Unit 5 Test Study Guide
1. Review the geologic time scale – what are the important developments for each period below?
Ordovician, Devonian, Triassic, Quaternary
2. Label the parts of the solid Earth to the right. Label the most dense and the least dense.
3. What is a tectonic plate? Describe how they move.
4. 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)
5. 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.
6. Earthquakes transfer energy through seismic waves and are measured using a seismograph. They are then given
a numerical value on the Richter Scale.
a. Where do earthquakes generally occur?
b. How can earthquakes effect the ocean?
c. What is the difference between the focus and the epicenter of an earthquake?
7. 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
8. What is the difference between weathering and erosion? Why are both processes important?
9. Review your soil reflection!
Important things to remember:
 Over centuries, rocks weather into tiny pieces and combine with fragments of decayed plants and
animals to form soil.
 Soil is one of Earth’s most valuable natural resources because everything that lives on land, including
humans, depends directly or indirectly on soil.
 The value of soil is reduced when soil loses its fertility and when topsoil is lost due to erosion.
 Soil can be conserved through contour plowing, conservation plowing, and crop rotation.
10. What is soil?
11. What is a soil horizon? Describe each layer.
12. What is soil texture? How does it relate to surface area?
13. Assume you have a soil sample that is 40% sand, 30% silt and 30% clay – what soil do you have? (Look up a soil
texture triangle or use the extra worksheet online!)
14. How does a soil’s texture/surface area relate to its porosity and permeability?
15. What is the difference between infiltration and leaching?
16. Why is leaching a concern?
17. What is soil pH and why is it important?
18. Describe the basic causes of desertification.
19. Explain how overgrazing and deforestation can lead to desertification.
20. List the major agents of erosion.
21. Describe the problems that result from soil erosion.
22. Explain how soil erosion can affect aquatic ecosytems (use the word deposition in your answer).
23. What causes the salinization of soil in some regions?
24. What is LD50?
25. Describe three ways humans can cause desertification. Where is desertification occurring in the world?
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Explain how humans often cause or accelerate soil erosion through poor soil management.
Explain how farm practices may disrupt natural nutrient cycles.
Describe several ways soil can be conserved?
What laws were developed for soil conservation?
Describe the difference between surface mining and sub-surface mining.
Explain two disadvantages of surface mining.
Explain one disadvantage of sub-surface mining.
What is gangue? Why is reclaiming gangue important?
What laws were developed to mitigate the impact of mining?
What’s the difference between organic & inorganic fertilizers? Discuss the pros/cons of using each.
Math Practice
1. 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?
2. 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)
a. 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?
3. The LD50 of caffeine is 0.15 g/kg. If Miss Scott has a mass of 65 kg, how many grams of caffeine would it take?
a. The average cup of coffee has 150 mg in it. How many cups of coffee would she have to drink to die?
(Please: we all know you were thinking it after this study guide… )
Vocabulary
Mantle
Magma
Lithosphere
Asthenosphere
Crust
Core
plate tectonics
convection
divergent plate boundary
sea floor spreading
convergent plate boundary
transform fault boundary
earthquake
tsunami
minerals
igneous rocks
sedimentary rocks
metamorphic rocks
weathering
erosion
deposition
soil texture (clay, silt, sand)
soil horizon
humus
porosity
permeability
leaching
salinization
desertification
exhaustion
Relevant Laws
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Mining Act
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA)
Superfund Act
Clean Water Act
Clean Air Act
Soil Conservation Act 1935
Food Security Act (Farm Bill) 1985
conservation (know several ex.)
strip mining
ore
gangue
open-pit mining
mountain top removal mining
placer mining
acid mine drainage
subsurface mining
overburden
smelting
reclamation
organic fertilizer
inorganic fertilizer