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UD GEO 115 > Test 3 (Final) > Flashcards

Test 3 (Final) Flashcards

1
Q

How much of US energy needs are met by petroleum (oil)?

A

35%

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2
Q

How much of US energy needs are met by natural gas?

A

28%

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3
Q

How much of US energy needs are met by coal?

A

18%

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4
Q

What are the major uses of petroleum/oil?

A

Transportation fuels

Industrial machines

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5
Q

What are the major uses of natural gas?

A

Industrial and residential/commercial heating

Electricity

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6
Q

What are the major uses of coal?

A

Electricity

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7
Q

What is a source rock and why is it needed to produce petroleum and natural gas?

A

Source Rock is the origin of oil/gas

oil comes out of there, but isn’t necessarily taken from there

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8
Q

What is a reservoir rock and why is it needed to produce petroleum and natural gas?

A

Reservoir Rock is where oil/gas Migrates up/stores

less dense oil and gas rise out of shale into reservoir rocks

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9
Q

What is a petroleum trap and why is it needed to produce petroleum and natural gas?

A

Traps concentrate oil and gas into pressurized pockets

Types of traps include folds(curved), faults(line in middle), salt domes (pimple looking), and shale cap (downward + relatively even)

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10
Q

What types of rocks are good source rocks?

A

Marine Shale

aka dead phytoplankton

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11
Q

What types of rocks are good reservoir rocks?

A

Porous sandstone or limestone

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12
Q

What types of rocks are good cap or seal rocks?

A

Shale

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13
Q

Why is there a large conventional reserve of oil/gas in the Gulf Coast of the USA

A

Marine Shale (source rock) and salt deposits (become traps) form in shallow gulf of mexico

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14
Q

What is hydraulic fracking? Describe the process

A
  • inject water, sand, and chemicals at high pressure into a well
  • pressurized mix creates new cracks in the rock layer. Cracks are held open by sand graisn
  • when pressure is released, hydraulic fracking fluid (water waste) and natural gas flow to the surface

-well turns horizontal

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15
Q

What is conventional Drilling? Describe the process

A

Natural gas and oil are held under pressure by an impermeable rock layer on top

When penetrated - oil and gas come up the well

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16
Q

What are the stages of coal formation?

A
  • Peat (partially decayed plant matter)
  • Lignite (brown coal, low sulfur)
  • Bituminous (soft coal, high heat content, high sulfur content) (most widely used)
  • Anthracite (hard coal, high heat content, low sulfur content)

Pressure increases as the layers build up and go deeper in the earth.

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17
Q

Why is coal a “dirtier” fuel source than natural gas?

A

-some types of coal contain more sulfur than others.

Right now, Wyoming has the best deposits of coal (according to US regulation) because of the amount of sulfur that coal releases into the atmosphere when burned. I.E. it produces the ‘cleanest’ burning coal right now.

Natural gas, in comparison is not as dirty as it does not trap and release co2 like coal does.

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18
Q

Which resource emits the most CO2 when burned?

A

Coal (208,000 parts per billion)

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19
Q

How are differences in co2 in the atmosphere recorded in Ice cores?

A

Past: use bubbles in ice cores

Present: Use current air measurements

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20
Q

How far back can we go with ice core dating?

A

800,000 years!

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21
Q

What is the relationship between co2 and the global temp level?

A

Temperature and CO2 correlate very closely

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22
Q

How do scientists measure current levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?

A

Amount of Carbon dioxide trapped in ice

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23
Q

What are current levels of CO2 in the atmosphere (in ppm)?

A

400 ppm

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24
Q

How do today’s levels of CO2 compare to past CO2 cycles recorded in ice cores?

A

Today’s CO2 levels are much higher, and increasing faster than in the past

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25
Q

How are carbon isotopes used to show increase in CO2 from human activities?

A

Look at what type of carbon isotope is increasing (it’s carbon 12

  • Carbon 12 is from very old things, aka fossil fuels
  • Carbon 13 from plants,
  • Carbon 14 from radioactivity
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26
Q

What estimated percentage of human emissions of CO2 remains in the atmosphere, or is absorbed by oceans or terrestrial systems?

A

50% remains in the air
25% absorbed by oceans
25% absorbed by trees

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27
Q

What is Albedo?

A

The reflection of light without creating heat

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28
Q

How is Albedo tied to human activities?

A

-Aerosol haze -> clouds

dust, sulfur dioxide, organic carbon, and soot contribute to aerosol haze

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29
Q

How is Albedo tied to natural processes?

A
  • Volcanoes

- Clouds

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30
Q

Does human activity or natural processes have a greater impact as a cooling factor in our atmosphere?

A

Human activity

Volcanoes and other natural impacts are more short term

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31
Q

What are the three projected ranges of future changes of global temperatures?

A
  • High emissions model, guessing 4.5 degree increase from 1900 (or 850 ppm of CO2)
  • low emissions model, estimating 2.2 degree increase from 1900 (or 600 ppm of CO2)
  • medium emissions model, estimating 4.0 degree increase form 1900)
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32
Q

What stats predict the three projected ranges of future global temperatures?

A

-IPCC compiles information from studies

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33
Q

What is a heat wave?

A

Two or more consecutive days where the daily min temp exceeds the 85th percentile of historical temps in July/August for that city.

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34
Q

Why is there a high confidence that an increase in heat waves will occur as temperatures warm (describe bell curve of temperatures)?

A

People are predicting a rise in global average temp, thus shifting the whole bell curve of temp. to the right, or raising the whole bell curve of temp.

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35
Q

What are the key greenhouse gasses?

A 
Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
Water vapor (H2O)
Ozone (O3)
Methane (CH4)
Nitrous oxide (N2O)
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36
Q

What happens when light from the sun enters the Earth’s atmosphere

A
  • Some light is reflected back into space
  • Most light is absorbed by land/water and re-admitted as heat (long wave radiation)
  • some heat is “trapped”, also know as Green House Gasses
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37
Q

What are Greenhouse Gasses?

A

Trapped heat re-radiated by the clouds

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38
Q

How does light entering Earth’s atmosphere strike different materials differently?

A

Natural Biosphere
- 61 gigatons, but even exchange

Natural Ocean

  • 92 gigatons, most going to deep ocean
  • even exchange

Human affected areas
-small in comparison to other parts of cycle

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39
Q

What two factors have led to global sea level rise?

A
  • melting ice from land enters oceans (increased water mass)

- thermal expansion causes water molecules to expand, so warmer water = more volume.

40
Q

What is the estimate total amount of global sea level rise that has occurred in the past 100 years?

A

4.126 Inches

41
Q

What is the current annual global rate of sea level rise?

A

3.3 mm/year

42
Q

What has happened to heavy participation events over the past 50 years? Why has it changed?

A
  • Heavy rain events are increasing in frequency all across the us, especially in the northern regions and in the Midwest.
  • Because there is more water being released into the oceans, there is more water in the general hydrological cycle which leads to more water being passed around the earth and dumped on our heads.
43
Q

What is heavy participation?

A

days where rainfall is in the top 1% of all days with rain

44
Q

Describe precipitation

A
  • water going from vapor to liquid and falling from the sky

- includes rain/snow, etic

45
Q

Describe evaporation

A

-water becoming vapor and condensing into clouds

46
Q

Describe transpiration

A

-plants use of water

47
Q

Describe runoff

A

-water that has precipitated collects in a body

48
Q

Describe infiltration

A

water steeps into the ground

49
Q

What are some ways that humans affect the natural hydrologic cycle?

A
  • river control
  • urbanization leads to more runoff
  • water usage and contamination
50
Q

Describe the hydrologic cycle

A
  • water evaporates from bodies of water and from land
  • water precipitates from clouds into oceans and land
  • water runs off across land into water
  • plants use water (transpiration)
  • water infiltrates into the ground
51
Q

What is the basic process of surface water patterns?

A
  • erosion
  • transportation
  • deposition
52
Q

Describe surface water patterns from a rill on a hillside

A

-Rill is a small channel, hand sized in depth

starts small, channel forms, all water goes down one path

53
Q

Describe surface water patterns on an entire watershed

A

From top of hill, down small rills, down bigger gullies, and eventually each tributary meets into the trunk stream and goes to an outlet

54
Q

How are drainage basins separated?

A

Drainage basins are divided by a high point

55
Q

Describe stream patterns of tributaries and trunk streams

A

tributaries go to trunk stream

trunk stream goes to outlet

56
Q

What are the three zones of a watershed

A
  • Headwater
  • transportation
  • mouth
57
Q

Describe the properties of headwaters

A
  • top of a watershed
  • steep slope
  • erosion
58
Q

Describe the properties of transportation (watershed)

A
  • trunk stream

- high sediments in water -> erosion + later deposition

59
Q

Describe the properties of the mouth of a watershed

A
  • flat
  • low energy
  • depositon
60
Q

What are the properties of bedrock channels?

A
  • include canyons and valleys
  • steep gradient above base level ->downcutting ->edode downward
  • shape depends on substrate
61
Q

What are the properties of waterfalls?

A

Gradient of stream
is so steep – free
fall of water over
edge

hard on top of soft substrate

62
Q

What are the properties of braided streams?

A

-Gradient goes from steep to flat
-High Velocity water carrying large
sand and gravel sediments (high
competence) decreases in speed
dropping sediments in disarray

63
Q

What are the properties of deltas?

A
  • sediment deposited at mouth of river or ocean

- Water slows down as slope flattens and channel widens

64
Q

What are the properties of incised meanders?

A
  • a river meander which has been cut abnormally deeply into the landscape because uplift of the land has led to renewed downward erosion by the river.
  • aka canyons
65
Q

What are the properties of meandering streams?

A
  • erodes on outside bend (deeper, faster water)

- deposit on inside bend (shallower, slower)

66
Q

What is a point bar?

A

inside curve of a meandering stream

67
Q

What is a cut bank?

A

-outside curve of a meandering stream

68
Q

What is an oxbow lake?

A

crescent shaped leftovers of a meandering stream, created when a meandering neck is eroded away completely

69
Q

How does substrate affect a stream shape?

A
  • harder substrate (sandstone) = maintain vertical wall

- softer substrate (shale) = erodes, slumps off, makes valley

70
Q

How does slope/gradient affect a stream?

A

-steep slope high velocity
-gradient is so steep ->free fall ->waterfall
-flat = low energy = deposition, aka meandering channel
-steep to flat -> braided stream channels
-

71
Q

How does velocity affect a stream?

A

-high velocity can carry large sand and gravel sediments

72
Q

How does discharge affect a stream?

A

Discharge = volume of water over a given period of time

greater discharge during floods, greater discharges as tributaries join streams

73
Q

How do width and depth affect a stream shape?

A

-Shallow, Wide Channel less
velocity so sediments are now deposited
-narrow, deep channel goes faster

74
Q

How does sediment size/load affect a stream shape?

A

-streams carrying lots of fine sediment have power to erode more

75
Q

How do levees work?

A
  • levees are vertical structures along the sides of a river, made of either earth or concrete
  • purpose is to contain flow within a channel
  • increase flood stage, or height of water that may travel further downstream
76
Q

What are common problems of levees?

A
  • if a levee breaks, excess water is released and scours form
  • levees upstream increase flooding downstream, especially if they have no levees for whatever reason
  • ruins river tourism
77
Q

How do dams work?

A

control river with barrier across river

good to create electricity, store water, and create revenue through recreation

78
Q

What are common problems of dams?

A
  • large loss of water through evaporation
  • flooded land destroys forests or cropland and displaces people
  • migration and spawning of some fish are disrupted
  • downstream cropland and estuaries are deprived of nutrient-rich silt
79
Q

How do channels work?

A
  • modify river by combo of widening, deepening, straightening, clearing, and lining the channel
  • controls meanders from moving (which might have otherwise affected infrastructure)
  • flood control
  • allows for shipping and navigation
80
Q

What are common problems of channels?

A
  • surrounding landscape is dry, no periodic water
  • sediment blocked from entering stream
  • destroys native fish and wildlife habitats
81
Q

What is a 100 year flood?

A

-a flood that has a probability of 1 in 100 of happening, or 1% chance of happening

82
Q

How is a 100 year flood determined?

A

-using historical flooding data

83
Q

How is a flood frequency graph created?

A
  • rank floods by amount of discharge

- calculate recurrence interval

84
Q

How is a flood frequency chart used for risk mapping?

A

-restrict the zone inside the area that is expected to have 1% chance in any year of flooding

85
Q

Why might a 100 year flood zone map not accurately reflect areas that are actually flooded during a storm?

A

-changes in river control, climate, and land use changes flood risk

86
Q

How is groundwater used as a resource?

A

public water supply

irrigation for farmers

87
Q

What is porosity?

A
  • percentage of total volume of rock/sediment space consisting of pore space
  • voids that can contain water
88
Q

What is permeability?

A
  • ability to transmit a fluid

- are pores connected?

89
Q

What/where is the unsaturated zone in a groundwater diagram?

A

small pockets of air at the top of a groundwater diagram

90
Q

What/where is the saturated zone in a groundwater diagram?

A

-all pores are filled with water, at the bottom of a groundwater diagram

91
Q

What/where is the water table in a groundwater diagram?

A

-line that splits the saturated and unsaturated zones

92
Q

What/where is the aquifer in a groundwater diagram?

A

Aquifer = permeable rocks or sediments that transmit groundwater

it’s everything but the aquitard (impermeable layer

93
Q

What/where is the cone of depression in a groundwater diagram?

A
  • created when heavy pumping from a well causes the water table to lower
  • where water table is at it’s lowest
  • from a deep, high capacity well
94
Q

What materials make up the unsaturated zone?

A

sandstone, gravel, sand

no water

95
Q

What materials make up the saturated zone?

A

sandstone, gravel, sand

water

96
Q

What materials make up an aquitard?

A

rocks with low porosity and permeability

shale, clay, etic

UD GEO 115 (3 decks)

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