Earth Sciences 80A - 1995 Quiz #2

Instructions:

This is the last of 3 quizzes in this class. Each counts 25% toward the total point accumulation possible for the course, while your participation and the short paper in the discussion section count for the other 25%. The quiz is to be completed in-class in 60 minutes or less. You cannot use any notes, and you are to do your own work (no discussion with classmates, no inspection of their answers).

Please write or print your short essay answers very clearly, so that your work can be easily read. Use appropriate size lettering so that you can fit your answer into the allowed space. Do not spill over onto the back of pages. Use reasonable grammar, but the substance of your answers is more important than style.

PRINT YOUR NAME CLEARLY in the indicated place at the top of each sheet of the exam (DO THIS NOW), because the graders will disassemble the exams.

When you have completed the quiz, take the entire exam copy to the front of the room, place the exam in the box, and you are free to leave. Please try to minimize the disturbance of those around you as you depart. Good luck!

P.S. I have enjoyed teaching you about Earth Catastrophes!

  1. In our discussion of the chemistry of the atmosphere on Earth, we addressed the roles of several minor gases of the atmosphere in causing what we call the Greenhouse Effect. (20 pts)

     

    1. Please list the main gases involved in the Greenhouse Effect, and briefly explain how the Greenhouse Effect works.
    2. How are humans changing the chemistry of the atmosphere (what minor gas concentrations are we changing and how), and what slow catastrophes may result from these changes? Be as specific as you can in this answer. What natural processes have changed the chemistry of the Atmosphere in the past?

     

  2. What very fundamental characteristics of the Earth force our atmosphere to circulate, and in what pattern does it circulate? Draw a diagram of the primary global atmospheric systems. (10 pts)

     

  3. Consider a flood caused by a major rainstorm. Describe the characteristics of the storm, and of the landscape that dictate the size of a flood. (15 pts)

     

  4. There appear to have been major ice ages in the past. What physical and geochemical evidence do we have for these events? How do ocean sediments tell us about variations in ice volume? What Earth process is responsible for the ice ages? Have there always been ice ages? (25 pts)

     

  5. Match the word on the right column with the most closely related word in the left column. There may be more than one word in the right column that could be matched up, but there is a best choice for each of the terms on the left. (15 pts)

     

       
Indus River	        __________		A. storms
   
bedload                 __________		B. scablands floods
   
slope stability         __________		C. orbital forcing of climate
   
wind                    __________		D. angle of repose
   
ultraviolet radiation   __________	        E. scattering
   
loess                   __________		F. pressure differences
   
J Harlen Bretz          __________		G. windblown silt
   
dust bowl               __________		H. telephone cables
   
weather                 __________		I. sand and gravel
   
Milankovitch            __________		J. landslide related floods
   
blue sky                __________		K. reflection
   
oxygen isotopes         __________	        L.  1930's
   
albedo                  __________		M. ozone
   
1929 Grand Banks        __________	        N. CO2
   
greenhouse effect       __________	        O. global sea level variations

     

  6. Circle the SINGLE most appropriate answer. (15 pts)
    1. 100,000,000 years ago the Earth was much warmer than it is now.
      • True
      • False
    2. Human activities have induced large earthquakes.
      • True
      • False

       

    3. are increasing carbon dioxide to higher levels than our atmosphere has ever experienced, bringing about global warming due to greenhouse effects.
      • True
      • False

       

    4. The Yellow River levees were breached on purpose in the 1930's in order to:
      • allow the river's silt to fertilize the fields again
      • kill off the unruly peasants living in the lowlands
      • curb an infestation of grasshoppers that would otherwise consume the entire year's crop
      • divert, slow down or kill a large portion of the invading Japanese army

       

    5. Solifluction is
      • the process by which ice directly transforms to the vapor phase
      • the transition from solid to fluid behavior
      • a form of hillsope creep in Alaska
      • a disease of the intestinal track in rare baby albino rhinos

       

    6. A Hadley cell is
      • a primitive organism abundant in the early oceans
      • a high rainfall intensity portion of a hurricane associated with squall lines
      • used for solitary isolation of the most hardened criminals
      • a major component of the low latitude atmospheric circulation system on Earth

       

    7. A jokulhlaup is
      • a major dust storm in the Sahara
      • a kind of Icelandic jelly bean
      • a subglacial flood
      • a tornado outbreak characteristic of northern Europe

     

  7. The Earth's climate has varied over many time scales. Associate each time scale with the appropriate driving mechanism for the variation. 
       
billions of years             __________	A.  volcanic eruptions
   
   
millions of years             __________	B.  solar evolution
   
   
hundreds of thousands of yrs  __________	C.  orbital forcing
   
   
years to decades              __________	D.  plate tectonics

     

  8. An early theory for the formation of eastern Washington's scablands involved a major flood. Which TWO of the following were problems preventing the early acceptance of this theory
    • streamlined hills and dry waterfalls in eastern Washington
    • the lack of a source for the flood waters
    • the deeply embedded notion of gradualism in the minds of the geological establishment
    • the evidence of large ripples in eastern Washington

     

  9. The flood plain becomes part of the river during large floods.
    • True
    • False

     

  10. A major control over the mobility of a landslide is the water content of the material.
    • True
    • False

     

  11. Increased pavement in a given water shed is likely to broaden the local flood hydrograph.
    • True
    • False

     

  12. Hurricanes move toward the equator because the low pressures in the hot equatorial region cause the winds to blow in that direction.
    • True
    • False

     

  13. The last major Ice Age was
    • 18 million years ago
    • 18 thousand years ago
    • 180,000 years ago
    • 1800 years ago

     

  14. The decrease of atmospheric ozone is dangerous because humans evolved with little exposure to ultraviolet light
    • True
    • False

Final Comment: (NOT GRADED) I am interested to know what was your favorite catastrophe?

[return icon] Return to the Earth Sciences 80A Exams Page

 

Page maintained by Thorne Lay.
This page was last reviewed on 3/9/01.