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acadeca 24-25 > social science: ess + humans in the holocene > Flashcards

social science: ess + humans in the holocene Flashcards

essential concepts from earth system science and holocene stuff

1
Q

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

A

lithosphere

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2
Q

what is the geological time scale?

A

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

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3
Q

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

A

cryosphere

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4
Q

list the order of the layers of the atmosphere.

A

troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, exosphere

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5
Q

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

A

transparent

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6
Q

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

A

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

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7
Q

what are the three particularly influential forcings?

A
  1. volcanoes
  2. solar energy
  3. greenhouse gases
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8
Q

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.

A

yea
thats all

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9
Q

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.

A

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

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10
Q

how do volcanic eruptions influence the climate of a region?

A

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

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11
Q

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

A

greenhouse gases

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12
Q

reactions to climate change caused by forcings are called…?

A

feedbacks

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13
Q

positive feedbacks keep pushing climate change in what direction?

A

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

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14
Q

negative feedbacks serve to do what with climate change?

A

moderate

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15
Q

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

A

the tipping point

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16
Q

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

A

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

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17
Q

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

A

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

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18
Q

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

A

archive

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19
Q

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

A

“archives of society”

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20
Q

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

A

“archives of nature”

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21
Q

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

A

proxy

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22
Q

list examples of proxies.

A

ice cores, dendrochronology (tree rings), sediments

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23
Q

explain how ice cores are used as proxies.

A

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

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24
Q

how can one identify the age of a tree?

A

counting the rings of a tree

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25
Q

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

A

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

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26
Q

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

A

dendrochronology

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27
Q

the oldest instrumental records date back only to when?

A

the thermometer’s invention around 1700

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28
Q

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

A

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

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29
Q

what are some examples of narrative records?

A

weather diaries, ship logbooks

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30
Q

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.

A

yep

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31
Q

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

A

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

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32
Q

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

A

scholarly field

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33
Q

who lead the creation of the field of climate history?

A

christian pfister

34
Q

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

A

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

35
Q

what do the fields of historical climatology/paleoclimatology study?

A

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

36
Q

climate historians collect and study what main form of sources?

A

archives of society

37
Q

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

A

Dagomar Degroot

38
Q

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

A

the relationship between past climate conditions and human societies

39
Q

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

A

climate determinism

40
Q

what year was rachel carson’s “silent spring” published?

A

1962

41
Q

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

A

300,000 years ago

42
Q

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

A

10 million

43
Q

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

A

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

44
Q

when did the pleistocene epoch start?

A

2.6 million years ago

45
Q

when did the last glacial maximum occur?

A

20,000 years ago

46
Q

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

A

the younger dryas period

47
Q

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

A

interglacial period

48
Q

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

A

the quaternary period

49
Q

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

A

8

50
Q

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

A

the differences in solar energy over time (Milankovitch cycles)

51
Q

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

A

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

52
Q

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

A

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

53
Q

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

A

from 4,250 years ago to the present

54
Q

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

A

NGRIP2

55
Q

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

A

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

56
Q

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

A

middle holocene

57
Q

what does the name “meghalayan stage/age” refer to?

A

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

58
Q

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?

A

the Holocene Turnover

59
Q

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

A

2024

60
Q

what was the starting date of the Late Holocene?

A

2250 BCE (4,250 years ago)

61
Q

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

A

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

62
Q

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?

A

drought

63
Q

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?

A

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

64
Q

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

A
  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)
65
Q

what was the early harappan phase characterized by?

A

population growth, new settlements, and urbanization

66
Q

what was the mature harappan phase characterized by?

A

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

67
Q

what was the late harappan phase characterized by?

A

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

68
Q

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?

A

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

69
Q

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

A

Alexander the Great

70
Q

when was the collapse of the western roman empire?

A

476 CE

71
Q

up until what year did the middle ages last?

A

1450 or 1500

72
Q

what is the time span of the Renaissance?

A

1300 to 1600

73
Q

what was the “year without summer” in europe?

A

536 CE

74
Q

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

A

Michael McCormick

75
Q

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

A

Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1050 BCE)

76
Q

during what chinese dynasty was the mandate of heaven established?

A

Zhou dynasty (1046-256 BCE)

77
Q

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

A

the late holocene

78
Q

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

A

the black death, devastating plague that decimated european population

79
Q

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

A
  1. outbreak of the black death
  2. expedition of Christopher Columbus in 1492
80
Q

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

A

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

acadeca 24-25 (4 decks)

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