GEOG 1114 Final Exam

Final Exam Review

Large scale streamlining rock structures (formed by deflation and abrasion) that are aligned parallel to the most effective wind direction is?

Large scale streamlining rock structures (formed by deflation and abrasion) that are aligned parallel to the most effective wind direction is?

Yardangs

What type of dune is a crescent-shaped dune with horns pointed downwind, half-moon shaped, and usually found in areas with constant wind and little directional variability?

Barchan

Natural soil-formation factors include what?

A. Parent material

B. Climate

C. Biological activity

D. Relief and topography

E. All of the above

E. All of the above

What is not an example of an abiotic component of an ecosystem?

Plants

The energy that powers the biosphere comes primarily from?

The Sun

Organisms that share the same feeding level are said to be at the same __

Trophic Level

A ____ is a complex network of interconnected food chains with multidirectional branches.

food web

Trees and shrubs that seasonally loses their leaves are called?

Deciduous

What is not one of the major groups of terrestrial vegetation biogeographers often designate?

Phytoplankton

Eolian means __ while fluvial means __

wind and soil

What is deflation?

Removing and lifting individual loose particles.

What is Abrasion?

Grinding rock surface by the “sandblasting” action of particles captured in the air.

What are desert pavements called in China?

Gobi

What are desert pavements called in Australia?

Gibber Plain

What is Salinity?

Refers to the concentration of dissolved solids.

If salinity is greater than 3.5%, then the seawater is what?

Brine. It’s associated with high evaporation rates in a nearly enclosed basin (e.g., the Persian Gulf has a mean salinity of 4.0% along the floor of the Red Sea, the maximum salinity was found to be 22.5%).

If salinnity is less than 3.5%, the seawater is what?

Brackish. It often occurs near landmasses because of freshwater runoff and river discharges (e.g., the Baltic Sea).

What are Spring Tides?

They are associated with the greatest tidal range. They occur during the full Moon and the new Moon.

What are Neap Tides?

They are associated with a lesser tidal range. They occur during quarter Moons.

What is Soil Sampling Unit?

A pedon is a hexagonal column measure 1 to 10 m2 in top surface area. A pedon is the basic unit in soil surveys.

What is Soil Mapping Unit?

Many pedons together in one area make up a polypedon. The polypedon is the basic unit in soil maps.

What is Soil Texture?

It describes the size of soil particles, and proportions of sand, silty and clay content.

What is Soil Color?

Munsell (1913) developed the Munsell color chart with 175 colors arranged by hue (spectral color such as red, green, or blue), value (degree of darkness or lightness), and chroma (saturation of color); each color has a name.

What is Soil Structure?

It refers to arrangement of soil texture.

What are terms used to describe soil structure?

Fine, Medium or coarse.

Water in soil pore is called?

Soil Solution

A soil rich in hydrogen ions (cations) is called?

Acid Soil

What is O Horizon Soil?

It is undecomposed litter, decomposed organic debris, and humus

What is “A” Horizon?

A leached mineral horizon with a high portion of organic matter (dark in color)

What is E Horizon?

A light-colored layer representing the zone of maximum leaching

What is B Horizon?

Maximum zone of accumulation of weathering products such as silicate clay, iron, aluminum, humus, carbonates, gypsum, or silica

What is C Horizon?

Relatively unaltered, unconsolidated parent material

What is R Horizon?

Bedrock

A horizon + E horizon = ?

Eluvial Zone

What is B Horizon?

Illuvial Zone

A + E + B = ?

Solumn, a true definable soil zone.

Wet soil has what characterstics?

Sticky and moldable

Moist soil is filed with what?

Half of field capacity and is loose to friable to firm.

Dry Soil has what characterstics?

Brittle and rigid and ranges from loose too soft to extremely hard.

What three materials does the soil texture triangle need to have in order to be at 100%?

Clay, Sand and Silt

Silt% = ?

100% - Clay% - Sand%

What percentages of farmlands are losing soil faster than it can form bedrock weathering?

35%

Land degradation that occur in dry regions is known as ___, the expansion of deserts.

Desertification

The smallest natural lump of cluster of particles is called?

Ped

Soil taxonomy, a soil classification system, emphasizes the physical and chemical properties of?

Soil profile

Soil taxonomy is a basic system of soil classification for making and interpreting what?

Soil Surveys

Oxisols are also called?

Tropical soils. They are moistly deeply developed.

What are Aridisols?

They occupy about 19% of Earth’s land surface; it is the single largest soil order in the world. Pale; light soil color. Shallow soil horizons.

What are Mollisols?

(grassland soils) are soft even when dry. High fertility. The largest single soil order in the United States. The U.S. breadbasket region.

Salinization can occur in?

Arid regions

What are Alfisols?

-       Of soil order, alfisols are the most spatially widespread.

-       Moderately weathered forest soils.

-       Fertile.

-       Productivity depends on temperature and moisture.

What are Utlisols?

-       Highly weathered forest soils

-       Subtropical forests.

-       Southeast United States.

What are Spodosols?

• Conifer forest soils

• Form from sandy parent materials, and acid accumulation in the soil

What are Entisols?

-       The presence is not climate dependent.

-       Lack vertical development.

What are Gelinsols?

-       High latitudes

-       Permafrost within 100 cm of the soil surface

What are Vertisols?

-       Contain more than 30% clay.

-       Clay swells when wet and shrinks when it dries, creating cracks and destroying foundation.

-       Black color is due to specific mineral content rather than organics.

What are Histosols?

-       Organic soils (peat, muck, bog)

-       Wet places

What is the largest single soil order in the United States?

Mollisols

What are some abiotic factors?

Energy, atmosphere, water, weather, climate, and minerals

What are biotic factors?

1. Producers (plants)

2. Consumers (animals)

3. Detritus feeders(worms, mites)

4. Decomposers (bacteria, fungi)

What is Ecosystem?

A self-sustaining association of living plants and animals and their nonliving physical environment. They are open systems for both energy and matter.

What is an Ecotone?

A boundary zone between different but adjoining ecosystems at any scale

Teo concepts are important: habitat and niche they are within what?

Community

What is Niche?

Refers to the function or occupation of a life form within a given community

What is Biosphere?

The sphere of life and organic activity, from ocean floor to 8 km altitude into the atmosphere.

What is Ecology?

The study of relationships between organisms and their environment and among the various ecosystems in the biosphere

What is Biogeography?

The study of the distribution of plants and animals.

What is a food chain?

Energy flows from producers to consumers and eventually detritivores. It is an energy flow through the system.

Organisms that share the same basic foods are said to be where?

In the same trophic level.

The primary consumers are?

Herbivores

A ___ is a secondary consumer and eats primarily meat.

Carnivore

A consumer that feeds on both producers and consumers is an __?

Omnivore

A __ eats primary and secondary cosumers and is referred to as the __.

tertiary consumer, top carnivore

What is limiting factor?

Refers to physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of the environment that determine species distributions and population size