~ pre 300,000 years

Front 2

The Dark Ages start

Back 2

~ post 300,000 years, pre 500 million years

Front 3

Galaxies and Quasars begin to form

Back 3

500 million years

Front 4

The Reionization starts

Back 4

500 million years

Front 5

Galaxies evolve

Back 5

~ pre 9 billion years

Front 6

The Solar System forms

Back 6

~9 billion years

Front 7

Where do the N, P, C on earth come from?

Back 7

stars

Front 8

When did the Big Bang happen?

Back 8

15 billion years ago

Front 9

Temperatures in core of large masses? From what?

Back 9

Temperatures in the core of large masses increase due to compressional heating?

Front 10

What happens at the core at 10 million degrees K?

Back 10

nuclear fusion of H into He is ignited (thermonuclear-fusion reaction)

Front 11

thermonuclear-fusion reaction

Back 11

1. forms heat
2. forms visible light
3. H to He

Front 12

elements made inside stars vs outside stars?

Back 12

1. inside: light elements up to iron
2. outside/explosion: elements heavier than iron

Front 13

when was the creation of first life (ocean only)

Back 13

4 billion years ago (archean)

Front 14

when did bacterial photosynthesis in ocean first arise?

Back 14

3 billion years ago

Front 15

eukaryotes and multicellularity in oceans

Back 15

2 billion years ago (proterozoic)

Front 16

Cambrian explosion (first life on LAND)

Back 16

550 million years ago

Front 17

First mammals and first dinosaurs begin

Back 17

250 million years ago

Front 18

end of the dinosaurs and rise of mammalian prominence (asteroid impact)

Back 18

65 million years

Front 19

Theory of Continental Drift

Back 19

1. Alfred Wegener
2. not well accepted (wrong mechanism but right theory)

Front 20

Plate Tectonic Theory

Back 20

def: steady accumulation of evidence leading to teh birth of a new theory
1. sea-floor spreading
2. sea-floor subduction
correct mechanism that Wegener had missed

Front 21

Earth composition (physical)

Back 21

1. rigid outer crust (floats on a higher density mantle)
2. plastic upper mantle (flow on very long timescales)
3. molten outer core
4. solid inner core

Front 22

what happens to the crust during an ice age when 4km of ice piles on top of the crust?

Back 22

ice causes crust to sink lower into the mantle during an ice age -- crust springs back up when ice age ends

Front 23

mid-ocean ridge system

Back 23

discovered by WWII sonar

Front 24

extensional faulting

Back 24

tell tale sign that ridges are areas where crust is pulling apart

Front 25

magnetic anonmalities

Back 25

def: proxy measure of geologic time - each anomaly can be assigned a specific geologic date
1. exhibited symmetric banding about the ridges
2. strong evidence that the crust was spreading away

Front 26

tectonic plates

Back 26

many individual crustal plates that make up the earths outer crust

Front 27

convection in the mantle

Back 27

1. hot molten rock rises to the surface at divergent boundaries laterally
2. cools
3. gets more dense and sinkssa

Front 28

slab pull in mantle

Back 28

gravity pulls the rock back into the mantle at subduction boundaries (after convection)

Front 29

where do divergent plate boundaries occur?

Back 29

where plates are moving apart

Front 30

ocean crust collides with continent crust

Back 30

1. dense ocean crust slide under less dense continental crust
2. generates deep ocean trench
3. formes explosive volcanoes

Front 31

deep oceanic trench

Back 31

ocean crust colliding with ocean crust (sometimes filled with sediment)

Front 32

chain of volcanoes

Back 32

island arc

Front 33

proxy

Back 33

measurements of past ocean conditions
1. surface water temperatures
2. biological productivity

Front 34

what are the microorganisms shells found in sediment cores made of?

Back 34

CaCO2 and MgCO3

Front 35

indirect (proxy) estimates of temperature

Back 35

1. seawater
2. use calcite fossils and isotope ration
3. 18O : 16O
4. effect diminishes as temperatures rises (calcite in shells grown in colder temperatures will have more calcite than shells grown in warmer temperatures)

Front 36

Wavelength

Back 36

crest to crest distance

Front 37

wave speed

Back 37

distance a wave crest travels per unit time

Front 38

what do waves propagte

Back 38

energy, not mass

Front 39

what determines wave speed?

Back 39

deep water waves vs shallow water waves

Front 40

deep water waves

Back 40

1. waves with longer wavelength move faster
2. speed is a function of wavelength only

Front 41

shallow water waves

Back 41

1. waves in shallower water move slower (no matter the wavelength)
2. speed is a function of depth

Front 42

wave dispersion

Back 42

self sorting of deep water waves leaving a storm region based on wavelength

Front 43

when does longshore sediment transport?

Back 43

waves strike the beach at an angle

Front 44

summer waves

Back 44

1. gentle waves
2. create wide and gently sloping beach

Front 45

winter waves

Back 45

1. drag sand off the beach
2. rocky winter beach

Front 46

wave height of wind-generated waves is a function of:

Back 46

1. wind speed
2. duration of the wind event
3. fetch

Front 47

wind speed

Back 47

sets the upper possible limit on a wave height or a full developed sea

Front 48

duration of the wind event

Back 48

modulates the upper possible limit on wave height

Front 49

fetch

Back 49

1. the distance over which wind can blow without obstruction
2. modulates the upper possible limit on wave height

Front 50

where is a tsunami wave generated?

Back 50

at a convergent plate boundary

Front 51

equilibrium model of tides

Back 51

1. tide waves are treated as deep water waves in equilibrium with lunar/solar forcing
2. no interference of the tide wave's propagation by continents

Front 52

daily tidal patterns

Back 52

1. diurnal
2. semidiurnal
3. mixed semidiurnal

Front 53

diurnal

Back 53

one high tide and one low tide per day

Front 54

semidiurnal

Back 54

two equal high tides and two equal low tides per day

Front 55

mixed semidiurnal

Back 55

two unequal high tides and two unequal low tides per day

Front 56

Tidal Bulges

Back 56

1. responsible for the rise and fall of tides
2. created by earth's constant rotation and two "fixed" forces that raise the ocean upward

Front 57

what are the monthly tidal patterns?

Back 57

1. spring tides
2. neap tides

Front 58

spring tides

Back 58

1. occur when the new moon pulls along the same line as the sun
2. new and full moon

Front 59

neap tides

Back 59

1. occur when the moon pulls at 90 degrees to the sun
2. first and last quarter mon

Front 60

daily patterns

Back 60

diurnal, semidurnal and mixed semidiurnal tidal patterns

Front 61

monthly pattern

Back 61

spring/neap tidal pattern

Front 62

why do we get ocean tides, but no tides in lakes and ponds?

Back 62

1. earth's gravity is always directed toward center of earth
2. earth's gravity balances the upward force of the moons gravity when directly below moon
3. earths gravity is not in line with moon's gravity at locations not directly under moon s0 it can't be counterbalanced
4. results in pinched ocean tides are pinched upward from the cumulative lateral pull by the moon on all the ocean
5. lake are not large enough to experience the broad lateral pinch by the moon

Front 63

what are tidal waves?

Back 63

1. forced shallow water waves
2. because tidal forces exerted on the ocean by the moon constantly interfere with the free propagation of shallow-water wave
3* tidal wave moves slower than it would if there was no shallow-water bottom to slow it down

Front 64

what happens after the moon appears to pass overhead?

Back 64

high tide occurs

Front 65

why does Hawaii experience a very small tidal range?

Back 65

the islands are near an Amphordomic Point

Front 66

Why is the Coriolis force needed?

Back 66

to account for the acceleration of the reference coordinate system

Front 67

Coriolis force and direction

Back 67

1. northern hemisphere is directed to the right
2. southern hemisphere is directed to the left

Front 68

Basic rule of Coriolis force

Back 68

1. point your noise in direction of current
2. stick you hand directly out from side
(right hand for northern hemisphere, left hand for southern)

Front 69

visible radient energy from sun

Back 69

short wavelength

Front 70

warm earth surface infra red radiation

Back 70

long wavelength

Front 71

how is the atmosphere heated?

Back 71

from below by a warm earth surface

Front 72

air composition

Back 72

1. mainly N2
2. variable amounts of water

Front 73

which would weight less? column of dry air or moist air?

Back 73

column of moist air; average molecular weight of mixture of molecules making up the air column is on average lower when overall fraction of water vapor is high

Front 74

north pole SLP

Back 74

high

Front 75

60 degree SLP

Back 75

low

Front 76

30 degree SLP

Back 76

high

Front 77

equator SL

Back 77

low

Front 78

What is temperature a measure of?

Back 78

heat energy contained in the ocean

Front 79

what happens when more energy enters than leaves teh ocean surface?

Back 79

the ocean warms

Front 80

what happens when more heat leaves than enters the ocean surface?

Back 80

the ocean cools

Front 81

where does direct solar heating take place?

Back 81

very near the ocean surface

Front 82

permanent thermocline

Back 82

broad region centered at around 500 meters where seawater temperature changes from warm to uniformly cold

Front 83

seasonal thermocline

Back 83

much shallower thermocline that only forms in summer and erased in winter

Front 84

Ekman Transport

Back 84

1. due to wind force, friction force, and Coriolis force
2. is the rate of total water transported in the Ekman Layer (a layer that is about 50 to 100 meters thick)
3. direction is exactly 90 degrees of the wind direction

Front 85

Ekman spiral

Back 85

1. spiraling of thin ocean currents within the Ekman Layer (slab of water)
2. due to winds + Coriolis + friction

Front 86

geostrophic balance

Back 86

currents move with steady speed with Coriolis and pressure gradient forces in perfect opposition

Front 87

geostrophic current

Back 87

resulting current from geostrophic balance

Front 88

push of Coriolis

Back 88

turns the fluid until it travels along concentric lines of constant pressure - geostrophic balance

Front 89

western boundary currents

Back 89

1. currents on western side of all subtropical gyres
2. very swift and narrow
3. bring warm water from tropics to high latitudes

Front 90

eastern boundary currents

Back 90

1. broad and slow
2. currents on eastern side of all subtropical gyres
3. bring cold water from high latitudes toward tropics

Front 91

temperature-salinity signatures

Back 91

1. North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW)
2. Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW)
3. Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW)