Earth System Science 80 Part 1 (Lectures 1- 15)

Cryosphere

Atmosphere

Hydrosphere

Geosphere

Biosphere

Lithosphere

Asthenosphere

Nothing

Energy

Energy and matter

Can be found on different scales

Have limits

Are associated with processes

Energy cant be created or destroyed, and transfer is never 100%

Dynamic equilibrium

Quasi equilibrium

Equifinality

Feedback

Relaxation time

Threshold

Dynamic equilibrium

Quasi equilibrium

Equifinality

Feedback

Relaxation time

Threshold

The time taken to reach equilibrium during the change form one equilibrium state to another

The transition from one state to the system to another

Graphine

Graphite

Silicone

Silicates

70%

80%

90%

100%

False

True

Extreme heat from magma

Extreme pressure from tectonic plates

Both heat (magma) and pressure (tectonic plates)

Sedimentary (clastic and chemical)

Igneous (intrusive and extrusive)

Metamorphic (contact, regional and dynamic)

Absolute (radiometric) dating

Relative age dating

Analysis of ice cores

Super-positioning

Horizontality

Crosscutting

Inclusion

Faunal succession

Geological lapping

4.1 Ga

4.2 Ga

4.3 Ga

4.4 Ga

4.5 Ga

Direct sampling

Indirect sampling

Seismic methods

All of the above

S-waves

P-waves

True

Flase

True

False

True

Flase

False

True

Oceanic crust

Continental crust

Right/left lateral faults

Dip slip faults

Stick slip faults (elastic rebound)

True

False

True

False

Conservative and constructive

Conservative and destructive

Constructive and destructive

Only conservative

At all plate boundaries

Deepening and filling of basins were caused by crustal contraction and the Earth's heat crushed and folded land forming mountain chains

Considered all continents drifted away from a single large landmass; ideas largely dismissed by scientific community until late 1950s

Continental fit

Geological fit

Tectonic fit

Palaeoclimatic evidence

Palaeontological evidence

All of the above

Continental fit

Geological fit

Tectonic fit

Palaeoclimatic evidence

Palaeontological evidence

Paleaomagnetic evidence

Palaeoclimatic evidence

Palaeontological evidence

Tectonic evidence

Continents moved through oceanic crust, like an icebreaker

Thermal convection currents in the mantle moved the continents

Magnetic field of the earth caused the (magnetic) continental crust to move

Thermoremnant magnetisation: when the high temperature of the material (magma) allows the atoms to align to the same magnetic direction as the Earth's dipole with ease

Detrital remnant magnetisation: when magma cools (igneous rock) its atoms might align to the same direction as the Earth's dipole, at that time because the temperature is suffice to allow for realignment

Chemical remnant magnetisation: during a chemical reaction, heat might be given out, and atoms can realign to the Earth's dipole at that time

The magnetic dipole of the Earth is fixed throughout time and atomic dipoles are only induced when there is sufficient heat

They provide evidence for continental drift

Enables rocks in different areas to be correlated with each other

Can explain presence of rock types, that were formed in different climates, in the same area

All of the above

True

False

How the continents could actually move- mechanism

Enabled us to record the Earth's dipole through time because horizontal strips preserve the dipole of Earth over specific time period

Both of the above

Holmes

Wilson

Wegener

Convection currents in the mantle

Ridge push and slab pull

Hotspot and plume theory

Continental drift

Apparent polar wondering paths

Sea-floor spreading

Extension that permits rise of partial melt from the asthenosphere

Mantle plumes that convectively bring unusually hot mantle from the core-mantle boundary

There is a debate over which one is true (perhaps both are factors)

True

False

False

True

Due to magma buoyancy: the hot magma is less dense that the crustal rock and therefore is rises to the surface; heat source is from radioactive decay, mantle convection and residual from cooling of the earth

Gases (volatiles): come out of solution at shallow depths and decrease the density of magma allowing it to rise faster; bubble formation is called vesiculation. Bubbles can join up and become a stream of gas with blobs of magma in it- called fragmentation.

Gases (volatiles) can get trapped in the viscous magma, this speeds up flow towards the surface (increases pressure) and paid expansion at the vent causes an explosive eruption

Magma recharge is required to keep feeding a volcanic eruption/magma chamber

All of the answers in combination cause volcanoes to erupt

Subduction zones- shield thin [basalt] volcanoes (effusive)

Intra-plate hotspots

Destructive plate boundaries- composite thick felsic [rhyolite] volcanos (explosive)

At all of the above

Magmatic - related to magma or magmatic gases; classification dependent on explosivity and column height or type-behaviour

Hydrovolcanic - eruptions generated by heating of water external to magma

Phreatic - dry-land steam blast eruptions, no magma erupted

Phreatomagmatic - partially hydrovolcanic and partially phreatic

True

False

Blocks/bombs| over 64mm

Lapilli | under 64 mm

Volcanic ash | under 2 mm

Volcanic dust | under 0.063 mm

Volcanic micro-cloud | under 0.000064 mm

A more energetic and dilute mixture of searing gas and rock fragments. Move easily up and over ridges; flows ten to follow valleys

High-speed avalanches of hot ash, rock fragments, and gas move down the sides of volcano during explosive eruptions or when the steep edge of a dome breaks apart and collapses. Can reach over 800 degrees and move at 100-150 mph

Increase

Decrease

Do not effect

They poorly define volcanoes and are subjective

It measures the height of eruption column and degree of explosivity

Silicic

Intermediate

Basaltic

False

True

True

False

By continental collision (destructive plate boundary) when the Indian plate moved northwards into the Eurasian plate

By continental collision (on a transition plate boundary) when the Indian plate formed a dip fault with the Eurasian plate

10%

25%

40%

55%

Land uplift and creation of relief- encouraged high chemical/physical weathering and river downcutting

Sediment fills of more than 3km thick gravels deposited in fault-controlled sedimentary basins

Drainage pattern of the Brahmaputra river - drainage was diverted by rising mountains

All of these

True

False

True

False

Wind blown silt deposits, yellow to grey in colour, grains are angular, sediment comprises of: quartz, feldspar, mica and clay minerals bound together with a calcareous cement

Region immediately south east of the Tibetan Plateau

Mechanical weathering of metamorphic rocks

Chemical weathering of metamorphic rocks

Glacial grinding

Frost action

Fluvial erosion

All of the above

0-5%

5-10%

10-15%

Strong winter monsoon = coarser sediments, higher sedimentation rates

Strong winter monsoon = finer sediments, lower sedimentation rates

Loess sequences contain buried soils (palaeosols), these sequences can't be dated and are, therefore, not used in geomagnetic polarity

The third pole

The major source

Asia's north pole

Danny Driver

False

True

Processes of the breakdown of rocks and minerals in situ (in place)

Process of breakdown of rocks and minerals and the transport of the products

Heating, cooling, chemical reactions, circulation of air/water (weathering)

Loading and interaction with the outside environment (erosion)

Forces that act to pull a rock apart- tensile (cracking), compressive (squashing), shear (sliding) plus gravity

Forces that act to keep a rock together- atomic, chemical, cohesion and friction

Where rocks break down into smaller compenents by mechanical processes (e.g. pressure, temperature, ice salt crystal growth; frost shattering, granular disintegration, exfoliation)

Break down of chemical bonds holding rocks together, or a process that causes changes in the composition of minerals within rocks (solution, hydrolysis, oxidation and reduction, carbonation plus biological processes- enhance chemical weathering by production of organic acids

True

False

True

Flase

True

False

For a given sediment grain size, air needs to be travelling more quickly than water in order to facilitate transport

Air is more efficient at sediment sorting than water

Airflow is affected by air temperature (cold air is able to carry sediment more easily than warm air because it is more dense)

All of the above

Descending air, low precipitation, low vegetation and high chemical/mechanical weathering

Ascending air, low precipitation, low vegetation and low chemical/mechanical weathering

Cold deserts

Hot deserts

General term describing all the processes by which sediment is moved by wind

Minimum wind speed needed to move a sediment grain of a certain size

The minimum wind speed needed to move a particular grain that is already in motion

The minimum wind speed needed to move a particular grain that is stationary

Wind speed

Wind direction

Sediment availability

Vegetation cover

Temperature

Carbon dioxide concentrations

Where capacity for transport is lower than sediment supply

Where capacity for transport is higher than supply

True

False

Sand dune size increases in this order: ripples, dunes, mega-dunes, sand seas)

Dunes may be superimposed on one another

Dunes are always fixed (stable) and never free (unstable)

Dunes can be active at the present time or relict (inactive)

Presence or size of dunes can indicate climate changes

True

False

Sand dunes all over the place

Strong winds

Sand dunes present

Loose sediment located on lee-sides of boulders

Presence of ventifacts

All of the above

There is or has been air flow

There is presence of water

Desertification is a long-term process, whereas drought/aridification is short term

Desertification is directly related to human activity (e.g. overgrazing, over-cultivation, deforestation, salinisation)

Desertification does no affect semiarid areas, whereas drought/aridification are important processes that affect semi-arid areas

True

False

Aggregates of fine particles

Small weathered rock fragments

Organic matter in soil

Soil water which helps translocation of chemical constituents and fine particles through the soil

Air 45%, water 25%, mineral particles 25%, organic matter 5%

Organic matter 45%, water 25%, mineral particles 25%, air 5%

Mineral particles 45%, water 25%, air 25%, organic matter 5%

Hydroscopic water (held atomically to mineral grains)

Capillary water (free water that can move in any direction)

Gravitational water (moves only downwards under gravity)

All of the above

Texture, structure, chemistry and colour

Texture, smell, grain size and colour

Absorption ability, atomic structure, chemical composition, colour

Horizon- zone of plant/organic life

Organic horizon- zone of decomposition of non-organic matter

Topsoil- zone of leaching/eluviation

Subsoil- zone of accumulation illuviation

Regolith- zone of parent material

Leaching: where anions, formed from the breakdown of humans, attach to clay particles, and are then replaced by H+ ions; which are washed through soil and redeposited in the subsoil

Eluviation: translocation of fine particles downwards in the soil profile in regolith zone

The rate of H+ translocation down soil is a measure of the organic matter, and therefore potential fertility, there is in the soil (cation exchange capacity)

Mundane dips

Mushy chips

Munsell dips

Munsell chips

Climate- weathering, ecosystems and vegetation type

Wind speed and direction

Parent material

Topography (and slope)

Soil organisms

Time

Podzols (acidic, strongly leached, low in nutrients= boreal- white/grey horizon)

Laterites (humid sub/tropics, high chemical weathering and leaching, low organic matter, high eluviation, deep soil, deep red in colour)

Gleys (waterlogged soils, high clay content, blue/grey in colour)

Calcified (arid areas, gentle leaching and eluviation, light soil colour)

Salinised (salt accumulation, upwards translocation)

Conservation (shallow/contour ploughing, high vegetation cover, mulching, fallowing, intercropping)

Rainfall and run-off factors

Soil properties, vegetation type, topography and land-use practices

Slope angle

Weathering and climate

Water content

Vegetation cover

Overloading

All of the above

The material strength and cohesion of the sediment on the slope

The internal friction of the slope

Both of the above could be used

False

True

Mixtures of particles of different sizes, plus water/ice that cohesively move down a slope; rate determined by viscosity e.g. sandrun

Movement of intact blocks along planes of weakness e.g. avalanche slide

Individual detached blocks e.g. rubble fall

Generally viscous material moving down slope in a creep process e.g. frost heave - periglacial

True

False

True

False