APES Unit 4 (4, 5 & 8) Textbook Flashcards

Flashcards based off of a textbook

Weathering

Rock is exposed to air, water, chemical compounds, roots, lichens, burrowing animals (broken down)

Physical weathering

Mechanical breakdown of rocks + minerals

Chemical weathering

Breakdown of rocks + minerals by chemical reactions, dissolving, or both

Primary minerals

Newly exposed

Acid precipitation/acid rain

Precipitation high in sulfuric acid + nitric acid

Erosion

Physical removal of rock fragments from a landscape/ecosystem

Deposition

Accumulation/depositing of eroded material

Parent material

Underlying rock materialfrom which soil develops.

Immature soil

Breakdown/weathering of rocks

Young soil

Some organic matter deposited

Mature soil

Lots of organic material deposited

Soil degradation

Loss of some/all ability of soils to support plant growth

Horizons

Horizontal layers of soil w/distinct physical features

O horizon

Surface of many soils, organic detritus in various stages

Humus

Most fully decomposed organic matter in the largest layer of the O horizon

A horizon/topsoil

Top layer of mixed soil, organic material + minerals

E horizon

Acidic soils, sometimes under O/A, zone of leaching/eluviation

B horizon

Subsoil, mineral material primarily

C horizon

Beneath B, similar to parent material

Permeability

How quickly water can drain from a material

Loam

Mix of silt, sand, and clay — best agricultural soil

Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC)

Ability to absorb + release cations

Soil bases

Ca, Mg, K, Na

Base saturation

Proportion of soil bases to soil acids as a percentage

Crustal abundance

Average concentration of elements in the Earth’s crust

Ores

Concentrated accumulations of minerals, usually economically valuable

Metals

Elements with special properties, such as conducting electricity and heat energy

Reserve

Known quantity of resource that can be economically recovered/extracted — usually specific to a country

Surface mining

Close to Earth’s surface

Strip mining

Strips removed, ore is close and parallel to Earth’s surface

Open-pit mining

Creates a visible pit, resource is close to surface but extends horizontally and vertically

Mountaintop removal

Entire top is removed with explosives, less dangerous than subsurface mining

Placer mining

Looking in water sediments

Subsurface mining

Below Earth’s surface

Mine tailings

Unwanted waste, usually returned to where it came from

Mining Law of 1872

AKA General Mining Act, allowed individuals or companies to recover materials from federal lands

Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977

Regulated surface mining and required minimal disturbance

Garrett Hardin

Ecologist — in 1968, tragedy of the commons

Tragedy of the Commons

Tendency for a shared limited resource to become depleted

Externality

A cost or benefit of a good or service not included in the purchase price or otherwise unaccounted for

Elinor Ostrom

Professor at Indiana University, 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics, disputed government regulation and private ownership as ways to combat TotC

Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY)

Maximum amount of a resource that can be harvested without large environmental consequences - around ½ of the carrying capacity of the environment

Land ethic

Moral responsibility of humans to the natural world

Rangelands

Dry, open grasslands used for grazing cattle

Overgrazed land

Exposed to wind erosion

Taylor Grazing Act of 1934

Permit-based grazing system

Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

Rangeland health - state + regional rangeland managers

Forests

Dominated by trees + woody vegetation

Clear-cutting

Removing all.almost all trees w/in an area

Selective cutting

Removes single/small # of trees

Ecologically sustainable forestry

Removes trees that don’t affect other noncommercial species

Fire

Natural process for nutrient cycling + regeneration — removes dead biomass

Prescribed burn

Fire is deliberately set under controlled conditions

National wildlife refuges

Primary purpose is to protect wildlife

National wilderness areas

Large tracts of intact ecosystems/landscapes

1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

Regulatory service, environmental assessments

Environmental impact statement (EIS)

Outline of scope + purpose of project, environmental context, alternatives and environmental impacts

Environmental mitigation plan

How project developers will address the environment

Suburbs

Areas that surround metropolitan cities

Exurbs

Suburbs not connected to a city or densely populated area

Urban

Area contains more than 2,500 people

Urban sprawl

Urbanized areas that spread into rural areas and remove clear boundaries

Suburbanization

Suburban office parks, suburb to suburb commuting

Urban blight

The degradation of the built and social environments of the city that often accompanies and accelerates migration to the suburbs

Zoning

Separates industry and business from residences

Multi-use zoning

Retail and high density residential development coexist

GI Bill

Generous credit terms to war veterans

Smart growth

Strategies that encourage the development of sustainable, healthy communities

Stakeholder

People with interest in a place or issue

Sense of place

Feeling that an area has a distinct and meaningful character

Transit-oriented development

Focus around public transport stops

Infill

Development in existing communities

Waste

Material outputs that are not useful or consumed

Planned obsolescence

Process of designing a product so it needs to be replaced within a few years

Municipal solid waste (MSW)

Refuse allocated from households, small businesses, and institutions

Waste stream

Flow of solid waste that is recycled, incinerated, put in a landfill, etc

Electronic waste (e-waste)

Consumer electronics

Source reduction

Reduces use of potential waste materials in the early stages of designing and manufacturing

Recycling

Materials destined to become MSW are collected and converted

Closed-loop recycling

Product to same product

Open-loop recycling

One product to another

Composting

Created organic matter that has decomposed under controlled conditions

Leachate

A liquid that contains elevated levels of pollutants

Sanitary landfills

Repositories for MSW

Cap

Cover of soil and clay when SL is at capacity

Tipping fee

Fee for waste delivered

Incineration

Burning waste materials

Ash

Residual inorganic material not combusted

Bottom ash

Underneath furnace

Fly ash

Beyond furnace

Hazardous waste

Waste harmful to humans, ecosystems, or materials

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

Expanded previous solid waste laws + main goal was to protect human health

Superfund Act (CERCLA)

Imposes a tax on chemical + petrol industries, funds the cleanup of abandoned/non-operating hazardous waste sites, and gives feds authorization

National Priorities List (NPL)

List maintained by the EPA under Superfund that consists of contaminated sites eligible for cleanup funds

Love Canal

Neighborhood in Niagara Falls, NY, that was originally a hazardous waste landfill

Brownfields

Contaminated sites that don’t quite qualify for Superfund

Life-cycle analysis/cradle-to-grave analysis

Systems tool that examines the materials used and released throughout the lifetime of a product

Integrated waste management

Employs several waste reduction, management, and disposal strategies in order to reduce MSW’s env. impact