ESCI111 2023

4.7 billion

approximatley what is the accepted aage of the earth

hand

what part of the body is a birds wing homologous to

Terrasphere

What is NOT a component or reservoir of the earth system

Falling into a swamp and dying

what would improve the liklihood of an organism being included in the fossil record

Temporary disterbance to the system

In terms of Earth System, a perturbation is:

Yes

Are chemical compounds generated by living organisms fossils?

Silicates

The most common rock forming minerals on earth are

Vescular

What term is associated with igneous rocks

Metamorphic rock

What type of rock is a schist

Andesite

What is intermediate volcanic rock

True

Andesite has a higher volitile (gas) content than basalt

True

Rhyolite is more explosive than andesite

Convergent boundaries

In what setting would you usually find composite cones (or stratovolcanoes)

Lava flow

What is the predominant type of volcanic deposit on a shield volcano

Northward movment of the Indian plate into Eurasia

What is an example of an active, continent - continent collision

Arrival times of P and S waves

The distance between a seismological recording station and the earthquake epicentre is determined from the:

Geological distribution of rocks, structures and fossils

What evidence did Wegener use to determine that there was once a super continent called Pangaea

False

The earths magnetic fiels reversed poliarity regurally every million years?

True

Earthquake early warning methods use arrivals of large seismic waves close to recording devices

Olivine

What mineral would are you NOT likely to seee in highly weatherd soil

Competence

What word refers to the maximum grain size that can be transported by a river

Meandering

Which river channel type is associated with shallow gradients and erodible banks

Creep

What is an example of continous mass wasting

Weddell Sea and the North Atlantic

In what two locations do deep waters form

Denitrification

Which process permanently removes bioavailable nitrogen from the biosphere

Salinity and temperature

Which TWO parameters primarily affect the density of seawater

Oxygen cycle

Which biogeochemical cycle has been least impacted by human activities

The tilt of Earth’s axis

Obliquity is the term used to describe changes in:

240-280 ppm

What is the typical concentration of atmospheric CO2 during past interglacials

Antarctic ice cores

What geological archives offer the best quantitative constraints on past atmospheric greenhouse gases

Zero

A glacier in equilibrium will have a multi-year average mass balance that is

The base of the ice in the middle of the glacier

What part of the glacier flows the fastest

False

Large parts of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet
surface melt during summer

10cm

How much has gloal sea level risen since 1993

More variability

For the major rivers of the world, the main climate change signal is

The atmospheric circulation moves heat into the tropics

Tropical regions are warmer than polar regions because

Eastward

If a parcel of air is moving northward (towards the Equator) in the Southern Hemisphere, in which direction does the Coriolis force act

Horizontal pressure gradient and Coriolis

What TWO forces are balanced in geostrophic flow

A snowfield

Which surface has the highest albedo (reflectivity)

Upto 1m

How much is global mean sea level expected to rise by the year 2100

Heat flux measurements

Which piece of evidence does not prove that oceanic crust is created at, and spreads out from, mid ocean ridges

When the infiltration rate is less than the rainfall rate

Saturated overland flow occurs

Abyssal plains

Where would you expect to find seamounts

In shallow ocean basins beneath regions of upwelling

In what location would silicious oozes be the dominant sediment type