Soil, Agriculture and

Earth Systems Review

Describe the layers of the Earth.

Include elements
Inner core
Outer core
Mantle
Crust

Oceanic (more dense) and Continental (less dense)

Elements in the Crust: oxygen, silicone, aluminum
Major type of rock found in crust: basalt
Greatest mass: mantle (68%)
Least mass: crust

Magnetic field found in outer core

How do scientists know what events

occurred in Earths past?
Rocks petrology, etc.fill in later

When did reptiles appear on Earth?

Paleozoic

Human evolve?

Cenozoic

Land plants appeAr?

Paleozoic

There five mass extinctions (large numbers of creatures totally disappeared)

End Ordovician (ice age)

Late Devonian (oxygen disappeared from water) hydrogen sulfide produced by volcanoes

End Permian (most severe, 90% of all marine life disappeared due to volcanic eruption)

End Triassic (volcanic event)

End Cretaceous (meteorites)

Human Activity

Lithosphere and Plate Tectonics

What is the lithosphere? What is the theory of plate
tectonics?
Composed of the top part of the mantle and the crust.
7 major plates found here; movement called plate
tectonics.
What is subduction?
Sinking of the oceanic plate under the continental plate.
Oceanic crust melts from magma and magma rises up
Describe the three types of plate boundaries and what
they form?

Volcanoes
How are volcanoes formed? Where are most volcanoes found?
The Ring of Fire,
Describe the four types of volcanoes.
Lava domes (layers of lava), composite (strato volcano, ash rocks
and lava), cinder (small hill, explosive but w lava only), shield (like
a hill but wider, lava flow is slow)
Major gases released; sulfer oxide and carbon dioxide and
hydrogen sulfide
Makes sulfuric acid when mixed w local water

Earthquakes
What causes earthquakes? Where do most occur?
Transform boundary, ring of fire
How is the magnitude of earthquakes measured?
Richter scale
Where did the largest earthquake of the 20th century
occur?
Chile, 9.5 magnitude

Rocks and Rock Cycle

Describe how each type of rock is formed?
Igneous (erupting volcano)
Sedimentary (erosion and weathering)
Metamorphic (heat and pressure, transforms igneous and
sedimentary)
What external processes are important to the rock
cycle?
Weathering, erosion, compression, uplift (come out from
inside volcanoes)

Soil Formation
What the principle components of soil?

6; oxygen, dead organic material, air, silt and clay, water, sand and gravel, fauna and flora
Summarize the formation of soil.
1 major process; weathering (physical and chemical) breaking down of rocks into smaller
pieces, begins formation of soil along w accumulation of organic material
What factors affect soil formation?
Climate, vegetation, time and human activity
How do humans affect soil?
Farming; plowing and irrigation
Mining*** (2nd half of ch 14)
Use of fertilizers
Deforestation

Soil Profile
Describe the horizons of soil
How do grasslands(prairie), desert (no surface litter, low
organic activity) and rainforest (thin and acidic, darker it
is the richer in nutrients) soil profiles differ in terms of
composition and productivity?
Grasslands thick organic rich in A layer (topsoil)

Soil Degradation
What is soil degradation? What are the causes?
What role do humans play in soil degradation?
As pop ^, more land we have to use
What is soil salinization? What effects does it have on plants?
Once water evaporates and leaves salts on surface. Lethal to plants
Describe the types of soil erosion.
Sheet (thin layer), real (small channel through land), gully (bigger
channel) , streambank (stream source flowing through)

Soil Conservation
Describe the methods of soil conservation.
Terracing, contour plowing, cover crops (crops that you
plant to maintain soil, not harvested), strip farming, till
farming (digging up soil to plant no (best), conserve
(just enough to plant seed) and minimal)
Describe bioremediation.

Pests and Pesticides

What are biological pests?
What is the most common organophosphate?
Roundup
What is an example of a chlorinated hydrocarbon?
DDT
What are examples of inorganic pesticides?
Arsenic, copper
Give an example of using a biological control?
Other animals to control another pest (ladybugs)
Parasitic wasps to control caterpillars

Environmental Effects
What are the environmental effects of using pesticides?
Pest resurgents (become immune), loss of insect
diversity, persistent organic pollutants
Explain pesticide treadmill.
Keep creating new pesticides, making them stronger and
stronger
Explain IPM.
Integrated pest management; try to use very little
fertilizers. Trap crops. Try to only target one type of pest
at a time.

Toxicology
Discuss bioaccumulation and biomagnification
Bioacc (we all go through it, absorption)
Biomag (concentration gets higher as it goes up the food chain)
What is synergism?
How do you measure toxicity?
LD50 (dosage) or LC50 (concentration level)
List the five major toxins.
Carcinogens, endocrine disruptors