Test 1 Flashcards
The four major parts of the earth system are ___, ___, ___, ___.
Atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, geosphere
The atmosphere contains ___. The hydrosphere contains ___. The biosphere contains ___. The geosphere contains ___.
Atmosphere = Air. Hydrosphere = Water. Biosphere = Living Organisms. Geosphere = Solid Earth.
How is the water cycle an example of how the Earth’s spheres are interconnected?
Water moves between the atmosphere (air), hydrosphere (water bodies), lithosphere (earth), and biosphere (living organisms). Water from oceans, rivers, and lakes (hydrosphere) evaporates into the atmosphere (air). The water vapor condenses to form clouds and eventually falls as precipitation (rain, snow) back to the Earth’s surface. The precipitation replenishes ricers and lakes, or infiltrates into the soil (lithosphere), where it can be taken up by plants (biosphere). Plants (biosphere) release water vapor back into the atmosphere through transpiration.
A positive feedback mechanism (amplifies or counteracts) changes, whereas a negative feedback mechanism (amplifies or counteracts) change.
Positive = Amplifies. Negative = Counteracts.
Is the following an example of a positive or negative feedback mechanism? Melting ice reduces the Earth’s albedo (reflectivity), causing more solar energy to be absorbed by the ocean, which in turn leads to further ice melt.
Positive. The ice melting amplifies change because it causes exponential change to happen.
Is the following an example of positive or negative feedback? Increased CO2 levels can enhance plant growth (biosphere), which absorbs more CO2 and helps reduce atmospheric levels.
Negative. The plants help counteract the negative change that CO2 levels have on the environment.
Adaptive responses involve adjustments or adaptations in one sphere that help stabilize or mitigate the impact of changes. What is an example of this?
For example, plants (biosphere) may adapt to increased temperatures by altering their growth patterns or by developing drought-resistant traits.
___ is made of quartz, feldspar, biotite, and muscovite. This rock is also the most abundant continental rock. SiO2. This rock can be an igneous, metamorphic, or a sedimentary rock.
Granite
___ is made of feldspar, pyroxene, and olivine. This rock is also the most abundant ocean floor rock and is found in Hawaii.
Basalt
___ is very resistant to weathering because it is mostly made of quartz. Its grains are rounded.
Sandstone
___ is made of clay and has very fine grains.
Shale
___ is made of calcite and typically has either coral debris or is crystallized. These rocks are oftentimes found in coral reefs and tropical oceans.
Limestone
___ is made of halite and has large coarse crystals. This typically forms in evaporating lakes or lagoons.
Rock Salt
___ is mostly made of quartz, muscovite, and illite (clay). This rock is originally shale and is used as a building stone.
Slate
___ is mostly made of muscovite, biotite, and hornblende. This rock was originally shale but more extreme than slate.
Schist
___ is mostly made of calcite. This rock was originally limestone.
Marble
___ is mostly made of quartz, feldspar, hornblende, and biotite. This rock was originally granite.
Gneiss
This minteral is made of feldspar silicate, can be an igneous and metamorphic rock. AlKS
Potassium Feldspar
This mineral is made of mica silicate and can be igneous or metamorphic. AlKFS
Muscovite
This mineral is made of mica silicate and can be igneous or metamorphic. AlKNaCaMgFeS
Biotite
This mineral is made of amphibole silicate and can be igneous or metamorphic. AlKNaCaMgFeS
Hornblende
This mineral is made of amphibole silicate and can be igneous or metamorphic. AlKNaCaMgFeS
Hornblende
This mineral is made of feldspar silicate and can be igneous or metamorphic. AlCaNaS
Plagioclase Feldspar
This mineral is made of silicate and can be igneous or metamorphic. CaMgFeS
Pyroxene
This mineral is made of silicate and can be igneous and metamorphic. MgFeS
Olivine
This mineral is made of silicate and is sedimentary. AlFeOHS
Clay
Mineral groups are primarily based on a mineral’s ___ composition.
chemical
Sodium (Na) and Potassium (K) are ___ metals
alkali
Magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca) are ___ earth metals
alkaline
Iron (Fe) is a ___ (heavy) element
transitional
Aluminum (Al) and Silicon (Si) are ___/semi-metals
basic
Hydrogen (H), carbon (C), nitrogen (N), oxygen (O), phosphorus (P), and sulfure (S) are ___-metals
non
Fluroine (F), chlorine (Cl), and bromine (Br) are ___
halides
Helium (He), neon (Ne), argon (Ar), and Krypton (Kr) are ___ gases
noble
___ minerals are the single most important mineral group that includes over 90% of minerals in the crust
Silicates
What five characteristics do all minerals have?
1) Naturally occuring, 2) inorganic, 3) solid, 4) have a definite chemical composition, 5) a crystalline structure (or ordered internal structure)
What are the two of the five components of minerals that are responsible for making each one unique from others?
1) Chemcial composition (the types of atoms present), 2) crystal structure (the arrangement of those atoms within the mineral
___ is any exposed rock
Outcry
After an igneous rock becomes an extrusive rock, what can happen next?
Weathering and erosion.
Once an extrusive igneous rock goes through weathering and erosion, what does it turn in to?
Sediment
What is physical weathering?
The process that breaks rocks apart without changing their chemical composition.
What is chemical weathering?
A process where rocks break down and change their composition due to chemical reactions with substances like water, oxygen, and dissolved minerals.
Once an extrusive igneous rock goes through weathering/erosion and becomes sediment, what happens when it goes through burial, compaction, deposition, or cementation? It becomes a ___ rock.
Sedimentary
During burial, the deeper a rock is buried, the more it’ll ___ because the deeper you go, the hotter it is.
Alter
___ is the process by which flowing water picks up and moves particles of soil and rock, then drops them when the water slows down. The largest particles are dropped first, followed by smaller particles as the water slows even more.
Deposition
Heat, pressure, and chemical reaction turn a sedimentary rock into a ___ rock.
metamorphic
A ___ rock can become a different type of ___ rock.
metamorphic
A ___ and ___ rock can be uplifted, become outcry, go through weathering and erosion, become sediment, go through burial, deposition, compaction, and cemention, and become a sedimentary rock again.
sedimentary and metamorphic
A metamorphic rock can go through melting, become magma, and then become an intrusive ___ rock.
Igneous
An intrusive igneous rock can become an extrusive igneous rock through ___.
uplifting
Three silicate rocks.
Feldspar, quartz, peridot, olivine, garnet, mica, pyroxene