NES 307 STUDY GUIDE
PART I: NATURE OF SCIENCE (18% of questions)
CHAPTER 2 HISTORY:
Gallileo: 1564-1642
-speed of a dropping object is not proportional to its weight (as Aristotle had proposed)
-law of fallen bodies: distance of a falled body is proportional to the square of the time
elapsed
-trajectory of a projectile is a parabola
-improved on telescope
-observed the moons phases and its uneven surface
-supported and provided evidence for copernicism (sun was the center of the solar system)
Newton: 1643-1727
 Newton's First Law of Motion: A body at rest will remain at rest, and a body in
motion will remain in motion unless it is acted upon by an external force.
 Newton's Second Law of Motion: The net force acting on an object is equal to the
mass of that object times its acceleration.
 Newton's Third Law of Motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite
reaction.
 Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation: The pull of gravity between two objects
will be proportional to the masses of the objects and inversely proportional to the
square of the distance between their centers of mass.
 Law of Conservation of Energy: Energy cannot be created nor destroyed, and
instead changes from one form to another; for example, mechanical energy turning
into heat energy.
 Law of Conservation of Momentum: In the absence of external forces such as
friction, when objects collide, the total momentum before the collision is the same as
the total momentum after the collision.
 Bernoulli's Principle: Conservation of mass in fluids. Within a continuous
streamline of fluid flow, a fluid's hydrostatic pressure will balance in contrast to its
speed and elevation.
James Hutton 1726-1797:
 “father” of modern geology-remote history can be inferred from present day rocks
 Proposed an ancient earth
 Supported uniformitarianism
 An endless cycle where sediment eroded from the land into the sea, was turned
back into rock, and arose again as land
Antione Lavoisier 1743-1794:
 Conservation of mass: elements might change form but overall mass stays the same
 Named oxygen and hydrogen



Helped construct the metric system
Work on how oxygen plays a role in combustion
Charles Lyell 1797-1875:
1. Earth is much more ancient than can be explained by a literal reading of the Bible.
2. The processes that have formed Earth and the Universe are the same as processes
taking place today. This principle—that physical processes are uniform in nature across
time—is known as Uniformitarianism.
3. Most of the processes that have shaped Earth and, by extension, the universe, take
place over a very long period of time by means of gradual, almost imperceptible,
change.


“uniformitarianism” – a form of gradualism
Influenced Charles Darwin and his thoughts
Alfred Wegner 1880-1930:
 Continental drift: that the continents where drifting across the earth and all atarted as one
super continent of Pangea
o Supported with fossils of same organisms being found in Aftrica and South
America
o And stratigraphy of different rocks on the two continents fit like a puzzle
Ernist Rutherford 1871-1937:
 Alpha rays
 Radioactive half life: time required for a quantity to reduce to half its initial value
 Discovered the radioactive element radon
 Distinguished alpha and beta radiation
Periodic Table:
Elements are arranged from left to right and top to bottom in order of increasing atomic
number. Order generally coincides with increasing atomic mass.
The rows are called periods. The period number of an element signifies the highest
energy level an electron in that element occupies (in the unexcited state), according to
the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The number of electrons in a period increases as
one moves down the periodic table; therefore, as the energy level of the atom
increases, the number of energy sub-levels per energy level increases.
Elements that occupy the same column on the periodic table (called a "group") have
identical valance electron configurations and consequently behave in a similar fashion
chemically. For instance, all the group 18 elements are inert gases. [Related: How Are
the Elements Grouped?]
 Atomic number: number of protons an element has
 Demitri Mendeleev = “father” of the periodic table
CHAPTER 3: MATH & SCIENCES
Trigonomic ratios: right triangles (SOH-CHA-TOA)
Pathagorean therom: a2+b2+c2
Environmental geology: Study of humans and their geological environment. Study natural
hazards such as: earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, storms; natural resources including
water, soil and energy; climate change; human population; pollution and
environmental policies.
PART II: GEOLOGY (25% of questions)
CHAPTER 4- HISTORICAL GEOLOGY
Major Events: meteor impacts, flood basalts, continental rifting, orogenies and how they affected
earth.
How does shifting continenets and mountain building alter climate?
Earliest fossil record: 3.48-4.1 billion years ago
4.54 Billion years ago: earth forms from accretion from the solar nebula. Earth was initially molten
due to extreme volcanism and frequent collisions with other bodies. Eventually, the outer layer of the
planet cooled to form a solid crust when water began accumulating in the atmosphere.
The Moon formed soon afterwards, possibly as a result of the impact of a planetoid with the
Earth. Outgassing and volcanic activity produced the primordial atmosphere. Condensing water
vapor, augmented by ice delivered from comets, produced the oceans. However, more recently, in
August 2020, researchers reported that sufficient water to fill the oceans may have always been on
the Earth since the beginning of the planet's formation.[1][2][3]
As the surface continually reshaped itself over hundreds of millions of years, continents formed and
broke apart. They migrated across the surface, occasionally combining to form a supercontinent.
Roughly 750 million years ago, the earliest-known supercontinent Rodinia, began to break apart.
The continents later recombined to form Pannotia, 600 to 540 million years ago, then
finally Pangaea, which broke apart 200 million years ago.
The present pattern of ice ages began about 40 million years ago, then intensified at the end of
the Pliocene. The polar regions have since undergone repeated cycles of glaciation and thaw,
repeating every 40,000–100,000 years. The last glacial period of the current ice age ended about
10,000 years ago.
Precambrian: 4.6 billion years ago-541 million years ago

approximately 90% of geologic time.

It includes three eons, the Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic.

Major volcanic events altering the Earth's environment and causing extinctions may have
occurred 10 times in the past 3 billion years.[4]

Hadean Eon 4.6-4 billion years ago:
o Earth forms through accretion
o Earth is initially molten (extreme volcanism & impacts)
o Eventually a crust forms and water begins accumulating in the
atmosphere
o Moon is formed from an impact with a large planetoid
o Late heavy bombardment: large number of impacts on the earth

Archean Eon 4 billion-2.5 billion years ago:
o Techtonics was much different than today, much more vigorous
o Earths magnetic field was formed 3.5 billion years ago which helped
protect the atmosphere from the strong solar wind flux
o 3.5 billion years ago the earliest life starts

Proterozoic Eon 2.5 billion – 541 million years ago:
o Extensive shallow epicontinental seas
o Massive, rapid, continental accretion and supercontinents
o Earliest supercontinent: Rodinia (750mya) later recombined to form
Pannotia (600-540mya)
o First glaciations occurred, at least 4, ending in snowball earth
o Eukaryotes about 2.1 billion years ago
o Fungi: 1.5 billion years ago
o Earliest animals (609 million years ago)
Paleozoic Era 542-251 mya:

Contains 6 geologic periods

Starts shortly after the breakup of supercontinent pannotia and at the end of the
glabal ice age, snowball earth

Cambrian Period 541 mya:
o Widespread, shallow seas
o High rates of continental drift
o Cambrian explosion- practically all major animal phyla start appearing




Ordovician
o Cambrian-ordovician extinction
 Likely caused by an ice age (.5-1.5 million years long) that ended the
green house conditions
 The ice age was preceded by a drop in CO2 which likely effected
productivity in the shallow seas,
o Southern continents were a single continent called Gondwana
 Started near the equator and slowly moved south, eventually becoming
largely glaciated
Silurian Period 443.8 ma
o Gondwana still continued to drift south
o Melting ice caps led to a rise in sea levels (seen in the unconformity in Silurian
sediments atop Ordovician sediments)
o Formation of another supercontinent Euroamerica
o Vast ocean Panthalassa covered most of the northern hemisphere
Devonian Period 419-359ma:
o High tectonic activity
o Pangea begins to form
o Much of land is still shallow seas
Carboniferous Period 358-298 Ma:
o Sea levels rose, and deposited carbonate
o Drop in south polar temperatures
o Coal swamps flourished within 30 degrees of northern glaciers
o Mid-period drop in sea level led to a major exptinction of crinoids and ammonites
and also led to an unconformity

o Pangea is being formed and many mountains are built
o Gondwana collides with Laurussia resulting in
 Hercynian orogeny (mountain building)
 Alleghenian orogeny
Permian Period 298-252 Ma:
o Most land masses are collected as Pangea
 Straddled the equator and extended towards the poles
 Effected ocean currents in earths large ocean Panthalassa
 The tethys ocean was forming
 Large land masses create extreme climates with monsoon seasons ans well
as large deserts
Mesozoic Era 252-66 Ma:
 Rifting of pangea



Triassic period 252-201 Ma:
o Pangea, large gulf of Tethys sea, & ocean Panthalassa
 All deep ocean sediments from this time have been subducted to little is
known of the triassic open ocean
Jurassic period 201-145 Ma:
o Pangea splits into Laurasia & Gondwana
o Gulf of Mexico opens
o Tethys sea closed
o Warm climates, no evidence of glaciation, no evidence of land at pole
o Europe=shallow seas
Cretaceous period 145-66 Ma:
o Pangea completes its break up into modern day continents
 Gondwana breaks up into south America, antarctica, Australia, and africa
 Creates south Atlantic and Indian oceans
o Active rifting led to increase in mean sea level worldwide
o 1/3 of earths present land area was submerged
o CHALK: high volumes of chalk were created during this time, circulation of
seawater over large marine ridges, enriched waters with calcium allowing
calcareous plankton to proliferate
Cenozoic Era 66 Ma-Present:
 Paleogene period 66 Ma-23 Ma
o Paleocene Epoch 66-56 Ma:
 Continents continued to drift apart
 India begins to head towards Asia and collides to form the himalayas
o Eocene Epoch 56-33.9 Ma:

o Oligocene Epoch
Finish later: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geological_history_of_Earth
FOSSILS FORMATION & DATING
Earliest fossils: 3.48-4.1 billion years ago
Radiometric dating: a method of dating geological or archeological specimens by determining the relative
proportions of particular radioactive isotopes present in a sample. Commonly used is C14- N14. While people
are most familiar with carbon dating, carbon dating is rarely applicable to fossils. Carbon-14, the
radioactive isotope of carbon used in carbon dating has a half-life of 5730 years, so it decays too
fast. It can only be used to date fossils younger than about 75,000 years. Potassium-40 on the other
hand has a half like of 1.25 billion years and is common in rocks and minerals. This makes it ideal
for dating much older rocks and fossils.
Carbon-14 is created when cosmic rays strike atmospheric nitrogen; however, the production of
carbon-14 from nitrogen varies over time due to changes in Earth's magnetosphere. Changes in
climate can also alter the way carbon is stored and released from carbon reservoirs. To determine
calendar dates from radiocarbon dates, the radiocarbon dates must be calibrated with a standard
calibration curve that compensates for the fluctuation in atmospheric carbon-14 concentrations
over time.
https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/dating-rocks-and-fossils-using-geologic-methods107924044/#:~:text=To%20establish%20the%20age%20of,clocks%20to%20date%20ancient%20events.
Using paleomagnetism to date rocks and fossils
The Earth is like a gigantic magnet. It has a magnetic north and south pole and its magnetic field is everywhere (Figure 6a).
Just as the magnetic needle in a compass will point toward magnetic north, small magnetic minerals that occur naturally in
rocks point toward magnetic north, approximately parallel to the Earth's magnetic field. Because of this, magnetic minerals
in rocks are excellent recorders of the orientation, or polarity, of the Earth's magnetic field.
CHAPTER 5: PLATE TECHTONICS AND THE ROCK CYCLE
- 3 most common cementing agents in sedimentary rocks are…calcite, silica, and iron oxide
-plate techtonics & its results
-mountain building, erthquakes, faulting, folding
ROCKS
https://isgs.illinois.edu/outreach/geology-resources/description-minerals-and-rocks
 3 main kinds of rocks:
o Igneous: form when molten rock (lava or magma) solidifies
 Granite: slow crystallization inside of the earth (felsic)
o Sedimentary: particles settle out of water or air or by mineral precipitation from
water
 limestone made of calcareous organisms from the ocean
 Shale: made of clay and silt from slow moving rivers
o Metamorphic: existing rock is changed by heat, pressure, or reactive fluids
 Shist: originally shale, altered by heat and pressure
 Slate: also once a shale, but less metamorphosed
VOLCANOES:
https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/volc/types.html
 Cinder cones:
o Simplest type
o Single vent
o Bowl shaped crater
o Only about 1000feet tall
 Composite volcanoes:
o Also called stratovolcanoes
o Stee-sided, symmetrical cone
o Alternating layers of lava flows, ash, cinders, blocks, and bombs
o Crater with a central vent or clustered group of vents
o Conduit system of magma
o Up to 8000 ft tall


o Mt. ranier & Mt st Helens
Shield Volcanoes:
o Almost entirely fluid lava flows
o Broad, gently sloping cone of flat domical shape (like a warriors shield)
o Single vent or many vent
o Rift zones
o Mauna Loa
Lava domes:
o Small, bulbous masses of viscous lava
o Lava piles up from below
o The outer layer cools, hardens, and shatters rolling down the sides
CHAPTER 6: EARTH’S MATERIALS & INTERNAL STRUCTURE
-characteristics of common minerals and soils and how to ID them
Mineral Groups
Mineral Characterization
https://isgs.illinois.edu/outreach/geology-resources/using-characteristics-minerals-identify-them


Hardness:
o scale 1-10
o (1-scratched with a fingernail, 5-scratches glass, 10-diamond)
Luster
o Metallic-metals
o Vitreous/glassy-quartz







o Dull/earthy-limonite
o Greasy-jade, diamond
o Pearly-calcite
o Waxy-jade
o Silky-gypsum
o Resinous-amber
o Adamantine-diamond
Color
Streak-the color of powder left behind on a streak plate
crystal formo cube
o pyramid
o phonbohedron
o octahedron
o hexagonal pyramid
specific gravity- ratio between mass of a mineral and mass of an equal volume of water
cleavage-if it breaks cleanly
fracture-if it breaks irregularly
tenacity-how well it resists breakage
o brittle-crushed to angular fragments
o malleable-modified without breaking, can be flattened to a sheet
o sectile-can be cut with a knife into shavings
o flexible-bends, but doesn’t regain shape once released
o elastic-regains shape once released
Soils:
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/edu/?cid=nrcs142p2_054278
Formation of soils is dependant on:
 parent material
o residual soils-underlying rocks
o from other locations
 windblown loess
 glacial till
 river sediments-rocks, gravel, sand, silt
 climate
o weathering is affected by:
 temperature
 wind
 rain (intensity)
 topography
o slope-steep slopes erode more quickly
o aspect-facing the sun= more weathering
 biological factors
o decomposition adds organic material
o roots-decompose and alter soil chemistry

time

Pedalfer
o Very fertile, dark brown and black
o Deciduous forests
o Al clays & Fe oxides present
o High rainfall takes soluble minerals away
Pedocal
o Drier temperate grasslands
o More soluable minerals
o Less clay
o Less fertile/less organic material
o Calcite layers
Laterite
o Tropical rainforests (daily rain)
o Poor nutrients from chemical weathering
o Rich in aluminum & iron oxides
o Often red in color and will become hard if dried in the sun


Earths Layers:
How do we study the earths layers?
-siesmic waves, waves are reflected or refracted off of layers of different densities. P waves
(primary) move faster and straighter through denser, more solid objects. S waves (secondary)
don’t go through liquid.
-we can ony drill about 10 miles down
More: http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=3249
https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2016/01/16/layers-of-the-earth-lies-beneath-earthscrust/?sh=36999c26441d
Natural Resources

Hydrocarbons or fossil fuels (petroleum, natural gas,coal)
o Created by geological processes acting on organic material left from ancient
organisms (mainly marine algae and plankton)
o Extracted through
 Mining: coal
 Fracking: gas
 Drilling (onshore, and off shore) oil & gas
 Minerals – diamonds, gems, other
o mining
 Ores – gold, silver, cobalt…
o Mining
CHAPTER 7: WEATHERING, EROSION, & DEPOSITION
-The characteristics of glaciers and how they change the landscape are addressed.
-identify geologic evidence for the repeated growth of continental glaciers during the
Pleistocene.
-A full understanding of geographic and geologic factors involved in sediment transport and deposition
is required.
-A full understanding of the role of climate and geography in the geologic processes that shape the
land surface is required.
-landscape evolution
Weathering
 Physical
o Freeze-thaw
o Exfoliation
 Chemical
All need water, occur more rapidly at higher temps.
o Solution-usually from acidic rainwater
o Hydrolosis-breakdown if rock by acidic water to produce clay and soluable salts
o Oxidation-oxygen & water breaks down rocks often leaving iron-rich rock a rusty
color
 Biological
o Plants in search of moisture put roots in cracks of rocks, as they grow, the cracks
are pried open
o Animals such as abalone, limpet, or piddock bore or scrape away rocks for
protection
o Bacteria, algae, and lichens can produce chemicals which degrade rocks to release
nutrients needed.
Erosion
https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/land/management/soil/erosion/types
 Mass wasting
o Downhill movement of soil and rock induced by gravity
 Sheet-rill
 Stream bank
 Floodplain
 Wind

Glacial Erosion & Deposition
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/earthscience/chapter/glacial-erosion-anddeposition/#:~:text=Glaciers%20erode%20the%20underlying%20rock,moving%20glacier
%20(Figure%20below).
 Erode by:
o Abrasion
 Plucked rocks scratch and gouge the ground making glacial striations
o Plucking
 Meltwater seeps into cracks, freezes, breaks apart and is carried away by
the flowing ice.
o Mountain glaciers carve out U-shaped valleys when moving through a V-shaped
river valley
o Smaller tributary glaciers, like tributary streams, flow into the main glacier
in their own shallower ‘U’ shaped valleys. A hanging valleyforms where
the main glacier cuts off a tributary glacier and creates a cliff. Streams
plunge over the cliff to create waterfalls
 Depositional features of glaciers:
o Glacial erratics: different rock types deposited far away from origin
o Glacial till: unsorted rocks from melting glacier
 Moraines: Linear deposites
 Esker: winding ridge deposited by a stream of melt under a glacier
 Drumlin: asymmetrical hill that points in the direction the ice moved
o Meltwater can redistribute sediment:
 Stratified drift: sorted deposit of sand and smaller particles
 Outwash plain: broad area of stratified drift
 Kettle lake: forms as blocks of ice in a glacial till melt
o Deposits not formed directly by ice
 Varve: Dark, fine-grained clays sink to the bottom in winter but
melting ice in spring brings running water that deposits lighter
colored sands. Each alternating dark/light layer represents one year
of deposits.
PART III: OCEANOGRAPHY & FRESHWATER SYSTEMS (19% of questions)
CHAPTER 8: THE HYDROGOLOGIC CYCLE AND OTHER EARTH SYSTEMS
-hydrologic cycle
-Physical Properties of water, chemical composition and structure, density, heat capacity, vapor
pressure, phase changes
Water:
 H2O
 Covalent bonds between H and O atoms (intermolecular)
 Hydrogen bonds between molecules of water (intramolecular)
o Leads to surface tension
o About 10 times stronger than Van der Waals force between most molecules in a
liquid state
o This is why the melting & boiling points of water are much higher
o This is also why water has a high heat capacity (4.2J/g/K)
 Polar molecule with a tetrahedral structure
o Positive charge near H, Negative charge near O



o Polarity makes it a good solvent
o Leads to hexagonal ice structure & decreased density
pH = 7 (for freshwater)
density:
o because of the polarity of water, it becomes less dense when it becomes a solid
 hexagonal crystal structure
o the maximum density of water is about 4C (3.89C)
Phases: at 1 atm
o Melt/freeze point: 0C
o Boil/vapor point: 100C
 For every 274 meters in elevation, the boiling point decreases by 1C
 In a vacuum, water will boil at room temp

Hydrosphere: all of earths combined water mass
 Estimated 332 million cubic miles of water.
 97.5% is saltwater,
 2.5% is freshwater.
o 68.9% ice and snow
o 30.8% is groundwater
o 0.3% is lakes and river systems.

TYPES PF RIVERS:
o Low current:
o Braided:
 Common for seasonal glacier melting
 Common for variable flow rates that “dump”
 Steeper gradients
 Large supply of sediment for braid bars
o Wandering
 Relatively stable
 Multichannel
 Gravel bed
o Meandering (single thread sinous)
 Lower sediment
o Anastomosing
 Multithreaded
 much more stable than braided
 thick clay and silt banks
o High-gradient channels
 All can be strongly influenced by woody debris
o Riffle-pool
 Less than 1-2% grade
 Migrating pools and riffles
 Riffle: traverse bar
o Rapids / plane bed
 1-5 % grade
 Lack distinct pools and bars
 Stone cells or clusters
 White water
o Step-pool
 5-20% grade
 Channel-spanning pools
 Boulder/cobble steps
o Cascade
 >10-15% grade
 Channel dominated by boulders and cobbles
 Channel spanning pools do not exist
 Pocket pools
CHAPTER 9: OCEAN COMPOSITION & STRUCTURE
-geological structures of the ocean
-ridges, trenches, abyssal plains, continental margins
-emergent vs submergent coastline, sandbars, barrier island
-properties of ocean water
-carbonates, dissolved gasses, pH
-thermal and density profiles of oceans
-thermohaline circulation
-Forces of the ocean:
OCEAN CIRCULATION:
- http://www.coastalwiki.org/wiki/Ocean_circulation
 Surface ocean currents are WIND driven
o Clockwise in northern hemisphere, counterclockwise in southern hemisphere
 Coriolis effect- deflection of objects in motion within a rotating frame
 Left for clockwise rotating frame (S hem)
 Right for counterclockwise rotation (N hem)
 Ekman transport & spiral velocity distribution
 Transport occurs 90 degrees to the L/R of the wind force
 Spiral: The movement of subsurface layers of water, as a result
of the Coriolis effect. 90 degrees to the L/R each layer down.
 Eastern boundary currents: towards the equator, cold water
o Eastern boundary of the OCEAN, not the land
 Western boundary current: away from the equator, warm water
 Upwelling: deep water is moved towards the surface due to surface water transport away
from coastlines (or open ocean) from ekman transport
 Downwelling: surface water sinking downward due to density or land mass

Map: upwelling regions
Major Ocean Currents
gulf stream:
 Vast & fast moving
 Transports lots of heat from the carrabean to Europe
WAVES
-direction and physical characteristics
THERMOHALINE CIRCULATION:
 Moves water masses around and between different ocean basins
 “ocean conveyer belt”
 North at Atlantic deep water is formed in the arctic by cooling gulf stream water
TIDES:
Tides are influenced by:
 Moon
 Sun
 Coastline geography
 Bathymetry
Tsunami:
 A series of ocean wave caused by an earthquake, submarine landslide, or other
disturbance.
 Vertical displacement of seafloor is most common cause
-formation, management, and use of geologic and biological marine resources
CHAPTER 10: FRESHWATER SYSTEMS




Some questions focus on characteristics of wetlands, lakes, and ponds. Stream flow and
drainage systems are also a focus.
Other questions address properties of groundwater and factors affecting the recharge and flow
of groundwater.
Some questions focus on the characteristics of freshwater resources. Drinking water supplies,
agricultural uses of freshwater, and the worldwide distribution of freshwater resources are a
focus.
Questions may include descriptions, diagrams, or cross sections of rivers, lakes, and aquifers.
PART IV: THE ATMOSPHERE, WEATHER, & CLIMATE
CHAPTER 11: ATMOSPHERE: STRUCTURES & PROPERTIES

Trophosphere (0-12km)
o Almost all clouds you see up in the sky appear in the troposphere, and
99% of the water that vaporizes from the surface is found here.
o Contains oxygen we need to breathe



Stratosphere (11-50km)
o Planes usually fly in the lowest parts of the stratosphere layer. The air is a
bit thinner, so there is not much resistance, which makes the planes fly
faster.
o The ozone layer, the one that protects us from radiation that comes from
the Sun and outer space, is found in the stratosphere.
 Temps increase with elevation because of it
Mesosphere (50-80km)
o temps get colder with elevation again,
o reach the coldest point in the atmosphere (-90C)
Thermosphere (500-1000km)
o Hottest layer! (up to 2000C)
o Constantly bombarded by Xray and UV rays
WINDS






Polar Easterlies: From 60-90 degrees latitude.
Prevailing Westerlies: From 30-60 degrees latitude (aka Westerlies).
Tropical Easterlies: From 0-30 degrees latitude (aka Trade Winds).
HIGH pressure at the Poles
o Cold, dense air
LOW pressure at the equator
o Hot air, expands = less dense
Coriolis Coriolis effect- deflection of objects in motion within a rotating frame
o Creates the direction of the easterlies & westerlies through deflection of the
surface air moving to/from the poles to either the right or the left
 Left for clockwise rotating frame (S hem)
 Cyclones rotate counter clockwise
 Right for counterclockwise rotation (N hem)
 Cyclones rotate clockwise
o The magnitude of the coriolis force varies with the velocity of the moving object
and the degree of latitude
 Strongest at the poles
 Weakest at the equator
CHAPTER 12: WEATHER SYSTEMS & CONDITIONS


Weather: atmospheric conditions of a particular place at a certain time
Climate: average pattern of weather for a region over many years
PRESSURE SYSTEMS:
o Pressure system: a relative peak or lull in sea level pressure distribution.
o Evolve due to:
 interactions in temp in the atmosphere,
 Temp from and water and land.
 Solar heating or heat loss
o Causes local weather
o Low pressure: warm air expands, becomes less dense
 Associated with precipitation and clouds
 Cyclogenesis
o High pressure: cold air condenses, becomes more dense
 Associated with sunny skies and light winds
o Weather front: boundary separating air masses of several characteristics such as:
o Density,
o wind,
o humidity
o Air Mass: a volume of air defined by its temperature and water vapor
o Classified by:
 Latitude
 Maritime/continental source region (m or c)
o Colder air masses: polar/arctic/antarctic (P or A)
o Warmer air masses: tropical or equatorial (T or E)
o Stability
 k: air mass is colder than the surface below it
 w: air mass is warmer than the surface below it
o ex: a front over the pacific might be denoted at mPk
clouds, precipitation, weather, subtropical & polar jet streams
WEATHER:
CLOUD: an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of minute liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or
other particles suspended in the atmosphere.
o Form as a result of saturation of the air when it is cooled to its dew point
o Occur in the homosphere:
 Troposphere
 Stratosphere
 mesosphere
https://scijinks.gov/clouds/
o High clouds (16,500-45,000ft)
o Cirrus
 Wispy, feathery
 Made of ice crystals swept around by wind
 Weather prediction: a change is on its way!
o Cirrostratus
 Thin white viel
 Most common in the winter
 Weather prediction: rain or snow within 24hrs
o Cirrocumulus
 Thin, patchy, sheet like
 May be ripely
 Weather prediction: fair, but cold. Or tropical hurricane
o Mid-level (6,500-23,000ft)
o Altostratus:
 Gray or blue gray
 Weather: be prepared forcontinuous rain or snow!
o Nimbostratus:
 Dark, grey clouds that seem to fade into rain/snow
 Often block out the sun
 Weather: gloomy continuous rain or snow
o Altocumulus:
 Several patchy white or grey layers
 Many small fluffy ripples
 Weather: fair
o Low (<6,500 ft)
o Stratus
 Thin white sheets covering whole sky
 Rarely produce rain (too thin)
 Weather: fair but gloomy
o Cumulonimbus:
 Huge towers
 Grow when warm, wet air rises very high in the sky
 Weather: rain, hail, tornadoes!
o Cumulus:
 Pixar clouds
 White, fluffy cotton balls
 Weather: fair
o Stratocumulus
 Patchy, grey or white
 Honeycomb appearance
 Weather: fair but a storm might be on its way
o Special Clouds:
o Contrails
 Made by jet plane exhaust
o Mammatus clouds
 Actually altocumulus, cirrus, or cumulonimbus clouds
 Have a pouch-like shape hanging from the bottom
 Made when cold air is sinking down
 Severe weather may be on the way!!!
o Orographic clouds:
 Shaped by mountains or hills
 Also shaped by two air masses meeting
o Lenticular clouds:
 Shaped like a lense or flying saucer
 Created by hills or just air rising air
PRECEPITATION: a product of the condensation of atmospheric water vaper that falls under
gravitational pull from clouds
 Types of precipitation:
o Rain
o Ice pellets
o Hail
o Snowflakes
o Diamond dust
o Occult deposition (fog?)


Causes of precipitation:
o Frontal activity
 Two differing air masses meet
o Convection
 Showery precipitation
o Orographic effects
 Mountatins push air up, pressure and temp cause condensation
How the air becomes saturated:
o Cooling air to its dew point:
 Condensation then occurs on condensation nuclei (dust, ice, salt(
 4 main mechanisms for cooling air to dew point
 Adiabatic cooling: air rises & expands
 Conductive cooling: contact with something colder
 Radiational cooling: emission of infrared radiation
 Evaporative cooling: moisture added to the air
o Adding moisture to the air
 Wind convergance into areas of upward motion
 Precipitation or virga falling from above
 Evaporation from oceans, lakes, or wet land
 Transpiration from plants
 Cool or dry air moving over warm water
 Lifting air over mountains (causes condensation)
JET STREAMS: relatively narrow bands of strong wind in the upper levels of the atmosphere
https://www.weather.gov/jetstream/jet
 Winds blow from west to east but flow can shift to the North and South
 Follow boundaries between hot and cold air
o Strongest in the winter (when boundaries are most pronounced)
 Moves to the east:
o Coriolis
o As air moves away from the equator, towards the poles, it has more momentum
than the earth below it (eastward)
MEASURING WEATHER:
Maps: https://scijinks.gov/weather-map/
WARM FRONT
STATIONARY FRONT
COLD FRONT
OCCLUDED FRONT




Warm front: initially brings rain, followed by clear skies and warm temps
Cold front: typically move from NW to SE. bring cold, torrential rain and wind
Stationary front: brings long rainy periods that stay in one spot
Occluded front: usually brings dry air
o Cold fronts move faster than warm fronts, sometimes they catch up to the warm
front to form an occluded front

Weather instruments
o Thermometer-temp
o Barometer-pressure
o Hygrometer-humidity
o Anemometer-wind speed
o Windsock-wind speed & direction
o Wind vanes-wind direction
o Rain gauge-rainfall
o Weather balloons-carry instruments listed above to meaure weather at higher
altitudes
CHAPTER 13: EARTH’S CLIMATE SYSTEMS & INFLUENCES
-climate regions (biotic and abiotic factors)
-köppen system, tropical moist clim





Polar climate (also called boreal climate), has long, usually very cold winters, and short
summers.
Temperate climates have four seasons. Some of the countries which have a temperate
climate are: Turkey, and most of the European countries.
Deserts. They just have one or two seasons such as: Saudi Arabia and most of the
African countries.
Tropical climates have warm temperature and only two seasons; wet and dry. An
example of a place with a tropical climate is the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil.
The Mediterranean climate is usually hot and dry in summer, and is cool and wet in
winter. An example of a country with a Mediterranean climate is Spain.
köppen system:
https://www.britannica.com/science/Koppen-climate-classification




Group A is tropical.[1] The average temperature in the coolest month must be at least 18°
C.[1]
 Af-no dry season
 Am- short dry season
 Aw- winter dry season
Group B is arid[1] - desert and steppe/semi-arid. The average precipitation must be less
than a certain amount that depends on the temperature.
 BW- arid
 BS- semiarid
 Subcodes:
 h- warm
 k-cold
Group C is mesothermal,[1] the subtropical and temperate climates. The warmest months
must have an average greater than 10° C and the coldest month must have a
temperature between 0 or -3° C and 18° C. This group includes humid
subtropical, Mediterranean, highland and oceanic.
 CF- no dry season
 CW- winter dry
 CS- summer dry
 Subcodes: a-d indicate warmth of summer or coldness of winter
Group D is microthermal or continental (hot/warm summers and cold winters)
and subarctic (short warm summers and cold winters). The warmest months must have
an average greater than 10° C and the coldest months must have an average of less
than 0 or -3° C.
 DF- no dry season
 DW- winter dry
 DS- summer dry
 Subcodes: a-d indicate warmth of summer or coldness of winter

Group E is polar[1] and alpine. The warmest month must have an average temperature
less than 10° C.[2]
 ET- tundra
 EF- snow/ice
El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO): a recurring climate pattern involving changes I the temp
of waters in the central and eastern tropical pacific ocean.
 Period of 3-7 years
 Surface waters warm or cool by 1-3C compared to normal
 Directly affects rainfall distribution in the tropics
 Can have strong influence on world weather patterns
 3 main phases:
El Niño:
A warming of the ocean surface, or above-average sea surface temperatures
(SST), in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
 Over Indonesia, rainfall tends to become reduced while rainfall increases over
the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
 The low-level surface winds, which normally blow from east to west along the
equator (“easterly winds”), instead weaken or, in some cases, start blowing the
other direction (from west to east or “westerly winds”).
 In general, the warmer the ocean temperature anomalies, the stronger the El
Niño (and vice-versa).
 La Niña:
 A cooling of the ocean surface, or below-average sea surface temperatures
(SST), in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
 Over Indonesia, rainfall tends to increase while rainfall decreases over the
central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
 The normal easterly winds along the equator become even stronger.
 In general, the cooler the ocean temperature anomalies, the stronger the La
Niña (and vice-versa).
 Neutral:
 Neither El Niño or La Niña.
 Often tropical Pacific SSTs are generally close to average.
 However, there are some instances when the ocean can look like it is in an El
Niño or La Niña state, but the atmosphere is not playing along (or vice versa).







North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)
Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO)
Arctic Oscillation (AO)
PART V: ASTRONOMY (19% of the test)
CHAPTER 14: STARS, GALAXIES & UNIVERSE
SUN:

Mass 2x1030kg (~330,000 times that of Earth)
o accounts for about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System.[20]
o ~73%: hydrogen (~73%);
o rest is mostly helium (~25%),
o trace amounts: oxygen, carbon, neon and iron.[21]

G-type main sequence star (G2V)













o Yellow dwarf
4.6 Billion years old
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System.
nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma,[18][19] heated to incandescence by nuclear
fusion reactions in its core,
radiating the energy mainly as visible light, ultraviolet light, and infrared radiation.
It is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth.
Its diameter is about 1.39 million kilometres (864,000 miles), or 109 times that of Earth.
FATE:
o turn into a red giant (in 5 billion years)
 engulf mercury and venus
o turn into a white dwarf
Core
o Temp: 27 million degrees F (15 million C)
o Thermo nuclear fusion
 Sun: hydrogen atoms fuse to make helium
 Release large amounts of energy in the process
Radiative core
o Energy bounces outward
Convective zone
o Temp: 3.5 millionF (a million C)
o Large bubbles of plasma (soup of ionized atoms)
Photosphere
o 300 miles thick
o Temp: 10,000 F/5,500C
o Light we see
 Takes about 8 minutes to reach us
Atmosphere:
o Temp increases with altitude (up to 3.5 millionF)
o Chromosphere
 Appears as a red rim during an eclipse
o Corona
 Appears as a “crown” of white plasma
Magnetosphere/heliosphere
o Solar wind: a stream of electrically charged gas
o Parker spiral: rotating spiral of solar wind due to the suns rotation
o Solar cycle:
 Sun changes poles change polarity approx. every 11 years
 Solar maximum: height of suns activity
 Solar storms
 Sunspots
 Solar flares
 Coronal mass ejections
 Can damafe satellites, pipelines, and power grids on earth

GALAXIES
o Elliptical
o 1/3 of all galaxies
o Can be nearly circular or elongated
o Contain little gas & dust
o Older stars
o Sprial
o Appear as flat, blue-white disks with a yellow buldge in the center
 Normal spiral
 Barred spiral-our galaxy!
 The MILKY WAY:
o 100-200,000 light years in diameter
o 100-400 billion stars
o 100-400 billion planets
o Our solar system is located on the orion arm, about 27,000
light years from the galactic center
o Black hole at the center (about 4 million solar masses)
o Still actively forming stars
o Most galaxies are spiral
o Irregular
o Very little dust
o Neither disks or elliptical
o Abundant in the early universe before spirals and elipses developed
OTHER:
-Black holes, dark matter, supernovas, quasars
The universe is 8-20 billion years old!!!
CHAPTER 15: THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Sun
1. Mercury
o Smallest planet, only slightly larger than our moon
2. Venus
o Hottest planet (900F)
i. Due to thick atmosphere of carbion dioxide and sulfuric acid
o Surface air pressure similar to the bottom of our ocean
o Similar to size and density of earth
o Rotates in the opposite direction than the other planets
3. Earth
4. Mars
o Cold, dusty, desert
5. Jupiter
o Gas giant
o Largest planet
i. Twice as massive as all other planets combined
o rings
6. Saturn
o Second largest planet
o Rings
o Gas giant
7. Uranus
o Ice giant
o Rotates on its side
o 27 moons
o rings
8. Neptune
o Ice giant
o Only planet not visible by the naked eye
o Was predicted mathematically before it was discovered
9. Kuiper belt
o PLUTO- dwarf planet
Termination Shock: 80-100 AU
o Boundary where the sun’s heliosphere ends
o Heliosphere: bubble of electrically charged gas (solar wind) blowing from
the sun
10. Oort cloud: 5,000-100,000AU
o Never observed, only predicted
o A shell around the solar system
o where many asteroids and comets are thought to origonate
FORMATION:
o 4.5 billion years ago
o Condensation of a cloud of gas and dust formed a solar nebula
o A spinning swirling disk of material
o Condensation potentially due to a nearby supernova
o Sun is born!
o Eventually high pressure in the center smashed hydrogens into helium
o Nearest the sun (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars)
o Heavier dust condensed into rocks
o rocks into asteroids
o eventually accreting into planets
o Farther from the sun (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus)
o Ice, gasses, and liquids clumped together
o Creating the gas giants & ice giants
OTHER OBJECTS:
o Asteroids:
o Rocky and airless
o Over 1 million have been counted
o Can range from 33ft-329miles across
o Total mass of all asteroids combined is less than our moon
o Comets:
o Dust, rock, and ice
o Few miles-tens of miles wide
o As they get closer to the sun they heat up and leave trails of gas and dust
o Meteors & meterorites:
o Meteoroid: space rock ranging from dust grains-small asteroids
o Meteor: when a meteoroid enters earth’s atmosphere (shooting star)
o Meteorite: when it survives the earth’s atmosphere and reaches the ground
SPACE MATH:
o Keplers laws of planetary motion:
o Kepler's First Law: each planet's orbit about the Sun is an ellipse.
o The Sun's center is always located at one focus of the orbital ellipse. The
Sun is at one focus. The planet follows the ellipse in its orbit, meaning that
the planet to Sun distance is constantly changing as the planet goes
around its orbit.
o Kepler's Second Law: the planets do not move with constant speed along their
orbits.
o Basically, that planets do not move with constant speed along their orbits.
Rather, their speed varies so that the line joining the centers of the Sun
and the planet sweeps out equal parts of an area in equal times. The point
of nearest approach of the planet to the Sun is termed perihelion. The
point of greatest separation is aphelion, hence by Kepler's Second Law, a
planet is moving fastest when it is at perihelion and slowest at aphelion.
o Kepler's Third Law: the squares of the orbital periods of the planets are directly
proportional to the cubes of the semi major axes of their orbits.
o Kepler's Third Law implies that the period for a planet to orbit the Sun
increases rapidly with the radius of its orbit. Thus we find that Mercury, the
innermost planet, takes only 88 days to orbit the Sun. The earth takes 365
days, while Saturn requires 10,759 days to do the same. Though Kepler
hadn't known about gravitation when he came up with his three laws, they
were instrumental in Isaac Newton deriving his theory of universal
gravitation, which explains the unknown force behind Kepler's Third Law.
Kepler and his theories were crucial in the better understanding of our
solar system dynamics and as a springboard to newer theories that more
accurately approximate our planetary orbits.
o Newtons Laws of Motion:
o An object at rest remains at rest, and an object in motion remains in
motion at constant speed and in a straight line unless acted on by an
unbalanced force.
o The acceleration of an object depends on the mass of the object and the
amount of force applied.
o Whenever one object exerts a force on another object, the second object
exerts an equal and opposite on the first.
CHAPTER 16: THE SUN-MOON-EARTH SYSTEM:

As the Earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the Sun, day and night
and seasons result.

When the new moon comes between the Earth and the Sun along the
ecliptic, a solar eclipse is produced.


Doesn’t happen every month because the moons orbit is tilted

When the Earth comes between the full moon and the Sun along the
ecliptic, a lunar eclipse occurs.

Observing the Moon from Earth, there is a sequence of phases as the side
facing us goes from completely darkened to completely illuminated and
back again every 29.5 days.

As the Moon orbits Earth, tides align with its gravitational pull.

The Sun produces a smaller tide. When the solar and lunar tides align, at
new and full moons, higher than normal tidal ranges called spring tides
occur.

At first and last quarter moons, the solar tide and lunar tide interfere with
each other, producing lower than normal tidal ranges called neap tides.
TO STUDY:
o What conditions produce different stream types