exam 3 Flashcards
Geology
Study of dynamic processes taking place on the earth’s surface and in its interior
Three major concentric zones of the earth
Core
Hot minerals
Mantle
Less dense region, magma
Crust
Complex mineralogical composition, iron, calcium, aluminum, on the land
Continental crust
Oceanic crust = 71% of crust
mineral
Naturally occurring chemical element or inorganic compound that exists as a crystalline solid
Rocks
brandt, limestone sandstone
We mine for gold and salt
Rock cycle
Named by the way in which they form
Sedimentary rock
Formed thru transportation of water, wind, gravidity, accumulate in layers (sandstone, limestone shale)
Tiny particles of weathered and eroded types of rocks deposited and accumulate in layer
Metamorphic rock
Existing rock subjected to high temperatures, pressures, fluids, or a combination
Igneous rock
Forms under intense heat and pressure then cools
Tectonic plates
Convergent
Plates moving toward each other, collide
Volcano, mountain ranges
Divergent
Move away
Transform plate boundary
Move in opposite directions BUT PARALLEL
Ore
Deposit in earth’s crust with one or more valuable minerals
Contrians profitable concentration of a minera
High grade or low grade
High grade ore more sustainable to mine
Rare earth minerals
Produce lots of waste
China dominates in processing
Fossil fuels
Oil, coal and natural gas → remains of plants, animals, microbes
Living things
Accumulation of organic matter
Exist in finite amounts
surface Mining
Surface and stip mining
Removes shallow deposits
Extracting deposits in horizontal beds close to the earths surface
Open pit mining
Dig large pits to remove ore
Mountaintop removal
Explosives to remove top of mountain to expose underground area for access
Environmental probs of mountaintop removal
U pollute water bodies
More erosion
Risk of flooding
Subsurface mining
Underground shafts elevators tunnels to get to mineral
Human health effects - resource extraction - mining
Ore extracted by mining
Ore mineral
Tailings is the waste polluted water slurry
Chemicals in here
Could be leftover sediment
Smelting
Roast ores heat ores
Heat and chemicals
Result
Air pollution
Water pollution
Human health effects
Dangerous for miners- can develop black lung
Video
Using toxic mercury to aggregate the gold
And it goes back into the soil via waste
What can WE do
Recycle
Waste less
Use less
Find a substitute
Do without
Biomining
Using living organisms to mine particular minerals of interest
Microorganisms able to clean salt water
Volcanoes
Release molten rock from the earth’s interior
Magma rising to earth’s surface thru a fissure in earth’s surface
Eruption: release of hot ash into the air
Mt vesuvius destroy pompeii
Earthquake
Breakage and shifting of rocks
Occurs at a fault
Seismic waves
Vibrations in the crust
Focus
Origin of where earthquake occurs
Magnitude of earthquake is the severity
Haiti
Experienced a 7.2 magnitude earthquake
Richter scale
It measures magnitude of the earthquake (amplitude of wave)
Largest recorded: 9.5 in chile, 1960
Earthquakes on the ocean floor
Cause tsunamis
Series of huge waves generated when ocean floor suddenly rised or drops
December 2004-indian ocean tsunami
Magnitude 9.2
230,0000+ lost lives
Japan
Nuclear radiation from it
Glaciers
Sheets of icermed from snow pack
Most occur on land but can extend out to sea
Climate change recedes them
Distinct landforms
Mounded hills: moraines, drumlines
Bodies of water: kettle lakes
Atmosphere
Composition of gases
78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen
Innermost layers of the atmosphere
Troposphere
Stratosphere
Ozone
Helps filter harmful UV radiation
Greenhouse gases
CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, water vapor
Can trap heat in the atmosphere - like a blanket
They are natural, we need them to survive
Urban heat island effect- a microclimate
Urbanized areas that experience higher temps than outlying areas
Albedo effect
How much sunlight is reflected from earth’s surface, then held onto. Light surfaces reflect more than darker surfaces
Benefits of tree planting
Stormwater retention
Provide shade
Thermoregulation, evapotranspiration
aesthetic
Not absorbing heat thru black top
Ice
Has a high albedo effect- what does this mean as we are seeing more sea ice melting?
Positive feedback loop, melting contributes to more melting
Understanding climate and climate change
Ice cores
Annual tree rings → tells u tree age, thru ring space indicating growth during that year
Helps understand earlier climates
Real time atmospheric CO2 measuring
Climate change
Increases in CO2 increases in temp
IPCC
Intergovernmental panel on climate change
Scientists + gov representatives to review causes effects and data surrounding climate change
Every 6-7 years or so
Aim to limit going 1.5 degrees above the pre industrial temperature
Temperature over time (form pre industrial) to keep it under
2024
Hottest year on record by NASA
We went above the 1.5 degree rise
Main greenhouse gases
CO2
Produced abundantly over the last decades in the atmosphere
Methane
Pools holding waste releasing agriculture
Landfills + agriculture main ways
Why we compost
Fugitive emissions
unintentional emission
Thru extraction, delivery of fossil fuels (like pipelines)
Climate change effects
Global warming
See ice reduction
Dying polar bears
See temps rise
Melting glaciers
Flooding
Sinking bc ground water being taken up for agriculture/ residential areas
Areas design cities to have canals
Video
Manila does not have ability to weather the storm bc reefs help in stormwater management
Storms overall get stronger, that the areas can fight off tho as readily as erosion and other stuff
How do we know recent change is caused by humans
They look at models of temp change
And fossil fuel consumption
Deforestation
Natural
volcanic eruptions does not follow human factors
Policy
Paris climate agreement
International climate change agreement each country expected to lower GHG emissions with the overall goal of limiting the earth’s average temp increaser to below 2 degrees celsius - pre industrial level
1.5 degrees → decided it is better not to go above
Solutions to climate change
Clean energy tax credits
EPA regulations on power plants
Auto industry regulations-switching to EV vehicles
Carbon tax
If you pollute air you have to pay a tax
Carbon cap and trade
Cap on how much carbon can be emitted that the gov sets
Permits or allowances for companies to emit a certain amount
geoengineering
Having a mirror in space that reflects part of the sunlight so it does not hit the surface
Air quality
Europe has probs with air pollution
Air pollution
Presence of chemicals in the atmosphere harming organisms
Natural sources
Windblown dust, wildfire residue, volcanic eruptions
Human sources
Power Plants
Industrial facilities
Motor vehicles
Clean air act
Natural ambient air quality stickers
6 criteria pollutants
Transportation powerplants- main emitters of pollutants, PM particulate matter
Sulfur dioxide
Carbon monoxide
Nitrogen dioxide
Ozone in the stratosphere (troposphere its a pollutant
Primary pollutant
Released directly from the source into the air in a harmful form
Carbon, sulfur
Secondary pollutant
Converted to a hazardous form after they enter the air or are formed by chemical reactions as components of the air mi and interact
Ozone
Needs sunlight to form that reaction
Major outdoor air pollutants
Sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid
Harmful pollutants
Colorless corrosive gas
Coal and oil
Ore go thru smelting that can release sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere
Water vapor and sulfuric acid → breaking down chlorophyll in leaf acid rain, statues disintegrating
Nitrogen oxides
Highly reactive gasses that forms with nitrogen heated air to a particular temperature in the presence of oxygen
Can react w water= nitric acid
Nitric acid and sulfuric relate to acid rain
Acid rain
Rainfall in 1986 more acidic bc more sulfur dioxide issues + nitrogen oxide pollution
Seen in forests at high altitudes dying off
Cap and trade benefit
Worked well in bringing down pollution for sulfur dioxide
Step 1. U set a cap for how much pollution can get into atmosphere
Give permits and allowances
The flexibility marketing economics comes in that if one powerpoint is under allowance they can sell it to another power plant that wants to emit more
The cap is lowered over 5 years
Forced companies to adopt diff technologies, to lessen emissions
Pollutants and fire
Carbon monoxide
Colorless odorless toxic gas, from incomplete combustion of fuel (coal, oil, fuel, gas)
Makes hemoglobin unable to hold oxygen + deliver it to cells
Emit thru transportation and fires
90% of it in the atmosphere gets converted into carbon dioxide
Particulate matter
Solid particles of, dust, lint, smoke, pollen
Reduce visibility
Damage lung tissues
Wildfires in canada → ppl had school cancelled
Indoor pollution
Wind charcoal fires increase the amount of pollution indoors
Cigarette smoke, chemicals in building materials
Additional pollutants
Ozone
Secondary pollutant, volatile organic compounds combines with sunlight lead to it like formaldehyde and chlorine (coughing, breathing prob)
Lead
Industrial and mining, smelting of metal ores, older houses have lead paint
Liquid mercuries being used to release gold
Or used to burn coal
Impacts arsenic, nickel and lead
EPA
Made over 30 rules to roll back mercury and other pollutants
Lee zelden
Effects of pollution
Asthma
Chronic bronchitis
Muscle spasms constricting airways
Emphysema
When permanently restricted ti is emphysema
What can we do
Dilution is the pollution? No
Converting to more renewable energy
Air filter, remove particulates in smoke stacks (industry)
China had rlly polluted air
Beijing is the smog capital of the world
Required industry to bring down pollution
Clean air legislation
Pollution going down
From emission controls
Cap and trade with sulfur dioxide - went down
Oceans
97% of all water on planet
Freshwater 3%
Most trapped in ice/glaciers
Evaporations
liquid water to gas
Precipitation
turns liquid water into gas rain, hail, returns to earths surface
Infiltration and surface runoff
Water falling from the sky
Seeping into the ground stored as ground water
If it does not go into the ground it becomes runoff, back to the ocean
Used for irrigation→ we use alot of ground water
More intense storms
Bc the air is warmer and holding more moisture leading to more storms and significant storms
Rain shadow effect
Prevailing winds traveling up the mountain picking up moisture from the ocean
Cooling letting moisture go, coming down other side of mountain starts to fall and warm up
Air conditions on leeward side
Windward side is more lush bc more rainfall
Ex. death valley CA
Wetlands
The composition of the soil permanently or seasonally saturated and specific plants will determine if area is a wetland
Ecosystem services
Prevent erosion
Storing water
Prevent flooding
Biodiversity
Birding
Canoeing
Kayaking
Re supply groundwater
Vegetation can filter pollutants breakdown toxic waste
Groundwater storage
Zone of aeration
Where plants get moisture from
Zone of saturation
Where the ground water is
Water table
Distinguished between the zone of aeration and saturation
Aquifer
Porous layers of sand, gravel, rock below the water table
Wetlands help recharge the aquifer
Reservoirs for ground water
what’s the problem
Pulling groundwater causes sinking
Rely on food production happening using too much water
Ogallala aquifer
Irrigation pumps are pumping out water
Over watering is bad
Using additional resources for over watering is bad
Cant naturally recharge if water is pumped to fast
Ones near the shore can have saltwater infiltrate making it unusable
Utah’s environmental nuclear bomb
Lake is drying from drought,snowcap, population using too much water
Water evaporation
Effects of lake drying
Impact ook with high risk disease, when water exposes sediment of the lake bed which can blow metals in the atmosphere respiratory issues, lung cancers, more pollutants
What to be done for water shortage
Solutions is maybe we should stop building in places that cannot support human dev and growth
People start wearing gas masks
