Chapter 1 Flashcards
Geology Definition
Study of earth contents ex. rocks, minerals etc
Environmental geology Defintion
Branch of geology which deals with human and earth envirment
How Does Envirmental Geology involve in our daily lives
Water for drinking, washing
Soil for growing our food
Ground on which we stand
Stable? Landslides
Disaster: Floods, earthquakes
How do we approach env geology
We use science of geology to solve problems resulting from interaction between five systems:
Solid earth, life, water, ice, air
Env Geology uses many branch’s of traditional geology like:
Mineralogy & economic geology: minerals
Petrology: Analysis of rocks
Hydrology: study of water
How do we study env. geology
It involves collection of geologic data from
-Surface(rock outcrops)
-subsurface(from boreholes)
When did we start collection of geologic data(study of env. geology)
Us started in 1950’s
Why did we start collection of geologic data(study of env. geology)
Give an example
Started in 1950s
Problems were observed and they needed answers
ex. Population geowth inscreaded rapdly, therefore increased demand for resocurces
City planners(engineers) were forced to recognize geologists what?
recognize geologists who could produce Multi purpose maps for things like cities
Multipurpose Maps showed areas of
Unstable ground
Prone to earthquakes
Highflood potential
Water of good/poor quality
Mineral resources
How much did the government vote for multi purpose maps studies
Voted 184 million over four years for these studies
Causes number one of env problems
1.High rate of world population Growth
High rate of world population Growth causes env problems why?
Define carrying capacity
Everyone wants a good standard of life but the planet has limited supply of air, land, water , mineral resources
Carrying capacity:Idea that given amount of resources can support a limited number of people/animals/plants
Env studies have to do alot with estimating population
Population Growth Rate (PGR) Formula
PGR= Birth Rate(BR)-Death Rate(DR)
Population Doubling Time(What does it mean and Formula)
Time it takes for a population to double in size
PDT=70/Growth rate% in years
Rule of 70
Theory One of Over Population(explain, its argument as well)
“the sky is falling”
-Earth is at or close to its carrying capacity
Many years ago one species every 25 years would go extinct but now in 1991,1700 species went extinct
Thus, earth is coming to an end and cant sustain 9-10 billion people
Argument Agaisnt
Population was not dont accurately a long time ago as it is now
Over population Theaory Number Two
“Gaia Hypothesis”
Gaia (Greek goddess of the earth)
Made by James Love Lock and Lynn Margulis
Earth is a super organism whose envirmoent is controled by plants and animals that inhabit it
Solution To Env. Problems
We have to plan towards a sustainable environment
Regulate food, fuel, air, water, resources for the instertst of our future generations
What Five things to we have to regulate to solve env problems
1.Population Growth
2.Engery and Global warming
3.The land
4. Forests
5.other resources
Explain Population Growth(5 Solutions for Env problem’s)
The Us and Europe are approaching replacement reproduction
means that babies are just reproduced to replace their parents
The population isnt decreasing or increasing
Engery And Global Warmings(5 Solutions for Env problem’s)
A seripus en. problem caused by an increase in CO2 in the air
-Caused by burming of gas, coal, oil
Need to regulate
The Land (5 Solutions for Env problem’s)
Number of people supported by earth is limited by amount of usuful land for arguculture
(Soil quailty is deterating)
Forest (5 Solutions for Env problem’s)
Deforestiation is a big problem caused by
Clearing soil for agriculture purposes
Logging for wood
Demand for wood fuel and forest products
Other resources (5 Solutions for Env problem’s)
Our society is a throwaway society
Must recycle some of our products because our products are dwindling
Mainly Paper, plastic, glass, alumin, steel
