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Environmental Science
The scientific study of how the natural world works, how our environment affects us, and how we affect our environment.
Environmental Geology
Applied study of environmental problems using the principals of geology
Environmental Studies
An academic environmental science program that emphasizes the social sciences as well as the natural sciences.
Sustainability
Sustainability is a condition in which our actions do not cause lasting harm to the environment and are socially and economically beneficial as well so that people's needs today are met without impairing future generations' abilities to meet their own needs.
Renewable Resources
Natural resources that are replenished over short periods
Non-renewable resources
These types of renewable resources may be used at sustainable rates, but they may become depleted if we consume them faster than they are replenished.
Fossil Fuels
A nonrenewable natural resource, such as crude oil, natural gas, or coal, produced by the decomposition and compression of organic matter from ancient life. Fossil fuels have provided most of society's energy since the industrial revolution.
Ecological Footprint
Expresses the cumulative area of biologically productive land and water required to provide the resources a person or population consumes and to dispose of or recycle the waste the person or population produces
Interdisciplinary
bringing techniques, perspectives, and research results from multiple disciplines together into a broad synthesis
Explain what interdisciplinary means with regards to environmental science.
Environmental science is especially broad because it encompasses not only the natural sciences (disciplines that examine the natural world) but also the social sciences (disci- plines that address human interactions and institutions). Most environmental science programs focus more on the natural sciences, whereas programs that emphasize the social sci- ences often use the term environmental studies.
Explain the scientific method and why it is important to science.
A technique for testing ideas with observations. Scientists of all persuasions broadly agree on fundamental elements of the process of scientific inquiry. If this process is not followed, the science may be flawed.
Explain why peer review in the sciences is important.
A valuable guard against faulty research contaminating the literature (the body of published studies) on which all scientists rely.
Explain how an ecological footprint is calculated (in general, not a specific equation).
The Ecological Footprint of a person is calculated by adding up all of people's demands that compete for biologically productive space, such as cropland to grow potatoes or cotton, or forest to produce timber or to sequester carbon dioxide emissions.
Compare and contrast environmental science, environmental studies, environmental geology, and sustainability studies.
Environmental Science: interdisciplinary study focusing on the environment and solving environmental problems
Environmental Studies: An academic environmental science program that emphasizes the social sciences as well as the natural sciences.
Environmental Geology: applied study of environmental problems using the principles of geology
Sustainability Studies: an interdisciplinary study focusing on sustainability.
Geology
The scientific study of Earth's physical features, processes, and history.
Igneous Rock
One of the three main categories of rock. Formed from cooling magma. Granite and basalt are examples of this rock.
Mineral
Naturally occurring, inorganic solids with unique chemical compositions, regular atomic/crystalline structure, and characteristic physical properties.
Metamorphic Rock
Formed from other rocks that have undergone a solid-state (have not melted) transformation due to heat and pressure.
Sedimentary Rock
Formed by the deposition of sediment, evaporation, or decomposition of living things.
Convergent Plate Boundary
The area where tectonic plates converge or come together. Can result in subduction or continental collision. Compare divergent plate boundary; transform plate boundary.
Divergent Plate Boundary
where new crust is generated as the plates pull away from each other as magma rises towards the surface, a prime example is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Transform Plate Boundary
The area where two tectonic plates meet and slip and grind alongside one another, creating earthquakes. For example, the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate run along California’s San Andreas Fault.
Earthquake
A release of energy that occurs as
Earth relieves accumulated pressure between masses of lithosphere and that results in shaking at the surface.
Magma
Molten, liquid rock.
Lava
Magma that is released from the lithosphere and flows or spatters across Earth's surface.
Volcano
A site where molten rock, hot gas, or ash erupts through Earth's surface, often creat- ing a mountain over time as cooled lava accu- mulates.
Hypocenter
the underground focus point of an earthquake.
Epicenter
Point on Earth's surface directly above an earthquake's focus
Magnitude
The size of the earthquake
Intensity
A number that characterizes the severity of ground shaking at that location by considering the effects ofthe shaking on people, on manmade structures, and on the landscape.
Tsunami
An immense swell, or wave, of ocean water triggered by an earthquake, volcano, or landslide that can travel long distances across oceans and inundate coasts.
Landslide
The collapse and downhill flow of large amounts of rock or soil. A severe and sudden form of mass wasting.
What is the earth’s core?
The inner fluid layer of the earth - divided into inner (solid Fe) and outer (liquid Fe)
Explain the difference between minerals and rocks.
Minerals are like the components of a chocolate chip cookie. They are the chocolate chips, the flour, the butter, etc. Rocks are the chocolate chip cookie as a whole. It is made up of the components (in this case, minerals)
Explain the properties used to identify minerals.
Hardness
Color
Cleavage (the way a rock breaks)
Luster (how light reflects)
Streak (what color residue it leaves behind if you scrape it on a ceramic piece)
Identify how old the Earth is.
4.543 billion years
Where are volcanoes most commonly occurring?
along subduction zones
Explain how the density of plates determines how they react at convergent plate boundaries.
Ocean - Continental: Subduction
Ocean - Ocean: Subduction
Continental - Continental: Mountain Building
Compare and contrast epicenter and hypocenter.
Epicenter is the location on the surface of the Earth directly above where the earthquake starts.
Focus (aka Hypocenter) is the location in the Earth where the earthquake starts.
Explain the moment magnitude scale.
Based on the total moment release of the earthquake. Moment is a product of the distance a fault moved and the force required to move it. It is derived from modeling recordings of the earthquake at multiple stations.
Compare and contrast magnitude and intensity.
Magnitude - A measure of earthquake size that remains unchanged with distance from the earthquake.
Intensity - describes the degree of shaking caused by an earthquake at a given place and decreases with distance from the earthquake epicenter.
Explain what causes natural hazards including earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, and landslides.
The main causes of natural disasters are tectonic shifts, lunar activities, deforestation, soil erosion, air pressure, ocean currents, pollution, global warming, mining, seismic waves, etc.
Describe how humans influence landslide occurrences.
building roads and structures without adequate grading of slopes, poorly planned alteration of drainage patterns, and disturbing old landslides.
Examine potential mitigation strategies for natural hazards.
planning and zoning, floodplain protection, property acquisition and relocation, or public outreach projects.
Identify the equation used to calculate the velocity of a tsunami.
V = √(g*d).
Ecosystem
In ecology, an assemblage of all organisms and nonliving entities that occur and interact in a particular area at the same time.
Watershed
The entire area of land from which water drains into a given river. Also called drainage basin.
Runoff
The water from precipitation that flows into streams, rivers, lakes, and ponds, and (in many cases) eventually to the ocean.
Lithosphere
The outer layer of Earth, consisting of crust and uppermost mantle and located just above the asthenosphere. More generally, the solid part of Earth, including the rocks, sediment, and soil at the surface and extending down many miles underground. Compare atmosphere; biosphere; hydrosphere.
Biosphere
The cumulative total of all the planet's living organisms and the nonliving portions of the environment they inhabit.
Atmosphere
The layer of gases surrounding planet Earth.
Hydrosphere
All water — salt or fresh, liquid, ice, or vapor in surface bodies, underground, and in the atmosphere.
Anthroposphere
Encompasses the total human presence throughout the Earth system including our culture, technology, built environment, and associated activities
Hypoxia
The condition of extremely low dissolved oxygen concentrations in a body of water.
Anoxia
When oxygen levels are at zero
Homeostasis
The tendency of a system to maintain constant or stable internal conditions.
Net primary production
The energy or biomass that remains in an ecosystem after autotrophs have metabolized enough for their own maintenance through cellular respiration. Net primary production is the energy or biomass available for consumption by heterotrophs. Compare gross primary production; secondary production.
Evaporation
The conversion of a substance from a liquid to a gaseous form.
Transpiration
The release of water vapor by plants through their leaves.
Explain how both positive and negative feedback loops work and provide examples.
Positive feedback systems in living things usually happen in response to a physiological stressor, such as blood clotting or childbirth.
Negative feedback systems in living things continuously regulate critical body processes including temperature, pH, and hormone regulation to maintain homeostasis.
Examine the relationship between net primary productivity and ecosystem type.
Net primary productivity varies among ecosystems and depends on many factors. These include solar energy input, temperature and moisture levels, carbon dioxide levels, nutrient availability, and community interactions (e.g., grazing by herbivores)
Define GIS
A geographic information system (GIS), or geographical information system, is any system that captures, stores, analyzes, manages, and presents data that are linked to location.
Explain the applications of GIS in everyday life.
display spatial relationships and linear networks.
Explain how GIS can be used in Environmental Geology
helps geologists to capture data in the field and to visualise it within the context of the surrounding topography.
IPAT model
A formula that represents how humans' total impact (I) on the environment results from the interaction among three factors: population (P), affluence (A), and technology (T ).
What is the difference between the Nitrogen Cycle and the Phosphorus Cycle?
Phosphorus has no atmospheric component - only rock and water
What is it called when there is a horizontal motion of two plate along one another. Will see displacement of features such as mountain ranges, or trenches.
Transform Plate Boundries
What causes mountain building?
Continental - Continental plate movement
As plates get older they get…?
Heavier
younger plates are…?
lighter
What is a subduction zone?
A collision between two of Earth's tectonic plates, where one plate sinks into the mantle underneath the other plate.
What is a convergent plate boundary?
where the crust is destroyed as one plate dives under another
what is the earth’s Mantle?
divided into the lower (thicker elastic rock) and upper (partially melted rock, also called the asthenosphere)
What is the earths crust?
The thin, brittle, hard rocky exterior. The crust and very upper mantle make up the lithosphere.
Compare convergent plate boundaries and transform plate boundaries.
Convergent boundaries destroys the plates as one plate dives under another. Transform boundaries is where crust is neither produced nor destroyed as the plates slide horizontally past each other.
Compare convergent plate boundaries and divergent plate boundaries.
Convergent boundaries have plates that move towards each other, whereas divergent boundaries have plates that move away.
What are fossil fuels and why do we care?
Coal, oil, natural gas made from broken down organic matter. Burning them for energy contributes to climate change by adding CO2 to the atmosphere.
Why is it important to be able to calculate the velocity of a tsunami?
We can use it to determine how long people have to evacuate before the tsunami reaches the coast.
What cycle have humans forced to an extreme through our burning of fossil fuels?
Carbon Cycle
What is a high net primary productivity associated with
High temperature and high moisture.
Provide an example of a negative and positive feedback loop.
Bodies shivering when cold is a negative loop.
Climate change due to ice melting and decreasing albedo causing warming which melts more ice is a positive loop.
Describe the motion and names of the three types of plate boundaries (be specific).
Transform - Plates move alongside one another (zigzag pattern)
Divergent - Plate pull away from one another.
Convergent - Plates move toward one another. Either forms mountains (continent-continent) or a subduction zone (ocean-ocean or ocean-continent).
What are the 5 spheres?
Lithosphere, Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Anthroposphere, Biosphere
Where do most volcanos form and why do they form there?
At convergent boundary subduction zones. As one plate is pushed down into the mantle it melts, the magma then rises to the surface and forms a volcano.
what is the most dangerous part of a volcanic eruption?
pyroclastic flows