Exam 4

Question 1

Capacity to sustain plant life
Undergone soil forming processes
is an open system with formation factors maintaining the system

Answer 1

Soil

Question 2

What are soil formation factors?

Answer 2

Natrual factor:
Climate
Organics (biology)
Relief (slope steepness) and topography 
Parent material (substrate composition) 
Time
CLORPT

Question 3

What are the different soil horizons?

Answer 3

A, E, B, C, and R horizon

Question 4

Humus and clay particles

provide essential chemical links between soil nutrients and plants

Answer 4

A horizon

Question 5

Composed of coarse sand, silt and resistant minerals Fine particles removed by eluviation (leaching, or removed by water)

Answer 5

E horizon

Question 6

Composed of accumulations of clays, aluminum, and iron by illuviation

Answer 6

B horizon(subsoil)

Question 7

Weathered bedrock or regolith

Plant roots or soil microogranisms are rare

Answer 7

C horizon

Question 8

Rock horizon

Answer 8

R horizon

Question 9

What soil horizons are Solum = true definable soil of the profile

Answer 9

A, E, & B, soil horizons

Question 10

What are the different soil properties and how do they differ?

Answer 10

Suggests composition and chemical makeup

Can be deceptive as different compositions and makeups can have similar colors

Question 11

Tropical soils in hot and humid areas

Answer 11

Oxisols

Question 12

Single largest soil order in the world

Answer 12

Aridisols

Question 13

rassland soils World’s best land for agriculture

Answer 13

Mollisols

Question 14

Spatially the most widespread Moderately weathered forest soils

Answer 14

Alfisols

Question 15

Highly weathered forest soils

Lower CEC, lower soil fertility

Answer 15

Ultisols

Question 16

A complex network of interconnected food chains is known as a _____

Answer 16

Food web

Question 17

What three natural elements are the most abundant in living matter?

Answer 17

Hydrogen, oxygen, carbon

Question 18

get all their carbon from CO2 (plants)

Answer 18

Autotrophs

Question 19

rely on producers or other consumers for their carbon (animals)

Answer 19

Heterotrophs

Question 20

bacteria and fungi that digest organic debris and wastes outside their bodies

Answer 20

Decomposers

Question 21

the consumption of stored energy (photosynthesis in reverse)

Answer 21

Respiration

Question 22

in which the cleared area undergoes a series of changes in species composition as newer communities of plants and animals replace older ones ex. Kilauea volcano in Hawaii

Answer 22

Succession

Question 23

During lecture 2, I discussed “5 Reasons for Seasons”. One of these is Earth’s revolution where it completes one full ellipse around the Sun every year. Please name three more and describe what they are.

Answer 23

3 more reasons for seasons is Rotation, Tilt of Earth’s axis, and Axial parallelism.

Rotation is Earth rotates on axis once every 24
hours (day). Tilt of Earth’s axis is Axis is tilted 23.5° from plane of ecliptic. Axial Parallelism is Axis maintains alignment during orbit around the Sun.

Question 24

Las Vegas is located in a desert climate. A) Name and describe the three climate controls of deserts identified in Chapter 15 notes, and B) identify which of these best explains why Las Vegas has an arid environment (justify your answer)?

Answer 24

The three climate controls are Areas dominated by subtropical high-pressure cells, between 15-35 degrees both N and S attitude, Rain shadow areas on the lee side of mountain ranges and Areas at great distance from moisture-bearing air masses such as Asia.

Las Vegas has such an arid environment because of the mountains the mountains we are surrounded by.

Question 25

1) Define both physical and chemical weathering, and 2) name and define one example of each that was presented as part of the lecture notes or covered in the textbook

Answer 25

Physical and chemical weathering include the breaking and disintegration of rock. Physical weathering involves mechanical processes while chemical weathering is the decomposition of minerals via some chemical reaction. An example of physical weathering includes frost wedging where water gets in joints, freezes, and expands the gap further. An example of chemical weathering includes dissolution where minerals dissolve into solution (e.g., salt dissolves in water).

Question 26

5. Draw the rock cycle and describe the processes involved. Give one example of each rock type (e.g., an example of a sedimentary rock is sandstone).

Answer 26

The rock cycle can go from sediment - sedimentary - metamophic - magma - igneous - sediment. The rock cycle is the name for the continuous alteration of earth materials rock from one rock type to another. As you can see in the cycle down above it, it is just continuous patter where earth materials go from one to another and then back to the beginning. This how we get different rock types. An Example of igneous rock type is granite, Metamorphic is Marble and Sedimentary is Sandstone.

Question 27

Explain the theory of plate tectonics. As part of your answer, A) define the terms lithosphere and asthenosphere, and B) identify the three types of plate boundaries.

Answer 27

Plate tectonics is the theory that the lithosphere is divided into a number of plates that float independently over the mantle and along whose boundaries occur the formation of new crust, the building of mountains, and the seismic activity that case earthquakes. Lithosphere is Rigid rock comprising the crust (oceanic and continental) as well as the underlying rock Athenosphere is Plastic or mushy upper part of the mantle Three type of plate boundaries are Convergent, Divergent and Transform.

Question 28

Imagine that you have the choice of purchasing a home located along a meandering river. Home A is located on the inside of the river bend, and Home B is located on the outside of the river bend. Please select which home you would purchase based solely on your desire for the house not to fall into the river as the meander moves over time. As part of your answer, A) define the terms aggradation and degradation, and B) correctly identify which process is associated with the inside and the outside of a river bend. Don’t forget to tell me which house you would purchase.

Answer 28

I would buy home A that is located on the inside of the river of the bend because that is where aggradation occurs so the house won't be swept into the stream. Degradation is was occurs on the outside of the stream and is not where I would want build my house. Aggradation is the deposit of sediments, slower velocity where as Degradation is the removal of sediments and rock and has faster velocity.

Question 29

balancedmixturegoodforplants(sandyloamidealfor | agriculture b/c of its water holding characterisitcs)

Answer 29

loam

Question 30

A measure of fertility | High CEC – High fertility

Answer 30

Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) –

Question 31

High base cations (Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Na+) | Linked to salinity

Answer 31

Alkalinity

Question 32

H+ ions stimulate acid formation | Accelerates chemical weathering and nutrient depletion

Answer 32

Acidity

Question 33

soils do not _____ nor can they be ________

Answer 33

reproduce | recreate

Question 34

a self-sustaining association of living plants and animals and their non-living physical environment (vary in size: small – large)

Answer 34

ecosystem

Question 35

non living organisms

Answer 35

Abiotic

Question 36

living organisms

Answer 36

Biotic

Question 37

subgroup of an ecosystem; formed by the interactions among populations of living organisms

Answer 37

community

Question 38

the type of environment where an organism resides (adaptation)

Answer 38

habitat

Question 39

the function or occupation of a life form within a given community

Answer 39

Niche

Question 40

no two species occupy the same niche successfully in a stable condition

Answer 40

Competitive exclusion principle

Question 41

two or more species exist together in an overlapping relationship

Answer 41

Symbiotic

Question 42

shared support over an extended period of time Examples: bees and flowers, clownfish and sea anemone

Answer 42

Mutualistic

Question 43

a relationship that is one-way and detrimental to one of the organisms over time

Answer 43

Parasitic

Question 44

What capture diffuse sunlight and convert it into an important food base for all life?

Answer 44

Plants

Question 45

small pores on the leaves that open and close with the needs of the plants

Answer 45

Stomata

Question 46

Takes place in structures within green leaves called chloroplasts

Answer 46

Photosynthesis

Question 47

the consumption of stored energy (photosynthesis in reverse)

Answer 47

Respiration

Question 48

net photosynthesis for entire ecosystem; amount of stored chemical energy ecosystem generates

Answer 48

Net primary productivity

Question 49

The balance of the two is called

Answer 49

net photosynthesis

Question 50

zonation of plants with altitude that roughly corresponds to increasing latitude

Answer 50

Life zone concept

Question 51

refers to physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of the environment that determine species distributions and population size

Answer 51

Limiting factors

Question 52

The most abundant natural elements in living matter are

Answer 52

hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), and carbon (C)

Question 53

Energy flows from producers to consumers and eventually detritivores (bottom feeders). Such energy flow through the system is called

Answer 53

food chain

Question 54

is a complex network of interconnected food chains.

Answer 54

food web

Question 55

When a community is disturbed enough that most, or all, of its species are eliminated, a process known as

Answer 55

ecological succession

Question 56

An area of bare rock or disturbed site with no vestige (or trace) of a former community can be a site for

Answer 56

primary succession

Question 57

which occurs when some aspect of a previously functioning community is still present

Answer 57

secondary succession