Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
earthSystemsScience2
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Why is Earth systems science interdisciplinary? | It examines the physical and chemical nature of the environment in various things (atmosphere, rivers, lakes, oceans, soils, and lithosphere). |
| What major disciplines (fields of study) are included in Earth Systems? | Geography, Environmental Science, Ecology (Biology), Chemistry, Geology and Math |
| What is geography? | A discipline that seeks to understand the world and how its human and natural complexities have changed. |
| What are the two branches of geography? | Human and Physical |
| What is Environmental Science? | Scientific Study of the environment |
| What is an environment? | All factors that affect an individual organism or population at any point in the life cycle. |
| What is ecology? | A branch of Biology that focuses on the scientific study of the relationships between living things and their environment. |
| What is geology? | The study of the Earth, the materials, the structure of those materials, and the processes acting upon them. |
| 4 types of geology | Atmospheric Science,Volcanic eruptions,Earthquakes & Plate tectonic, Environmental pollution |
| What is Mathematics? | the study of quantity, structure, space, and change. |
| How is Math used as a tool in science? | Statistics,Climate Models,Population Viability Models,Modeling for prediction |
| 4 major parts of Earth’s system are? Describe them briefly. | ATMOSPHERE is a layer of gases surrounding the planet,absorbs ultraviolet solar radiationHYDROSPHERE 71% of Earth’s surface covered by water SOLIDEARTH lithosphere fragmented into tectonic platesBIOTA is total sum of living organisms |
| What is plate tectonics? | When plates move horizontally across the Earth's surface and the continents change their relative positions |
| What are the major plates? | the Eurasian plate; African plate; Indo-Australian plate; Pacific plate; North American plate; South American plate; and the Antarctic plate |
| Explain the basics of the Gaia hypothesis | it proposes that the biosphere and the physical components of the Earth (atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere) are coupled to form a complex interacting system. |
| Define systems | an entity composed of diverse but interrelated parts that function as a complex whole. |
| Define components (types of components) | Components are the individual parts of a system-A reservoir of matter (has mass or volume)-A reservoir of energy (ex: heat energy)-A subsystem -An attribute of the system (ex: pressure) |
| Age of earth | 4.6 billion years old |
| Earth’s early history, Precambrian & first fossils of life | 542 million years ago--First traces of microscopic life about 3.8 – 3.5 billion years ago.--High CO2 at first from “impact degassing”Then photosynthesis changed everything. |
| When did dinosaurs arrive? | Triassic – Cretaceous. |
| When did humans arrive? | Quaternary period, the last 17 seconds |
| Couplings (positive & negative) | in a system are linked components--Positive couplings – a change in one component is a stimulus in the same direction of the other.--A negative coupling a change in one component is a stimulus that leads to a change of the opposite direction of the other. |
| What is a state of a system | The set of important attributes that characterize the system at a particular time. |
| Feedback | a self-perpetuating mechanism of change and a response to that change. |
| What are Perturbations? | A temporary disturbance (tornadoes, fire, SO2 from volcanic eruptions, etc |
| What are forcings and examples? | more persistant disturbances in a system.(Solar luminosity,CO2 level in atmosphere) |
| What are Ecosystems? | A natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms (biotic factors) in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical (abiotic) factors of the environment. |
| What are Limits of Life? | Different species (and different varieties and sub-species) have different specific limits of tolerance--Limits involve things like:Amount of sunlight needed,temperature,Amount of precipitation,Amount of food, water,habitat |
| Daisyworld | An imaginary explanation as to how everything on earth is interconnected--A simplified version of how couplings work |
| Why is Earth unique (as far as we know…)? | Intermediate distance from the sun--Dense oxygen rich atmosphere--Abundant water--Moderate radiation intensity--Moderate heat balance,Surface temperature 15 degrees Celsius --H2O-3 phases |
| Lithosphere, Crust, Mantle | All environments are on the crust--a solid layer of rock--Continental lithosphere --Upper Mantle |
| What is subduction? | the process in which one plate is pushed downward beneath another plate into the underlying mantle when plates move towards each other. The plate that is denser will slide under the thicker, less dense plate. |
| How can plate movement create mountain ranges? | When two continents carried on converging plates ram into each other, they crumple and fold under the enormous pressure, creating great mountain ranges. |
| Why are their volcanoes in the middle of the Pacific plate? | Formed initially above a relatively stationary "hot spot" in the Earth's interior, each volcano was rafted away from the hot spot as the Pacific Plate moves northwestward at about 9 centimeters per year. |
| Negative feedback loops | diminish effects of the initial stimulus (sweating when hot) |
| Positive feedback loops | amplify the effects of the initial stimulus (labor pains) |
Created by:
cecesofresh92
Popular Science sets