APES: Unit 4 Review

4.1-4.3: Plate Tectonics and Soil

  1. What are the soil particles listed from largest to smallest?

    1. sand, silt clay

  2. What pair of nutrients are commonly depleted in soil?

    1. N and K

  3. Tsunamis and land subsidence are the effects of earthquakes known as

    1. secondary effects

  4. Transform boundary: an area where two tectonic plates slide past one another

  5. Core: made up of liquid nickel and iron

  6. The ring of fire is in the

    1. Pacific Ocean

  7. biological weathering: when bacteria and fungi break down rocks and minerals into smaller pieces

  8. what type of soil would be best to add to the bottom of a constructed pond, where the goal is to have as little leakage as possible?

    1. mostly clay

  9. A Horizon: silt and sand are concentrated; topsoil with humus

  10. B Horizon: layer where minerals accumulate; subsoil layer

  11. C Horizon: Deep, underlying non-soil materials; bedrock

  12. D Horizon: Leaf litter layer; mostly undecayed materials

  13. Nutrient depletion: repeatedly growing crops on the same soil removing key nutrients over time

  14. Compactions: compression of soil

    1. machines

    2. grazing

    3. humans

  15. Permeability: how easily water drains through a soil

    1. more permeable = lower H2O holding

4.4: Atmosphere

  1. Gases

    1. Nitrogen: 78%

    2. Argon: .93%

    3. CO2: .04%

    4. Oxygen: 21%

    5. Water Vapor: 21%

  2. Layers (The Sick Monkey Tickles Elephants)

    1. exosphere: the outermost layer

    2. thermosphere: hottest temp (absorbs x-rays and uv rays)

    3. mesosphere: middle (less dense)

    4. stratosphere: second layer from earth (less dense)

    5. troposphere: 1st layer (weather occurs here and is the most dense)

  3. Temperature gradient: variation of temperature in the different layers of the atmosphere

    1. thermo: increases

    2. meso: decreases

    3. stratos: increases

    4. tropo: decreases

4.5

  1. Coriolis effect: ocean currents that redistribute heat from the sun and uneven heating of the earth’s surface by the sun

  2. gyres: large, circular ocean currents

  3. earth’s rotation influences direction of the wind and water

4.6

  1. watersheds: all the land that drains into a body of water

    1. more veg: more infiltration and groundwater recharge

    2. greater slope: faster velocity of runoff and more soil erosion

    3. soil permeability: determines runoff vs. infiltration rates

  2. sand has high filtration

  3. albedo: reflection of radiation

lower albedo = high absorption

4.7

  1. incoming solar radiation: the earth’s main E. source

  2. max. insolation: equator

  3. min. insolation: poles

  4. length of insolation is determined by the tilt

  5. earth’s tilt is at 23.5 degrees

  6. El Nino

    1. pacific

    2. warmer

    3. prevents upwellings

    4. dryer

  7. La Nina

    1. cool

    2. wetter

  8. weather

    1. affected by

      1. moving masses of warm or cold air

      2. atmospheric pressure changes

      3. occasional shifts in major winds

    2. front: boundary between two air masses with different temperatures and densities

    3. warm front: advancing warm air mass rises up over cooler air

    4. cold front: advancing cold air mass stays close to the ground, wedging below warmer air

  9. atmospheric pressure

    1. greater near the earth’s surface

    2. high-pressure

      1. lacks condensation

    3. low-pressure

      1. consense