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Earth Science
Earth Science
89
Science
Undergraduate 4
11/12/2008

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Cards

Term
what elements are required for life (as wa know it) to arise?
Definition

carbon

hydrogen

nitrogen

oxygen

Term
what is the earliest evidence for life on earth
Definition

fossils

blue/green algy

Term
how old is the evidence for life on earth?
Definition
3.9 Billion
Term
what compound is requred for the formation of life?
Definition
water - think we need water, but not completely sure!
Term
what were the conditions under which early life arose?
Definition

water

dont need light --> deepest dark spots in the ocean

instead of sunlight have bacteria in bellies

Term
What is the source of energy for the creation of life?
Definition

NO IDEA!

light - passes through things help building blocks

chemosyntasis - chemical (bacteria) processes things

commet striking earth --> unbelievable energy to make simple things more complex

Term
where is the universe are organic materials which could have been the building blocks of life?
Definition
amino acids - building blocks for life --> turn into peptides with extreme energy
Term
What are extremophiles?
Definition

cant exsist outsede their extreme enviornment

archaic bacteria

life forms live en extream conditions

very hot

very cold

very acidic

Term
Could extremeophiles be similar to early life?
Definition
evolved -->adapted to extreame enviornemtns
Term
How could impacts be related to life
Definition

commet striking earth?

extream impacts cause amino acids to form more complex items (peptides)

Term
what is ALH84001
Definition

one of the first medorites found in allenhills-conrite, about 4lbs

 

from mars 16 million years ago

Term
is ALH84001 conclusive evidence for or against the formation of life elswhere in the solar system?
Definition

formed 4.5 billion years old - same age as earth

carbonites in cracks of rock (on earth form in liquid water)

water on mars - resembles earth bacteria (fossilzed in rocks)

Term
What about ALH84001 is unique and has not yet been explained in terms other than life?
Definition

bacteria Mg1 forms magnitite on earth. how is this in the fossil if ther eis no life on mars?

magnitite in fossils (provided by bacteria Mg1)

Term
What conculusion can we reach today about the origin of life on earth?
Definition

not sure of energy source know it happened

not sure what conditions you need

 

just nitrogen, oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, water, and energy? or do you need more?

Term
Waht conculusion can we reach about the abundance of life in the universe
Definition

has to be water around

places have materials for life, even though it might not exsist today

mars has materials but no prooven life

Term
what are the tree periods of the mesozoic Era
Definition

cretaceous

triasic

jurassic

Term
How long was hte mesozoic era?
Definition
200 million years
Term
what event began the mesozoic
Definition
97% of life ceases - great dieing area
Term
what event ended the mesozoic
Definition

65 million years ago a rock 6 miles across landed

peace out dinos and 75% of life at the time

Term
dinosaurs have two different hip patterns, what are they?
Definition

saurischian pelvis

ornithischian pelvis

Term
stegosaurus
Definition

herbavors, walk on all 4s

ornthischian

jurassic

Term
triceratops
Definition

herbavor, all 4s

jurassic

ornthischian

Term
apatosaurus
Definition
saurischian, herbavor
Term
tyrannosaurus
Definition
carnavor, saurischian
Term
Who were Cope and Marsh and what did they do
Definition

responsible for bone wars

battled over bones - hijakcd each others bones, blew one feild up - found 150+ specis of dinos

march - trained palentologist

cope - privately supported

started in NJ

1870 - 1900 feed obsession for americans with interests in dions

 

Term
What did roy chapman andrews add to our knowledge of dinosaurs?
Definition

adventurer - janitor at museam of natural history - moved up

went to agiato look for origin of man - found dino eggs gathered everything

put together 1st comprehensive enviornment for dinos - goby desert was a desert lived in very dry enviornment might not be reptiles

Term
waht did john ostrum add to our knowledge of dinos
Definition
begins revolution in dinosaurs - far too active to be a reptile suggests they are entirely sepert group of species
Term
waht was significant about the dinosaur deinonychus
Definition
too active to be reptile with big claws and legs where mussels would attach
Term
what was the evidence that Bakker used to argue that dinosurs were not cold blooded?
Definition
  • found blood vessels in bones - very high, consistatn with mammals and birds - goes against reptiles
  • geographical areas where dinos exhisted
  • soem lived in cooler enviornments - no reptiles in these areas
  • also looked at isotope structure of bones
  • had oxygen 16but had more oxygen 18
Term
What were significant findings on dinosaur behavior made by Horner?
Definition
  • 1988 summer - hunting dinos in montana -->stopped at rock
  • baby dino bones (people ranch) 12 million years of rocks
  • 15 baby dinos - most found in one place
Term
what was his evidence for each of these findings?
Definition
  • babys teeth have been wron/used
  • still in nest -->mother dino is bringing food to babys -->reptiles dont do tha..mamals/birds do
  • (taking care of young in nest)
  • 8 nests - comunity area
  • 23 feet average distance between nests (also the legnth of the dinos)
  • spacing tess us they behavied much liek communial nesting birds
  • deposit and spread over miles (10,000 individual dinos @ once) died traviling in heard
  • piroclastic flow - llahar deposit
  • social behaviors not like reptiles
Term
what is amber?
Definition
pine resin
Term
what can amber preserve?
Definition
  • insects
  • whatever it wraps itself around
  • 3d things
Term
when was amber first used to make art
Definition

10,000 years ago - carvings

stone age

Term
where is Gdansk located?
Definition
poland
Term
how old are the rocks which contain amber in the dominican republic
Definition
20 million years old
Term
what climate do giant bean trees live in?
Definition
tropical
Term
what did the poinar's do with dominican republic amber?
Definition
used tiny fossils to bring a whole tropical forest to life
Term
what information is preserved in the amber
Definition

behavior of things trapped

ex: bee collecting resin to build a nest

Term
how do we determine the likely behavior of past animals trapped in amber?
Definition
figure out what they were doing when they were preserved
Term
what larger animal leaves us evidence in the Dominican Republic Amber?
Definition

tadpols

diving beetles

marsh animals

frog eggs

Term
how is the presence of fig trees deduced in the ancient dominican forest
Definition

wasps - proves forset had figs --> cant exsist w/o each other

fig wasps live in figs - collect pollen

proves fig trees were there

Term
what do unique insect relationships tell us about cahnge in tropical forests
Definition
same relationship exsisted 20 million years ago that still do - very little change
Term
what information is suggested by the presence of honey-pot ants
Definition
that the ancient forest had a dryspot lasting 3-4 months -->can tell us how much rain we got
Term
waht did David Grimaldi do to lizards trapped in amber
Definition
used super powerful scanner to see inside (bones etc)
Term
David Attenborough
Definition
narrator
Term
Elzbieta Sontag (university of Gdansk,biolgist)
Definition
goes through amber to look for things inside, goes through about 20 peices before she finds something
Term
George and Roberta Poinar
Definition
rebuilt forest out of amber - made model
Term
David Grimaldi
Definition
wanted to know if they were as preserved in the insde as they were on the outside ---> tested 2nd lizzard, figured out all the bones were broken prob dead from dropping from a bird
Term
how much does america rely on fossil fuels for its energy production
Definition
about 80%
Term
how quickly are we using fossil fules (oil)
Definition

by 2030 we will have burned through 2/3s

probably see end of oil in our lifetime

Term
understand the differences and similarities between coal and oil
Definition
  • coal cannot be burend in planes or cars
  • coal starts as microscopic plants, oil as microscopic sea creatures
  • no 2 oil deposits are alike, but coal can be
Term
during what geological period was 1/2 the worlds coal produced
Definition
350-500 million years ago
Term
undersatnd the use of oil adn its growing importance as a source for materials
Definition
mobility and makes plastic
Term
know how much oil we use
Definition

30% us burned to make plastic

20% energy production in us

82 million barrels a day (42 gallon barrals)

us consumes 1/2 a day

Term
know where the worlds oil is located
Definition

saudi arabia(66%), iraq, russia

 

Term

Understand the alterntive sources of oil

Definition

oil shales - rocks contain petrolium product - not been tapped cause much higher process to get @ the oil - west (utah, montana)

 

tar sands - in canada - like oil shales

Term
where do we get natural gas from
Definition

methane - most common 20% america's energy

fossil sources

Term

 

what are methane hydrates, how are they produced

Definition

microbes

methane hydrates - ice that burns

water ice that contains methane microbs

Term
waht is climate
Definition

in a state of change

the waeter in one place of a long period of time 10 years - decade

Term
What is IPCC
Definition

international pannel of climate change

2000 scientists 

giant peer reviewd group

produced 3 reports

Term
how does it work?
Definition

look @ science other people are doign and put it together

take all little peices and put the big puzzle together

Term
what are the present conclusions about climate
Definition
average overall temp of climate went up .6*c in the past 100 years (1*f)
Term
What role does the sun play in climate
Definition

source of energy - where the climate system begins

Barilliam 10 - track energy out put pf sim (measrue in rocks)

Term
What are the green house gasses and the green house effects
Definition

trillion of tons of carbon (5billion tons a year)thrown into atmosphere (gases act like a blanekt--> traps heat ozone)

Term
waht are most powerful
Definition

nitros oxide

methane

 

parts per billion measured

Term
waht are the most abundant
Definition
c02 least powerful - parets per million messured in
Term
understanding the forcings and feedbacks in the climate system
Definition

forcings - directly effected by energy (conver belt)

feedbacks - amplifications or dampening of climate systems

Term
understand how we use dendrochronology, ice cores, and original shell material to determine past climate conditions
Definition

dendrochronology - using trees

ice cores - 70,000 year old ice measure gasses dust particles -- melt water look for isotopes

Term
understand the 1940-70 cooling, its causes, and how we know
Definition

soot from indistrialization in ice-equator boundry

dust northern

not south

Term

Understand what we expect to happen in the future

Climate Changes:

Definition
  • Water
  • Might have more water than we know what to do with
  • Weather
  • Many more hurricanes – cant determine the energy out fo them
  • This year 5 hurricanes the average is 3
  • Energy and circulation under the ocean
  • Thermo haling circulation
  • o       Salt is left behind out of salt water
  • o       Regional cold snap – circulation slowed down
Term

Understand what we can do to reverse climate change and how long it will take.

Definition

What ever we do to try and stop global warming will not even start to be in effect for 20 years or more – not for us, for our ancestors

  • Reduce carbon admissions
  • Efficient energy sources
  • Reduce poverty – less population – middleclass citizens want to put all their children through college – have less children
  • Technology – artificial means for pulling Co2 out of the air
Term
8% nuclear fusion
Definition

o        Radioactive decay of elements

§         Take big elements, make smaller ones

o        Uranium – primary fuel source

§         Uranium 238 – not very useful as a power source

§         Enrich it to U235 – much more energetic

·         Enough heat to boil water

§         Once they have been used, they become dangerous

·         Radiation

§         Only dangerous for 500 years

·         Longer than US has existed!!

100,000 years dangerous
Term
Browns Ferry
Definition
- Human error – hooked up all the wires – fire sparked by a welder – only 1 phone line going into a plant – didn’t communicate with the fire department – finally got the fire out – 10 mins to get in, 3 to put the fire out
Term
1979
Definition

o        a valve stuck and they kept turning dials to unstuck the valve

§         Partial meltdown – claimed no radiation leakage

§         Genetic damages to animals and plants around

§         No one kept track of the people that lived down wind since there was “no radiation leakage”

Term
typical reactor  pro
Definition

§         No green house gasses

§         No pollution

§         Domestic fuel source

Term

o        Cons

Definition

§         Waste material very dangerous

§         Inherent danger from careless operation

§         Public fear

Term

o        Fission Breeder Reactors

·         Pro

Definition

·          

o        Current fuel source lasts over a thousand years

o        Very little waste (worst is dangerous for 30-40 years)

o        Recycles waste material from burner

Term

·         Cons

Definition

o        Inherent dangers of careless operation

o        Expensive to build

o        10 years before you see any fuel

Term

Hydro elective 5%

      Pro

Definition

o        No pollution

o        No greenhouse gases

o        Does not consume water

Term

      Con

Definition

o        Need to be on a river

o        Alters the river

Term

Remaining 2%

Definition

      Wind – a few weeks ago wind was more efficient that oil since it was cheaper

o        Large and small ones

o        Simple mechanical technology

o        Pro

      No pollution

      No green house gasses

      Multiple land use

      No hazardous waste (including internal components

o        Cons

      Spoils the view

Term

      Solar – Photovoltaic cells -

Definition
2 layers of silicon with a nonproductive layer between them, want to get through the panel, have to go through copper wires, produces electricity

o        Can put on small structures – doesn’t have to just be a power plant

Term
pros
Definition

clean energy production

free fuel

can be installed on small structures

Term
cons
Definition

only work during the day

large amounts of power requre large area

similar power to a fision plant requres many

 

Term
geothermal power
Definition

taps the earth crust

tapping the heat of earths crust

pro - free energy source

indefinate life time

 

con

rock conducts heat poorly

output falls after a few years

some ghg released

Term

ethonol - energy to run cars - green plants - burns at 60*f

Methonal - tree bark

Definition

pro

less use of a fire hazzard htna gas

less partical pollution

less co2 + its  co2 free

same distrobution infastructures as gas

same vehicles as gas

 

con

food used as fuel

less energy efficiant thatn gas

less mpg

Term
individual fuel cell
Definition

hydrogen + oxygen =energy

pro

clean

efficiant

 

con

currently all comercal hydrogen comes from oil, solves nothing!

Term
fusion
Definition

making hevy elements from lighter ones

cant don it, can't figure it out!

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