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L_0176 | galaxies | T_1212 | Spiral galaxies spin, so they appear as a rotating disk of stars and dust, with a bulge in the middle, like the Sombrero Galaxy shown in Figure 1.2. Several arms spiral outward in the Pinwheel Galaxy (seen in Figure 1.2) and are appropriately called spiral arms. Spiral galaxies have lots of gas and dust and lots of young stars. The Andromeda Galaxy is a large spiral galaxy similar to the Milky Way. (a) The Sombrero Galaxy is a spiral galaxy that we see from the side so the disk and central bulge are visible. (b) The Pinwheel Galaxy is a spiral galaxy that we see face-on so we can see the spiral arms. Because they contain lots of young stars, spiral arms tend to be blue. | text | null |
L_0176 | galaxies | T_1213 | Figure 1.3 shows a typical egg-shaped elliptical galaxy. The smallest elliptical galaxies are as small as some globular clusters. Giant elliptical galaxies, on the other hand, can contain over a trillion stars. Elliptical galaxies are reddish to yellowish in color because they contain mostly old stars. Most elliptical galaxies contain very little gas and dust because the gas and dust have already formed into stars. However, some elliptical galaxies, such as the one shown in Figure 1.4, contain lots of dust. Why might some elliptical galaxies contain dust? | text | null |
L_0176 | galaxies | T_1213 | Figure 1.3 shows a typical egg-shaped elliptical galaxy. The smallest elliptical galaxies are as small as some globular clusters. Giant elliptical galaxies, on the other hand, can contain over a trillion stars. Elliptical galaxies are reddish to yellowish in color because they contain mostly old stars. Most elliptical galaxies contain very little gas and dust because the gas and dust have already formed into stars. However, some elliptical galaxies, such as the one shown in Figure 1.4, contain lots of dust. Why might some elliptical galaxies contain dust? | text | null |
L_0176 | galaxies | T_1214 | Is the galaxy in Figure 1.5 a spiral galaxy or an elliptical galaxy? It is neither one! Galaxies that are not clearly elliptical galaxies or spiral galaxies are irregular galaxies. How might an irregular galaxy form? Most irregular galaxies were once spiral or elliptical galaxies that were then deformed either by gravitational attraction to a larger galaxy or by a collision with another galaxy. This galaxy, called NGC 1427A, has nei- ther a spiral nor an elliptical shape. | text | null |
L_0176 | galaxies | T_1215 | Dwarf galaxies are small galaxies containing only a few million to a few billion stars. Dwarf galaxies are the most common type in the universe. However, because they are relatively small and dim, we dont see as many dwarf galaxies from Earth. Most dwarf galaxies are irregular in shape. However, there are also dwarf elliptical galaxies and dwarf spiral galaxies. Look back at the picture of the elliptical galaxy. In the figure, you can see two dwarf elliptical galaxies that are companions to the Andromeda Galaxy. One is a bright sphere to the left of center, and the other is a long ellipse below and to the right of center. Dwarf galaxies are often found near larger galaxies. They sometimes collide with and merge into their larger neighbors. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0177 | geologic time scale | T_1216 | To be able to discuss Earth history, scientists needed some way to refer to the time periods in which events happened and organisms lived. With the information they collected from fossil evidence and using Stenos principles, they created a listing of rock layers from oldest to youngest. Then they divided Earths history into blocks of time with each block separated by important events, such as the disappearance of a species of fossil from the rock record. Since many of the scientists who first assigned names to times in Earths history were from Europe, they named the blocks of time from towns or other local places where the rock layers that represented that time were found. From these blocks of time the scientists created the geologic time scale (Figure 1.1). In the geologic time scale the youngest ages are on the top and the oldest on the bottom. Why do you think that the more recent time periods are divided more finely? Do you think the divisions in the scale below are proportional to the amount of time each time period represented in Earth history? In what eon, era, period and epoch do we now live? We live in the Holocene (sometimes called Recent) epoch, Quaternary period, Cenozoic era, and Phanerozoic eon. | text | null |
L_0177 | geologic time scale | T_1217 | Its always fun to think about geologic time in a framework that we can more readily understand. Here are when some major events in Earth history would have occurred if all of earth history was condensed down to one calendar year. January 1 12 am: Earth forms from the planetary nebula - 4600 million years ago February 25, 12:30 pm: The origin of life; the first cells - 3900 million years ago March 4, 3:39 pm: Oldest dated rocks - 3800 million years ago March 20, 1:33 pm: First stromatolite fossils - 3600 million years ago July 17, 9:54 pm: first fossil evidence of cells with nuclei - 2100 million years ago November 18, 5:11 pm: Cambrian Explosion - 544 million years ago December 1, 8:49 am: first insects - 385 million years ago December 2, 3:54 am: first land animals, amphibians - 375 million years ago December 5, 5:50 pm: first reptiles - 330 million years ago December 12, 12:09 pm: Permo-Triassic Extinction - 245 million years ago December 13, 8:37 pm: first dinosaurs - 228 million years ago December 14, 9:59 am: first mammals 220 million years ago December 22, 8:24 pm: first flowering plants - 115 million years ago December 26, 7:52 pm: Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction - 66 million years ago December 26, 9:47 pm: first ancestors of dogs - 64 million years ago December 27, 5:25 am: widespread grasses - 60 million years ago December 27, 11:09 am: first ancestors of pigs and deer - 57 million years ago December 28, 9:31 pm: first monkeys - 39 million years ago December 31, 5:18 pm: oldest hominid - 4 million years ago December 31, 11:02 pm: oldest direct human ancestor - 1 million years ago December 31, 11:48 pm: first modern human - 200,000 years ago December 31, 11:59 pm: Revolutionary War - 235 years ago | text | null |
L_0178 | geological stresses | T_1218 | Stress is the force applied to an object. In geology, stress is the force per unit area that is placed on a rock. Four types of stresses act on materials. A deeply buried rock is pushed down by the weight of all the material above it. Since the rock cannot move, it cannot deform. This is called confining stress. Compression squeezes rocks together, causing rocks to fold or fracture (break) (Figure 1.1). Compression is the most common stress at convergent plate boundaries. Stress caused these rocks to fracture. Rocks that are pulled apart are under tension. Rocks under tension lengthen or break apart. Tension is the major type of stress at divergent plate boundaries. When forces are parallel but moving in opposite directions, the stress is called shear (Figure 1.2). Shear stress is the most common stress at transform plate boundaries. Shearing in rocks. The white quartz vein has been elongated by shear. When stress causes a material to change shape, it has undergone strain or deformation. Deformed rocks are common in geologically active areas. A rocks response to stress depends on the rock type, the surrounding temperature, the pressure conditions the rock is under, the length of time the rock is under stress, and the type of stress. | text | null |
L_0178 | geological stresses | T_1218 | Stress is the force applied to an object. In geology, stress is the force per unit area that is placed on a rock. Four types of stresses act on materials. A deeply buried rock is pushed down by the weight of all the material above it. Since the rock cannot move, it cannot deform. This is called confining stress. Compression squeezes rocks together, causing rocks to fold or fracture (break) (Figure 1.1). Compression is the most common stress at convergent plate boundaries. Stress caused these rocks to fracture. Rocks that are pulled apart are under tension. Rocks under tension lengthen or break apart. Tension is the major type of stress at divergent plate boundaries. When forces are parallel but moving in opposite directions, the stress is called shear (Figure 1.2). Shear stress is the most common stress at transform plate boundaries. Shearing in rocks. The white quartz vein has been elongated by shear. When stress causes a material to change shape, it has undergone strain or deformation. Deformed rocks are common in geologically active areas. A rocks response to stress depends on the rock type, the surrounding temperature, the pressure conditions the rock is under, the length of time the rock is under stress, and the type of stress. | text | null |
L_0178 | geological stresses | T_1219 | Rocks have three possible responses to increasing stress (illustrated in Figure 1.3): elastic deformation: the rock returns to its original shape when the stress is removed. plastic deformation: the rock does not return to its original shape when the stress is removed. fracture: the rock breaks. Under what conditions do you think a rock is more likely to fracture? Is it more likely to break deep within Earths crust or at the surface? What if the stress applied is sharp rather than gradual? At the Earths surface, rocks usually break quite quickly, but deeper in the crust, where temperatures and pressures are higher, rocks are more likely to deform plastically. Sudden stress, such as a hit with a hammer, is more likely to make a rock break. Stress applied over time often leads to plastic deformation. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0179 | geothermal power | T_1220 | The heat that is used for geothermal power may come to the surface naturally as hot springs or geysers, like The Geysers in northern California. Where water does not naturally come to the surface, engineers may pump cool water into the ground. The water is heated by the hot rock and then pumped back to the surface for use. The hot water or steam from a geothermal well spins a turbine to make electricity. Geothermal energy is clean and safe. The energy source is renewable since hot rock is found everywhere in the Earth, although in many parts of the world the hot rock is not close enough to the surface for building geothermal power plants. In some areas, geothermal power is common (Figure 1.1). In the United States, California is a leader in producing geothermal energy. The largest geothermal power plant in the state is in the Geysers Geothermal Resource Area in Napa and Sonoma Counties. The source of heat is thought to be a large magma chamber lying beneath the area. Where Earths internal heat gets close to the surface, geothermal power is a clean source of energy. In California, The Geysers supplies energy for many nearby homes and businesses. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0180 | glaciers | T_1221 | Nearly all glacial ice, 99%, is contained in ice sheets in the polar regions, particularly Antarctica and Greenland. Glaciers often form in the mountains because higher altitudes are colder and more likely to have snow that falls and collects. Every continent, except Australia, hosts at least some glaciers in the high mountains. | text | null |
L_0180 | glaciers | T_1222 | The types of glaciers are: Continental glaciers are large ice sheets that cover relatively flat ground. These glaciers flow outward from where the greatest amounts of snow and ice accumulate. Alpine (valley) glaciers flow downhill from where the snow and ice accumulates through mountains along existing valleys. Ice caps are large glaciers that cover a larger area than just a valley, possibly an entire mountain range or region. Glaciers come off of ice caps into valleys. The Greenland ice cap covers the entire landmass. | text | null |
L_0180 | glaciers | T_1223 | null | text | null |
L_0180 | glaciers | T_1224 | Glaciers grow when more snow falls near the top of the glacier, in the zone of accumulation, than is melted from lower down in the glacier, in the zone of ablation. These two zones are separated by the equilibrium line. Snow falls and over time converts to granular ice known as firn. Eventually, as more snow and ice collect, the firn becomes denser and converts to glacial ice. Water is too warm for a glacier to form, so they form only on land. A glacier may run out from land into water, but it usually breaks up into icebergs that eventually melt into the water. | text | null |
L_0180 | glaciers | T_1225 | Whether an ice field moves or not depends on the amount of ice in the field, the steepness of the slope and the roughness of the ground surface. Ice moves where the pressure is so great that it undergoes plastic flow. Ice also slides at the bottom, often lubricated by water that has melted and travels between the ground and the ice. The speed of a glacier ranges from extremely fast, where conditions are favorable, to nearly zero. Because the ice is moving, glaciers have crevasses, where cracks form in the ice as a result of movement. The large crevasse at the top of an alpine glacier where ice that is moving is separated from ice that is stuck to the mountain above is called a bergshrund. Crevasses in a glacier are the result of movement. | text | null |
L_0180 | glaciers | T_1226 | Glaciers are melting back in many locations around the world. When a glacier no longer moves, it is called an ice sheet. This usually happens when it is less than 0.1 km2 in area and 50 m thick. | text | null |
L_0180 | glaciers | T_1227 | Many of the glaciers in Glacier National Park have shrunk and are no longer active. Summer temperatures have risen rapidly in this part of the country and so the rate of melting has picked up. Whereas Glacier National Park had 150 glaciers in 1850, there are only about 25 today. Recent estimates are that the park will have no active glaciers as early as 2020. This satellite image shows Grinnell Glacier, Swiftcurrent Glacier, and Gem Glacier in 2003 with an outline of the extent of the glaciers as they were in 1950. Although it continues to be classified as a glacier, Gem Glacier is only 0.020 km2 (5 acres) in area, only one-fifth the size of the smallest active glaciers. | text | null |
L_0180 | glaciers | T_1228 | In regions where summers are long and dry, melting glaciers in mountain regions provide an important source of water for organisms and often for nearby human populations. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0181 | global warming | T_1229 | With more greenhouse gases trapping heat, average annual global temperatures are rising. This is known as global warming. | text | null |
L_0181 | global warming | T_1230 | While temperatures have risen since the end of the Pleistocene, 10,000 years ago, this rate of increase has been more rapid in the past century, and has risen even faster since 1990. The 10 warmest years in the 134-year record have all occurred since in the 21st century, and only one year during the 20th century (1998) was warmer than 2013, the 4th warmest year on record (through 2013) (Figure 1.1). The 2000s were the warmest decade yet. Annual variations aside, the average global temperature increased about 0.8o C (1.5o F) between 1880 and 2010, according to the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, NOAA. This number doesnt seem very large. Why is it important? | text | null |
L_0181 | global warming | T_1231 | The United States has long been the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, with about 20% of total emissions in 2004. As a result of Chinas rapid economic growth, its emissions surpassed those of the United States in 2008. However, its also important to keep in mind that the United States has only about one-fifth the population of China. Whats the significance of this? The average United States citizen produces far more greenhouse gas emissions than the average Chinese person. | text | null |
L_0181 | global warming | T_1232 | The following images show changes in the Earth and organisms as a result of global warming: Figure 1.2, Figure (a) Breakup of the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica in 2002 was related to climate warming in the region. (b) The Boulder Glacier has melted back tremendously since 1985. Other mountain glaciers around the world are also melting. The timing of events for species is changing. Mating and migrations take place earlier in the spring months. Species that can are moving their ranges uphill. Some regions that were already marginal for agriculture are no longer arable because they have become too warm or dry. What are the two major effects being seen in this animation? Glaciers are melting and vegetation zones are moving uphill. If fossil fuel use exploded in the 1950s, why do these changes begin early in the animation? Does this mean that the climate change we are seeing is caused by natural processes and not by fossil fuel use? Permafrost is melting and its extent de- creasing. There are now fewer summer lakes in Siberia. (a) Melting ice caps add water to the oceans, so sea level is rising. Remember that water slightly expands as it warms this expansion is also causing sea level to rise. (b) Weather is becoming more variable with more severe storms and droughts. Snow blanketed the west- ern United States in December 2009. (c) As surface seas warm, phytoplankton productivity has decreased. (d) Coral reefs are dying worldwide; corals that are stressed by high temperatures turn white. (e) Pine beetle infestations have killed trees in western North America The insects have expanded their ranges into areas that were once too cold. Warming temperatures are bringing changes to much of the planet, including California. Sea level is rising, snow pack is changing, and the ecology of the state is responding to these changes. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0181 | global warming | T_1232 | The following images show changes in the Earth and organisms as a result of global warming: Figure 1.2, Figure (a) Breakup of the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica in 2002 was related to climate warming in the region. (b) The Boulder Glacier has melted back tremendously since 1985. Other mountain glaciers around the world are also melting. The timing of events for species is changing. Mating and migrations take place earlier in the spring months. Species that can are moving their ranges uphill. Some regions that were already marginal for agriculture are no longer arable because they have become too warm or dry. What are the two major effects being seen in this animation? Glaciers are melting and vegetation zones are moving uphill. If fossil fuel use exploded in the 1950s, why do these changes begin early in the animation? Does this mean that the climate change we are seeing is caused by natural processes and not by fossil fuel use? Permafrost is melting and its extent de- creasing. There are now fewer summer lakes in Siberia. (a) Melting ice caps add water to the oceans, so sea level is rising. Remember that water slightly expands as it warms this expansion is also causing sea level to rise. (b) Weather is becoming more variable with more severe storms and droughts. Snow blanketed the west- ern United States in December 2009. (c) As surface seas warm, phytoplankton productivity has decreased. (d) Coral reefs are dying worldwide; corals that are stressed by high temperatures turn white. (e) Pine beetle infestations have killed trees in western North America The insects have expanded their ranges into areas that were once too cold. Warming temperatures are bringing changes to much of the planet, including California. Sea level is rising, snow pack is changing, and the ecology of the state is responding to these changes. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0181 | global warming | T_1232 | The following images show changes in the Earth and organisms as a result of global warming: Figure 1.2, Figure (a) Breakup of the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica in 2002 was related to climate warming in the region. (b) The Boulder Glacier has melted back tremendously since 1985. Other mountain glaciers around the world are also melting. The timing of events for species is changing. Mating and migrations take place earlier in the spring months. Species that can are moving their ranges uphill. Some regions that were already marginal for agriculture are no longer arable because they have become too warm or dry. What are the two major effects being seen in this animation? Glaciers are melting and vegetation zones are moving uphill. If fossil fuel use exploded in the 1950s, why do these changes begin early in the animation? Does this mean that the climate change we are seeing is caused by natural processes and not by fossil fuel use? Permafrost is melting and its extent de- creasing. There are now fewer summer lakes in Siberia. (a) Melting ice caps add water to the oceans, so sea level is rising. Remember that water slightly expands as it warms this expansion is also causing sea level to rise. (b) Weather is becoming more variable with more severe storms and droughts. Snow blanketed the west- ern United States in December 2009. (c) As surface seas warm, phytoplankton productivity has decreased. (d) Coral reefs are dying worldwide; corals that are stressed by high temperatures turn white. (e) Pine beetle infestations have killed trees in western North America The insects have expanded their ranges into areas that were once too cold. Warming temperatures are bringing changes to much of the planet, including California. Sea level is rising, snow pack is changing, and the ecology of the state is responding to these changes. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0183 | gravity in the solar system | T_1238 | Isaac Newton first described gravity as the force that causes objects to fall to the ground and also the force that keeps the Moon circling Earth instead of flying off into space in a straight line. Newton defined the Universal Law of Gravitation, which states that a force of attraction, called gravity, exists between all objects in the universe (Figure from each other. The greater the objects mass, the greater the force of attraction; in addition, the greater the distance between objects, the smaller the force of attraction. The distance between the Sun and each of its planets is very large, but the Sun and each of the planets are also very large. Gravity keeps each planet orbiting the Sun because the star and its planets are very large objects. The force of gravity also holds moons in orbit around planets. The force of gravity exists between all objects in the universe; the strength of the force depends on the mass of the objects and the distance between them. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0184 | greenhouse effect | T_1239 | The exception to Earths temperature being in balance is caused by greenhouse gases. But first the role of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere must be explained. Greenhouse gases warm the atmosphere by trapping heat. Some of the heat that radiates out from the ground is trapped by greenhouse gases in the troposphere. Like a blanket on a sleeping person, greenhouse gases act as insulation for the planet. The warming of the atmosphere because of insulation by greenhouse gases is called the greenhouse effect (Figure 1.1). Greenhouse gases are the component of the atmosphere that moderate Earths temperatures. | text | null |
L_0184 | greenhouse effect | T_1240 | Greenhouse gases include CO2 , H2 O, methane, O3 , nitrous oxides (NO and NO2 ), and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). All are a normal part of the atmosphere except CFCs. Table 1.1 shows how each greenhouse gas naturally enters the atmosphere. Greenhouse Gas Carbon dioxide Methane Nitrous oxide Ozone Chlorofluorocarbons Where It Comes From Respiration, volcanic eruptions, decomposition of plant material; burning of fossil fuels Decomposition of plant material under some condi- tions, biochemical reactions in stomachs Produced by bacteria Atmospheric processes Not naturally occurring; made by humans Different greenhouse gases have different abilities to trap heat. For example, one methane molecule traps 23 times as much heat as one CO2 molecule. One CFC-12 molecule (a type of CFC) traps 10,600 times as much heat as one CO2 . Still, CO2 is a very important greenhouse gas because it is much more abundant in the atmosphere. | text | null |
L_0184 | greenhouse effect | T_1241 | Human activity has significantly raised the levels of many of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Methane levels are about 2 1/2 times higher as a result of human activity. Carbon dioxide has increased more than 35%. CFCs have only recently existed. What do you think happens as atmospheric greenhouse gas levels increase? More greenhouse gases trap more heat and warm the atmosphere. The increase or decrease of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere affect climate and weather the world over. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0185 | groundwater aquifers | T_1242 | To be a good aquifer, the rock in the aquifer must have good: porosity: small spaces between grains permeability: connections between pores To reach an aquifer, surface water infiltrates downward into the ground through tiny spaces or pores in the rock. The water travels down through the permeable rock until it reaches a layer that does not have pores; this rock is impermeable (Figure 1.1). This impermeable rock layer forms the base of the aquifer. The upper surface where the groundwater reaches is the water table. Groundwater is found beneath the solid surface. Notice that the water table roughly mirrors the slope of the lands surface. A well penetrates the water table. | text | null |
L_0185 | groundwater aquifers | T_1243 | For a groundwater aquifer to contain the same amount of water, the amount of recharge must equal the amount of discharge. What are the likely sources of recharge? What are the likely sources of discharge? What happens to the water table when there is a lot of rainfall? What happens when there is a drought? Although groundwater levels do not rise and fall as rapidly as at the surface, over time the water table will rise during wet periods and fall during droughts. In wet regions, streams are fed by groundwater; the surface of the stream is the top of the water table (Figure 1.2). In dry regions, water seeps down from the stream into the aquifer. These streams are often dry much of the year. Water leaves a groundwater reservoir in streams or springs. People take water from aquifers, too. | text | null |
L_0185 | groundwater aquifers | T_1244 | Groundwater meets the surface in a stream (Figure 1.2) or a spring (Figure 1.3). A spring may be constant, or may only flow at certain times of year. Towns in many locations depend on water from springs. Springs can be an extremely important source of water in locations where surface water is scarce. | text | null |
L_0185 | groundwater aquifers | T_1245 | A well is created by digging or drilling to reach groundwater. It is important for anyone who intends to dig a well to know how deep beneath the surface the water table is. When the water table is close to the surface, wells are a convenient method for extracting water. When the water table is far below the surface, specialized equipment must The top of the stream is the top of the water table. The stream feeds the aquifer. A spring in Croatia bubbles to the surface and feeds the river Cetina. be used to dig a well. Most wells use motorized pumps to bring water to the surface, but some still require people to use a bucket to draw water up (Figure 1.4). An old-fashioned well that uses a bucket drawn up by hand. | text | null |
L_0185 | groundwater aquifers | T_1245 | A well is created by digging or drilling to reach groundwater. It is important for anyone who intends to dig a well to know how deep beneath the surface the water table is. When the water table is close to the surface, wells are a convenient method for extracting water. When the water table is far below the surface, specialized equipment must The top of the stream is the top of the water table. The stream feeds the aquifer. A spring in Croatia bubbles to the surface and feeds the river Cetina. be used to dig a well. Most wells use motorized pumps to bring water to the surface, but some still require people to use a bucket to draw water up (Figure 1.4). An old-fashioned well that uses a bucket drawn up by hand. | text | null |
L_0185 | groundwater aquifers | T_1245 | A well is created by digging or drilling to reach groundwater. It is important for anyone who intends to dig a well to know how deep beneath the surface the water table is. When the water table is close to the surface, wells are a convenient method for extracting water. When the water table is far below the surface, specialized equipment must The top of the stream is the top of the water table. The stream feeds the aquifer. A spring in Croatia bubbles to the surface and feeds the river Cetina. be used to dig a well. Most wells use motorized pumps to bring water to the surface, but some still require people to use a bucket to draw water up (Figure 1.4). An old-fashioned well that uses a bucket drawn up by hand. | text | null |
L_0186 | groundwater depletion | T_1246 | Some aquifers are overused; people pump out more water than is replaced. As the water is pumped out, the water table slowly falls, requiring wells to be dug deeper, which takes more money and energy. Wells may go completely dry if they are not deep enough to reach into the lowered water table. Other problems may stem from groundwater overuse. Subsidence and saltwater intrusion are two of them. | text | null |
L_0186 | groundwater depletion | T_1247 | The Ogallala Aquifer supplies about one-third of the irrigation water in the United States. The Ogallala Aquifer is widely used by people for municipal and agricultural needs. (Figure 1.2). The aquifer is found from 30 to 100 meters deep over an area of about 440,000 square kilometers! The water in the aquifer is mostly from the last ice age. About eight times more water is taken from the Ogallala Aquifer each year than is replenished. Much of the water is used for irrigation (Figure 1.3). Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: Intense drought has reduced groundwater levels in the southern U.S., particularly in Texas and New Mexico. | text | null |
L_0186 | groundwater depletion | T_1248 | Lowering the water table may cause the ground surface to sink. Subsidence may occur beneath houses and other structures (Figure 1.4). | text | null |
L_0186 | groundwater depletion | T_1249 | When coastal aquifers are overused, salt water from the ocean may enter the aquifer, contaminating the aquifer and making it less useful for drinking and irrigation. Salt water incursion is a problem in developed coastal regions, such as on Hawaii. | text | null |
L_0187 | groundwater pollution | T_1250 | Groundwater pollutants are the same as surface water pollutants: municipal, agricultural, and industrial. Ground- water is more susceptible to some sources of pollution. For example, irrigation water infiltrates into the ground, bringing with it the pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides that were sprayed on the fields. Water that seeps through landfills also carries toxins into the ground. Toxic substances and things like gasoline are kept in underground storage tanks; more than 100,000 of the tanks are currently leaking and many more may develop leaks. | text | null |
L_0187 | groundwater pollution | T_1251 | Groundwater is a bit safer from pollution than surface water from some types of pollution because some pollutants are filtered out by the rock and soil that water travels through as it travels through the ground or once it is in the aquifer. But rock and soil cant get out everything, depending on the type of rock and soil and on the types of pollutants. As it is, about 25% of the usable groundwater and 45% of the municipal groundwater supplies in the United States are polluted. | text | null |
L_0187 | groundwater pollution | T_1252 | When the pollutant enters the aquifer, contamination spreads in the water outward from the source and travels in the direction that the water is moving. This pollutant plume may travel very slowly, only a few inches a day, but over time can contaminate a large portion of the aquifer. Many wells that are currently in use are contaminated. In Florida, for example, more than 90% of wells have detectible contaminants and thousands have been closed. | text | null |
L_0188 | growth of human populations | T_1253 | Human population growth over the past 10,000 years has been tremendous (Figure 1.1). The entire human popula- tion was estimated to be 5 million in 8000 B.C. 300 million in A.D. 1 1 billion in 1802 3 billion in 1961 7 billion in 2011 As the human population continues to grow, different factors limit population in different parts of the world. What might be a limiting factor for human population in a particular location? Space, clean air, clean water, and food to feed everyone are limiting in some locations. | text | null |
L_0188 | growth of human populations | T_1254 | Not only has the population increased, but the rate of population growth has increased (Figure 1.2). The population was estimated to reach 7 billion in 2012, but it did so in 2011, just 12 years after reaching 6 billion. Human population from 10,000 BC through 2000 AD, showing the exponential increase in human population that has occurred in the last few centuries. The amount of time between the addition of each one billion people to the planets population, including speculation about the future. Although population continues to grow rapidly, the rate that the growth rate is increasing has declined. Still, a recent estimate by the United Nations estimates that 10.1 billion people will be sharing this planet by the end of the century. The total added will be about 3 billion people, which is more than were even in existence as recently as 1960. | text | null |
L_0188 | growth of human populations | T_1254 | Not only has the population increased, but the rate of population growth has increased (Figure 1.2). The population was estimated to reach 7 billion in 2012, but it did so in 2011, just 12 years after reaching 6 billion. Human population from 10,000 BC through 2000 AD, showing the exponential increase in human population that has occurred in the last few centuries. The amount of time between the addition of each one billion people to the planets population, including speculation about the future. Although population continues to grow rapidly, the rate that the growth rate is increasing has declined. Still, a recent estimate by the United Nations estimates that 10.1 billion people will be sharing this planet by the end of the century. The total added will be about 3 billion people, which is more than were even in existence as recently as 1960. | text | null |
L_0189 | hazardous waste | T_1255 | Hazardous waste is any waste material that is dangerous to human health or that degrades the environment. Haz- ardous waste includes substances that are: 1. 2. 3. 4. Toxic: causes serious harm or death, or is poisonous. Chemically active: causes dangerous or unwanted chemical reactions, such as explosions. Corrosive: destroys other things by chemical reactions. Flammable: easily catches fire and may send dangerous smoke into the air. All sorts of materials are hazardous wastes and there are many sources. Many people have substances that could become hazardous wastes in their homes. Several cleaning and gardening chemicals are hazardous if not used properly. These include chemicals like drain cleaners and pesticides that are toxic to humans and many other creatures. While these chemicals are fine if they are stored and used properly, if they are used or disposed of improperly, they may become hazardous wastes. Others sources of hazardous waste are shown in Table 1.1. Type of Hazardous Waste Chemicals from the automobile in- dustry Example Gasoline, used motor oil, battery acid, brake fluid Batteries Car batteries, household batteries Medical wastes Dry cleaning chemicals Surgical gloves, wastes contami- nated with body fluids such as blood, x-ray equipment Paints, paint thinners, paint strip- pers, wood stains Many various chemicals Agricultural chemicals Pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers Paints Why it is Hazardous Toxic to humans and other organ- isms; often chemically active; often flammable. Contain toxic chemicals; are often corrosive. Toxic to humans and other organ- isms; may be chemically active. Toxic; flammable. Toxic; many cause cancer in hu- mans. Toxic to humans; can harm other organism; pollute soils and water. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0190 | heat budget of planet earth | T_1256 | About half of the solar radiation that strikes the top of the atmosphere is filtered out before it reaches the ground. This energy can be absorbed by atmospheric gases, reflected by clouds, or scattered. Scattering occurs when a light wave strikes a particle and bounces off in some other direction. About 3% of the energy that strikes the ground is reflected back into the atmosphere. The rest is absorbed by rocks, soil, and water and then radiated back into the air as heat. These infrared wavelengths can only be seen by infrared sensors. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0190 | heat budget of planet earth | T_1257 | Because solar energy continually enters Earths atmosphere and ground surface, is the planet getting hotter? The answer is no (although the next section contains an exception), because energy from Earth escapes into space through the top of the atmosphere. If the amount that exits is equal to the amount that comes in, then average global temperature stays the same. This means that the planets heat budget is in balance. What happens if more energy comes in than goes out? If more energy goes out than comes in? To say that the Earths heat budget is balanced ignores an important point. The amount of incoming solar energy is different at different latitudes. Where do you think the most solar energy ends up and why? Where does the least solar energy end up and why? See the Table 1.1. Equatorial Region Polar Regions Day Length Nearly the same all year Night 6 months Sun Angle High Solar Radiation High Albedo Low Low Low High Note: Colder temperatures mean more ice and snow cover the ground, making albedo relatively high. The difference in solar energy received at different latitudes drives atmospheric circulation. | text | null |
L_0191 | heat transfer in the atmosphere | T_1258 | Heat moves in the atmosphere the same way it moves through the solid Earth or another medium. What follows is a review of the way heat flows, but applied to the atmosphere. Radiation is the transfer of energy between two objects by electromagnetic waves. Heat radiates from the ground into the lower atmosphere. In conduction, heat moves from areas of more heat to areas of less heat by direct contact. Warmer molecules vibrate rapidly and collide with other nearby molecules, transferring their energy. In the atmosphere, conduction is more effective at lower altitudes, where air density is higher. This transfers heat upward to where the molecules are spread further apart or transfers heat laterally from a warmer to a cooler spot, where the molecules are moving less vigorously. Heat transfer by movement of heated materials is called convection. Heat that radiates from the ground initiates convection cells in the atmosphere (Figure 1.1). Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0191 | heat transfer in the atmosphere | T_1259 | Different parts of the Earth receive different amounts of solar radiation. Which part of the planet receives the most solar radiation? The Suns rays strike the surface most directly at the Equator. The difference in solar energy received at different latitudes drives atmospheric circulation. | text | null |
L_0192 | heat waves and droughts | T_1260 | A heat wave is different depending on its location. According to the World Meteorological Organization, a region is in a heat wave if it has more than five consecutive days of temperatures that are more than 9 F (5 C) above average. Heat waves have increased in frequency and duration in recent years. The summer 2011 North American heat wave brought record temperatures across the Midwestern and Eastern United States. Many states and localities broke records for temperatures and for most days above 100 F. | text | null |
L_0192 | heat waves and droughts | T_1261 | A high pressure cell sitting over a region with no movement is the likely cause of a heat wave. What do you think caused the heat wave in the image below (Figure 1.1)? A high pressure zone kept the jet stream further north than normal for August. A heat wave over the United States as in- dicated by heat radiated from the ground. The bright yellow areas are the hottest and the blue and white are coolest. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0192 | heat waves and droughts | T_1262 | Droughts also depend on what is normal for a region. When a region gets significantly less precipitation than normal for an extended period of time, it is in drought. The Southern United States is experiencing an ongoing and prolonged drought. Drought has many consequences. When soil loses moisture it may blow away, as happened during the Dust Bowl in the United States in the 1930s. Forests may be lost, dust storms may become common, and wildlife are disturbed. Wildfires become much more common during times of drought. | text | null |
L_0196 | hot springs and geysers | T_1277 | Water sometimes comes into contact with hot rock. The water may emerge at the surface as either a hot spring or a geyser. | text | null |
L_0196 | hot springs and geysers | T_1278 | Water heated below ground that rises through a crack to the surface creates a hot spring. The water in hot springs may reach temperatures in the hundreds of degrees Celsius beneath the surface, although most hot springs are much cooler. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0196 | hot springs and geysers | T_1279 | Geysers are also created by water that is heated beneath the Earths surface, but geysers do not bubble to the surface they erupt. When water is both superheated by magma and flows through a narrow passageway underground, the environment is ideal for a geyser. The passageway traps the heated water underground, so that heat and pressure can build. Eventually, the pressure grows so great that the superheated water bursts out onto the surface to create a geyser. Figure 1.2. Conditions are right for the formation of geysers in only a few places on Earth. Of the roughly 1,000 geysers worldwide, about half are found in the United States. Yellowstone isnt the only place in the continental U.S. with hot springs and geysers. Hot Creek in California deserves its name; Like Yellowstone, it is above a supervolcano. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: Castle Geyser is one of the many gey- sers at Yellowstone National Park. Castle erupts regularly, but not as frequently or predictably as Old Faithful. | text | null |
L_0197 | how fossilization creates fossils | T_1280 | It wasnt always known that fossils were parts of living organisms. In 1666, a young doctor named Nicholas Steno dissected the head of an enormous great white shark that had been caught by fisherman near Florence, Italy. Steno was struck by the resemblance of the sharks teeth to fossils found in inland mountains and hills (Figure 1.1). Most people at the time did not believe that fossils were once part of living creatures. Authors in that day thought that the fossils of marine animals found in tall mountains, miles from any ocean could be explained in one of two ways: The shells were washed up during the Biblical flood. (This explanation could not account for the fact that fossils were not only found on mountains, but also within mountains, in rocks that had been quarried from deep below Earths surface.) The fossils formed within the rocks as a result of mysterious forces. But for Steno, the close resemblance between fossils and modern organisms was impossible to ignore. Instead of invoking supernatural forces, Steno concluded that fossils were once parts of living creatures. Fossil Shark Tooth (left) and Modern Shark Tooth (right). | text | null |
L_0197 | how fossilization creates fossils | T_1281 | A fossil is any remains or traces of an ancient organism. Fossils include body fossils, left behind when the soft parts have decayed away, and trace fossils, such as burrows, tracks, or fossilized coprolites (feces). Collections of fossils are known as fossil assemblages. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0197 | how fossilization creates fossils | T_1282 | Becoming a fossil isnt easy. Only a tiny percentage of the organisms that have ever lived become fossils. Why do you think only a tiny percentage of living organisms become fossils after death? Think about an antelope that dies on the African plain (Figure 1.2). Most of its body is eaten by hyenas and other scavengers and the remaining flesh is devoured by insects and bacteria. Only bones are left behind. As the years go by, the bones are scattered and fragmented into small pieces, eventually turning into dust. The remaining nutrients return to the soil. This antelope will not be preserved as a fossil. Is it more likely that a marine organism will become a fossil? When clams, oysters, and other shellfish die, the soft parts quickly decay, and the shells are scattered. In shallow water, wave action grinds them into sand-sized pieces. The shells are also attacked by worms, sponges, and other animals (Figure 1.3). How about a soft bodied organism? Will a creature without hard shells or bones become a fossil? There is virtually no fossil record of soft bodied organisms such as jellyfish, worms, or slugs. Insects, which are by far the most common land animals, are only rarely found as fossils (Figure 1.4). | text | null |
L_0197 | how fossilization creates fossils | T_1282 | Becoming a fossil isnt easy. Only a tiny percentage of the organisms that have ever lived become fossils. Why do you think only a tiny percentage of living organisms become fossils after death? Think about an antelope that dies on the African plain (Figure 1.2). Most of its body is eaten by hyenas and other scavengers and the remaining flesh is devoured by insects and bacteria. Only bones are left behind. As the years go by, the bones are scattered and fragmented into small pieces, eventually turning into dust. The remaining nutrients return to the soil. This antelope will not be preserved as a fossil. Is it more likely that a marine organism will become a fossil? When clams, oysters, and other shellfish die, the soft parts quickly decay, and the shells are scattered. In shallow water, wave action grinds them into sand-sized pieces. The shells are also attacked by worms, sponges, and other animals (Figure 1.3). How about a soft bodied organism? Will a creature without hard shells or bones become a fossil? There is virtually no fossil record of soft bodied organisms such as jellyfish, worms, or slugs. Insects, which are by far the most common land animals, are only rarely found as fossils (Figure 1.4). | text | null |
L_0197 | how fossilization creates fossils | T_1283 | Despite these problems, there is a rich fossil record. How does an organism become fossilized? A rare insect fossil. | text | null |
L_0197 | how fossilization creates fossils | T_1284 | Usually its only the hard parts that are fossilized. The fossil record consists almost entirely of the shells, bones, or other hard parts of animals. Mammal teeth are much more resistant than other bones, so a large portion of the mammal fossil record consists of teeth. The shells of marine creatures are common also. | text | null |
L_0197 | how fossilization creates fossils | T_1285 | Quick burial is essential because most decay and fragmentation occurs at the surface. Marine animals that die near a river delta may be rapidly buried by river sediments. A storm at sea may shift sediment on the ocean floor, covering a body and helping to preserve its skeletal remains (Figure 1.5). This fish was quickly buried in sediment to become a fossil. Quick burial is rare on land, so fossils of land animals and plants are less common than marine fossils. Land People buried by the extremely hot eruption of ash and gases at Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. | text | null |
L_0197 | how fossilization creates fossils | T_1285 | Quick burial is essential because most decay and fragmentation occurs at the surface. Marine animals that die near a river delta may be rapidly buried by river sediments. A storm at sea may shift sediment on the ocean floor, covering a body and helping to preserve its skeletal remains (Figure 1.5). This fish was quickly buried in sediment to become a fossil. Quick burial is rare on land, so fossils of land animals and plants are less common than marine fossils. Land People buried by the extremely hot eruption of ash and gases at Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. | text | null |
L_0197 | how fossilization creates fossils | T_1286 | Unusual circumstances may lead to the preservation of a variety of fossils, as at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California. Although the animals trapped in the La Brea Tar Pits probably suffered a slow, miserable death, their bones were preserved perfectly by the sticky tar. (Figure 1.7). Artists concept of animals surrounding the La Brea Tar Pits. In spite of the difficulties of preservation, billions of fossils have been discovered, examined, and identified by thousands of scientists. The fossil record is our best clue to the history of life on Earth, and an important indicator | text | null |
L_0197 | how fossilization creates fossils | T_1287 | Some rock beds contain exceptional fossils or fossil assemblages. Two of the most famous examples of soft organism preservation are from the 505 million-year-old Burgess Shale in Canada (Figure 1.8). The 145 million-year-old Solnhofen Limestone in Germany has fossils of soft body parts that are not normally preserved (Figure 1.8). (a) The Burgess shale contains soft-bodied fossils. (b) Anomalocaris, meaning abnormal shrimp is now extinct. The image is of a fossil. (c) The famous Archeopteryx fossil from the Solnhofen Limestone has distinct feathers and was one of the earliest birds. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0198 | how ocean currents moderate climate | T_1288 | Surface currents play an enormous role in Earths climate. Even though the Equator and poles have very different climates, these regions would have more extremely different climates if ocean currents did not transfer heat from the equatorial regions to the higher latitudes. The Gulf Stream is a river of warm water in the Atlantic Ocean, about 160 kilometers wide and about a kilometer deep. Water that enters the Gulf Stream is heated as it travels along the Equator. The warm water then flows up the east coast of North America and across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe (see opening image). The energy the Gulf Stream transfers is enormous: more than 100 times the worlds energy demand. The Gulf Streams warm waters raise temperatures in the North Sea, which raises the air temperatures over land between 3 to 6 C (5 to 11 F). London, U.K., for example, is at about six degrees further south than Quebec, Canada. However, Londons average January temperature is 3.8 C (38 F), while Quebecs is only -12 C (10 F). Because air traveling over the warm water in the Gulf Stream picks up a lot of water, London gets a lot of rain. In contrast, Quebec is much drier and receives its precipitation as snow. Quebec City, Quebec in winter. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0198 | how ocean currents moderate climate | T_1288 | Surface currents play an enormous role in Earths climate. Even though the Equator and poles have very different climates, these regions would have more extremely different climates if ocean currents did not transfer heat from the equatorial regions to the higher latitudes. The Gulf Stream is a river of warm water in the Atlantic Ocean, about 160 kilometers wide and about a kilometer deep. Water that enters the Gulf Stream is heated as it travels along the Equator. The warm water then flows up the east coast of North America and across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe (see opening image). The energy the Gulf Stream transfers is enormous: more than 100 times the worlds energy demand. The Gulf Streams warm waters raise temperatures in the North Sea, which raises the air temperatures over land between 3 to 6 C (5 to 11 F). London, U.K., for example, is at about six degrees further south than Quebec, Canada. However, Londons average January temperature is 3.8 C (38 F), while Quebecs is only -12 C (10 F). Because air traveling over the warm water in the Gulf Stream picks up a lot of water, London gets a lot of rain. In contrast, Quebec is much drier and receives its precipitation as snow. Quebec City, Quebec in winter. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0199 | human evolution | T_1289 | Humans evolved during the later Cenozoic. New fossil discoveries alter the details of what we know about the evolution of modern humans, but the major evolutionary path is well understood. | text | null |
L_0199 | human evolution | T_1290 | Humans evolved from primates, and apes and humans have a primate common ancestor. About 7 million years ago, chimpanzees (our closest living relatives) and humans shared their last common ancestor. | text | null |
L_0199 | human evolution | T_1291 | Animals of the genus Ardipithecus, living roughly 4 to 6 million years ago, had brains roughly the size of a female chimp. Although they lived in trees, they were bipedal. Standing on two feet allows an organism to see and also to use its hands and arms for hunting. By the time of Australopithecus afarensis, between 3.9 and 2.9 million years ago, these human ancestors were completely bipedal and their brains were growing rapidly (Figure 1.1). Australopithecus afarensis is a human ancestor that lived about 3 million years ago. The genus Homo appeared about 2.5 million years ago. Humans developed the first stone tools. Homo erectus evolved in Africa about 1.8 million years ago. Fossils of these animals show a much more human-like body structure, which allowed them to travel long distances to hunt. Cultures begin and evolve. Homo sapiens, our species, originated about 200,000 years ago in Africa. Evidence of a spiritual life appears about 32,000 years ago with stone figurines that probably have religious significance (Figure 1.2). The ice ages allowed humans to migrate. During the ice ages, water was frozen in glaciers and so land bridges such as the Bering Strait allowed humans to walk from the old world to the new world. DNA evidence suggests that the humans who migrated out of Africa interbred with Neanderthal since these people contain some Neanderthal DNA. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: Stone figurines likely indicate a spiritual life. | text | null |
L_0199 | human evolution | T_1291 | Animals of the genus Ardipithecus, living roughly 4 to 6 million years ago, had brains roughly the size of a female chimp. Although they lived in trees, they were bipedal. Standing on two feet allows an organism to see and also to use its hands and arms for hunting. By the time of Australopithecus afarensis, between 3.9 and 2.9 million years ago, these human ancestors were completely bipedal and their brains were growing rapidly (Figure 1.1). Australopithecus afarensis is a human ancestor that lived about 3 million years ago. The genus Homo appeared about 2.5 million years ago. Humans developed the first stone tools. Homo erectus evolved in Africa about 1.8 million years ago. Fossils of these animals show a much more human-like body structure, which allowed them to travel long distances to hunt. Cultures begin and evolve. Homo sapiens, our species, originated about 200,000 years ago in Africa. Evidence of a spiritual life appears about 32,000 years ago with stone figurines that probably have religious significance (Figure 1.2). The ice ages allowed humans to migrate. During the ice ages, water was frozen in glaciers and so land bridges such as the Bering Strait allowed humans to walk from the old world to the new world. DNA evidence suggests that the humans who migrated out of Africa interbred with Neanderthal since these people contain some Neanderthal DNA. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: Stone figurines likely indicate a spiritual life. | text | null |
L_0201 | igneous rocks | T_1298 | Different factors play into the composition of a magma and the rock it produces. | text | null |
L_0201 | igneous rocks | T_1299 | The rock beneath the Earths surface is sometimes heated to high enough temperatures that it melts to create magma. Different magmas have different composition and contain whatever elements were in the rock or rocks that melted. Magmas also contain gases. The main elements are the same as the elements found in the crust. Table 1.1 lists the abundance of elements found in the Earths crust and in magma. The remaining 1.5% is made up of many other elements that are present in tiny quantities. Element Symbol Percent Element Oxygen Silicon Aluminum Iron Calcium Sodium Potassium Magnesium Total Symbol O Si Al Fe Ca Na K Mg Percent 46.6% 27.7% 8.1% 5.0% 3.6% 2.8% 2.6% 2.1% 98.5% | text | null |
L_0201 | igneous rocks | T_1300 | Whether rock melts to create magma depends on: Temperature: Temperature increases with depth, so melting is more likely to occur at greater depths. Pressure: Pressure increases with depth, but increased pressure raises the melting temperature, so melting is less likely to occur at higher pressures. Water: The addition of water changes the melting point of rock. As the amount of water increases, the melting point decreases. Rock composition: Minerals melt at different temperatures, so the temperature must be high enough to melt at least some minerals in the rock. The first mineral to melt from a rock will be quartz (if present) and the last will be olivine (if present). The different geologic settings that produce varying conditions under which rocks melt will be discussed in the chapter Plate Tectonics. | text | null |
L_0201 | igneous rocks | T_1301 | As a rock heats up, the minerals that melt at the lowest temperatures melt first. Partial melting occurs when the temperature on a rock is high enough to melt only some of the minerals in the rock. The minerals that will melt will be those that melt at lower temperatures. Fractional crystallization is the opposite of partial melting. This process describes the crystallization of different minerals as magma cools. Bowens Reaction Series indicates the temperatures at which minerals melt or crystallize (Figure 1.1). An under- standing of the way atoms join together to form minerals leads to an understanding of how different igneous rocks form. Bowens Reaction Series also explains why some minerals are always found together and some are never found together. If the liquid separates from the solids at any time in partial melting or fractional crystallization, the chemical composition of the liquid and solid will be different. When that liquid crystallizes, the resulting igneous rock will have a different composition from the parent rock. Bowens Reaction Series. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0202 | impact of continued global warming | T_1302 | The amount CO2 levels will rise in the next decades is unknown. What will this number depend on in the developed nations? What will it depend on in the developing nations? In the developed nations it will depend on technological advances or lifestyle changes that decrease emissions. In the developing nations, it will depend on how much their lifestyles improve and how these improvements are made. If nothing is done to decrease the rate of CO2 emissions, by 2030, CO2 emissions are projected to be 63% greater than they were in 2002. | text | null |
L_0202 | impact of continued global warming | T_1303 | Computer models are used to predict the effects of greenhouse gas increases on climate for the planet as a whole and also for specific regions. If nothing is done to control greenhouse gas emissions and they continue to increase at current rates, the surface temperature of the Earth can be expected to increase between 0.5o C and 2.0o C (0.9o F and 3.6o F) by 2050 and between 2o and 4.5o C (3.5o and 8o F) by 2100, with CO2 levels over 800 parts per million (ppm). Global CO2 emissions are rising rapidly. The industrial revolution began about 1850 and industrialization has been ac- celerating. On the other hand, if severe limits on CO2 emissions begin soon, temperatures could rise less than 1.1o C (2o F) by 2100. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: Whatever the temperature increase, it will not be uniform around the globe. A rise of 2.8o C (5o F) would result in 0.6o to 1.2o C (1o to 2o F) at the Equator, but up to 6.7o C (12o F) at the poles. So far, global warming has affected the North Pole more than the South Pole, but temperatures are still increasing at Antarctica (Figure 1.2). | text | null |
L_0202 | impact of continued global warming | T_1304 | As greenhouse gases increase, changes will be more extreme. Oceans will become more acidic, making it more difficult for creatures with carbonate shells to grow, and that includes coral reefs. A study monitoring ocean acidity in the Pacific Northwest found ocean acidity increasing ten times faster than expected and 10% to 20% of shellfish (mussels) being replaced by acid-tolerant algae. Plant and animal species seeking cooler temperatures will need to move poleward 100 to 150 km (60 to 90 miles) or upward 150 m (500 feet) for each 1.0o C (8o F) rise in global temperature. There will be a tremendous loss of biodiversity because forest species cant migrate that rapidly. Biologists have already documented the extinction of high-altitude species that have nowhere higher to go. Decreased snow packs, shrinking glaciers, and the earlier arrival of spring will all lessen the amount of water available in some regions of the world, including the western United States and much of Asia. Ice will continue to melt and sea level is predicted to rise 18 to 97 cm (7 to 38 inches) by 2100 (Figure 1.3). An increase this large will gradually flood coastal regions, where about one-third of the worlds population lives, forcing billions of people to move inland. Sea ice thickness around the North Pole has been decreasing in recent decades and will continue to decrease in the com- ing decades. Weather will become more extreme, with more frequent and more intense heat waves and droughts. Some modelers predict that the midwestern United States will become too dry to support agriculture and that Canada will become the new breadbasket. In all, about 10% to 50% of current cropland worldwide may become unusable if CO2 doubles. You may notice that the numerical predictions above contain wide ranges. Sea level, for example, is expected to rise somewhere between 18 and 97 cm quite a wide range. What is the reason for this uncertainty? It is partly because scientists cannot predict exactly how the Earth will respond to increased levels of greenhouses gases. How quickly greenhouse gases continue to build up in the atmosphere depends in part on the choices we make. An important question people ask is this: Are the increases in global temperature natural? In other words, can natural variations in temperature account for the increase in temperature that we see? The answer is no. Changes in the Suns irradiance, El Nio and La Nia cycles, natural changes in greenhouse gas, and other atmospheric gases cannot account for the increase in temperature that has already happened in the past decades. Along with the rest of the worlds oceans, San Francisco Bay is rising. Changes are happening slowly in the coastal arena of the San Francisco Bay Area and even the most optimistic estimates about how high and how quickly this rise will occur indicate potentially huge problems for the region. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0202 | impact of continued global warming | T_1304 | As greenhouse gases increase, changes will be more extreme. Oceans will become more acidic, making it more difficult for creatures with carbonate shells to grow, and that includes coral reefs. A study monitoring ocean acidity in the Pacific Northwest found ocean acidity increasing ten times faster than expected and 10% to 20% of shellfish (mussels) being replaced by acid-tolerant algae. Plant and animal species seeking cooler temperatures will need to move poleward 100 to 150 km (60 to 90 miles) or upward 150 m (500 feet) for each 1.0o C (8o F) rise in global temperature. There will be a tremendous loss of biodiversity because forest species cant migrate that rapidly. Biologists have already documented the extinction of high-altitude species that have nowhere higher to go. Decreased snow packs, shrinking glaciers, and the earlier arrival of spring will all lessen the amount of water available in some regions of the world, including the western United States and much of Asia. Ice will continue to melt and sea level is predicted to rise 18 to 97 cm (7 to 38 inches) by 2100 (Figure 1.3). An increase this large will gradually flood coastal regions, where about one-third of the worlds population lives, forcing billions of people to move inland. Sea ice thickness around the North Pole has been decreasing in recent decades and will continue to decrease in the com- ing decades. Weather will become more extreme, with more frequent and more intense heat waves and droughts. Some modelers predict that the midwestern United States will become too dry to support agriculture and that Canada will become the new breadbasket. In all, about 10% to 50% of current cropland worldwide may become unusable if CO2 doubles. You may notice that the numerical predictions above contain wide ranges. Sea level, for example, is expected to rise somewhere between 18 and 97 cm quite a wide range. What is the reason for this uncertainty? It is partly because scientists cannot predict exactly how the Earth will respond to increased levels of greenhouses gases. How quickly greenhouse gases continue to build up in the atmosphere depends in part on the choices we make. An important question people ask is this: Are the increases in global temperature natural? In other words, can natural variations in temperature account for the increase in temperature that we see? The answer is no. Changes in the Suns irradiance, El Nio and La Nia cycles, natural changes in greenhouse gas, and other atmospheric gases cannot account for the increase in temperature that has already happened in the past decades. Along with the rest of the worlds oceans, San Francisco Bay is rising. Changes are happening slowly in the coastal arena of the San Francisco Bay Area and even the most optimistic estimates about how high and how quickly this rise will occur indicate potentially huge problems for the region. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0203 | impacts of hazardous waste | T_1305 | The story of Love Canal, New York, begins in the 1950s, when a local chemical company placed hazardous wastes in 55-gallon steel drums and buried them. Love Canal was an abandoned waterway near Niagara Falls and was thought to be a safe site for hazardous waste disposal because the ground was fairly impermeable (Figure 1.1). After burial, the company covered the containers with soil and sold the land to the local school system for $1. The company warned the school district that the site had been used for toxic waste disposal. Steel drums were used to contain 21,000 tons of hazardous chemicals at Love Canal. Soon a school, a playground, and 100 homes were built on the site. The impermeable ground was breached when sewer systems were dug into the rock layer. Over time, the steel drums rusted and the chemicals were released into the ground. In the 1960s people began to notice bad odors. Children developed burns after playing in the soil, and they were often sick. In 1977 a swamp created by heavy rains was found to contain 82 toxic chemicals, including 11 suspected cancer-causing chemicals. A Love Canal resident, Lois Gibbs, organized a group of citizens called the Love Canal Homeowners Association to try to find out what was causing the problems (See opening image). When they discovered that toxic chemicals were buried beneath their homes and school, they demanded that the government take action to clean up the area and remove the chemicals. | text | null |
L_0203 | impacts of hazardous waste | T_1306 | In 1978, people were relocated to safe areas. The problem of Love Canal was instrumental in the passage of the the Superfund Act in 1980. This law requires companies to be responsible for hazardous chemicals that they put into the environment and to pay to clean up polluted sites, which can often cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Love Canal became a Superfund site in 1983 and as a result, several measures were taken to secure the toxic wastes. The land was capped so that water could not reach the waste, debris was cleaned from the nearby area, and contaminated soils were removed. | text | null |
L_0203 | impacts of hazardous waste | T_1307 | The pollution at Love Canal was not initially visible, but it became visible. The health effects from the waste were also not initially visible, but they became clearly visible. The effects of the contamination that were seen in human health included sickness in children and a higher than normal number of miscarriages in pregnant women. Toxic chemicals may cause cancer and birth defects. Why do you think children and fetuses are more susceptible? Because young organisms grow more rapidly, they take in more of the toxic chemicals and are more affected. | text | null |
L_0203 | impacts of hazardous waste | T_1308 | Sometimes the chemicals are not so easily seen as they were at Love Canal. But the impacts can be seen statistically. For example, contaminated drinking water may cause an increase in some types of cancer in a community. Why is one person with cancer not enough to suspect contamination by toxic waste? One is not a statistically valid number. A certain number of people get cancer all the time. To identify contamination, a number of cancers above the normal rate, called a cancer cluster, must be discovered. A case that was made into a book and movie called A Civil Action involved the community of Woburn, Massachusetts. Groundwater contamination was initially suspected because of an increase in childhood leukemia and other illnesses. As a result of concern by parents, the well water was analyzed and shown to have high levels of TCE (trichloroethylene). | text | null |
L_0203 | impacts of hazardous waste | T_1309 | Lead and mercury are two chemicals that are especially toxic to humans. Lead was once a common ingredient in gasoline and paint, but it was shown to damage human brains and nervous systems. Since young children are growing rapidly, lead is especially harmful in children under the age of six (Figure 1.2). In the 1970s and 1980s, the United States government passed laws completely banning lead in gasoline and paint. Homes built before the 1970s may contain lead paint. Paint so old is likely to be peeling and poses a great threat to human health. About 200 children die every year from lead poisoning. (a) Leaded gasoline. (b) Leaded paint. Mercury is a pollutant that can easily spread around the world. Sources of mercury include volcanic eruptions, coal burning, and wastes such as batteries, electronic switches, and electronic appliances such as television sets. Like lead, mercury damages the brain and impairs nervous system function. More about the hazards of mercury pollution can be found later in this concept. | text | null |
L_0204 | importance of the atmosphere | T_1310 | Earths atmosphere is a thin blanket of gases and tiny particles together called air. We are most aware of air when it moves and creates wind. Earths atmosphere, along with the abundant liquid water at Earths surface, are the keys to our planets unique place in the solar system. Much of what makes Earth exceptional depends on the atmosphere. For example, all living things need some of the gases in air for life support. Without an atmosphere, Earth would likely be just another lifeless rock. Lets consider some of the reasons we are lucky to have an atmosphere. | text | null |
L_0204 | importance of the atmosphere | T_1311 | Without the atmosphere, Earth would look a lot more like the Moon. Atmospheric gases, especially carbon dioxide (CO2 ) and oxygen (O2 ), are extremely important for living organisms. How does the atmosphere make life possible? How does life alter the atmosphere? The composition of Earths atmosphere. | text | null |
L_0204 | importance of the atmosphere | T_1312 | In photosynthesis, plants use CO2 and create O2 . Photosynthesis is responsible for nearly all of the oxygen currently found in the atmosphere. The chemical reaction for photosynthesis is: 6CO2 + 6H2 O + solar energy C6 H12 O6 (sugar) + 6O2 | text | null |
L_0204 | importance of the atmosphere | T_1313 | By creating oxygen and food, plants have made an environment that is favorable for animals. In respiration, animals use oxygen to convert sugar into food energy they can use. Plants also go through respiration and consume some of the sugars they produce. The chemical reaction for respiration is: C6 H12 O6 + 6O2 6CO2 + 6H2 O + useable energy How is respiration similar to and different from photosynthesis? They are approximately the reverse of each other. In photosynthesis, CO2 is converted to O2 and in respiration, O2 is converted to CO2 (Figure 1.2). | text | null |
L_0204 | importance of the atmosphere | T_1314 | As part of the hydrologic cycle, water spends a lot of time in the atmosphere, mostly as water vapor. The atmosphere is an important reservoir for water. Chlorophyll indicates the presence of photosynthesizing plants as does the veg- etation index. | text | null |
L_0204 | importance of the atmosphere | T_1315 | Ozone is a molecule composed of three oxygen atoms, (O3 ). Ozone in the upper atmosphere absorbs high-energy ultraviolet (UV) radiation coming from the Sun. This protects living things on Earths surface from the Suns most harmful rays. Without ozone for protection, only the simplest life forms would be able to live on Earth. The highest concentration of ozone is in the ozone layer in the lower stratosphere. | text | null |
L_0204 | importance of the atmosphere | T_1316 | Along with the oceans, the atmosphere keeps Earths temperatures within an acceptable range. Without an atmo- sphere, Earths temperatures would be frigid at night and scorching during the day. If the 12-year-old in the scenario above asked why, she would find out. Greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere. Important greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and ozone. | text | null |
L_0204 | importance of the atmosphere | T_1317 | The atmosphere is made of gases that take up space and transmit energy. Sound waves are among the types of energy that travel though the atmosphere. Without an atmosphere, we could not hear a single sound. Earth would be as silent as outer space (explosions in movies about space should be silent). Of course, no insect, bird, or airplane would be able to fly, because there would be no atmosphere to hold it up. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0205 | importance of the oceans | T_1318 | The oceans, along with the atmosphere, keep temperatures fairly constant worldwide. While some places on Earth get as cold as -70o C and others as hot as 55o C, the range is only 125o C. On Mercury temperatures go from -180o C to 430o C, a range of 610o C. The oceans, along with the atmosphere, distribute heat around the planet. The oceans absorb heat near the Equator and then move that solar energy to more polar regions. The oceans also moderate climate within a region. At the same latitude, the temperature range is smaller in lands nearer the oceans than away from the oceans. Summer temperatures are not as hot, and winter temperatures are not as cold, because water takes a long time to heat up or cool down. | text | null |
L_0205 | importance of the oceans | T_1319 | The oceans are an essential part of Earths water cycle. Since they cover so much of the planet, most evaporation comes from oceans and most precipitation falls on oceans. | text | null |
L_0205 | importance of the oceans | T_1320 | The oceans are home to an enormous amount of life. That is, they have tremendous biodiversity (Figure 1.1). Tiny ocean plants, called phytoplankton, create the base of a food web that supports all sorts of life forms. Marine life makes up the majority of all biomass on Earth. (Biomass is the total mass of living organisms in a given area.) These organisms supply us with food and even the oxygen created by marine plants. Polar bears are well adapted to frigid Arc- tic waters. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0206 | influences on weathering | T_1321 | Different rock types weather at different rates. Certain types of rock are very resistant to weathering. Igneous rocks, especially intrusive igneous rocks such as granite, weather slowly because it is hard for water to penetrate them. Other types of rock, such as limestone, are easily weathered because they dissolve in weak acids. Rocks that resist weathering remain at the surface and form ridges or hills. Shiprock in New Mexico is the throat of a volcano thats left after the rest of the volcano eroded away. The rock thats left behind is magma that cooled relatively slowly and is harder than the rock that had surrounded it. Different minerals also weather at different rates. Some minerals in a rock might completely dissolve in water, but the more resistant minerals remain. In this case, the rocks surface becomes pitted and rough. When a less resistant mineral dissolves, more resistant mineral grains are released from the rock. A beautiful example of this effect is the "Stone Forest" in China, see the video below: The Shiprock formation in northwest New Mexico is the central plug of resistant lava from which the surrounding rock weath- ered and eroded away. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: | text | null |
L_0206 | influences on weathering | T_1322 | A regions climate strongly influences weathering. Climate is determined by the temperature of a region plus the amount of precipitation it receives. Climate is weather averaged over a long period of time. Chemical weathering increases as: Temperature increases: Chemical reactions proceed more rapidly at higher temperatures. For each 10o C increase in average temperature, the rate of chemical reactions doubles. Precipitation increases: More water allows more chemical reactions. Since water participates in both mechan- ical and chemical weathering, more water strongly increases weathering. So how do different climates influence weathering? A cold, dry climate will produce the lowest rate of weathering. A warm, wet climate will produce the highest rate of weathering. The warmer a climate is, the more types of vegetation it will have and the greater the rate of biological weathering (Figure 1.2). This happens because plants and bacteria grow and multiply faster in warmer temperatures. | text | null |
L_0206 | influences on weathering | T_1323 | Some resources are concentrated by weathering processes. In tropical climates, intense chemical weathering carries away all soluble minerals, leaving behind just the least soluble components. The aluminum oxide, bauxite, forms this way and is our main source of aluminum ore. | text | null |
L_0207 | inner vs. outer planets | T_1324 | The inner planets, or terrestrial planets, are the four planets closest to the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Figure 1.1 shows the relative sizes of these four inner planets. Unlike the outer planets, which have many satellites, Mercury and Venus do not have moons, Earth has one, and Mars has two. Of course, the inner planets have shorter orbits around the Sun, and they all spin more slowly. Geologically, the inner planets are all made of cooled igneous rock with iron cores, and all have been geologically active, at least early in their history. None of the inner planets has rings. Click image to the left or use the URL below. URL: This composite shows the relative sizes of the four inner planets. From left to right, they are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. | text | null |
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