Soil, Atmosphere, Climate, and Watershed - Fill in the Blank Flashcards

A set of fill-in-the-blank flashcards covering soil texture, horizons, weathering, erosion, nutrients, watershed concepts, atmosphere layers, wind patterns, albedo, climate phenomena (El Niño/La Niña), solstices/equinoxes, and insolation.

Soil texture is the percentage of sand, silt, and in a soil.

clay

The percentages of sand, silt, and clay in a soil always add up to .

100%

Porosity is the amount of space in a soil.

pore

Nutrients commonly considered in soil fertility include N, P, K, Ca, Na, and .

Mg2+

Factors that increase soil fertility include organic matter, biological activity, and .

Clay content

Compared to clay, sand holds water in soils.

less

The A horizon is the layer, rich in humus with the most biological activity.

topsoil

The B horizon is the beneath the topsoil.

subsoil

The C horizon is the least weathered , i.e., parent material.

soil

Weathering is the breakdown of rocks into smaller pieces by physical, chemical, and processes.

biological

Erosion is the transport of weathered rock fragments by and rain.

wind

Soil permeability determines runoff versus rates.

infiltration

A watershed is a land area that drains rainfall or snowmelt into a specific .

body of water

Human activities that affect watersheds include agriculture, clear-cutting, urbanization, dams, and .

mining

The atmosphere is composed of several layers; the outermost layer is the .

exosphere

The thermosphere contains the hottest .

temperature

The mesosphere is characterized by extremely low (temperature) and lies around 60-80 km above the surface.

temperature

Trade winds blow from roughly 30° latitude toward the .

equator

Westerlies occur between approximately 30° and 60° latitude and blow from the .

west to east

A surface with high albedo reflects more .

light

Urban areas are hotter than rural areas due to low albedo surfaces and vegetation.

less

El Niño is the warm phase of the Pacific Ocean in which warm water shifts toward the .

east

La Niña refers to the phase with cooler surface temperatures.

cool

El Niño tends to bring heavy rainfall to the west coast of South America and drought in parts of and Southeast Asia.

Australia

During the solstice, the Northern Hemisphere experiences the longest day in June, while the Southern Hemisphere experiences the longest day in .

December

The two equinoxes occur in March and September and have about hours of daylight.

12

The equator receives direct insolation due to its angle relative to the sun; insolation intensity is highest at the .

equator

In the stratosphere, the temperature increases due to absorption of UV rays by .

ozone

The troposphere contains the layer where weather occurs and temperature with altitude.

decreases