General Flashcards
How much of the surface of earth do mountains make up?
1/4
Endemic
Regularly occuring
Topography is influenced by…
Avalanches, landslides, earthquakes
Mt. Fugi is known for
Strenght and peace
Mt. Etna is known for…
being menacing and devalish
Elevation
distance between land surface and reference (ie sea)
Altitude
object not in contact with refrence (ie. a plane)
Height
how far something protrudes above land
Permafrost
permanently frozen ground
James Usher
Thought earth began 4000BC at 9am
Thomas Burnet
Went on grand tour and proposed that earth smooth at first and water below burst up splitting apart land because he saw lots of rubble in the alps (mundane egg theory). First to reject that earth always has looked same.
Georges Buffon
Proposed earth was much older than what Usher thought. Two schools of geology (catastrophism and uniformitarianism)
Catastrophism
field of thought that water/ice/fire engulf earth causing major catastrophic change
Unifomitarianism
school of thought that localized event shape earth and history can be observed by present surface and local events shape what it looks like today
Charles Lyell
Wrote principles of geology with uniformitarian view; Darwin used his book
Burgess Shale
In Yoho national park, fossil deposits in mountains around emerald lake have preserved soft tissue
Alfred Wegner
Proposed Pangea and movement of the continents (fossils, continent’s like a puzzle, climatic evidence)
What are some factors to consider when defining a mountain?
Individuality, elevation, local relief, geology, climate, slope
Lithosphere
Crust and upper mantel (plates); move 1-10cm/year because of mantel convection
asthenosphere
what lithosphere glides over
mantel
earths hot, malleable inner layer
Divergent Plate Boundaries
Plates pull apart and volcanic material fills void (ie mid Atlantic ridge, east African rift)
Convergent Plate Boundaries (Ocean)
Denser plate subducts below buoyant plate and volcanos erupt from margin (ie pacific ring of fire)
Convergent Plate Boundaries (Continental)
Result in seismically active mountain ranges (ie Himalayas)
Transform Margins
Plates grind in horizontal motion. Can sometimes make mountains (ie San Andres Fault, San Gabriel Mountains)
Where do volcanos form?
rift valley spreading centers, convergent boundaries, above intraplate hotspots (within tectonic plates)
Fault Block Mountains
Portions of crust drop and portions rise (ie teton range)
Dome mountains
Magma pushes up slowly without breaking through and then cools and hardens (ie West Butte in Sweetgrass Hills, Montana))
Solar Radiation
Highest at the equator or where latitude is similar to slope angle
Seasonality
How much temperature fluctuates; controlled by latitude (tilt of earth, revolution of earth around the sun, variation in solar radiation)
Atmospheric Circulation
cool air is more dense and is pulled down by gravity; differences in atmospheric pressure creates with which moves from areas of high to low pressure.
Intertropical Convergence Zone
Air flows from high latitudes to equator where the air is warm and therefore low pressure
Circulation Cells
3/ hemisphere; cold air moves towards equator and warm air moves higher up away from the equator. Influenced by rotation of earth
Coriolis effect
Earth deflects wind to right in north and left in south
Trade winds
wind that blows west to equator in Hadley cell near equator
Westerlies
blow west to east at mid lattitudes
easterlies
blow wind east to west towards equator at high latitudes
Mountain Mass Effect
large mountains grouped together can influence climate
Orographic precipitation
Mountains close to oceans force air up leading to increased clouds so the windward side has lots of precipitation and the leeward side has less rain.
Continetinality
mountains in costal areas receive more precipitation and continental mountains receive more temperature flux and less precipitation
Local drivers of mountain climate
slope aspect/angle, inversions, microclimates (influenced by topography)
Global drivers of mountain climate
latitude, elevation, continentality
Alpine treeline ecotone
shift from trees to low plants
Treeline and continentality
mountains that are more interior have higher tree lines (less cloud cover so more solar radiation, are better protected from wind, mountain mass effect)
Ecotones
transitional zones between biomes
How much O2 does Hemoglobin transport?
97%
Oxygen saturation
percent Hg molecules with O2 attatched
Blaise Pascal
Tested theory that atmospheric pressure decreases with altitude on Puy de Dome in france
Oxygen diffusion
depends on surface area of tissue and concentration gradient (which is influenced by atmospheric pressure)
Immediate responses to hypoxia
breathing deeper (increases tidal volume), hyperventilation, increased heart rate (increases O2 circulation)
Death Zone
8000m above sea level; O2 level insufficient for human survival
Autonomic Nervous System
Controls heart rate, digestion, urination, influenced by low O2
AMS
Acute mountain sickness (headache, fatigue, nausea, dizziness)
Acetazolamide
Increases breathing rate to prevent AMS
HACE
High altitude cerebral edema; fluid in brain
HAPE
High altitude pulmonary edema; fluid in lungs
High altitude adaptations (4)
increased lung volume, increased O2 uptake capacity in RBC, increased blood vessel diameter, faster and deeper breathing
Andean Highlanders
South America; increased RBC and Hg levels
Tibetan highlanders
breath faster and deeper, have increased blood vessel diameter
CMS
chronic mountain sickness (can occur in highlanders too); makes blood sticky due to increased RBC
Hydrology
understanding and predicting how water moves across land and through the atmosphere
Watershed
land that drains into a commen water body; regulate water quality and quantity
Infiltration
Ground soaking up precipitation; increased by vegetation and pourus rock (limestone, sandstone). Higher levels of infiltration slow run off
Frontal Rainfall
low pressure systems travel over the mountains
Convective storms
Local daytime heating causes evaporation. Usually generate hail and is during hot seasons
Insulating property of snow_____ with density
decreases
ground water
fills pore space in rocks and sediment
Water table
top of where ground water completely saturates ground
Diurnal signal
changes in river flow over 24h; higher in later season
diurnal signal early spring
from snow melt
diurnal signal mid summer
from rain and glacial melt
Diurnal signal late summer
glacial melt
Glacier lake outburst floods
When a lake being caused by a glacier blocking it bursts through the glacier
Legacy Pollutants
Accumulated chemicals in glaciers such as DDT (evaporate in atmosphere and accumulate in mountains).
How much of the world do glaciers make up?
10%
Firn
Intermediate between snow and ice, white in color, density = 400kg/m3
Sintering
When snowflakes begin to interlock; melting begins at points of contact due to pressure
What are the factors to consider for glacier formation
climate, air temperature through the year, percipitation
Ice sheets
glaciers more than 50000 km2 (Antarctica and Greenland); flow independent of topography
Ice Caps
glaciers in polar and sub polar reigons (at high elevations) that are less than 50000km2; constrained by topography
Ice divide
high point in mtn where ice flows away from
How much land area do glaciers occupy?
10% of earths surface
Dry snow zones
Where there is little melting therefore glacier formation takes longer
Mountain glaciers
Influenced by topography an climate; fluctuate through time
Icefield
Largest mountain glacier
Valley Glaciers/Outlet Glaciers
originate from icefields that spill into basins of mountain reigions
Piedmont Glaciers
Originate from valley glaciers that spill into flat plains and fan out
Tidewater glaciers
Valley glaciers that flow to the sea which then will break off into small icebergs
Hanging glacier
major valley glaciers thin and end at cliff bands
Cirque glaciers
small valley glaciers that occupy basin like structures (wide); require snow depositied by avalanches. Walls provide shade that limits melting and therefore size
Vernagtferner Glacier
Had outburst floods; first depiction of glacier
Mass Balance
annual input-annual output of glacier; positive means increasing in size
Accumulation zone
positive mass balance; higher, colder, and snowier areas
Ablation Zone
Negative mass balance; lower, warmer areas
Equilibrium Line Altitude
where mass balance equals zero; high up if glacier is retreating (melting), and if low glacier is advancing it’s low (this means glacier will begin to be pulled down by gravity since its mass is increasing)
Basil Sliding
slippage of ice over its surface, controlled by temp of surface and amount of water present
Bed deformation
Glaciers deforming the surface it sits on; easier if dirt/soil
Flow Rate
driven by gravity, thickness of ice, and slope angle (presence of water introduces variability)
Crevasses
Deep cracks in glaciers formed from tension (usually in middle, around a bend, over bumps). Increases efficiency of debris transport (conveyer belt)
Snow bridge
snow covering a crevasse
Moraine
Accumulation of rocky debris in a glacier that extend to the bottom (can be lateral or medial); alter mass balance by changing albedo
