Midterm

Question 1

How do you calculate doubling time of population?

Answer 1

D=70/annual growth rate

Question 2

What is exponential growth?

Answer 2

Quantity grows at a rate directly proportional to its present size

Question 3

What is carrying capacity?

Answer 3

Maximum number of people that can live on earth without causing environmental degradation

Question 4

What is sustainability?

Answer 4

A model of development that ensures that future generations have equal access to earth resources

Question 5

What are examples of unsustainable management of resources?

Answer 5

overpopulation, land clearing, deforestation, land degradation, wars, geographic isolation

Question 6

What is the Gaia hypothesis and who proposed it?

Answer 6

Earth is analogous to a living organism; John Lovelock

Question 7

What is the core made of and how dense is it?

Answer 7

solid inner and liquid outer, density= 10.7g/cm3

Question 8

What is the mantle made of and how dense is it?

Answer 8

Silicates of iron and magnesium, density= 4.5g/cm3

Question 9

What is oceanic crust made of and how dense is it?

Answer 9

Composed of basalt, density= 2.9g/cm3

Question 10

What is continental crust made of and how dense is it?

Answer 10

Granite; density= 2.8g/cm3

Question 11

What are the main differences between the lithosphere and asthenosphere?

Answer 11

Lithosphere is a cool and rigid outer shell and comprised of the upper mantle and the crust. Asthenosphere is the soft and weak inner.

Question 12

How thick is the oceanic crust?

Answer 12

~7km

Question 13

How thick is the continental crust?

Answer 13

~40-70km

Question 14

What is the significance of the asthenosphere?

Answer 14

It’s where convection happens because it behaves plastically

Question 15

What does the asthenosphere have to do with the seafloor spreading theory?

Answer 15

Convection forces new buoyant material from the asthenosphere into the mid ocean ridges where the plates are pulling apart

Question 16

Who proposed the seafloor spreading theory?

Answer 16

Harry Hess in 1962

Question 17

What is the continental drift theory?

Answer 17

Continents used to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle

Question 18

Who proposed the continental drift theory?

Answer 18

Alfred Wagner in 1915

Question 19

When did Pangea break apart?

Answer 19

~200 million years ago

Question 20

What is a convergent plate boundary?

Answer 20

Plates move towards each other

Question 21

What is a divergent plate boundary?

Answer 21

Plates move away from each other

Question 22

What is a transform plate boundary?

Answer 22

Plates slide past each other

Question 23

What landform is associated with transform boundaries?

Answer 23

San Andreas fault

Question 24

What landform is associated with divergent boundaries?

Answer 24

midoceanic ridge

Question 25

What landforms are associated with convergent boundaries?

Answer 25

Mountain ranges, volcanoes, subduction zones

Question 26

What are the 3 most abundant elements in Earth's crust?

Answer 26

oxygen, silicon, aluminum

Question 27

What are the most abundant rock-forming minerals?

Answer 27

Silicon and oxygen

Question 28

What are some examples of igneous rocks?

Answer 28

Basalt, Andesite, Granite

Question 29

What are some examples of sedimentary rocks?

Answer 29

Sandstone, Limestone, Chalk

Question 30

What are some examples of metamorphic rocks?

Answer 30

Slate, Gneiss, Quartzite, Marble

Question 31

What is the most prevalent volcanic rocks at midoceanic ridges?

Answer 31

Basalt

Question 32

What are clastic sedimentary rocks?

Answer 32

Rocks formed from the compaction and cementation of discrete fragments and particles

Question 33

What are non-clastic sedimentary rocks?

Answer 33

Rocks formed from the deposition of dissolved matter through a chemical and/or biochemical process

Question 34

What is the most important carbonate mineral?

Answer 34

Calcite is the major constituent of limestone and marble

Question 35

What is marble?

Answer 35

A non-foliated metamorphic rock that comes from limestone

Question 36

What are faults?

Answer 36

Fractures accompanied with displacement

Question 37

What are joints?

Answer 37

Fractures without displacement

Question 38

What are synclines?

Answer 38

bowl shaped concave folds

Question 39

What are anticlines?

Answer 39

Arch shaped convex folds

Question 40

What is superposition?

Answer 40

Rock beds near the top are younger and the oldest materials are at the bottom of the strata

Question 41

What is original horizontality?

Answer 41

individual beds were nearly horizontal when they were deposited, tilting and development of a fracture line

Question 42

What is the difference between the epicenter and hypocenter?

Answer 42

The hypocenter/depth of focus is the point within the earth where the waves originate, and the epicenter is the location on the earths surface directly above the focus

Question 43

What is the relationship between depth of focus and severity of damage caused by an earthquake?

Answer 43

A deep earthquake has farther to travel and is less destructive. A shallow earthquake is more destructive.

Question 44

What is a seismograph?

Answer 44

The instrument that records the details of seismic activity.

Question 45

What is a seismogram?

Answer 45

The written or digital record of seismic activity.

Question 46

What is an R wave?

Answer 46

Surface waves; much slower than S and P waves

Question 47

What are S waves?

Answer 47

secondary/shear waves that propagate at ~3km/sec

Question 48

What are P waves?

Answer 48

primary waves that are fast (>5.5km/sec) and associated with sounds

Question 49

What is the Mercalli scale?

Answer 49

Intensity of shaking, determined by amount of damage

Question 50

What is the Richter scale?

Answer 50

The amount of energy released at the point of rupture

Question 51

What's the most powerful earthquake recorded since the 1900s, and what was its magnitude?

Answer 51

Chile, 9.5

Question 52

What are the characteristics of a tsunami in the deep ocean?

Answer 52

Small, fast moving waves (>500kmh) that are < 1m in height and spaced long distances apart

Question 53

What are the characteristics of a tsunami as it approaches the shoreline?

Answer 53

The waves slow to about 45kmh, and the space between waves is decreased, which increases the height.

Question 54

What is magma?

Answer 54

Molten rock beneath the Earth's surface, in the crust or upper mantle, at depths ~50-250km.

Question 55

What is lava?

Answer 55

Magma that has emerged from the Earth's surface.

Question 56

What is lahar?

Answer 56

A mixture of pyroclastic debris and water

Question 57

What type of plate boundaries are most commonly associated with volcanoes?

Answer 57

Convergent

Question 58

Where are shield volcanoes found?

Answer 58

Oceanic crust

Question 59

What are two examples of Strato-volcanoes?

Answer 59

Mt St Helens and Mt Fuji

Question 60

Where is Mt St Helens located and when was its last major eruption?

Answer 60

Washington; May 18, 1980 after 120 years of dormancy

Question 61

What impact did the eruption of Mt Pinatubo in 1991 have in the global climate?

Answer 61

Global cooling; summer was 0.5C cooler

Question 62

Why was the death toll following the eruption of Mt Pinatubo relatively low?

Answer 62

Pre-eruption warnings

Question 63

What gas is associated with the Lake Nyos disaster in 1986?

Answer 63

Carbon dioxide

Question 64

What is pyroclast?

Answer 64

Materials that are ejected from the volcano: ash, cinders, bombs

Question 65

What are ash flows?

Answer 65

Lava that escapes violently as a glowing avalanche of hot gas and incandescent ash

Question 66

What is gypsum found in?

Answer 66

Drywall

Question 67

What is the concentration factor?

Answer 67

The ratio of necessary ore concentration for profitable mining to its average concentration in Earth's crust

Question 68

What is itai itai?

Answer 68

A chronic disease found in the Zintsu river basin due to heavy mineral waste dumping (zinc, lead, and cadmium)