AP ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
EARTH’S INTERDEPENDENT SYSTEMS
AP EXAM VOCABULARY REVIEW
Answer the following questions on a sheet of paper by
matching the term with the correct definition/description.
Check your answers by the final slide.
Questions 1-6:
A. abiotic
B. acid
C. air mass
D. A horizon
E. alkaline
F. aquifer
1. any compound that releases hydrogen ions when
dissolved in water
2. related to factors or things that are separate and
independent from living things; nonliving
3. underground layer of porous rock, sand, or other
material that allows movement of water between
layers of nonporous rock or clay
4. formed of weathered rock, with some organic
material; often referred to as topsoil
5. enormous bodies of air that move as a unit
6. substance that absorbs hydrogen ions or releases
hydroxyl ions
Questions 7 – 12:
A. arable
B. asthenosphere
C. atmosphere
D. barrier island
E. biological weathering
F. biotic
7. any weathering that’s caused by the activities of
living organisms
8. land that’s fit to be cultivated
9. gaseous mass or envelope surrounding a celestial
body
10. living or derived from living things
11. long, narrow island running parallel to mainland built
by action of waves and currents
12. part of mantle that lies just below the lithosphere
Questions 13- 18:
A. B horizon
B. chemical weathering
C. C horizon
D. clay
E. climate
F. conduction
13. finest soil, made up of particles that are less than 0.002 mm in
diameter
14. transfer of something through a medium or passage without
perceptible motion of the medium itself
15. receives minerals and organic materials that are leached out
of A horizon
16. weather conditions, temperature & precipitation, that remain
constant over 30 years or more
17. made up of larger pieces of rock that have not undergone
much weathering
18. result of chemical interaction with bedrock; typical of action
of both water and atmospheric gases
Questions 19 – 24:
A. convection
B. convection currents
C. convergent boundary
D. coral reef
E. Coriolis effect
F. crop rotation
19. vertical movement of a mass of matter because of
heating & cooling
20. practice of alternating crops grown on a piece of land
to replenish soil nutrients
21. plate boundary where 2 plates are moving toward
each other
22. air current caused by vertical movement of air due to
atmospheric heating & cooling
23. erosion resistant marine ridge consisting of compacted
coral together with algal material & biochemically
deposited magneisum and calcium carobnate
24. deflection of an object moving above the earth,
rightward in the Northern Hemisphere and leftward
in Southern Hemisphere
Questions 25- 30:
A. delta
B. divergent boundary
C. doldrums
D. drip irrigation
E. earthquake
F. El Nino
25. climate variation that takes place in tropical
Pacific about every 3 to 7 years for duration of
about 1 year
26. region of ocean near equator, characterized by
calms, light winds, or squalls
27. usually triangular alluvial deposit at mouth of river
28. result of vibrations that release energy from within
earth
29. plate boundary where plates are moving away
from each other
30. method of supplying water through tubes that
literally drip water onto soil at base of each plant
Questions 31-36:
A. erosion
B. estuary
C. fault
D. Green Revolution
E. greenhouse effect
F. Hadley cell
31. phenomenon whereby earth’s atmosphere traps solar
radiation caused by presence of atmospheric gases
such as CO2, water vapor, and methane
32. place where 2 plates lie beside each other
33. system of vertical & horizontal air circulation that
creates major weather patterns, mostly in tropical &
subtropical regions
34. part of wide lower course of river where its current is
met by tides
35. process of soil particles being carried away by wind or
water
36. time after Industrial Revolution when farming became
mechanized and crop yields in industrialized nations
boomed as farmers began using large amounts of
chemical fertilizers and pesticides
Questions 37 – 42:
A. headwaters
B. humus
C. inner core
D. horizon
E. hurricane
F. insolation
37. molten core of earth
38. layer of soil
39. severe tropical storm originating in equatorial
regions of Atlantic Ocean or Caribbean Sea or
eastern regions of Pacific Ocean, that travels north,
northwest, or northeast from its point of origin;
involves high speed winds and heavy rains
40. water from which a river rises; a source
41. delivery rate of solar radiation per unit of horizontal
surface
42. dark, crumbly, nutrient rich material that results
from decomposition of organic material
Questions 43 – 48:
A. jet stream
B. La Nina
C. loamy
D. land degradation
E. lithosphere
F. mantle
43. outer part of earth, consists of crust and upper
mantle, about 100 km (62 miles) thick
44. deterioration of land quality caused by exploitation
45. layer of earth between crust and core
46. cooling of ocean surface off western coast of South
America, occurring periodically every 4 to 12
years & affecting Pacific & other weather patterns
47. high-speed, meandering wind current, generally
moving from a westerly direction at speeds often
exceeding 400 km (250 miles) per hour at altitudes
of 15 to 25 km (10 – 15 miles)
48. soil composed of a mixture of sand, clay, silt, and
organic matter
Questions 49 – 54:
A. monoculture
B. O horizon
C. physical (mechanical)
weathering
D. monsoon
E. plate boundaries
F. prior appropriation
49. process that breaks rock down into smaller pieces
without changing the chemistry of the rock
50. cultivation of a single crop on a farm
51. wind system that influences large climatic regions
& reverses direction seasonally
52. upper most layer of soil; made up of organic
materials
53. when water rights are given to those who have
historically used the water in a certain area
54. edges of tectonic plates
Questions 55- 60:
A. rain shadow effect
B. R horizon
C. salinization
D. red tide
E. riparian right
F. sand
55. coarsest soil, with particles 0.05 – 2.0 mm in
diameter
56. low-rainfall region that exists on leeward side of a
mountain range
57. right, as to fishing or to use of riverbed, of one who
owns the land adjacent to a river or stream
58. bedrock, lies below all other layers of soil
59. bloom of dinoflagellates that causes reddish
discoloration of coastal ocean waters; can
produce toxins that kill fish & contaminate shellfish
60. when soil becomes waterlogged from excess
irrigation & then dries out forming layer of salt
crystals on surface
Questions 61 – 66:
A. silt
B. subduction zone
C. thermosphere
D. Southern Oscillation
E. thermocline
F. topsoil
61. name for A horizon of soil
62. atmospheric pressure conditions corresponding to
the periodic warming of El Nino & cooling of La Nina
63. soil with particles 0.02 – 0.05 mm in diameter
64. layer in large body of water that sharply separates
regions differing in temperature, so that the
temperature gradient across the layer is abrupt
65. outermost shell of atmosphere, temperatures
increase steadily with altitude
66. sites at which an oceanic plate is sliding under a
continental plate
Questions 67 – 72:
A. trade winds
B. tropical storm
C. volcanoes
D. transform boundary
E. upwelling
F. watershed
67. opening in earth’s crust through which molten
lava, ash, & gases are ejected
68. region draining into a river system or other body of
water
69. more or less constant winds blowing in horizontal
directions over earth’s surface
70. process in which cold, often nutrient-rich, waters
from ocean depths rise to surface
71. area where plates are moving/sliding past each
other
72. cyclonic storm having winds ranging from
approximately 48 – 121 km (30 – 75 miles) per
hour
Questions 73 – 77:
A. water-scarce
B. water-stressed
C. weathering
D. wetlands
E. weather
73. lowland area saturated with moisture such as a
marsh or swamp
74. countries that have a renewable annual water
supply of less than 1,000 m3 per person
75. gradual breakdown of rock into smaller and
smaller particles, caused by natural chemical,
physical, and biological factors
76. countries that have a renewable annual water
supply of about 1,000 – 2,000 m3 per person
77. day to day variations in temperature, air pressure,
wind, humidity, & precipitation mediated by
atmosphere in a given region
ANSWERS
1. B
2. A
3. F
4. D
5. C
6. E
7. E
8. A
9. C
10. F
11. D
12. B
13. D
14. F
15. A
16. E
17. C
18. B
19. A
20. F
21. C
22. B
23. D
24. E
25. F
26. C
27. A
28. E
29. B
30. D
31. E
32. C
33. F
34. B
35. A
36. D
37. C
38. D
39. E
40. A
41. F
42. B
43. E
44. D
45. F
46. B
47. A
48. C
49. C
50. A
51. D
52. B
53. F
54. E
55. F
56. A
57. E
58. B
59. D
60. C
61. F
62. D
63. A
64. E
65. C
66. B
67. C
68. F
69. A
70. E
71. D
72. B
73. D
74. A
75. C
76. B
77. E