Anthroposphere 1

Question 1

What geology does the ‘blue swoosh’ sit on? (American elections)

Answer 1

The blue swoosh sits on cretaceous sandwiched between old and younger rock

Question 2

What states does the blue swoosh sit in?

Answer 2

North Carolina
Alabama
South Carolina
Georgia

Question 3

Besides just geology what else does the blue swoosh link up with in relation to human history?

Answer 3

The black belt- relating to the higher proportion of slaves moved to the area to grow cotton with data being taken from 1839

Question 4

What was the black belt originally associated with?

Answer 4

A part of the states distinguished by the colour of the soil (thick, dark, naturally rich)

Question 5

What was the term black belt used to describe post the world wars?

Answer 5

In political sense to designate counties where black people outnumbered white

Question 6

What was the black belt defined as in 2000?

Answer 6

Any Southern countie with at least 40% African American population

Question 7

How are the ‘blue swoosh’ and the ‘black belt’ connected?

Answer 7

Most Black Americans vote Democrat (blue)
Swoosh result of presence of descendants of enslaved people

Question 8

What is the reason for the fertile cretaceous soils in the blue swoosh area?

Answer 8

Paleoclimate:
Cretaceous coastline
Warm, productive ocean
Rich in organic matter
Alkaline chalk (alkalinity good for soils)

Question 9

Why wasn’t the blue swoosh present in 1972?

Answer 9

right to vote, poll taxes, physical
violence, suppressed the
Black vote

Question 10

What was passed and amended between 1965-75 that led to the appearance of the blue swoosh?

Answer 10

Voting rights act

Question 11

What was the reason there was no blue swoosh in 1976 and 80?

Answer 11

A Democrat from Georgia was in the presidential election

Question 12

What is the potential uk example of the blue swoosh?

Answer 12

Between conservative and labour where labour are found popular in old coal mine towns due to conservative shut down

Question 13

What has the expansion of civilisation allowed it to become?

Answer 13

A geosystem

Question 14

What hypothesis was proposed by Schmidt and Frank about the potential that there has been another civilisation on our planet?

Answer 14

The Silurian hypothesis

Question 15

What is the basis of the Silurian hypothesis?

Answer 15

understanding of how often, given that life has arisen and that some species
are intelligent, does an industrial civilization develop

Question 16

What are the 2 main direct potential sources of evidence of ancient civilisations?

Answer 16

Fossils
Urbanisation

Question 17

What potential indirect sources of evidence for ancient civilisations are there?

Answer 17

Geochemical tracers
Extinctions/Radiations
Non-naturally occurring materials

Question 18

What equation can be used to measure the human impact on earth?

Answer 18

IPATS equation

Question 19

What is the IPATS equation?

Answer 19

I= PAT*S

Question 20

What do the letters in the IPATS equation mean?

Answer 20

I: Impact
P: Population
A: Affluence (consumption and waste generation)
T: Technology
S: Sensitivity of a particular environment to human activity

Question 21

What problem do you get from using IPATS that was originally proposed with Malthus?

Answer 21

There will be a point of crisis where the population will exceed the resources available (scrooge- decrease the surplus population)

Question 22

What is the vulnerability to climate change and co2 emissions pattern?

Answer 22

Those which has the lowest emissions are the most vulnerable to climate change

Question 23

What main ways are humans affecting the geosphere?

Answer 23

Desertification
Soil erosion
Toxins

Question 24

What is desertification?

Answer 24

the expansion of deserts

Question 25

How are human actions causing desertification?

Answer 25

Overgrazing (albedo) Urbanization/overuse of groundwater (Climate change)

Question 25

What human activities are closely related to soil erosion?

Answer 25

Deforestation Mining Overgrazing

Question 26

How can toxins released by humans affect the geosphere?

Answer 26

Harmful chemicals leach into groundwater Pesticides/herbicides Radioactive waste

Question 27

What are the main ways/areas in which humans affect the hydrosphere?

Answer 27

Dams and diversions Groundwater depletion Surface water contamination Groundwater contamination Oil spills and marine disruption

Question 28

How do dams and diversions affect the hydrosphere?

Answer 28

River and estuarine ecosystems severely disrupted Flooding

Question 29

What is the problem with mining groundwater?

Answer 29

Non-renewable resource

Question 30

How can humans cause surface water contamination?

Answer 30

Industrial effluent rich in organic matter and nutrients Algal bloom, decay consumes oxygen, leads to eutrophication

Question 31

What is the effect of oil spills/ marine disruption?

Answer 31

Eutrophication Ocean acidification

Question 32

What human actions affect the atmopshere?

Answer 32

Increase in GHGs Transport of pollutants Stratospheric ozone depletion Smog Acid rain

Question 33

What are the main ways humans are affecting the biosphere?

Answer 33

Loss of forest Overfishing Coral bleaching Biodiversity loss

Question 34

What is the effect of a loss of forests?

Answer 34

Upsets the hydrological cycle Leads to soil erosion Carbon budget implications

Question 35

What does RCP stand for?

Answer 35

Representative Concentration Pathways

Question 36

What are RCPs?

Answer 36

describe plausible emissions trajectories based on different economic and technological assumptions

Question 37

What are the 4 main RCPs?

Answer 37

RCP8.5= no mitigation RCP6.0= some mitigation RCP4.5= serious mitigation RCP2.6= insane mitigation

Question 38

What is equilibrium climate sensitivity?

Answer 38

the equilibrium climate response to doubling CO2 from 280ppm (pre industrial) to 560ppm.

Question 39

What is the final climate response dictated by in the equilibrium climate sensitivity equation?

Answer 39

Forcing depends on the net sum of all feedbacks (+ and -)

Question 40

What are the uncertainties of future climate change?

Answer 40

How much greenhouse gas will humanity release? What is the true value of equilibrium climate sensitivity? Model uncertainty

Question 41

What happens regionally with every increment of climate change?

Answer 41

regional changes in mean climate and extremes become more pronounced

Question 42

How much warmer was 2011-20 than 1850-1900?

Answer 42

1.1*c

Question 43

When was the last time global surface temperatures were sustained above 2.5*c?

Answer 43

3 million years ago

Question 44

What is the heat-humidity risk for human health?

Answer 44

It might get to the point where humans are unable to perspire to cool down