AP Environmental Science: Unit 4 Review - Earth Systems

Coriolis effect

________- because the earth is spinning, although winds are traveling in a straight line, they seem to deflect or change direction.

Deforestation

________- lack or roots holding down soil.

El nino

________- east to west trade winds in the tropics weaken or sometimes reverse direction, warm water is pushed to western coasts of the Americas and causes the surface water to heat up, cool water is unable to rise along Americas western coasts resulting in less food for predators and fisherman.

La nina

________- extreme version of normal conditions, trade winds from east to west speed up, pushing warm water even further away from the Pacific & the Americas and more towards Australia and Atlantic, unusually cool surface water temperatures along Americas coasts, hurricane activity in the Pacific declines but it increases in the Atlantic since it is unusually warmer.

Soil Texture Triangle

________- diagram that allows for the comparison and identification of soil types based on the percentage of silt, clay, and sand it contains

O Horizon

________- organic matter is various stages of decomposition

Solutions for Erosion

________- maintain plant cover, no till farming, strip /contour cropping or plowing.

Earthquakes

________- occur at fault lines.

A Horizon

________- (topsoil), overlying organic material

Convergent boundaries

________- when two plates collided, results in mountains, volcanoes, island arcs, earthquakes.

Water Holding Capacity

________ - total amount of water soil can hold.

Transform boundaries

________- when two plates slide past each other, results in earthquakes.

Polar cells

________- 60- 90 degrees N & S.

Ferrel cells

________- 30- 60 degrees N & S.

Divergent boundaries

________- when two plates move away from each other, results in seafloor spreading, rift valleys, volcanoes, earthquakes.

Hadley cells

________- 0- 30 degrees N & S.

Soil Formation

________ - when parent material is weathered and eroded.