Unit 1 Test Study Guide
1. Review the topics on Unit 1 Quiz – They are still fair game!
2. Review the Biogeochemical Cycles – you should know the major processes of each cycle.
Hydrologic Cycle: Evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, run-off, infiltration, percolation, absorption. What are the major sinks?
Carbon Cycle: Photosynthesis, Cellular respiration, combustion, sedimentation, dissolution, decay
Nitrogen Cycle:
Nitrogen fixation (N2 – non useable in that form - to NH3/NH4+) and Nitrification (NO2‐/NO3‐)
Assimilation (uptake by plants/animals)
Ammonification (decomp)
Denitrification (to N2)
Phosphorous Cycle: Weathering, runoff, fertilizer use, assimilation and decomposition
3. Review the geologic time scale – what are the important developments for each period below?
Ordovician – first land plants, Devonian – insects, Triassic – first birds/mammals, Quaternary – humans!
4. What is the composition of each of Earth’s layers? Try and Stop Me Then – Troposphere (weather), Stratosphere (good Ozone), Mesosphere, Thermosphere, Exosphere
5. Label the parts of the solid Earth below:
Label the crust, mantle, and core. Label the most dense and the least dense.
6. What is the theory of plate tectonics?
7. What are convection currents? Atmosphere and in asthenosphere. Responsible for movement of air or plates. Heated up, rise, cool down, fall down. Make conveyor belt like circulation cells.
8. What are some geographic consequences of the tectonic cycle?
9. Where are most earthquakes located? Most hotspots? (Review your tectonic map activity from class, and the maps on pages 211 & 215 in your textbook)
10. How do earthquakes and volcanoes occur?
11. A. Name three types of plate boundaries
B. Draw each type of plate boundary.
C. Explain what type of features can exist at each plate boundary. (Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Mountains)
12. List four effects that volcanoes can have on the environment. One effect must include the land, one must include people, one must include the atmosphere, and one must include agriculture. One of the effects must be positive. Rockslides (release microbes into the atmosphere which can affect human health), Fire, Flooding (positive benefit of these land affects – replaces nutrients in the soil for agriculture!), Shaking so buildings collapse and can injure people, releases sulfur dioxide and sulfates into the atmosphere
13. Earthquakes transfer energy through seismic waves and are measured using a seismograph. They are then given a numerical value on the Richter Scale.
- Where do earthquakes generally occur?
- How can earthquakes effect the ocean?
14. Explain where and why there are polar ice caps and tropical rainforests. There are ice caps at the north and south poles because these areas do not get the same amount of direct sunlight that the equator receives. The equator does receive direct sunlight and thus rainforests grow in the hot and humid climate.
15. What type of energy is transferred through space to heat the Earth? Why is there uneven heating of Earth’s surface?
- Mechanical energy
- Kinetic energy
- Mechanical wave energy
- Radiant energy
16. Differentiate between the properties of weather and climate
17. Describe the Coriolis Effect and air convection currents and discuss their impact on global air circulation
18. Identify the layers of the atmosphere, their properties and the importance of the natural “greenhouse effect”
19. Determine the factors that influence earth’s climate.
20. Diagram the earth’s atmospheric circulation cells and their resulting wind patterns.
21. Explain how climate is influenced by solar radiation and the earth’s rotation.
22. Discussion the relationship between ocean currents and the atmosphere.
23. In what ways are atmospheric and ocean circulation patterns similar?
24. What are four properties of air that affect its circulation?
25. Why are climatograms (climate diagrams) significant? (What 3 things do they show)
26. Why would it be bad if thermohaline circulation stopped?
27. What’s the difference between a Hadley cell and a polar cell?
28. Diagram and explain a “Rain Shadow.”
29. Explain how each type of rock can become another:
Igneous to Metamorphic Igneous to Sedimentary Metamorphic to Igneous
Metamorphic to Sedimentary Sedimentary to Igneous Sedimentary to Metamorphic
30. What is the difference between weathering and erosion? Why are both processes important?
31. Describe the difference between surface mining and sub-surface mining.
32. Explain two disadvantages of surface mining. Explain one disadvantage of sub-surface mining.
33. What is gangue? Why is reclaiming gangue important?
34. What laws were developed to mitigate the impact of mining?
35. Compare strip mining to open-pit mining and mountaintop removal. What environmental impacts are the same between the three, what impacts are different/unique to each one?
Math Practice
1. An open-pit mine collects 20 m3 of water at the bottom. 50 grams of acid drain into the bottom of the pit. What is the concentration of acid in the water? (in g/m3)
50 g/ 20 m3 = 2.5 g/m3
- If environmentalists are able to remove 75% of the acid in the water, and then 30% acid mine drainage exists and leaches into the soil at the bottom of the pit, how many grams of acid are now located in the soil?
75% removed, so 25% left …. 50 g x .25 = 12.5 g acid left over
12.5 g x 0.30 = 3.75 g acid
2. Assume a plate is moving at a rate of 3.2 mm/year. How long will it take that plate to collide with a neighboring plate, 960 km away?
960 km x 1000 m x 1000 cm = 960 million mm x 1 year = 300 million years
1 km 1 m 3.2 mm
Vocabulary
minerals
igneous rocks
sedimentary rocks
metamorphic rocks
weathering
erosion
Mantle
Magma
Lithosphere
Crust
Core
plate tectonics
divergent plate boundary
sea floor spreading
convergent plate boundary
subduction
volcano
transform fault boundary
earthquake
seismic waves
epicenter
Climate
Weather
Solar Insolation
Coriolis Force (Effect)
Atmospheric Circulation Cells Tropical (Hadley) Cell
Temperate (Ferrell) Cell
Polar Cell
Thermohaline Circulation
Rain Shadow
Open Pit Mining
Placer Mining
Strip Mining
Mountain top removal
Spoils/tailings/gangue
Relevant Laws
a. General Mining Law of 1872 4, 7, 8
b. Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMRCA) of 1977 1, 9
c. Clean Air Act 6
d. Clean Water Act 3, 10
e. Superfund Act 2, 5
Match the following statements to the correct Mining Laws
1. Congress passed this act that requires mined areas be returned to their approximate original topography and the land restored and replanted.
2. Designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances/pollutants/contaminants.
3. Requires all point source discharges from mining operations to be authorized under a permit.
4. This piece of legislation was initially established to use federal land and to promote commerce.
5. Responsible for cleaning up abandoned mines and restoring affected ecosystems.
6. Set emission limits for ore processing and power plants.
7. Miners can stake claims on federal lands and take any minerals they find. In addition, they only paid $5/acre for land filled with minerals.
8. Miners can take any ore that they wish without extra payments to the government. The miners can deduct a “depletion” allowance from their taxes which lowers their taxes as the resources decline in their mines.
9. This act/law pertains to strip-mined lands especially where mines replaced prime farmland.
10. This act/law pertains to surface mining where minimal adverse aquatic ecosystem effects result from the activity.