Term
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Definition
• Refers to the solid earth portions (mountains, beaches, valleys)
• Geomorphology, geomorphologists |
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Term
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Definition
• Refers to the water portions (moisture in air, clouds, oceans)
• Water resources, hydrologists |
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Term
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Definition
• The relatively thin envelope of gases that surround the earth
• Climatology, climatologists |
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Term
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Definition
• The living organisms
• Biogeography, biogeographists
o All are interconnected and influence each other
o In the center where they all come together is management and planning |
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Term
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Definition
• One where matter and energy can enter and leave
• Ex. ecosystem, earth
• All natural systems are open |
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Term
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Definition
• Don’t allow matter and energy to enter or leave
• Ex. battery powered watch
• Cannot have a true closed system
• **THE EARTH IS NOT A CLOSED SYSTEM!! |
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Term
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Definition
System response to some change in inputs or external conditions which acts to enhance or increase the initial change
Ex. Human system: make change in study habit, get better score on test
Forest fires go through positive feedback during their early development but can’t continue to grow because it will eventually have to stop
Positive feedbacks tend to be self destructible
Referred to as snowball effects |
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Term
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Definition
System response to some change in inputs or external conditions which acts to dampen or reduce the initial change
Ex. Human system: make change in study habit, get lower score on test
Generally tend to act to preserve the system
Ex. River system : Heavy rainfall → Stream velocity → Increases channel erosion → Increases channel width → increases external friction → decreases stream velocity |
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Term
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Definition
“Parallels”
• reference point is the very center of the earth
• 0 degree line of latitude = equator
• Measure the angle that is made from the point to the center of the earth to the equator
• Run E-W but give position N-S of equator
• Range from 0° (at equator)-90° (at N/S poles)
• Parallels are talking about the 49° latitude |
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Term
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Definition
“Meridians”
• Reference point is center of earth
• Reference line is on the prime meridian (0°)
• Prime Meridian runs through Greenwich, England
• Run N-S but give location E-W of Prime Meridian
• Values for Longitude run 0°-180° (E-W of P.M.) |
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Term
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Definition
• Inner core layer
Extremely hot (several thousand degrees Celsius)
Material is mainly metals, iron, nickel
Material is actually solid despite the temperature because the pressure is so intense that molecules are packed so tightly that they can’t melt
Materials are extremely dense (13 g/cm3)
Solid iron (highest temps and density)
• Outer core layer
Temperatures are still very hot, but cooler than inner layer
Materials are also less dense
Still primarily metals, mostly iron, but the outer core can enter the liquid stage so we find iron-molten
Molten iron (lower temps and density)
• Magnetic field is generated by rotation, which in turn is responsible for allowing life on earth |
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Term
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Definition
• Densities and temperatures are decreasing
• 80% of earth’s volume |
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Term
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Definition
• Welded to the uppermost Mantle
• Continental Crust
Crust that forms the continents
Less dense
Granite (2.7g/cm3)
Tends to be thicker
• Oceanic Crust
Materials that form the ocean
More dense than continental crust
Basalt (3g/cm3) |
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Term
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Definition
• Crust + uppermost mantle
• “Floats” on aesthenosphere
o General trend: as we move from the center of the earth outwards – temperature and density decrease. Increase with depth |
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Term
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Definition
| Layer of rigid, solid rock that floats on top of the Aesthenosphere |
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Term
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Definition
| Essentially plastic, molten rock, it can flow and bend |
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Term
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Definition
o Rocks are altered and changed, converted back and forth from different types
o Magma → Igneous rock → Weathering → Sediments/Clasts → Lithification → Sedimentary Rocks → Metamorphosis → Metamorphic Rocks |
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Term
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Definition
(1st major class of rocks)
• Magma cools, crystallizes and solidifies into a rock |
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Term
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Definition
(2nd major class of rocks)
• When we lithify our sediments we create Sedimentary Rocks |
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Term
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Definition
(3rd major class of rocks)
• Pieces of atoms are exchanged and produce Metamorphic rocks
• Marble is a common metamorphic rock
• Can still be weathered and broken down into sediments and clasts |
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Term
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Definition
o Vertical up and down motions of the earth’s crust which result from weight forces (loading/unloading of something on earth’s crust)
o Crust responds much more slower
o Overtime weathering processes will attack the mountain, crust will rebound and rise back upwards
o Mountain formation/erosion; ice sheet growth/retreat
o Can occur in response to sediments or glacial loading and unloading
• Strong crust, high-viscosity mantle→ then with the weight of ice the glacial ice melts and a long time later the crust will rebound and rise back up (Isostatic glacial rebound) |
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Term
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Definition
o Lithospheric plates (crust + uppermost mantle)
o Continents move around the surface of the earth
o Explains the global distribution of volcanic activity, how mountains could be formed, earth activity
o Universally accepted of the way things formed
o Earth’s outer crust (lithosphere) isn’t a solid unbroken scale, it is instead broken into a number a pieces called lithospheric plates
• These plates are floating in the lithosphere, bumping into each other and moving around
• The boundary of plates is where most activity is taking place in terms of influencing and shaping the earths surface |
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Term
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Definition
| Plates are moving apart, away from each other and a new crust of material is formed |
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Term
| Sea-floor spreading zone |
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Definition
• New sea-floor is being created in this zone
• Driven by the formation of convection currents in the mantle
• End up with convection cells: circular flow patterns |
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Term
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Definition
| Plates are banging into each other, recycle old crust material |
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Term
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Definition
• One plate (the denser one) is forced downward under the other plate where it re-melts. (old crust material is being recycled)
• Ex. deep ocean trenches |
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Term
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Definition
The plates slide past each other moving in opposite directions along the boundary, sideways/lateral movements
Ex. San Andreas Fault – plate boundary that runs from Pacific Ocean on land down to California; separates Southern Cali from the rest of Cali |
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Term
| Global Supercontinent Cycle |
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Definition
(400-500 million years long)
• All the world land masses come together to form one huge continent
• 1) Continents united in supercontinent (low seal level)
• 2) Continents part (high sea level)
• 3) Greatest dispersal of continents (low sea level)
• 4) Continents move back together and form a new supercontinent (high sea level) |
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Term
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Definition
supercontinent that was once said to be located on the surface of the earth about 255 million years ago (last supercontinent)
o Ripped apart in a long, slow process
o Climate, nature of earth’s surface was very different |
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Term
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Definition
• Extensive flat stretches covered by basalt (one of the most common rocks produced by magma)
• Doesn’t take place in a single eruption – can take millions of years
• Effusive eruptions can also produce volcanoes called shield volcanoes |
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Term
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Definition
• Composed of alternating layers of 2 different kinds of materials
Pyroclastic material and lava
• At the beginning of the eruption, a tremendous amount of material is projected into the air
Most of the material is pyroclastics/tephron (bits of molten rock), also ash, lapilli
Volcanic bombs can be tossed miles away from the initial eruption
• It then begins to settle down and the volcano and surrounding area gets covered with tephron |
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Term
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Definition
Anticline
Syncline
dip
strike
plunge |
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Term
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Definition
o Tension
• Pulling apart from the center
o Compression
• Squeezing in towards the center
• True folds result from compression
o Shear (lateral force)
• Pushing in opposite directions that offset nature
• The physical result is the bending of the crust |
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Term
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Definition
| • Ridge portion of the fold |
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Term
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Definition
| • Valley portions of the fold |
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Term
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Definition
| • The orientation/compass direction that the crust line is being pointed to |
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Term
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Definition
| • The angle in which the rock in plunging into the ground |
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Term
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Definition
• The angle that a fold limb makes with respect to a horizontal surface
• Symmetrical fold
when the dips are the same on each end; suggests that forces acting on both sides are about the same “mirror images”
• Asymmetrical fold
one side has a much larger dip than the other side |
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Term
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Definition
| o Particular type of joint (crack in a rock) –in which movement of rock bodies has occurred |
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Term
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Definition
• Occur under tensional force
• One of the rocks slip down the fault plane |
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Term
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Definition
• Occur under compressional force
• One of the rocks gets thrust upwards |
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Term
| o Strike-slip (Lateral, Transform) fault |
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Definition
• The rocks slip past each other, road is offset
• Blocks of rock are slipping along the strike of the fault
• Occur under shear (lateral) force
• Folding and faulting can occur anywhere, it reaches its most spectacular development in association with plate boundaries
o Result of collision in operation of those forces is creation of tiny wrinkles on surface of crust referred to as mountains |
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Term
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Definition
• Formation of mountains
• Takes place over long periods of time, very complicated process
• Tend to find them on collision/convergent plate boundaries |
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Term
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Definition
o Oceanic – Oceanic
o Oceanic – Continental
o Continental – Continental |
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Term
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Definition
| o Faults are not perfectly smooth, knife cuts through the crust, tend to be jagged |
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Term
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Definition
o The point in the crust where the asperity gives way
o Very deep in the crust (miles down) |
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Term
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Definition
| o Location directly above the focus |
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Term
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Definition
(moment magnitude scale)• Richter scale is based on the amount of energy involved in the earthquake, replaced by moment magnitude
• Objective scale, logarithmic
• Based on how much energy is released, doesn’t depend on how we feel
• Goes on a scale of 30
2= 30 x 1
3 = 30 x 2 = 900 x 1
4 = 30 x 3 = 900 x 2 = 27,000 x 1 |
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Term
| • Factors that control both types and rates of weathering |
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Definition
parent rock characteristics
climate
hydrology
topography (slope orientation)
vegetation (living organisms in general) |
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Term
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Definition
| • Those that involve mechanical forces (pushing, pulling, prying) |
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Term
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Definition
• Operate on the molecule scale
• Break down, tear apart, or alter the individual molecules |
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Term
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Definition
• Solubility
halite will dissolve readily when exposed to water but granite weathers slowly
• Hardness
Soft/easily shattered rocks are going to weather more quickly that strong/hard rocks which weather slowly
• Jointing
The amount of cracks running through a rock
More joints = more surface area exposed = weathering process with be about 10x faster |
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Term
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Definition
o Main force that drives mass movements
o Both driving and resisting force
o Always acts directly downward to the center of the earth
o Driving force - Component acting parallel to the slope
o Resisting force - Acts perpendicular to the slope, acting to hold the material in place
o Less steep slope FD < FR, particles are more stable
o Steeper slope FD > FR, particles are more unstable |
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Term
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Definition
o Acts as a resisting force
o Force that is imparted by a surface on objects moving across that surface
o Nature of the material that makes up the slope
• If material is angular – particles will lock together and will have to overcome a lot of friction to move
• If material is more rounded - Will roll relatively easy, less amounts of friction |
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Term
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Definition
o Cohesive forces cause particles to stick together
o Modeling clay – high cohesive forces
o Sand - Very little cohesion forces
o Can increase cohesion with water |
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Term
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Definition
o Can cause cohesion, cause particles to stick together
• Need just the right amount of water to cause cohesion
o Acts as a lubricant by reducing friction
o Acts as Buoyancy force (tendency to float in water)
o Adds weight to the slopes |
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Term
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Definition
(means to increase)
o At the top of the slope, relatively flat surface
o Angle of the slope gets steeper and steeper |
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Term
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Definition
o Steepest slope
o Tends to the area that supplies material to the lower portions of the slope |
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Term
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Definition
(means to decrease) AKA Debris slope
o Steepness starts to decrease
o composed of debris that is weathered out higher on the slope |
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Term
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Definition
10 meters/sec)
• Typified by being very fast and don’t require moisture
• Material completely leaves contact with the ground
• The only thing slowing it down is the friction of the air
• Avalanche – a bit slower than a true fall but still extremely fast
A little bit of contact on the slope – every time it bounces off the slope it slows down a little |
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Term
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Definition
• Can vary in speed (moderate to fast speeds)
• Tremendous amounts of water involved (material is saturated)
• Ex. Earth Flows and Mud Flows |
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Term
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Definition
• Moderate speeds, much more friction involved (not as fast as an avalanche)
• Moisture not necessarily involved but very frequently is
• The way that the material moves is what distinguishes a slide
• Material moves as a cohesive unit – get 1 or a few large chunks of material that move as a great big piece |
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Term
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Definition
• slowest end of the scale (1 cm or mm per year)
• Upper layers of soil are moving down hill slowly
• Can have freeze thaw where individual particles will rise up a little |
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Term
| Global distribution of water |
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Definition
• 97% salt water - found in the ocean
o Has dissolved minerals in it
o Salt water can’t be used to do many things we need water for but we can distill the water to make it useful but is very expensive
• 3% of water is fresh
o 22% in the form of ground water
• ½ deep ground water (generally not useful)
• ½ shallow ground water (BR water)
o 78% is on the surface
• cheapest, most usable supply of water
• 99.5% is glacial/ice (not available for use)
• < 1% is water in rivers, lakes, atmosphere, streams
• We use 1000-1500 gallons of water per day |
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Term
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Definition
• Movement of water from place to place around the earth’s surface
• Cycle components
o Changes in State
• 3 phases: solid, liquid, gas
• Water is the only substance that exists on earth’s surface in all 3 states
• Water is important to redistribute solar energy around the earth
• These changes are important in the climate as well
o Movement
• Many different ways water moves
• Vertical movements (up and down)
Accomplished by precipitation, snow, rain
Water gets lifted by the wind
• Horizontal movements (one place to another)
Surface runoff of water, channel wide flow in rivers and streams, the movement of ocean currents
• Advection
Horizontal Movement of water vapor in atmosphere
o Storage
• Reservoirs: Places where water is restored
• Oceans, atmosphere, rivers, lakes, soil, glacial ice, living organisms
• Key characteristic: Residence Time
The average amount of time water spends in a given reservoir
Atmosphere: tends to be a few days
Rivers: tend to be a few weeks
Oceans: 1,000 + years
Gives us an idea of how much water we can use in given reservoir or how long water will be clean |
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Term
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Definition
• Difference between inputs and outputs determine the budget
• Can be imbalances in any individual exchange
Ocean gives up more water than it gets through precipitation
This cannot persist forever and ocean will eventually dry up
• Excess units we lose through evaporation to atmosphere in now falling as precipitation to land surface
• This precipitation gets run off or flowed back to the ocean
• This balances out the original imbalance
• Net result: budget for any given reservoir balances over time through various exchanges |
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Term
| • Drainage Basin/Watershed |
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Definition
o Fundamental unit to identify river systems
o Land area that supplies precipitation to one particular river or stream
o Surrounded by drainage divides |
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Term
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Definition
o Dendritic
• Tree-like, most energy efficient b/c it allows the river cover area with smallest length of channel meaning there will be least friction slowing river down as it moves through
• More hilly terrain, less consistency in which direction is down
o Parallel
• Channels are all oriented in the same directions
• Water always flows downhill which means its topography has steep slopes
• Develops in areas with very steep, consistent slopes of land
o Radial
• Direction is flowing out from the center
• Topography: Mountain, volcano, areas of high elevation
o Trellis
• Number of main panels with smaller tributaries flowing off of them
• Parallel hills, series of rigid hills and valleys, Folded topography, smaller tributaries draining down into valleys
• Stream capture/Piracy
Water that was originally flowing down one valley has been diverted into another valley through erosion
o Deranged
• Water flow is very random, in many directions
• Form in areas where the landscape has been recently disturbed (ex. areas that have been recently glaciated) |
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Term
| • 3 major drainages in US |
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Definition
o Pacific Drainage
• Everything west of the Rocky Mountains drains into the Pacific ocean
o Atlantic Drainage
• Everything that is east of the Appalachians drains into the Atlantic
o Gulf Drainage
• Everything central drains down into the Gulf of Mexico |
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Term
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Definition
o Divide into 3 components
• Erosion
Refers to picking up the material
• Translocation
Refers to moving particles from one place to another
• Deposition
When the particles are deposited |
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Term
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Definition
• Braided Channel
o Set of multiple channels that twine back and forth (merge and separate) flowing around deposits of very coarse material like gravel
o Tend to be found in areas with very large sediment inputs into system (mountainous areas, glaciated mountain areas, snowy areas)
o Patterns can change over time
o Large sediment supply, variable discharge
• Meandering Channel
o Tend to be an individual channel that winds back and forth lazily
o Migrate, move over time as the meanders grow larger/smaller
o Curvature is when the distance on the outside is larger than the distance on the inside – water will have to flow faster on the outside which make lead to erosion and cutbanks
o Slower flows on inside of curve which encourages deposition
• Point bar develops on inside of curve shifting the meander
o Ex. of positive feedback when meander changes direction causing water velocity to become faster |
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Term
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Definition
o The key element of equilibrium in river systems
o Rivers try to adjust their longitudinal profile so that their capacity to transport sediment is equal to the input of sediment
o Depositing more sediment causes the profile to get steeper which increase the water velocity which increases capacity flow – equilibrium |
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Term
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Definition
• Stream that is in equilibrium
• Transport capacity is just large enough to transport out all of the materials supplied to the river
• To have an entire river system that is a graded stream is very rare in nature b/c of the dynamics of the 2 variables involved
Inputs of sediment
Transport capacity
o If the water is flowing too fast it will start to erode material into its bed which causes the profile to become less steep |
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Term
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Definition
• Depositional features that are created at the mouth of the river as it deposits the sediments that have been collecting in entire drainage basin and carrying through its course. Where river enters ocean it reaches a huge channel
• Water velocity drops immediately at the mouth and reduces competence of river to deposit material
• Many are rectangular shaped but can take on a variety of shapes depending on major process acting on it |
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Term
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Definition
o Represents flood flows, discharge through time
o Discharge on vertical axis, time on the horizontal axis
o Base flow = Lower level of flow
o Lag time = time in between the precipitation and discharge peak
o Bump in discharge is excess flow |
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Term
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Definition
• Refers to wind processes
• Wind is a relatively weak geologic process (lot less efficient in moving material and erosion) |
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Term
| • For wind to be an effective agent in shaping the land, certain requirements must be met: |
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Definition
o Relatively small/fine sediment
• Sand sized sediment or finer
• Wind isn’t strong enough, can’t exert enough force to pick up huge boulders
o Sparse or No vegetation
• Wind must be able to get down to the surface and exert force on substance
• Any dense cover of vegetation will buffer the wind from the surface so the sediment can’t be moved
o Dry conditions/ Arid environments
• Sediment has to be loose and ready to move
• If strong cohesive forces are binding the material together then the wind wont be able to pick it up |
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Term
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Definition
| sand blasts, sand grains are relatively sharp that when rubbed against an area tend to wear down the surface that it comes in contact with |
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Term
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Definition
• Fixed Dunes
• Mobile Dunes |
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Term
| 2 factors that control the type of sand dune |
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Definition
• Availability of sediment
o with more sediment, can build larger dunes
• Winds directional variability |
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Term
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Definition
o Crescentic shaped dunes
o The horns point down wind
o Tend to form in areas with very small sediment supply
o Only form in areas with unidirectional winds |
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Term
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Definition
o Straight/Linear crested ridges
o Form in areas of unidirectional wind and areas with even larger sediment supply which causes the ridges to spread out
o Perpendicular to dominant wind |
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Term
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Definition
o Ridge type dune, crest may be relatively straight or sinuous
o Orientation is parallel to wind direction
o Form in areas with 2 dominant wind directions which means there are 2 horn face directions |
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Term
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Definition
o Often have starfish shapes, large lobes extending in different directions
o Largest types of sand dunes
o Form in areas with very large areas of sediment and multiple dominant wind directions |
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Term
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Definition
| • Area where sediment is movement around by marine processes on a regular bases |
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Term
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Definition
• Difference in elevation between the highest and lowest water level
• Microtidal range (<2m)
• Mesotidal range (2-4m)
• Macrotidal range (>4m) |
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Term
| o Wave Shoaling (many changes begin to occur) |
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Definition
| • Wave enters shallow water, particles spinning in circular orbits below it, orbits are interacting with the bottom creating energy and this slows the wave down |
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Term
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Definition
| wave crests bending and changing direction that results from different portions of being in different water depths and moving at different speeds |
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Term
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Definition
Caused by waves approaching the shoreline at an angle (angle of incidence)
Waves start moving sediments around creating currents
Water flows parallel to the shore and if the current is strong enough it will push sediment with it
Can subdivide the wave energy into 2 directions
• Portion of the wave energy is directed in the onshore/offshore direction
• Portion of the wave energy is directed in the longshore direction |
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Term
| o 3 basic factors that control the nature of the waves |
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Definition
• Wind speed
Faster the wind- the bigger the wave, more friction
• Duration
Longer the wind blows –larger the wave
• Fetch
Refers to the distance of open water that is available for wind to blow across |
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Term
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Definition
o Ria coastlines- drowned river valleys
o Delta Coastlines- created by terrestrial processes and river bringing sediment down and depositing
o Fiord coastline- similar to Ria, old river |
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Term
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Definition
o Wave-cut cliff- Result of wave based erosion
o Barrier Islands- marine deposition
o Reef Coastlines-
o Wave cut cliffs- |
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Term
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Definition
| waves are cutting away at land |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| created at locations where there is a sudden change in coastline, waves cant fold around corner fast enough to push sediment around. Straighten outs shoreline |
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Term
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Definition
| also created by alongshore transports, perpendicular to shore, build up land bridge created between tombolo and the beach |
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Term
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Definition
| long narrow ridges of sand, run parallel to coastline, couple 100 kilometers in length, common in United States, run east and west coast. |
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Term
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Definition
| extremely active, profile change on regular basis, place along coast where sediment is constantly in motion, often go through Storm Fair Weather Cycle |
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Term
| o Barrier Island Rollover |
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Definition
| when sea levels rise islands respond by migrating inland, narrow strip of land, little or no vegetation left on it |
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Term
| o Barrier Island Formations Theories: |
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Definition
• Spit Extension- spit that grows along one edge of shoreline, breach- spit gets cut by a storm and separates from mainland
• Drown-in-place- some point in past when sea level was low, developed dunes and features, as sea level rose and higher land features appear as barrier islands
• Emergence theory- idea that wherever you have a location where two marine currents run into each other they slow each other down and whatever they are carrying they drop and it builds up making barrier islands |
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Term
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Definition
| mostly nonliving structure, calcium carbonate (limestone), exoskeletons of living corals, |
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Term
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Definition
| warm temperatures, 0-30° North and South. Lots in Western Pacific, few in Eastern Pacific. |
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Term
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Definition
| platforms of surrounding corals rock, hugs shoreline |
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Term
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Definition
| separated from volcanic island called a lagoon |
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Term
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Definition
| no main land, circular, ridged shape |
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Term
| • Dealing with Erosion Problem: |
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Definition
o Involves building structure at shoreline and have one of two basic purposes
• 1. Intercept or designed to redirect sediment transportation.
• 2. Reduce wave energy levels and sediment |
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Term
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Definition
| shore perpendicular walls, intercepts sand being |
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Term
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Definition
| Shore parallel walls, idea is that waves will break on wall and use all energy and energy at shoreline will be reduced |
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Term
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Definition
| shore perpendicular walls, installed to try and fix and inlet in place. Problems→ causes erosion on one side of the coastline |
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Term
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Definition
| pumping sand into a coastline location. Problem: expensive because it does not fix the underlying problem |
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Term
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Definition
| moving further inland to avoid restoration |
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Term
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Definition
• Includes areas covered by glacial items, ice sheets
• Also areas underlying by permafrost (permanently frozen ground)
• Its geography is controlled by climate. Permanently frozen ground—cool |
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Term
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Definition
• Inputs=solar energy from sun
Sun rays directly shine on equator, same ray of sunshine is spread over large surface area around equator=oblique
• Outputs=long wave of radiation that the earth is constantly giving off→heat
• Change in storage=
Amount of energy in storage-Temperature, the energy that stores in that object
Hot=lots of energy
Cold=less energy
• Special distribution of energy in an area is variable |
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Term
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Definition
o Global temperatures were very constant and warmer than today
o 1.2 billion years ago the earth started going through long periods of cold weather and then would alternate to long periods of warmer weather and so on… |
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Term
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Definition
climate period we are in now.
• So many factors involved in global climate we still don’t know everything about it. Area of infancy science |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
: temperatures warm up and ice sheets melt back
• Reached present temperatures 10,000 years ago began the Holocene period |
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| nature of earth orbit about the sun and variations in it over long periods of time |
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massive ice sheets covered most of Canada and North United States, 2 miles thick
o Most ice found in ant artica 90%
o Rest is in Greenland 8-9%
o Remaining is scattered around on high mountain peaks around the world |
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o You need to have snow that persist on a year round basis→ snow pack gets thicker, weld it together to form ice granules called firn granules.
o Can form glacial ice at any latitude. Go up in atmosphere temperature goes down. Decreases 6-7 degrees Celsius every 1,000 meters you go up.
o Snowline: line at which ice firns begin to develop at higher altitudes. Relatively high.
o Have to drop temp cool enough so snowline can…… |
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| snow pack gets thicker, weld it together to form ice granules called |
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| line at which ice firns begin to develop at higher altitudes. Relatively high. |
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| Elevation above the snowline |
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| Positive budget more material in accumulation zone, glacier grows larger |
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| negative budget, more material melting than new material being added, glacier growing smaller, moving back up valley? |
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| balanced budget, new material=melted material |
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| . Ice tends to bend and stretch downhill, |
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| slipping along, melting down at base of glacier as result of friction or pressure, melt water acts as lubricant and causes it to slip. Slow rates |
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| glaciers leap forward, few hundred meters per month, related to build up of melt water |
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| glacier flows over rock, there is a lot of friction and heat and tends to melt, as glacier moves down other side of structure, friction lessens and heat dissipates and glacier re-freezes. Water melts over and then refreezes. |
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| : result from the material freezing to the surface, scratches against a glacier, grinding against solid rock |
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| jagged peaks, pointed mountain tops, jagged spires. |
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| Bowl shaped depressions, created near mountain peaks |
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| arrow jagged sharp ridges, sharp knife like ridges, that now separate valleys |
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| lakes that form after the glaciers melt, joined together by small streams |
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: Where small valleys meet larger valley, enter higher up on the wall,
All transformations produce sediment called glacial drift |
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| U shaped—result of all material scrapping |
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| mixture of all different sizes of material, deposited directly by the ice, |
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sorted into layers of distinct grain sizes, laid down by the melt water that flows out from the glacier, carries sediment with it.
Material far away from the glacier was probably carried by stratified drift |
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| sinuous ridges, like a big snake running across the lands, are basically inside out river beds, created by old river beds that were running on surface, at the base, or within a glacier, often carries a lot of sediment. |
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| small depressions that contain water, inside out origin, created when sediment is deposited around a chunk of glacial ice, once ice melts you are left with a kettle lake. |
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| small irregularly shaped hills, formed as result of sediment that gets washed into depressions (low place on surface) when ice melts out sediment gets dropped at that location and forms a hill |
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| stream lined hills, depositional features, formed of sediment that is laid down underneath the base of glacial and as glacial ice flows over sediment it is formed into (groups swarms of drumlins) |
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| formed by erosional process, carved into bedrock, sediment abrades the glacial material |
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| near glacial, aren’t glaciated but close to, underlined by permafrost |
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| special, find it everywhere, occurs at highest latitudes, with coldest temperatures |
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| more and more patched, lower latitudes |
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| : is the top layer of permafrost that thaws out during the summer time, less than ½ meter. Gets thicker as you move more towards the south. |
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| areas where ground isn’t frozen, occur in association of bodies of water. Acts like a blanket and prevents ground from getting cold |
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| relatively large areas of jaggered rocks |
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| jagged, angular rock, freezing water causes rock to expand and crack |
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| large rock expands and part break off and fall underneath and rock eventually is pushed up and cause the patterned ground |
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| small crack in ground, water trickles in crack, when freezes water expands and enlarges the crack, and repeats, ultimately form ice wedge. |
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| ice wedge polygons, on surface of ground, under laid by ice wedge, from growth and expansion of ice, common in periglacial environments. |
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| Area of study of biogeographers interested in spatial distribution |
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| nature of organisms and the way they exist |
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| a set of living organisms and there (abiotic) or non living surrounding that are linked together by flows of matter and energy |
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| primary producer of energy flows |
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| • Gross Primary Productivity |
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| ttal amount of energy that the plants fix |
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| • Net Primary Productivity |
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the left over energy that the rest of the ecosystem uses after the plants use there energy
• GPP-energy that plants use=NPP |
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| • Solar energy (sun) and plants are primary producers in ecosystem, can fix energy and store it in a chemical fashion. |
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• 1st Trophic level: autotrophs, primary consumers
• 2nd Trophic Level: herbivores, organisms that get there energy source by consuming plants and inheriting the plants energy that was stored, consumers rather than producers. (primary consumer)
• 3rd Trophic Level: Carnivores, secondary consumers, get energy by consuming herbivores and inheriting energy second hand
• 4th Trophic Level: top carnivores, tertiary consumers
• 5th Trophic Level: decomposers, fungi and bacteria, energy from the waste products or remains or other organisms |
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| converts carbon dioxide to fresh air |
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| multiple pathways of organism at the same or different trophic levels |
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| some energy is lost and degraded into non-useful forms, energy that is lost at each trophic level, on average only 10% of energy that is fixed will get passed onto the next trophic level |
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| Carbon, Oxygen, constant supplies in order to maintain life, things organisms need that come in massive amounts |
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| : need in tiny quantities, multi-vitamins, could be poisonous in large quantities. Zinc, Baron , Copper |
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pathways that nutrients follows as they are shifted between reservoirs.
o Collected pathways that any nutrient follows
o Every nutrient has its own biogeochemical cycle
o Found in reservoirs, in biosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, etc.
o People can alter the fundamental operation of these cycles on regional or global basis |
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among reservoirs in cycle we have carbon stored in atmosphere, ocean, biosphere, lithosphere. Stored as gas, oil, and coal.
• One of the primary pathways that carbon follows is through breathing
• Animals breathe out CO2 and plants take it in
• We can alter this cycle by burning fossil fuels |
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| most common gas in the atmosphere, and most common form is N2. Most living organisms need nitrogen in form of nitrites and nitrates(nitrogen atom with some oxygen). |
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results from fact that some substances will build up in living organisms.
o Refers to the tendency of some substances to accumulate in living organisms
o Especially fat soluble substances (ex. Vitamin A)
o Large doses of Vitamin A over a period of time can make you very sick |
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o “you are what you eat”
o get exposed to accumulative dosage of everything that you eat, and everything that you eat gets exposed to what it ate
o Can increase our exposure to toxic material
o Tendency for concentrations to increase and we move up the food chain |
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| a group of species that share some portion of the environment (along lake Ponchatrain grasses) |
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| members within the individual species (bull head shark population in Mexico) |
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| non-living surroundings that and organism acquires, a place where it lives, shelter |
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| : function, role that an organism plays in that ecosystem (place on food chain) can only have one organism occupying a niche |
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| competitive exclusion principle |
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| two organisms are trying to occupy same niche, one will be better suited, or will out compete other organism for that niche, one will be better for that particular niche. (shellfish) |
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| : relationship that is mutually beneficial for both organisms |
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| relationship where one organism benefits and the other organism doesn’t. (mosquito’s and people) when one organism feeds off of or lives on other organism |
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| range of conditions an organism can tolerate or with stand, some plants can live in freezing climates, other may not survive a freeze. |
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| : range in which the organism will thrive, climatic conditions, food availability |
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| these conditions determine where organisms can and cannot survive or thrive |
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| ability to survive these changes, springs back after disaster |
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| ability to resist change, different approach to responding to changing conditions (red wood—cant burn) |
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| : refers to a sequence of different communities that occupy and area after a major disturbance. (abandoned farm) |
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| clump you can play with in your hands |
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| proportion of empty pore space in between physical bits of soil |
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| Easae at which water can flow through the soil. Smaller pores=harder for water to flow. |
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| When water drains out due to gravity |
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| : Water around individual grains |
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| o Water sticks to the outside of the soil in the same way that it remains in a little drop on a table. Will remain on the grain even after all the water is removed from the pore space. But its not available to plants. When all that’s left is hydroscopic water, your plants are wilting. |
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| Water drained and left with tightly bound absorbed water and capillary water. Good to find out how much plants can use. |
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| When we’ve drained out all the capillary water. Still some left bound to surface of grains only few molecules thick (hygroscopic water) plants can’t use |
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| : Corresponds with grain size, gravel=2 minutes, clay=200 years |
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| mixture between 2 of the other textures |
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| Groups of atoms will be split. Positive charge cations, negative charge anions. Cations get stuck on clay particles and store them and use later for plants. |
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| Hydrogen ions that are present in soil. Soil’s acidity 1-7 acid 7-14 basic. More acidic in humid regions. More basic in arid regions. |
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o Brittle:
o Plastic:
o Sticky: |
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