Geology & Earth Systems Exam 1 (UMD) Questions and Answers
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Module
Earth\\\'s Systems
Institution
Earth\\\'s Systems
What are the major earth systems? - Answer-geosphere (rock)
pedosphere (soil)
hydrosphere (water)
atmosphere (air)
biosphere (life)
cryosphere (ice)
closed system - Answer-exchanges energy but NOT matter with its surroundings
Open system - Answer-exchanges energy and matter with its surr...
Geology & Earth Systems Exam 1 (UMD)
Questions and Answers
What are the major earth systems? - Answer-geosphere (rock)
pedosphere (soil)
hydrosphere (water)
atmosphere (air)
biosphere (life)
cryosphere (ice)
closed system - Answer-exchanges energy but NOT matter with its surroundings
Open system - Answer-exchanges energy and matter with its surroundings
Isolated system - Answer-exchanges neither energy. nor matter with its surroundings
Is earth an open, closed, or isolated system? - Answer-open, but sometimes acts like a
closed system
What are reservoirs? - Answer-a container for a particular material
What are stocks? - Answer-content of a reservoir
What are fluxes? - Answer-flow of a material in and out of a reservoir through (flow rate)
What does it mean to be in steady-state? - Answer-A system is said to be in steady
state when the stock remains constant even if the particular atoms making up the stock
are changing (flux in equals flux out)
What kinds of growth do we encounter in Earth systems? - Answer-linear, & exponential
What is reinforcing feedback? - Answer-processes result from a change in a system and
also promote that change
What is a balancing feedback? - Answer-processes result from a change in a system
that work against that change
Stream bank erosion - Answer-washing away of soil from banks of streams and rivers
What are the planets in the solar system? - Answer-Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
How did the solar system form? - Answer-Gravity pulled a cloud of gas and dust
together, spinning fast, most of the matter condensed into the sun, the rest of the gas
, started to cool and condense into solids, when bumped into each-other it formed the
planets
Differentiation - Answer-process of the separating of a young planet into layers
How much time passed between the last supernova injection into the solar nebula and
the contraction of the solar nebula? - Answer-4.6 billion years
How much time passed between the beginning of the contraction of the solar nebula
and the formation of the solar system? - Answer-13.2 billion years
How long did it take the planet to go from a big molten ball to a planet with differentiated
layers? - Answer-4.5 billion
How do we know the chronology of the solar nebula and early solar system? - Answer-
All of the planets orbit the sun in the same direction, and have the right characteristics
for their locations.
Which planets have Geospheres? Atmospheres? Hydrospheres? Pedospheres?
Biospheres? - Answer-earth; all
venus; atmosphere
mars; atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere
mercury; atmosphere
neptune; hydrosphere
What are the physical layers of the geosphere and what are their physical
characteristics (brittle, ductile, etc.) - Answer-crust; brittle, ductile, liquid
lithosphere; brittle, solid
asthenosphere; ductile, solid
mesosphere; solid
outer core; liquid
inner core; solid
What are the chemical layers of the geosphere and what are the main chemical
elements in each? - Answer-crust; (O, Si)
mantle; (O, Mg, Fe, Si)
core; (Fe, Ni)
What is the thicknesses of the continental crust? - Answer-10-70 km
(avg. 35km)
What is the thickness of the oceanic crust? - Answer-5-7 km
(avg. 7km)
What is energy and how is it conserved? - Answer-the ability to do work; conserved
over time, cannot be created nor destroyed
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