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Definitions |
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biological consumption, precipitation and decreased flow distance will cause a ___ of dissolved load
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decrease
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What are the green house gasses?
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CO2
CH4
N2O
H2O
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Because the earth rotates rising air is deflected to the ___ in the northern hemisphere and to the ___ in the southern hemisphere.
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right
left
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Fast sea floor spreading =
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high sea level
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80% of the atmospheric mass is found in the
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troposphere
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Evaporates act as an archive of global change for...
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Oceans
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Provide four examples of geological proxys of climatic and environmental change?
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coals, evaporites, tillites, dropstones
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Salinity __ slightly in ___ surface water as the result of ____ this increases the ___ of the ocean water in the area.
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increases, tropical, evaporation, density
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How does silicate weathering influence the climate?
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Silicate weathering followed by carbonate formation removes atmospheric CO2. As CO2 has a MTR of ~6 years it plays a role in the global climate.
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What does the short mean residence time of water result in?
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The chemical composition of precipitation (rain,snow, etc.) is quite variable rather than globally influential.
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What regulates CO2 consumption via silicate weathering?
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- rock type
- temperature
- runoff
- vegetation
- physical weathering
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Where does thermo-haline circulation exist in the north Atlantic ocean.
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The dense salty water sinks off the coast of Greenland initiating a large thermo-haline circulation
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Name 3 major elements present in the Ecosphere.
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C, O, H, N, P, S
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Describe the general ocean circulation in the north Atlantic ocean.
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The Gulf Stream carries warm and salty ocean water NW
towards Europe. Cold winds from Canadacool the salty water, which becomes more dense. Dense, cold, salty water sinks east of Greenland and flows southward at great depth as into the South Atlantic.
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How does the accumulation of sediments differ in lakes and deep parts of the ocean?
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Sedimentation rates in lakes are fast while sedimentation rates in the deep ocean are very slow.
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How do the oceans moderate coastal climates
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Water has a high heat capacity and absobe and store a lot of solar energy. Land however dose not store solar energy well and the temperature of the air above continents fluctuates more then above the oceans.
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Mid oceanic ridge fluids alter ocean water
composition by?
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Removing Na & Mg, and releasing Ca & K.
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What change in ocean level would you expect to see with the collision of continents?
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You would expect to see a drop in ocean level.
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True or False
Paleogeographic reconstructions suggest that glaciers were situated in (sub-)tropical latitudes.
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True
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Which elements are consumed by biological activity?
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Non-conservative
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Surface ocean currents are driven by...
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atmospheric circulation
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High sea floor spreading rates cause relatively --- Ca rates in the ocean water.
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high
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Which elements are limited in the ocean?
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N, P
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Chemical weathering is --- ---- of atmospheric CO2 contents,
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active driver
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Causes of global change can be and has been ___ and ___.
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natural, anthropogenic
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The majority of the big rivers drain in the ___ and __ Oceans.
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Indian and Atlantic
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The archives for global change for continents are...
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Lake Sediments and Speleothems
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Why do aerosols influence global climate change?
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Because aerosols increase the albedo of the Earth's atmosphere.
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What is the evidence for primitive life existing 2.5 and 3.5 billion years ago?
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Archean stromatolites and other ancient microfossils
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Where are the concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), nitrate (NO3-), phosphate (PO43-) and dissolved silica low?
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At the ocean surface where biological activity is high
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Describe how albedo can create a positive temperature feed back loop.
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Initial cooling may create more (sea) ice.
Ice has high albedo therefore more solar radiation is reflected and further cooling takes place.
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Describe the continental conditions of El Niño year.
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Monsoon in Asia lessen and rainfall in Peru increases
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What is the the faint young Sun paradox?
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There is a contradiction between observations of liquid water early in the Earth's history and the fact that in Earth's early history the sun would have only been producing 70% of the radiation that it produces today. 70% of the current solar radiation would not have been enough to maintain liquid water on earth.
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100 million years ago, there were no ice sheets despite the fact that extensive landmasses were near the south pole. Can the sea floor spreading hypothesis explain this?
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Yes,
100 million years ago the sea floor spreading rates were up to 50% greater than present spreading rates.
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Give an example of the short time scale that the carbon cycle can operate by.
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The carbon fluxes that take place in volcanism cause rapid changes.
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