GEOL Ch15 Quiz

Which of the following are causes for Carbon cycle imbalance that can lead to climate change? There may be more than one answer.

• Periods of time divergence (continental rifts and mid-ocean spreading centers) dominate plate tectonics.

• Periods of significant mountain-building events causing an increase in rock weathering

• Decrease in solar radiation (heat) reaching the Earth

• Long periods of above average volcanic activity

• The carbon cycle is always balanced and cannot be disrupted.

Earth's atmosphere is warmed up as greenhouse gases trap

• both incoming solar radiation and outgoing thermal IR radiating from Earth's surface.

• only incoming short wavelength solar radiation.

• only outgoing ultraviolet radiation

• only outgoing thermal IR radiating from Earth's surface.

Which of the following is INCORRECT about Milankovitch Cycles?

• It influences the Carbon cycle and other chemical cycles of Earth's system.

• It influences Earth’s climate over very long timespans (10s of thousands to 100s of thousands of years.

• Includes three cyclical alterations associated with Earth's orbit around the Sun that influence the amount of heat (solar insolation) Earth receives.

• The orbital cycles include: eccentricity, obliquity, and precession.

With global warming, changes to the ocean circulation (ocean conveyor belt) can be caused by which of the following

• Sea level rise

• Changes in the oxygen isotopes

• Warming of ocean temperatures

• Influx of freshwater

One proxy indicator of climate involves analyses of ancient atmosphere's chemistry in tiny trapped air bubbles from which of the following?

• Tree Rings

• Sediment Cores from deep ocean

• Coral cores

• Ice cores

Oxygen isotope records (18O/16O) data from corals, microorganisms, and ice cores are used as a proxy for

• Amount of oxygen put into the atmosphere in the past

• Past global temperature

• Past sea level

• Past volcanic activity

Which of the following is considered a reservoir where elements are stored in the Earth System? Choose all that apply.

• Volcanic outgassing

• Photosynthesis

• Evaporation

• Plants

• Ocean

What evidence do we have that proves anthropogenic fossil fuel burning rather than changes in rock weathering or volcanic activity are responsible for major CO2 changes in the atmosphere in the last two centuries?

• The ratios of carbon isotopes in the atmosphere indicate the source

• The ratios of nitrogen isotopes in the atmosphere indicate the source

• The ratios of oxygen isotopes in the atmosphere indicate the source

The _________ is when gasses in Earth’s atmosphere prevents heat from Sun’s energy or Earth’s heat from escaping into space.

• The Hothouse Effect

• Greenhouse Effect

• The Carbon Effect

• The Runaway Effect

The development of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the continental collision of Indian-Asian forming Himalayan Mountains, and subduction-related volcanism forming the Isthmus of Panama resulting in reduced heat transfer from the tropics to the poles all played a role in what climate event?

• Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

• Global cooling in the Cenozoic to the present

• Precambrian glaciations

• Younger Dryas