social science: ess + humans in the holocene

Question 1

what is another name for the geosphere that scholars sometimes use?

Answer 1

lithosphere

Question 2

what is the geological time scale?

Answer 2

encompasses the millions and billions of years it has taken for the earth to move and change form

Question 3

what is the subsystem on earth that some scholars use to refer to all of the ice on earth?

Answer 3

cryosphere

Question 4

list the order of the layers of the atmosphere.

Answer 4

troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, exosphere

Question 5

certain gases in the atmosphere cause the greenhouse gas effect because they are ____________ to the Sun’s rays, allowing them to reach the surface.

Answer 5

transparent

Question 6

what does it mean that the earth’s climate system is also an open system?

Answer 6

it is not entirely self-contained
ex: sun is main external source of energy for the earth

Question 7

what are the three particularly influential forcings?

Answer 7

1. volcanoes
2. solar energy
3. greenhouse gases

Question 8

climatologists have identified that cooler temperatures in the northern hemisphere in the late 1600s and early 1700s corresponded to a period of fewer sunspots and low solar activity.

Answer 8

yea
thats all

Question 9

the milankovitch cycles reflect that at intervals of around ______ years, _________ years, and ________ years, the earth completes different cycles that influence which parts of the earth receive more, or less, solar energy.

Answer 9

100,000, 41,000, and 26,000

Question 10

how do volcanic eruptions influence the climate of a region?

Answer 10

can emit a layer of dust and particles that can offer shade cover to large areas of the globe, creating cooler conditions over vast regions

Question 11

water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane are examples of what?

Answer 11

greenhouse gases

Question 12

reactions to climate change caused by forcings are called…?

Answer 12

feedbacks

Question 13

positive feedbacks keep pushing climate change in what direction?

Answer 13

the direction that it’s already headed, whether hotter or colder

Question 14

negative feedbacks serve to do what with climate change?

Answer 14

moderate

Question 15

positive feedbacks can push climate change to a point of no return known as what?

Answer 15

the tipping point

Question 16

is melting ice sheets around the north pole an example of positive or negative feedback?

Answer 16

positive; more melting = less sunlight reflected = exposed ocean absorbs more sunlight than before = more warming of the ocean and of the north pole

Question 17

is the weakening of the polar vortex an example of a positive or negative feedback loop?

Answer 17

negative: more warming = cooling of north america because polar vortex weakened, and brings cooler weather further south with it

Question 18

what is a physical repository of documents compiled of written sources that are collected and stored?

Answer 18

archive

Question 19

what do scholars call places that hold sources that offer clues about past climatic conditions?

Answer 19

“archives of society”

Question 20

what do scholars call it when searching nature itself for clues about climate history?

Answer 20

“archives of nature”

Question 21

what is the term for something observable in nature that gives an indication of past climate conditions?

Answer 21

proxy

Question 22

list examples of proxies.

Answer 22

ice cores, dendrochronology (tree rings), sediments

Question 23

explain how ice cores are used as proxies.

Answer 23

drill long cylinders of ice out of deep glaciers
- cores are analyzed in layers
- as new ice formed, snowfall from each year traps particles from the atmosphere and freeze them in the ice
- can reveal atmospheric conditions from hundreds of thousands of years ago

Question 24

how can one identify the age of a tree?

Answer 24

counting the rings of a tree

Question 25

what information can be drawn from analyzing a tree's rings?

Answer 25

reveal if the year was dry or rainy - show the weather conditions of individual seasons in a year

Question 26

what is the practice of gathering information about the climate and conditions throughout a season in the past from trees?

Answer 26

dendrochronology

Question 27

the oldest instrumental records date back only to when?

Answer 27

the thermometer's invention around 1700

Question 28

one area in which the archives of society are more specific than the archives of nature is in what?

Answer 28

dating - from tree records we may know there was a good year of rain, but human records can give details down to the day or hour when it rained

Question 29

what are some examples of narrative records?

Answer 29

weather diaries, ship logbooks

Question 30

debating how to use sources is a healthy part of scientific inquiry and leads to more refined and reliable methods for studying past climate conditions.

Answer 30

yep

Question 31

give some examples of other debatable proxies that scientists have considered using to compile info about the climate?

Answer 31

markings on buildings of heights of floods, grain prices, paintings

Question 32

what is the term for a group of scholars who share common practices for studying the type of evidence they analyze?

Answer 32

scholarly field

Question 33

who lead the creation of the field of climate history?

Answer 33

christian pfister

Question 34

climatology is a study of climate that relies primarily on what source of information?

Answer 34

archives of nature - climatologists experts at gathering information from natural world

Question 35

what do the fields of historical climatology/paleoclimatology study?

Answer 35

investigates climates of the past, particularly before the 1800s when scholars first utilized existing scientific instruments for the purpose of creating widespread and systematic records of climate conditions

Question 36

climate historians collect and study what main form of sources?

Answer 36

archives of society

Question 37

who was an environmental historian who led the push to form and name the field of HCS (history of climate and society)?

Answer 37

Dagomar Degroot

Question 38

what does the field of history of climate and society (HCS) focus on?

Answer 38

the relationship between past climate conditions and human societies

Question 39

what is the argument that climate sets the course for human history?

Answer 39

climate determinism

Question 40

what year was rachel carson's "silent spring" published?

Answer 40

1962

Question 41

how far did the oldest homo sapien fossils date back to?

Answer 41

300,000 years ago

Question 42

before the holocene, the human population may not have surpassed what number?

Answer 42

10 million

Question 43

what climatic event was the general marker of the start of the holocene?

Answer 43

the end of the last ice age, 11,700 years ago

Question 44

when did the pleistocene epoch start?

Answer 44

2.6 million years ago

Question 45

when did the last glacial maximum occur?

Answer 45

20,000 years ago

Question 46

what was the cold millenium that lasted from c. 12,900 to 11,700 years ago called?

Answer 46

the younger dryas period

Question 47

what is it called when there is a warm period between ice ages?

Answer 47

interglacial period

Question 48

the pletisotcene and the holocene are composed into what larger geological time period?

Answer 48

the quaternary period

Question 49

in the last 800,000 years, how many interglacials have there been?

Answer 49

8

Question 50

what is the dominant forcing that moves the climate back and forth between ice ages and interglacial warm periods?

Answer 50

the differences in solar energy over time (Milankovitch cycles)

Question 51

the first period of the holocene, known as the greenlandian stage, lasted how long?

Answer 51

from 11,700 years ago to 8,236 years ago

Question 52

the middle period of the holocene, known as the northgrippian stage, lasted how long?

Answer 52

from 8,236 years ago to 4,250 years ago

Question 53

the final period of the holocene, known as the meghalayan stage, lasted how long?

Answer 53

from 4,250 years ago to the present

Question 54

what was the name of the ice core from greenland that bore evidence of the onset of the holocene?

Answer 54

NGRIP2

Question 55

what climatic event coincided with the start of the middle holocene?

Answer 55

the collapse of the glacial Laurentide Ice Sheet in Canada, accelerated flow of cold water into the ocean, known as "meltwater event"

Question 56

what period of the holocene did the mesopotamian civilization emerge around 5,500 years ago?

Answer 56

middle holocene

Question 57

what does the name "meghalayan stage/age" refer to?

Answer 57

the location of a cave in northeast India where mineral deposits give evidence of a climatic event at the date marking the beginning of the late holocene

Question 58

what was the name of the climatic event that occurred roughly 4,250 years ago during which abrupt changes in atmospheric and oceanic conditions led to sudden alterations in weather conditions around the world?

Answer 58

the Holocene Turnover

Question 59

In what year did the International Union of Geological Sciences reject a proposal to formally name the Anthropocene as a new geological epoch?

Answer 59

2024

Question 60

what was the starting date of the Late Holocene?

Answer 60

2250 BCE (4,250 years ago)

Question 61

what was the notable climatic event that occured in mesopotamia around 2250 BCE?

Answer 61

some scholars argue that it was climate change and drought that caused the collapse of the Akkadian empire

Question 62

similar to the collapse of the akkadian empire in mesopotamia, what climatic event around 2250 BCE could have contributed to the collapse of the Old Kingdom in Egypt?

Answer 62

drought

Question 63

what did the ancient egyptians keep detailed records of that allow scholars to study egypt for insights into the history of human efforts to protect sustainable farming conditions?

Answer 63

well-preserved records of irrigation practices and manipulations of the Nile River

Question 64

scholars divide the development of the indus civilization in the Indus valley into what three phases?

Answer 64

1. Early Harappan phase (from 3200 to 2600 BCE) 2. Mature Harappan phase (2600 to 1900 BCE) 3. Late Harappan phase (1900 to 1000 BCE)

Question 65

what was the early harappan phase characterized by?

Answer 65

population growth, new settlements, and urbanization

Question 66

what was the mature harappan phase characterized by?

Answer 66

most advanced features of the Indus Civilization, highly stratified social groups, complex city planning with gridded streets and drainage, and trade between multiple villages and urban centers

Question 67

what was the late harappan phase characterized by?

Answer 67

populations moved out of urban centers in favor of smaller village settlements

Question 68

while scholars don't know the causes of the decline of the Indus Civilization, what do some believe happened in 2250 BCE as a turning point for the civilization?

Answer 68

drought!! just like ancient egypt's old kingdom and mesopotamia's akkadian empire

Question 69

who was a greek king from macdeonia whose conquests shared cultural points of reference throughout all of the regions he visited?

Answer 69

Alexander the Great

Question 70

when was the collapse of the western roman empire?

Answer 70

476 CE

Question 71

up until what year did the middle ages last?

Answer 71

1450 or 1500

Question 72

what is the time span of the Renaissance?

Answer 72

1300 to 1600

Question 73

what was the "year without summer" in europe?

Answer 73

536 CE

Question 74

what historian asserted that 536 CE was the worst year to be alive?

Answer 74

Michael McCormick

Question 75

chinahas a remarkable collection of human records that date back to what dynasty?

Answer 75

Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1050 BCE)

Question 76

during what chinese dynasty was the mandate of heaven established?

Answer 76

Zhou dynasty (1046-256 BCE)

Question 77

during what period of the holocene did the little ice age occur?

Answer 77

the late holocene

Question 78

in the 1300s, at the beginning of the little ice age, what disease broke out?

Answer 78

the black death, devastating plague that decimated european population

Question 79

what two foundational events that shaped the modern world had the climatic backdrop of the little ice age?

Answer 79

1. outbreak of the black death 2. expedition of Christopher Columbus in 1492

Question 80

cooling during the little ice age ocurred in what three distinct periods?

Answer 80

wolf minimum (1280-1350) maunder minimum (1654-1715) dalton minimum (1790-1820)