Chapter 13-16 Flashcards by Jacqueline B

Arid and semi-arid lands

Drylands

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An arid land that receives less than 250mm of rainfall or snow equivalent per year and is sparsely vegetated unless it is irrigated

Desert (arid)

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Land in which the annual rainfall ranges between 250 and 500mm

Semi-arid

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Associated with the two belts of low rainfall near the 30N and 30S latitudes. Includes the Sahara, Kalahari, and the Great Australian deserts.

Subtropical deserts

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This receives as little precipitation as sub-tropical deserts, but because the precipitation comes in the form of snow that never gets a chance to melt, these deserts gradually build up a thick ice sheet

Polar deserts

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Forms when a mountain range creates a barrier to the flow of moist air, causing a zone of low precipitation to form on the downwind side of the range

Rainshadow desert

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Occur locally along the western margins of continents, where cold, upwelling seawater cools and stabilizes maritime air flowing onshore, decreasing its ability to form precipitation

Coastal desert

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Wind processes

Eolian

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Sediment transport in which the wind causes particles to roll along the ground

Surface creep

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Sediment transport in which particles move forward in a series of short jumps along arc shaped paths

Saltation

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Sediment transport in which the wind carries very fine particles over long distances and periods of time

Suspension

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Wind erosion in which airborne particles chip small fragments off rocks that protrude above the surface

Abrasion

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“Wind artifact”

Ventifact

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Steep-sided but flat topped desert landforms

Buttes

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And erosion in which loose particles of sand and dust are removed by the wind leaving coarser particles behind

Deflation

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Fine particles are removed, leaving a continuous pavement-like covering of coarse particles

Desert pavement

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A hill or ridge of sand deposited by winds

Dunes

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A leeward slope of a dune

Slip face

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Crisscrossed strata within a dune. Former slip faces

Cross beds

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The steepest angle at which loose particles will come to rest

Angle of repose

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Dunes may migrate over long distances, and they can cause severe degradation and loss of agricultural productivity when they invade non-desert lands

Desertification

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Crescent shaped dunes which are very mobile

Barchans

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If the wind blows in several different directions, it piles up into stationary ____

Star dunes

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When there is a copious sand supply, bar chan dunes can merge and form _____

Transverse dunes

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Dunes that run parallel to the prevailing winds

Longitudinal dunes

These are oriented in the opposite direction from bar chan dunes: the arms, stabilized by vegetation, point upwind

Parabolic dunes

A steep-sided canyon where rapid runoff erodes into the landscape

Arroyos

If canyons are closely spaced along the base of a mountain range, the alluvial fans will sometimes coalesce into a broad alluvial apron called ____

Bajada

Invasion of desert conditions into non-desert areas

Desertification

Land damage or loss of productivity caused by human activity, which may lead to the advance of desert condition into non-desert areas

Land degradation

The perennially frozen part of the hydrosphere

Cryoshpere

A semi-permanent or perennially frozen body of ice, consisting largely of recrystallized snow, which moves under the pull of gravity

Glacier

The largest type of glacier. A continent-sized mass of ice that covers all or nearly all the land within its margins

Ice sheet

Thick sheets of floating ice hundreds of meters thick that adjoin glaciers on land

Ice shelves

Large pieces of ice that fall off of ice shelves

Icebergs

A form of ice cover that never touches land at all but forms by the direct freezing of seawater

Sea ice

One kind of glacier where the interior is near its melting point throughout. Form on low and middle latitudes

Temperate glacier

A glacier at high altitudes or latitudes where the mean annual temperature is below freezing

Polar glacier

Occupies a bowl-shaped depression on a mountainside and typically serves as the source for a valley glacier

Cirque glacier

Flow down valleys and are fed either from cirque glaciers or ice caps

Valley glaciers

Covers a mountaintop completely and usually displays a radial-outward flow pattern

Ice cap

When a glacial valley is partly filled by an arm of the sea, the valley is called a fjord and the glacier is _____

Fjord glacier

When a glacier flows all the way out of the mountains and onto the surrounding lowlands

Piedmont glacier

Change from solid directly to vapour without melting

Sublimation

Additions to a glacier

Accumulation

Losses to a glacier

Ablation

A deep gaping fissure in the upper surface of a glacier

Crevasse

A heterogeneous mixture of crushed rock, sand, pebbles, cobbles, and boulders deposited by a glacier

Till

A ridge or pile of debris that has been, or is being, transported by a glacier

Moraine

Ground that is perennially below the freezing point of water

Permafrost

The average weather conditions of a location or region over time

Climate

Present day warming of the world's climate that most scientists believe is likely to continue and is at least partly caused by human activities

Global warming

A relatively cold period, when Earth's ice cover greatly exceeded its present extent

Glaciation, glacial period, ice age

A relatively warm period, when Earth's ice cover and climate resembled those of the present day

Interglaciation, interglacial period

Departure from circularity in Earth's orbit

Eccentricity

Variations in the degree of the planet's axis of rotation

Tilt

Wobbling of Earth's axis

Precession

The combined influences of astronomical-orbital factors that produce changes in the Earth's climate

Milankovitch cycles

The reflectivity of a surface, as a percentage of the total reflected radiation

Albedo

Extremely fine suspended particles that can cause dramatic changes in atmospheric albedo

Aerosols

A cycle in which the output from a process becomes an input into the same process

Feedback

The set of processes by which the carbon cycles from reservoir to reservoir through the global environment

Carbon cycle

Long term storage of a material, in isolation from the atmosphere

Sequestration

A place in the Earth system where a material is stored for a period of time

Reservoir

A reservoir that takes in more of a given material than it releases

Sink

A long term or underlying pattern in a time series of data

Trend

The scientific study of ancient climates

Paleoclimatology

Records of natural events that are influenced by, and closely mimic, climate

Climate proxy record

The portion of greenhouse warming that results from human activities rather than natural processes

Anthropogenic greenhouse effect

A computer model of the climate system, linking processes in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere

General circulation model

The breakdown of water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen by ultraviolet light

Photodissociation

A chemical reaction whereby plants use light energy to induce carbon dioxide to react with water, producing carbohydrates and oxygen

Photosynthesis

A useful material that is obtained from the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, or biosphere

Natural reaource

A resource that can be replenished or regenerated on the scale of a human lifetime

Renewable resource

A resource that cannot be replenished or regenerated on the scale of a human lifetime

Nonrenewable resource

Combustible organic matter that is trapped in sediment or sedimentary rock

Fossil fuel

A biogenic sediment formed from the accumulation and compaction of plant remains from bogs and swamps, with a carbon content of about 25%

Peat

A combustible rock (50-95% carbon) formed by the compression, heating, and lithification of peat

Coal

The lowest rank (carbon content) of coal

Lignite

The highest rank (carbon content) of coal

Anthracite

Coal intermediate between lignite and anthracite

Bituminous coal

Naturally occurring gaseous, liquid, a d semisolid substances that consist chiefly of hydrocarbon compounds

Petroleum

The liquid form of petroleum

Oil

The gaseous form of petroleum

Natural gas

A sediment or sedimentary rock in which the pores are filled by dense, viscous, asphalt-like oil

Tar sand

A fine grained sedimentary rock with a high content of kerogen

Oil shale

Any form of energy that is derived more-or-less directly from plant life, including fuel wood, peat, animal dung and agricultural wastes

Biomass energy

Electricity generated by running water

Hydroelectric energy

A deposit from which one or more minerals can be extracted profitably

Ore