Anthroposphere 1 Flashcards
What geology does the ‘blue swoosh’ sit on? (American elections)
The blue swoosh sits on cretaceous sandwiched between old and younger rock
What states does the blue swoosh sit in?
North Carolina
Alabama
South Carolina
Georgia
Besides just geology what else does the blue swoosh link up with in relation to human history?
The black belt- relating to the higher proportion of slaves moved to the area to grow cotton with data being taken from 1839
What was the black belt originally associated with?
A part of the states distinguished by the colour of the soil (thick, dark, naturally rich)
What was the term black belt used to describe post the world wars?
In political sense to designate counties where black people outnumbered white
What was the black belt defined as in 2000?
Any Southern countie with at least 40% African American population
How are the ‘blue swoosh’ and the ‘black belt’ connected?
Most Black Americans vote Democrat (blue)
Swoosh result of presence of descendants of enslaved people
What is the reason for the fertile cretaceous soils in the blue swoosh area?
Paleoclimate:
Cretaceous coastline
Warm, productive ocean
Rich in organic matter
Alkaline chalk (alkalinity good for soils)
Why wasn’t the blue swoosh present in 1972?
right to vote, poll taxes, physical
violence, suppressed the
Black vote
What was passed and amended between 1965-75 that led to the appearance of the blue swoosh?
Voting rights act
What was the reason there was no blue swoosh in 1976 and 80?
A Democrat from Georgia was in the presidential election
What is the potential uk example of the blue swoosh?
Between conservative and labour where labour are found popular in old coal mine towns due to conservative shut down
What has the expansion of civilisation allowed it to become?
A geosystem
What hypothesis was proposed by Schmidt and Frank about the potential that there has been another civilisation on our planet?
The Silurian hypothesis
What is the basis of the Silurian hypothesis?
understanding of how often, given that life has arisen and that some species
are intelligent, does an industrial civilization develop
What are the 2 main direct potential sources of evidence of ancient civilisations?
Fossils
Urbanisation
What potential indirect sources of evidence for ancient civilisations are there?
Geochemical tracers
Extinctions/Radiations
Non-naturally occurring materials
What equation can be used to measure the human impact on earth?
IPATS equation
What is the IPATS equation?
I= PAT*S
What do the letters in the IPATS equation mean?
I: Impact
P: Population
A: Affluence (consumption and waste generation)
T: Technology
S: Sensitivity of a particular environment to human activity
What problem do you get from using IPATS that was originally proposed with Malthus?
There will be a point of crisis where the population will exceed the resources available (scrooge- decrease the surplus population)
What is the vulnerability to climate change and co2 emissions pattern?
Those which has the lowest emissions are the most vulnerable to climate change
What main ways are humans affecting the geosphere?
Desertification
Soil erosion
Toxins
What is desertification?
the expansion of deserts
How are human actions causing desertification?
Overgrazing (albedo)
Urbanization/overuse of groundwater
(Climate change)
What human activities are closely related to soil erosion?
Deforestation
Mining
Overgrazing
How can toxins released by humans affect the geosphere?
Harmful chemicals leach into groundwater
Pesticides/herbicides
Radioactive waste
What are the main ways/areas in which humans affect the hydrosphere?
Dams and diversions
Groundwater depletion
Surface water contamination
Groundwater contamination
Oil spills and marine disruption
How do dams and diversions affect the hydrosphere?
River and estuarine ecosystems severely disrupted
Flooding
What is the problem with mining groundwater?
Non-renewable resource
How can humans cause surface water contamination?
Industrial effluent rich in organic matter and nutrients
Algal bloom, decay consumes oxygen, leads to eutrophication
What is the effect of oil spills/ marine disruption?
Eutrophication
Ocean acidification
What human actions affect the atmopshere?
Increase in GHGs
Transport of pollutants
Stratospheric ozone depletion
Smog
Acid rain
What are the main ways humans are affecting the biosphere?
Loss of forest
Overfishing
Coral bleaching
Biodiversity loss
What is the effect of a loss of forests?
Upsets the hydrological cycle
Leads to soil erosion
Carbon budget implications
What does RCP stand for?
Representative Concentration Pathways
What are RCPs?
describe plausible emissions trajectories based on different economic and technological assumptions
What are the 4 main RCPs?
RCP8.5= no mitigation
RCP6.0= some mitigation
RCP4.5= serious mitigation
RCP2.6= insane mitigation
What is equilibrium climate sensitivity?
the equilibrium climate response to doubling CO2 from 280ppm (pre industrial) to 560ppm.
What is the final climate response dictated by in the equilibrium climate sensitivity equation?
Forcing depends on the net sum of all feedbacks (+ and -)
What are the uncertainties of future climate change?
How much greenhouse gas will humanity release?
What is the true value of equilibrium climate sensitivity?
Model uncertainty
What happens regionally with every increment of climate change?
regional changes in mean climate and extremes become more pronounced
How much warmer was 2011-20 than 1850-1900?
1.1*c
When was the last time global surface temperatures were sustained above 2.5*c?
3 million years ago
What is the heat-humidity risk for human health?
It might get to the point where humans are unable to perspire to cool down
