3rd Nine Weeks Exam Flashcards
A mixture of clay, silt, and sand
Loam
Formed from the remains of dead organisms compacted over many years (local)
Sediment
Elements or inorganic compounds with a solid crystalline internal structure
Minerals
Forms below or on earth’s surface from molten rock material welling from the mantle
Igneous
It is common for gold mines to have large storage ponds on site that typically contain which toxin?
Cyanide
What is mined to make inorganic fertilizers and some detergents?
Phosphate
The area noteworthy for its frequent volcanoes and earthquakes is known as the “Ring of Fire” and is located in what ocean?
Basin of the Pacific Ocean
What rock is composed of compacted shells and skeletons?
Limestone
The waste material remaining after the desired metallic ore is removed is known as what?
Gangue
What is the layer that constitutes most of the earth’s volume?
Mantle
What type of mining is commonly used to remove coal deposits from hilly or mountainous areas?
Contour Strip Mining
What type of plate boundary could have produced the Aleutian Trench?
Convergent Plate Boundary
The over-withdrawal of groundwater from an aquifer may lead to land collapsing. This can damage roadways, sewer lines, and building foundations. What is this?
Land Subsidence
What is the ratio for earthquake magnitudes?
10 times the previous level
The Sand Andreas tectonic feature in southern California is an example of what?
Transform fault
What environment is most likely to have coal deposits?
Swamps
Ranges of active volcanoes are often located near what?
Convergent Plate Boundaries
What law enables corporations to acquire large tracts of land far below market prices?
General Mining Law
Mountaintop removal is associated with which of the following?
Coal Mining
A huge hole is dug using heavy equipment and explosives to removing a deposit. What type of mining is this?
Open-pit Mining
The heating of ores to remove metals is a process that can release air pollutants such as heavy metals and sulfur dioxide. What process is this?
Smelting
Aluminum ore is what?
Bauxite
An area where a mineral can be extracted in an economically viable manner is a what?
Reserve
Black lung disease, flooding, and cave-ins are most often associated with what?
Subsurface Mines
What is the most common element in the whole earth?
(Volume) Oxygen or (Mass) Iron
Rift valleys are located within what?
Mid-ocean Ridges
The original, single land mass was known as what?
Pangea
We are currently living withing which of the following Geologic Eras?
Cenozoic Era
What is a solid, cohesive aggregate of one or more minerals?
Rock
Mechanical and chemical are two types of what?
Weathering
What is the number one consumed metal in the U.S?
Iron
Pre-existing rocks that have been altered as a result of excess heat and pressure are what?
Metamorphic
What is the number one most polluted place in the world?
Chernobyl, Ukraine
What is located at Yucca Mountain, Nevada?
High-level Nuclear Waste
What is an example of mass wasting?
Landslide
A series of buoys are part of the DART system. This warning system will target
tsunamis
Foliated and nonfoliated are types of _______ rock.
metamorphic
The age of dinosaurs is represented by the _______ era.
Mesozoic
Which of the following is used in insulation and known to cause lung cancer?
asbestos
Of these layers, the furthest from the center of the earth is the
mesosphere
Which of the following is a naturally occurring indoor air pollutant
radon
Which of the following is a secondary pollutant and major component of photochemical smog
ozone
Which of the following is a colorless, odorless gas that binds to hemoglobin in blood
carbon monoxide
Which of the following is a primary pollutant
carbon monoxide
Which of the following reduces the effect of acid rain
adding calcium carbonate to soils
In which layer of the atmosphere does most photochemical smog form
troposphere
Which of the following is commonly used to remove sulfur dioxide from the exhaust of a coal fired power plant
a scrubber
A temperature inversion is the result of
a lid of warm air on top of cooler air
True or false: decreased atmospheric water leads to an increased greenhouse effect
false
What is the main reason CFCs have a long residence time in the atmosphere
they are insoluble in water and chemically unreactive while in the troposphere
Which of the following is NOT a significant effect of increased UV radiation
sea level rise
General class of pollution that characterizes urban area with frequent, high intensity sunshine and mobile air emissions due to heavy transportation is
photochemical smog
Eight days after a 20 g/cubic meter sample of radon gas (with a half life of about 4 days) is emitted into a sealed room, how much of the gas remains.
Divide by 2 twice.
5 grams per cubic meter is the answer
Name an option that will not reduce some of the air pollutants caused by coal combustion.
increase in the use of bituminous coal and decrease in the use of anthracite coal
Name an example of a way that biogas (methane) is not produced in the environment.
solar production
Over 50% of natural background radiation exposure for humans comes from
terrestrial radiation from radon in bedrock material
Name an incorrect statement regarding climate change
the rate of greatest warming has been at the tropics near the equator
Name a gas that contributes significantly to the greenhouse effect and is a by product of bacterial metabolism
nitrous oxide
The over-withdrawal of ground water froma n aquifer may lead to land collapsing and can damamge roadways, sewer lines, and building foundations. This is known as
land subsidence
An earthquake measuring 8 on the Richter scale is how many times greater in magnitude than an earthquake measuring 4
10,000
A switch from coal burning, used to generate electricity, to wind and solar energy would help alleviate all of the following except
loss of stratospheric ozone
The secondary pollutants of photochemical smog are
ozone and nitric acid
The _____ was an international agreement to phase out the use of CFCs and other ozone depleting substances
Montreal Protocol
Ranges of active volcanoes are most abundant near
convergent plate boundaries
In the troposphere, oxygen is found primarily as ___, while nitrogen is found primarily as ___.
O2 and N2
Which of the following is a density independent population control factor
habitat destruction
which of the following is a significant indoor pollutant
formaldehyde
which of the following is not identified by the EPA as one of the top six criteria air pollutants
PANs
air temperature increases with altitude, due to the destruction of ozone by UV light in the
stratosphere
Name something that would lead to acid rain
the release of SO2 (sulfur dioxide) from a coal fired power plant
Catalytic converters remove what from automobile exhaust
carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide
which of the following species is the best suited to become an invasive species
american cockroach
Which of the following is removed by scurbbers installed in smokestacks
sulfur dioxide
which of the following decreases the amount of carbon dioxide in the troposphere
photosynthesis
which of the following does not emit green house gases
photosynthesis of oceanic phytoplankton
The type of radiation trapped in the troposphere by greenhouse gases
Infrared radiation
the type of radiation filtered and formed by the ozone layer
ultraviolet radiation
the type of radiation with the most energy
x rays
the type of radiation witht he least energy
microwaves
Legislation has effectively reduced which of the following air pollutants
lead`
What causes sick building syndrome
indoor air pollution
What allows polluters to buy and sell the right to pollute
cap and trade programs
If two air masses meet, don’t mix, and form a boundary, a ____ will be produced
front
What has high albedo
snow
The aurora australis and the aurora borealis occur in which atmospheric layer
thermosphere
Periodic shifts in earth’s tilt and orbit produce the
Milankovitch cycles
Anthropogenic
human-caused
The goal of the kyoto protocol was to reduce the GHGs to ___% below 1990 levels by 2012
5
The process of human activities near urban or agricultural areas that input excess plant nutrients into lakes in known as
cultural eutrophication
Of the following, which constitutes the greatest percent of use for water withdrawn in the world today
irrigation for food production
The federal legislation that set maximum containment levels for pollutants that cause adverse health effects in humans is the
safe drinking water act
which water quality test will best determine the disruption of photosynthesis caused by cloudy water conditions from sedimentation
turbitity
Coal burning power plants and nuclear power plants production electricity both release a large amount of
thermal pollution
Which of the following would least likely reduce the nutrients loading into the chesapeake bay estuary
government subsidies for cotton crops
The largest source of oil pollution found in the oceans is from
urban and industrial runoff from the land
Although PBCs have been banned in the US since 1977, they are still causing damage in the Great Lakes because
PCBs are persistent pollutants that do not degrade easily
A type of waste water treatment that involves some from of physical cleaning is
All three types of waste water treatment involve some type of physical treatment
Which of the following is not a non point source pollutatn
a sewage treatment plant effluent plant
Which of the following would most likely cause metabolic stress in aerobic lake organisms
dissolved oxygen levels at 2 to 3 ppm
The loss of riparian land along a river would cause
increased flooding and increased nonpoint source pollutant
Stronger regulations for coal burning power plant emissions are likely to reduce what aquatic pollutants
mercury
What river conditions would yield the highest dissolved oxygen content
fast moving cold water, large amounts of submerged vegetative biomass
In coastal areas, withdrawing groundwater to the point where lateral recharge occurs can cause
aerobic bacteria used to biodegrade organic waste
Name a large scale water transfer project that has caused great environmental deterioration
aral sea, former USSR
The largest estuary in the United States declared a dead zone is
chesapeake bay
Excessive inputs of nitrogen have been known to cause explosive growth of toxic microscopic algae that can poison fish and marine mammals. This outbreak in also known as
a red tide
Which of the following pesticides are still being used in the US
atrazine
Which of the following is Not a problem associated with electrical production from hydroelectric dams
large output of thermal pollution from producing electricity
Scientists commonly measure concentration of water pollutants in terms of ppm or ppb. One ppm is also equivalent to one mg of a toxin per liter of water. Therefore, on ppb would be equivalent to
nanogram/liter (mu gram/liter
Instead of using chlorine in the disinfecting stage of a municipal wastewater treatment plant, they could also use
UV light
Over 50% of natural background radiation exposure or humans comes from
terrestrial radiation from radon in bedrock material
Some countries are increasing their use of a desalination process that uses high pressure to force saltwater through a membrane filter with pores small enough to remove the salt. This process in called
reverse osmosis
coal burning power plants and light water nuclear reactors have which of the following in common
input of thermal pollution into local rivers and streams
What is a chemical water quality test that might help one determine why DO levels are dropping in a lake
nitrate test
The over withdrawal of groundwater from an aquifer may lead to land collapsing and can damage roadways, sewer lines and building foundations. This is known as
land subisdence
Which of the following has the lowest average net primary productivity
tundra
Which of the following is true of oligotrophic lakes
they have low nutrient levels and low productivity
The treaty that cut emissions of ozone depleting compounds was signed in
montreal canada
Name something that would leave to acid rain
the release of sulfur dioxide from a coal fired plant
A company pollutes a river rationalizing that will release a small quantity of pollutants that will quickly be diluted and have little effect on the water quality of the river. This best illustrates
tragedy of the commons
The phosphorus and nitrogen concentration found in groundwater most likely would be greatest beneath
an animal feedlot
Well water is often contaminated with which naturally occurring element
arsenic
In a river, which of the following will most likely occur downstream as a result of the effluent discharge of a primary sewage treatment facility
an increase in the BOD of the rivers water
Which of the following are used to disinfect municipal water supplies
chlorine
The diversion of water from rivers that flow into a lake that has no outlet to the sea will increase the
salinity of the lake
sediment pollution will result in an immediate change in this measurement
turbidity
changes in inverse proportion to water termperature
dissolved oxygen
higher for waters that flow through regions rich in calcium
hardness
which of the following is the smallest reservoir of the global hydrologic cycle
the atmosphere
the ogallala aquifer supplies water to much of
the high plains
the upper boundary of the zone of saturation beneath earths surface is
water table
which world river has the greatest quantity of discharge
amazon
the greatest quantity of water used domestically in the US is for
flushing toilets
a recharge zone provides water to a
aquifer
the largest dam in the world today is
three gorges dam
the single word that has caused many legal problems in the Clean Water Act of 1972 is
navigable
a carcinogen considered to be one of the greatest groundwater contamination pollutants found as an additive in gasoline is
MTBE (Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether)
Which of the following possesses the highest energy content and burns the cleanest?
Anthracite coal
Which lists the steps of coal formation in order of oldest to youngest material?
Peat-Lignite-Bituminous-Anthracite
Nuclear reactors produce energy through the process of what?
Fission
Which of the toxic heavy metals is released in significant quantities during the burning of coal?
Mercury
What is the most common fuel for nuclear fission?
Uranium
What would be the most cost-efficient method of space-heating?
Passive solar heat
What would be the most efficient water heater?
A tankless instant water heater fired by natural gas
What are features of passive solar design?
Adobe walls for heat storage
Often, large projects provide people with opportunities for recreational activities. What is most likely to result in creating such opportunities?
Hydroelectric power
What might result in a decline in the population of certain species of migratory birds?
Wind Power
What is relatively the most expensive way to generate electricity?
photovoltaic cells
The site of the most ecologically destructive oil spill in history was what?
Valdez, Alaska
What is the best example of obtaining energy from biomass?
Burning wood in a stove
The world’s uranium supply is estimated to be 4.8 million metric tons. If the global consumption rate for uranium is 200 metric tons per day, how many years will our uranium supply last?
70 years
What is not a distillation product of crude oil?
Peat
Some coal-burning and nuclear power plants utilize the production of both steam and electricity from one fuel source. This process is known as what?
Cogeneration
What respiratory disease was a rapidly spreading epidemic in China before it was successfully contained by 2003?
SARS
What is still being used in the U.S. to control pest populations?
Atrazine
The project started by Wangari Maathai in Kenya to re-plant native trees to reduce soil erosion is known as the what?
Greenbelt Movement
During a growing season, a farmer grows a crop that returns nitrogen to the soil in the same field with a plant that requires a lot of nitrogen. This would be an example of what?
Intercropping
Coal-burning power plants and light-water nuclear reactors have what in common?
Input of thermal pollution into local rivers and streams
A large urban city is a few degrees warmer than the surrounding suburbs. This is an example of what?
A microclimate
Natural gas extracted from the earth is a mixture of gases that contains 50-90% concentration of what gas?
Methane
A switch in dependency from coal-burning, used to generate electricity, to wind and solar energy would help alleviate what environmental concern?
Acid rain
The largest proven reserves of oil are located where?
the Middle East
To most effectively capture solar energy in the U.S., solar panels should be placed so that they face what cardinal direction?
South
A 2000 Watt electric space heater was used for 3 hours and 30 minutes. How much energy did the heater use?
7kWh
What is true about a 60-Watt incandescent light bulb with an efficiency of 5%?
It produces about 3 Joules of light and 57 Joules of heat per second
A city with a population of 300,000 uses 8 million BTU of energy each day. The yearly per capita energy consumption in the city is nearest how many BTU?
10 thousand BTU
What was the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history occurred where?
Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania
The most common form of renewable energy used by citizens in developing countries is what?
Biomass
What occurs at an oil refinery?
Crude oil is separated into its components using their boiling points
What country relies on geothermal energy to provide a large part of its energy?
Iceland
An incandescent light bulb has an efficiency of 5% and a compact fluorescent bulb has an efficiency of 25%. In order to replace a 100-Watt incandescent bulb and still provide about the same amount of light energy, a compact fluorescent bulb must have a power rating of what?
20 Watts
