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39 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
What is biogeography?
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The study of the distribution of biodiversity over space and time.
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What is an ecosystem?
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A community of organisms that function together and the environment they're in.
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What are the abiotic components of an environment?
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The non-living parts - rocks, water, nutrients, chemicals, etc.
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What are the different terrestrial ecosystems?
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Forest, grasslands, tundra, desert.
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What are the features of a karst landscape?
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Soluble rock (limestone/dolomite), caves, sinkholes, springs, underground conduits.
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What are porosity and permeability?
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Porosity - (pore space)/(total rock volume); how much water a rock can hold
Permeability - interconnectedness of pores; how easily water can travel through. |
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Why is it important to study karst environments?
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Very unique, 25% of world pop lives on them, 40% of US drinking water in kars aquifers, gives us info.
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What are the primary types of sinkholes?
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Subsidence and collapse.
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What is an aquifer?
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Rock with sufficient porosity and permeability to hold water.
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What are the various types of cave formations?
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Straws, stalactites, stalagmites, columns, drapery, helictites.
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What are the various zones of karst bedrock?
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Vadose passage (air-filled), phreatic passage (water-filled), epikarst (rock and soil meet).
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How does recharge work in karst aquifers?
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It happens when precipitation reaches the water table.
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What is a drainage basin?
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The area where water is channeled into a stream or river.
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What factors affect surface runoff?
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Intensity and duration of storm, surface features, infiltration and evaporation, soil type, slope.
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What are the types of stream drainage patterns?
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Dendritic, trellis, radial, centripetal, rectangular, deranged.
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What is discharge?
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The volume of water in a given cross section per unit of time.
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What is capacity?
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The maximum load a stream can transport.
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What are the various methods of stream transport?
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Solution, suspension, saturation.
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What is a delta?
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A deposition of sediment where a stream meets a large body of water and slows in velocity.
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What are stream hydrographs used for?
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To predict flooding.
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What is a desert?
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Rainfall is less than half of the potential evapotranspiration. Vegetation is sparse.
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Tell me about desert streams.
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They're ephemeral and seasonal.
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What are the various types of arid region landforms?
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Plateaus, mesas, buttes, pediment, inselberg, bolsons, playas.
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What is eolian?
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Wind.
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What is saltation?
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Bouncing.
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How do loess deposits occur?
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Wind carried dust-sized particles, then deposits them.
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What are the characteristics of sand dunes?
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Formed by eolian transport, sediments are well-rounded and well-sorted. They have an upwind side and a leeward side, and are all about thirty degrees.
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What are the 5 main types of sand dunes?
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Barchans, parabolic, transverse, longitudinal, star dunes.
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How are sea levels and ice ages related?
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Sea levels are lower during ice ages.
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How do glaciers form?
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Annual snowfall exceeds yearly loss by melting.
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What is firn?
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Stage between snow and ice.
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What are the 3 main types of glaciers?
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Valley, ice fields, continental ice sheets.
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Where do continental ice sheets occur?
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Antarctica and Greenland
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What is the historic evidence of glaciation?
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Till, moraine, esker, glacier caves, drumlin, kettle lake, erratic, scours and striations.
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What are the various types morraine?
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Leteral, medial, end, terminal, ground, recessional.
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What factors affect the shape of coastlines?
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Bedrock geology, tectonics, sediment input, tides, waves.
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What are the 4 primary types of coastlines?
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Delta coasts, drowned river valleys, glacial deposits, volcanic coasts.
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What are the 2 main types of secondary coastlines?
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Rocy coasts, depsitional (sandy) coasts.
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What is longshore drift?
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Movement of sediment caused by a longshore current.
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