Human Impact on the Lithosphere

What is urbanization?

• when cities can't get enough water
• movement of population from rural areas to cities
• cities are often warmer than surrounding areas
• when topsoil is eroded away and nothing will grow

What is a "heat island"?

• an island in a river or lake that produces heat
• an area in which the air temperature is generally higher than the temperature of surrounding rural areas
• when the leftovers or "tailings" from mining are piled up in a river
• an oasis

What causes urban heat islands?

• movement of people from farms to cities
• lots and lots of people heating their homes
• roads and buildings absorb and retain heat longer than vegetation does
• soil erosion

What are common practices that lead to overgrazing?

• grazing cattle instead of sheep and goats
• getting into conflicts with neighbors over grazing rights
• using sheepdogs instead of human shepherds
• too many animals, lack of rotation, grazing at wrong times in plant life cycle

What is deforestation?

• throwing someone out of a window
• selectively cutting trees for lumber, making sure the forest remains healthy
• allowing more animals to graze on the land than it can support
• cutting and removal of rainforest

What are some reasons deforestation occurs?

• clearing land for agriculture, ranching, and mining
• just wanting to destroy things
• Population moving from rural areas to cities
• to make room for infrastructure

What is biodiversity?

• the process where topsoil is eroded away so no plants can grow
• many different kinds of living things
• a coral reef
• the study of how to protect rainforests

What are some consequences of deforestation?

• increased population in cities
• building of more infrastructure
• soil erosion, loss of ability of trees to remove CO2 from the atmosphere
• more mercury and cyanide released into rivers

How has human use of the lithosphere changed over the years?

• We have gone from a more urban to a more rural population
• We have gone from a more rural to a more urban population
• We have gone from tunnel mining to strip mining
• We ahve gone from grazing cattle to growing crops

What long-term impact could the destruction of large areas of forests have on Earth?

• decreased rates of erosion
• increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels
• decreased amounts of acid rain
• increased atmospheric oxygen levels