Unit 2: Geology and Soils Flashcards
Composition of Earths crust
Oxygen, Silicon, Aluminum, and Magnesium
Half-life
Time for radioactivity to reduce 1/2
Volcanism
Most often associated with the plate boundaries
Tropical Soil
Aluminum and Iron, nutrients leached out quickly
Stages of coal formation
Peat, lignite, bituminous, anthracite
Extinctions caused by human activities
When: Recent times
Soil profiles
Very top layer is almost all organic material
Characteristics of a Wetland
Must have water some part of the year, aquatic soil type, aquatic species.
Emergent shoreline wetland plants zone
Littoral
Calcium Carbonate used for
Scrubbing Sulphur
Order of soil horizons
O {organic}
A {topsoil}
E {subsoil}
B {parent material}
C
R {bedrock}“Zone of leaching” -which horizons?
{definition: topsoil to subsoil}
{horizons: A to E}
Volcano types
Shield {wide, gentle slopes}
Basalt {high, cone shaped}
Which plate boundary has most volcanoes?
Oceanic {contention convergent boundaries}
New crust formed at what plate boundaries?
Divergent
Soil with small particles and low permeability?
Clay
Soil with great permeability?
Sand
Found at converging oceanic plates
Trench {Marianas Trench}
Appeared in what sequence?
Precambrian, Appalachians, Rockies, Pleistocene, Holocene.
Mesozoic Era {also known as______}
The age of Reptiles
Earths Seasons cause mainly by
Tilting/rotating of the Earth
Region{s} of most of Earth’s crustal activity
Pacific Ocean
Most eroded country
Madagascar
3 most prevalent elements in the Earth’s crust
O {Oxygen}
Si {Silicon}
Al {Aluminum}
Mg {Magnesium}
Examples of Sedimentary rock
Limestone, contains calcium carbonate {bone, shell material}
Majority of Earth’s crust rocks are what type?
Igneous
P waves/ S waves
P { longitudinal and can travel through solid, liquid, or gas}
S {transverse}
Upward folding of rock strata
Anticline
Earth’s first atmosphere composed of
{mostly H2 and He}
Earth’s early gas formation
Volcanic out gassing
Soil conservation practices
Alley cropping, terracing, crop resting, crop rotation
Rain shadow effect
Tremendous amount of rain on windward side of mountain, no rain crosses over
North hemisphere is mostly
Land
South Hemisphere is mostly
Water
When was the largest mass extinction {“The Great Dying”}?
Permian period
Indicates genetic variability of a population
Mutations
Use of plants to clean up soil
Phytoremediation
Drip irrigation promises what
Increased efficiencies and improved crop yields
Hyperaccumlation could one day be used to
Mine rare metals from the soil
Bioventing is a process by which
Forces Oxygen into soil to promote biodegradation.
Electrokinetic separation is
Electric current removing metals and polar organics from contaminated soil
Mass extinctions affected
Large mammals {wooly mammoths and other mammals}
Biome with shallow and nutrient poor soil
Tropical rain forest
Number of mass extinctions
5
Most abundant element in Earth’s crust
Oxygen
Most abundant element in Earth’s atmosphere
Nitrogen
Metal extracted from Bauxite
Aluminum
Region with least fresh water per capita
Arabian Peninsula
Largest hydroelectric dam
On one of the rivers in China {Asia}
Desalination provide most of this region’s fresh water
Middle East {Arabian Peninsula}
