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200 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Portion of the Earth which is permanently frozen
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Crysosphere
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What does cryosphere consist of?
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1)Snow and ice on mountains
2)Ice sheets - continental glaciers 3)Sea ice 4)Permafrost |
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Perennial snow
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Snow that does not melt over the summer (above the snowline).
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How's it in terms of snowfall and melting in polar regions?
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Low snowfall, low melting
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How's it in terms of snowfall and melting in coastal regions?
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High snowfall, high melting
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What areas have the lowest snowline?
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Coastal mountains at high latitudes
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Glaciers - ?
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Permanent bodies of snow and ice that flow under gravity
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List types of glaciers (6)
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1)Cirque
2)Valley 3)Ice cap 4)Ice sheets 5)Ice shelves 6)Sea ice? |
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What's ablation? What's its antonym?
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Loss of ice each year from a glacier (melting, evaporation).Accumulation.
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How do you calculate mass balance of a glacier?
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The difference between accumulation and ablation
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When do glaciers advance?
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during cool periods of course, stupid!
And, when gains in mass and volume are greater than losses |
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When do glaciers retreat?
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When ablation is greater than accumulation.
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Types of glaciers, what conditions is each found at?
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Temperate (low and middle latitudes), polar (at poles, where mean annual temperature is below freezing)
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Features of temperate glaciers
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Water melts at surface, refreezes at depth; ice in glacier is at the pressure melting point; meltwater at the bed
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Features of polar glaciers
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Ice in glacier remains below freezing; frozen to the bed at the bottom.
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Types of ice movement, where can each be found
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Basal sliding, internal flow. Former - common in temperate glaciers since meltwater at the base is required; latter - ice deforms by creep along internal crystal planes. Occurs in both glacier types, dominant form of movement in polar glaciers.
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What are cracks in a glacier called?
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Crevasses
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Where is a glacier's vertical veloscity slowest?
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At the base
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Glacial abrasion - ?
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Material embedded in the bottom of glacier rubs away at the underlying rock
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Striations - ?
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Parallel scratches on rocks formed by abrasion
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Rock flour - ?
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Pulverised rock (sand and silt).
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Cirque - ?
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Semi - circular hollow with a steep headwall carved by glaciers
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Hanging valley - ?
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A small glacial valley lying high above the floor of the main valley
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Fjord
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A glacially carved valley flooded by the sea
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Glacial drift
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Deposits of any kind associated with glaciers
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Glacial till
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Nonstratified, poorly sorted material melted directly out from the ice
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Stratified drift
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Stratified, sorted sediments deposited by glacial meltwater
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Types of glacial drift (2)
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Till, stratified drift
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Moraine
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Glacial debris deposited by the ice
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Terminal moraine
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at the end of a melted glacier
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Lateral moraines
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sides of glaciers
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Outwash deposits
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Deposited by meltwater flowing from the ice
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Outwash plain
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region in front of ice recieving flow of meltwater
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Kame
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Mountain of stratified drift released by melting ice
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Kame terrace
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Large "bench" of stratified drift deposited by a stream or lake between valley wall and ice.
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Esker
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Separating ridge of stratified drift deposited by meltwater stream on or under ice.
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A type of kame
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Esker.
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Erratics
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Large boulders transported by glaciers
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What percentage of the earth's surface is crysosphere?
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30%
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What does crysosphere consist of?
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-Snow and ice in mountains
-Ice sheets, glaciers, antartctic -Sea ice (snow and ice) -Permafrost |
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Where are ice shelves found?
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Floatin' aroun' in ocean
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Two types of sea ice, difference between the two
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Perenial ice - persisits for several years at least
Seasonal ice - only there in the winter |
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List the effects of sea ice on stuff and things
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1)Makes sea water denser
2)Has a high albedo - highly reflective 3)Prevents warming of ocean water |
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Outline a positive feedback chain in case of clinate cooling (in terms of ice)
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Climate cools -> more ice forms -> more sun reflected -> cooling -> more ice -> ice age
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Outline a positive feedback loop in case of climate warming (in terms of ice)
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Climate warms -> ice melts -> more warming -> ice melts -> climate warms
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Permafrost
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Sediment, soil or bedrock that remains cintinually below freezing for long time periods (at least 2 years).
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Active layer in permafrost
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Soil layer where water melts and re - freezes each year
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What's the maximum recordered permafrost depth? Where?
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1500m, Siberia
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What is the depth of permafrost in Canada?
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1km
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What is the average annual temperature of groundwater?
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The average annual temperature of the area.
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How does melting permafrost affect climate change?
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Melted soil releases CO2
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What percentage of the Earth's surface is sea?
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70.8%
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Name 3 large ocean basins. What are they connected by?
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Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, connected by Southern Ocean
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What is the average depth of oceans?
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4500m = 4.5km
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What is the deepest spot in the ocean? How deep?
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Mariana's Trench, 11035m.
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By what time (at least) were the oceans present on Earth?
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3.95 m.y.a
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Where did water come from?
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From degassing the Earth's interior by volcanic activity
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What are the two most common ions in seawater?
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Na, Cl
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What is salinity measured in?
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per mil (parts per thousand)
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What is the average water salinity?
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Varies from 33 to 37 ppm
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What percentage of ocean water is salt (by weight)?
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3.5%
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What contributes to oceanic salinity?
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-Cations - rivers eroding continents
-Anions - volcanic activity releases chloride -Sulphate and carbon dioxide from mantle -Dust blown from land |
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What decreases salinity?
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1)Evaporites: minerals precipitated from seawater form deposits
2)Add fresh water, precipitation |
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What are evaporite minerals?
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gypsum, halite, sylvite, biogenic limestone, silicon, phosphorus
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Where is surface salinity high? Why?
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At high altitudes, just above and below the equator
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Where is surface salinity low? Why?
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Equator, offshore of large rivers
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Oceans warm up/cool down slowly because of
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heat capacity (large)
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What is the annual water temperature change in tropics?
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0 - 2 degrees
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What is the annual water temperature change in mid latitudes?
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5 - 8 degrees
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What is the names for lines on a map that connect areas of equal temperature?
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Isotherms
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What is the average annual temperature range of water at the poles?
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2 - 4 degrees
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What is the average annual temperature change on land?
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20 - 80 degrees
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Why are oceans stratified?
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Due to density variations of sea water
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What happens to the density of seawater when temperature goes down?
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Increases
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What happens to the density of seawater as salinity goes up?
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Increases
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What are the layers of ocean?
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1)Surface zone
2)Transition zone 3)Deep sea |
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What shows density change in the transition zone? What is the relationship between density and depth?
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Pycnocline, Density increases
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What shows the relationship between the temperature of seawater and depth? What is the relationship?
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Thermocline, temperature decreases with depth
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What shows the relationship between the salinity of seawater and depth? What is the relationship?
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Halocline, salinity increases with depth
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What's that wind direction diversion thingy called?
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The Coriolis effect
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In the northern hemisphere, where does the wind direction diverge to?
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To the right
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The name for subcircular oceanic circulation platform
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Gyre
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What are different parts of a gyre called?
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Currents
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What direction do Northern hemisphere gyres flow?
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clockwise
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Western boundary currents - what are they?
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Water moving west from near the equator hits continents and is dicerted polewards
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What kind of heat capacity does air have?
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low
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Talk about Gulf Stream (what it does)
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Warm, salty Gulf Stream cools and becomes more saline. And denser. Sinks and forms North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW)which then moves south
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How long does it take for water to move from North Atlantic to North Pacific?
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1000 years, but it is slowing down.
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What causes upwelling of deep sea water?
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Global offshore winds
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When does El Nino even occur?
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Every four years
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What is El Nino event? What happens as a result?
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The upwelling of deep ocean water. Trade winds slow down, water warms up by mod - Pacific, changes Peru coast from upwelling to downwelling, drought in Indonesia and Australia
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The effect of upwelling on stuff and things?
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Very nutrient ruch zones, good fisheries (e.g., Peru)
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What fisheries are the richest?
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The anchovie fisheries (off the coast of middle americas)
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What is the direction of the average total flow of surface ocean currents?
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90 degrees to the wind direction
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The name for the shape of the surface water on Earth
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Geoid
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What are tides created by?
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The rotation of Earth and moon around a common center of mass. Tidal bulge created by internal force of Eart's rotation
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What is the frequency of tides
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2 high tides per day
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When do "extra high" tides happen?
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Spring tides, when Sun and Moon are aligned and both pull on Earth.
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When are there the lowest tides?
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When the sun and the moon are offset - reap tides
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What is the highest point of a wave called?
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Crest
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What is the lowest point of a wave called?
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Trough
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How do you measure wavelength?
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The distance between crest and trough
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What doesw a wave form after it flattens and breaks?`
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Surf zone
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When does wave refraction occur?
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When wave direction vecomes parallel with the shore
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Wave refraction concentrates its energy on...
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Headlands (self corrects)
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Sea stacks
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Remains of eroded headlands
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Longshore current
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A current that flows parallel to the shore
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What features form due too longshore current depositing sediment?
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Spits
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Barier islands
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Spits that are dissected by streams and tidal lagoons
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How thick is the atmosphere?
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160 km
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Composition of the atmosphere
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Nitrogen, ocygen, argon
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In the atmosphere, what form is oxygen in?
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Ionic - ion O, not O2
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Why is the sku blue?
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Atmosphere has molecules that scatter shorter (blue) wavelengths.
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What wavelength does oxygen obsorb (O2)?
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Medium
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How is ozone harmful?
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Damages lungs!
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List some greenhouse gases
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Carbon dioxide, wtaer vapor, ozone, nitrous oxide, methane, chloroflourocarbons (CFCs).
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What conditions are needed for static to build up?
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Cold, dry air
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What does the capacity of air to hold water depend on?
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Temperature
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Instrument for measuring air pressure
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barometer
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What is the air pressure at sea leveal (avg.)?
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750mm/101 kPa
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What is the relationship between air pressure an altitude?
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Air pressure shows non - linear decrease
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What is the difference between temperature and heat?
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Temperature - the average kinetic energy of any individual atom in a substance; Heat - total kinetic energy of all atoms in a substance
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What are the four thermal layers of the atmosphere? What are they lassified by (except temperature)?
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Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Thermosphere. By altitude.
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Where is troposphere, its thickness.
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Earth's surface to approx. 12 km
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Some characteristics of the troposphere
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- Absorbs outgoing infrared radiation near base
-Temperature decreases with altitude -Convection curents in troposphere drive most weather patterns |
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Boundary at the top of troposphere, how high
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Tropopause, 8 - 12 km, altitude drops 5 km above 45 degrees latitude north and south.
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Where is the tropopause thicker? Why?
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At the equator - more solar input, more heat re - radiating to atmosphere
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How high + thick is the stratosphere?
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12 - 43 km above Earth
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Some characteristics of the stratosphere
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-Tenperature increases with altitude
-Does not mix -Ozone absorption of UV light is highest at the top of stratosphere |
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Name for the boundary at the top of stratosphere
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Stratopause
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How thick/high is mesosphere?
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48 - 80 km above Earth
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Some characteristics of mesosphere
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Temperature decreases with altitude. Temperature - o - -100 degrees.
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Boundary below Thermosphere
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Mesopause
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How thick/high is thermosphere?
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80 - 500 km above Earth.
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Some characteristics of Thermosphere
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-Temperature increases with altitude
-Temperature - -100 to 1500 degrees -Absorption of slow radiation and bombardment by Sun's protons + electrons |
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Ways in whuch carbon enters atmosphere
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volcanoes, respiration, recarbonation, diffusion from ocean, burning of fossil fuels
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Ways in which carbon leaves the atmosphere
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Photosynthesis, precipitation
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In what period of what era was there an increase in global CO2?
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Creatcious, mesozoic
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What are the effects of rising CO2 on the envirionment?
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-Increased plant growth
-Increased carbon in soil (carbonic acid). -Weathers more rock: more calcium available -> more limestone (removes CO2 as Ca) |
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What's the global temperature trend and since when?
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Temperature is rising since the 1650s
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How do CFCs influence global temperatures?
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Degrade stratospheric ozone
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Which ozone is a greenhouse gas?
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O3, stratospheric ozone
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What evidence is there to sea levels rising?
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20 cm higher than before
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How are snowcaps reduces in volume?
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Flatter, but spread over roughly the same area.
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What evidence suggests climate changes in the past?
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Geologic record of the planet: instrument records, climate proxy records, computer modeling.
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What is the historic CO2 content range and what is it now? Where is it getting?
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Historical - 150 - 250 ppm; current - 360. Predicted - 600 ppm.
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When are greenhouse gas concentrations historically higher?
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In interglaciar periods.
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Hom many global climate change models are there in the world?
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Six
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Where is climate change going to have the greatest effects?
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Arctic
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Predictions about climate change
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1)Decrease in ice cover
2)Srop in rivers' flow 3)More rainfall generated around Equator 4)Drier above + below equator 5)Higher temperature - higher mmethane release 6)Breakdwon fo gas hydrates |
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What positive feedbacks will enhace the warming trend?
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lower albedo due to lower ice cover, methane released from permafrost
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Negative feedbacks associated with the warming trend
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Plant growth increases with increased CO2
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How much has the global temperature increased so far? How much will it increase in the next century?
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0.8 degrees now, 2 - 4 in the next century.
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Mineral deposit
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Any volume of rock containing an enrichment of minerals
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Ore grade - what is it, what is it defined by?
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A concentration above which the mineral can be mined economically, defined by costs and marke price
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Ore
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A material obove ore grade
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Two types of mineral deposits, definition for each
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Metallic - deposits from which metals can be removed by smelting; nonmetallic - any useful rock or mineral that is not a metal
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Two types of mining
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Open pit, underground
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List 6 main processes that help create ore deposits
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Fractional crystallization
Hydrothermal activity Sedimentation processes Groundwater transport Placer deposits Residual mineral deposits: weathering |
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What are ore - creating processes classified by?
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Temperature
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Describe fractiobal crystallization. Which temperature process is it?
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Minerals crystallize and settle out from a liquid. Residual liquid is enriched in minerals one of which is usually pegmatitic. High temperature
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Define pegmatitic
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Coarse grains of a mineral formed by slow cooling in presence of volatiles
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Describe hydrothermal activity. What temperature, examples
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Igneous heat results in circulation of hydrothermal solutions. After fluids enter new chemical environments, minerals deposited. Intermediate temp., spreadung ridges, vein deposits
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3 types of sedimentation processes
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Evaporites
Banded Stratabound |
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What conditions do banded minerals need to form?
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Lack of oxygen??? I dunno...
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What conditions do stratabound deposits need to form?
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Hydrothermal solutions invade and react with muddy sediment layers.
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How does groundwater transport work?
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Water moves through permeable rocks, picks up an carries metal ions, deposits them, which changes chamical conditions.
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How are placer deposits formed?
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Element concentrated by sorting effects of running water. Separates minerals by volume and density.
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How does residual mineral depositinng work?
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Erosion by various factors (wind, water and what not) removes all minerals except several-> makes those more concentrated
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Metallogenic provinces - definition, how they are formed
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Geographical areas in which mineral deposits occur in groups. Formed by hydrothermal solutions associated with volcanoes at subduction zones
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How much of World's energy sources are fossil fuels?
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80%
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3 classifications of energy resources
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Fossil fuel (coal, oil, gas)
Nuclear power Renewable energy resources |
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What is the most abundant energy resource out there?
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Coal
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How is coal formed?
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Plants buried under low oxygen conditions in a swamp; increased temperature with depth - drives off water, carbon dioxide and methane, just carbon left.
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Grades if coal (lowest to highest). What kind of rock is the latter?
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Peat -> liguite -> subbituminuous -> anthracite (metamorphic).
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What kind of coal is radioactive? What dpes it leave behind?
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Athnacite. Uranium.
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When in Earth's history do land plants appear?
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450 my ago
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Petroleum formation
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Almost always - from marine sediments. From bacteria and phytoplankton. Forms on continental shelves - high carbon & nutrient input from cotinents.
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Reservoir bed
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Porous bed to which oil migrates
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What percentage of buried carbon is trapped?
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0.1%
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Kerogen - what is it, where can it be found
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Organic carbon not heated enough to form oil. Oil shales.
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How much methane is there frozen in permafrost?
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10,000 billion tonnes
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Name for demand going beyond supply in fossil fuels
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Hubbert's peak
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How many nuclear reactors are needed by 2030 to supply thr growing demand?
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6,300
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List some alternative energy sources
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Nuclear, hydroelectric, biomass, solar, wind, geothermal, tidal, hydrogen.
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Nuclear energy: which percentage of World's resources, how it's done
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8%, comes from fission of large atoms.
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What is nuclear energy derived from? How efficient, where can it be found?
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1 gram uranium = 13 barrels of oil. Australia, Kazahstan and Canada - top.
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Positive effects of nuclear energy on the environment
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Very efficient, no combustion; no greenhouse gases.
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Negative effects of nuclear energy on the environment:
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Radioactive waste disposal; terrorist dilemnal weapons; reactor meltdown (e.g. Chernobyl).
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What percentage of World's energy sources is hydroelectric? How much of the current wnergy usage could it supply?
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24%; 1/3.
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Can hydroloectricity supply world energy needs?
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No - has a limited potential worldwide. Not many places left to dam. Many dams in U.S. reaching their end.
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Energy from plants
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Biomass; ethanol
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What percentage of global energy use is biofuel?
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14%
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Negative effects of biofuel
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Burning wood pollutes
Not much more energy from plants than was spent on producing it Rising food prices |
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How is geothermal energy extracted?
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Heat from magma intrusions heats groundwater, which then heats or is used to turn turbines for elecricity (vapor?)
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How is the use of geothermal energy limited
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Locations restricted to areas of volcanic activity
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Why is the use of wind energy restricted?
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Steady winds are locally restricted
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What percentage of current energy use could wind energy supply?
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10%
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How does tidal energy work?
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Use wave/tidal energy to drive electrical turbines
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Why is tidal energy hard to use as an energy source?
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The method has not been completely developped; storms wrech waval patterns
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