Studied by 3 people
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
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