1. In tropical regions, the canopy and the organisms are very efficient at utilizing the
nutrients and thus very few nutrients make it into the soil. The rich soil from the dead
plants and leaves makes a rich soil but it is very shallow. While the top layer is shallow,
the soil in tropical rain forests still contains definitive soil horizons. Grasslands have rich
soils (think the breadbasket of the US). Under the rich soil is clay which does not drain
well.
The earth Crust:
2. Oxygen composes the largest percentage of the earth’s crust. The other elements and
their percentages are shown above.
Volcanism is most closely associated with plate boundaries. Look at the plate boundaries and
the location of active volcanoes.
According to the theory of volcanic outgassing, as the interior of the earth became hotter, the
heat caused certain elements to rise to the surface in volcanic rock.The most active tectonic
plate is the pacific plate, this is where the majority of the world’s active volcanoes are located. It
is called the Pacific Ring of Fire.
3. Coal formation in sequence:
4. Only in recent times have we seen high rates of extinctions as the human population
increases. At the end of the Permian period the first dinosaurs appeared. During the
cretacaous period the rocky mountains were formed, but there were no major
extinctions. The Precambrian Era (4567 - 542 million years ago); The formation of the
Appalacian Mountains (466 million years ago); The formation of the Rocky Mountains
(76 million years ago); The Pleistocene Ice Ages(2.5 million years ago to 12,000 years
ago); The Holocene Epoch (12,000 years ago to the present). The Mesozoic Era is
known as the age of reptiles. Reptiles and mammal-like reptiles dominated the earth.
The Permian mass extinction occured 248 million years ago and was the greatest mass
extinction ever recorded in the earth’s history. 90-95% of the earth’s species went extinct
including insects, plants, marine animals, amphibians, and reptiles. This is also referred
to as the “The Great Dying”. The Pleistocene is the most recent glacier period, it is
estimated that at its highest, 30% of the earth’s surface was covered with ice. The
cretaceous period is the last portion of the age of dinosaurs, this period ended with the
extinction of dinosaurs and was the second largest extinction in the history of the earth.
The Triassic period began after the permian extinction adn was a time where the
survivors of the permian extinction spread and recolonized. The Devonian period is part
of the Paleozoic Era and was a time when many major fish groups evolved.
5. The littoral zone of a pond or lake is the area close to the shore. Rooted, emergent
plants are wetland plants that are rooted in soil with basal portions of the plant growing
beneath the surface of the water, but the leaves, stems, and reproductive parts are
above the water. These plants must be in the littoral zone because benthic is too deep,
the limnetic zone is away from the shore and too deep to support rooted aquatic plants,
the profundal zone is below the range of efeective light penetration, and the riparian
zone is the area between land and water.
6. All of these characteristics define a wetland: hydrology, soil type, and species.
7. Scrubbers are air pollution control devices that are used to remove particulates or
gasses from industrial emissions.
8. The complete list of layers from top to bottom is: O, A, E, B, C, R. O = organic layer
(humus) A = top soil (biomantle) E = eluviated (leaced of mineral or organic content) B =
subsoil, consits of mineral layers (illuviated or “the zone of accumulation” C = after A and
B, contains parent material (may contain lumps or large pieces of unweathered rock) R =
large masses of hard rock (bedrock).
9. The zone of leaching is an area where water peroclates through and carries dissolved
minerals and fine particles with it. This occurs in the A and E horizons. B is the zone of
accumulation (from horizon A), the C horizon is little effected by weathering and contains
parent material, O is the top humus layer which contains no weathered mineral particles.
10. Shield volcanoes are built almost entirely of fluid lava flows rather than violent
erruptions. This results in broad sheets of lava which buid up the volcanoe’s wide gentle
sloping shape.
Volcanic arcs are produced, generally, when an ocean tectonic plate subducts under another
continental tectonic plate. This produces magma which forms volcanoes parallel to the
subduction zone. When two oceanic plates converge, one is normally subducted (or
sumbmerged) under the other plate and a deep oceanic trench is formed.
11. New crust is formed at divergent plate boundaries because as the plates move away
from one another and hot molten magma from within the earth flows up, cools, and
forms new crust.
12. Clay has the smallest particles and the lowest water infiltration rate keeping the
permeability of water the lowest.
13. Seasons are a result of Earth’s axis being tilted to it’s orbital plane deviating by an angle
of 23.5 degrees. This is why the northern and southern hemispheres experience
opposite seasons.
14. One of the main causes of soil erosion is slash and burn treatment of tropical forest.
When the ground is stripped of vegetation and all the living organisims are burned off the
upper soils become vulnerable to both wind and water erosion. More than 10% of
Madagascars land has been ruined due to slash and burn methods.
15. Limestone is an example of a sedimentary rock. Sedimentary rocks are formed as
particles settle and accumulate in layers. Igneous rocks are formed by the cooling and
solidification of magma or lava. Obsidian and Granite are examples of Igneous rocks.
Gneiss is a metamorphic rock. Metamorphic rocks are formed by subjecting and existing
rock to high temperatures and pressures. Mica is a mineral that is found in all three
types of rocks.
16. S waves cannot exist in air water or molten rock, and therefore cannot travel through the
outer core. P waves are compressional waves and travel faster than S waves. S waves
are transverse waves.
17. An upward folding of rock strata
18. Soil conservation practices : Alley cropping, Terracing, Crop Resting and Crop Rotation.
19. Hydrogen and Helium were the two most abundent elements in Earth’s original
atmosphere. Oxygen was not present until the first photosynthetic organisms appeared,
significant amounts of oxygen were not available until 2.4 billion years ago.
20. rain shadow effect
21. There is an unequal distribution of land and water between the two hemispheres.
The Southern Hemisphere has less land and more water. The Northern
hemisphere is about 60.7% water and 39.3% land. The Southern hemisphere is
about 80.9% water and 19.1% land.
22. Phytoremeditaion uses plates to treat environmental problems in the soil, air, or water.
23. Drip irrigation is an irrigation method that saves water and fertilizer by having water drip
slowly to the roots of plants. It boasts high crop yeilds, minimal fertilizer use due to
reduced leaching, high efficiency, minimzed erosion but has some drawbacks.
Drawbacks include the expense, longevity of equipment, clogging, and germination and
salinity problems. Drip irrigation releases minimal water which is aimed at preventing
pesticide and fertilizer runoff. Crop diversity has been shown to eliminate some problems
associated with monoculture, like disease. Heavy metals are polution and therefor do not
enrich the content of the soil. Fertilizers provide a steady source of nitrogen for lawns
and perennial crops.
24. A plant is said to be a hyperaccumulator if it can concentrate pollutants in a
minimum percentage which varies according to the pollutant involved (for
example: more than 1000 mg/kg of dry weight for nickel, coper, chromium,
cobalts, or lead or more than 10,000 mg/kg for zinc or manganese.) We could
then specialize these hyperaccumulators to collect rare metals from the soil for
harvesting.
25. Bioventing can be used to increase oxygen in soil to stimulate the activity of local
bacteria to break down organic contaminants in soil.
26. The principle of electrokinetic remediation relies upon application of a low-
intensity direct current through the soil between electrodes. This mobilizes
charged species, causing ions and water to move toward the electrodes. Metal
ions, ammonium ions, and positively charged organic compounds move toward
the cathode. Anions such as chloride, cyanide, fluoride, nitrate, and negatively
charged organic compounds move toward the anode. Ex-situ means off-site and
this occurs on site.
27. The Holocene extinction is the 4th largest extinction event. During this time mostly large
mammals have gone exctinct and the exact causes are debated. Major hypotheses
include predation, climate change and disease.
28. The rainforest is the most efficient biome and organisms utilize most of the energy
before particulates like phosphorus, nitrogen, and/or organic materila can enter the soil.
Grasslands are full of organisms and the soil is rich with nutrients and organic material.
(think US Breadbasket). Tundra: Soil has permafrost and suppports little to no
vegeation. Decidious Forest cycles yearly as leavess fall decay and ceompose providing
the soil with rich nutrients and organic matter.
29. The Big 5 Extinctions are:
1.) The Cretaceous- Tertiary Exctintion: 70-65 mya
2.) the Triassic-Jurassic Extinction: 205 mya
3.) Permian-Triassic Extinction: 251 mya - Largest Extinction - “The Great Dying”
4.) Late Devonian Extinction: 360-375 mya
5.) Ordovician-Silurian Extinction: 440-450 mya - Second Largest extinction
30. Aluminium is extracted from Bauxite.
31. Three Gorges Dam located in Hubei, China is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world
with a total generating capacity of 21,515 MW generated by 2 generating stations.
32. The largest Desalination plant is located in the United Arab Emirate. Worldwide there are
over 13,000 desalination plants worldwide that produce 12 billion gallons of water a day.