ATTENTION!

• This is a study guide that will do just that, guide you

toward important material to study for the exam.
• Some material not in the study guide, but
presented in your notes, MAY aid in your
understanding of the topics.
• You are allowed 1-3 inch by 5-inch notecard, both
sides, as a cheat sheet. Write whatever you want
on it. If the notecard is bigger than 3x5, then I am
throwing it away.
• Please Bring a Pencil on Exam Day!
• The final exam will be held on Friday, December
15th at 12:45. It is not cumulative.
 Water as a Resource

• Of all the fresh water on Earth

(2.59% of all water), we cannot
use ~2.587%! Therefore, we only
have 0.003% of all water on Earth
to use for our water needs!
 Drainage Basins

Streams and rivers have drainage

basins: an array of
interconnecting streams that
together drain an area.
Drainage basins can also be
called watersheds.
Divides are a highland or ridge
that separates one drainage
basin from another.
The Continental divide separates
the drainage of water between
the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
Gradient Discharge
• The change in the • Streams have a discharge: the volume
of water in a conduit or channel
slope of a stream over passing a point in one second.
• D=A*v (units are in ft3 / s or m3 / s)
a given distance • A = cross-sectional area
• Source (Head) – • v = the average velocity of the stream
Steep • D = discharge

• Mouth – Shallow
Stream Velocity
• Depends on the shape of the stream

The maximum velocity is in The maximum velocity usually

the center of the stream stays positioned over the
near the surface. deepest part of the channel.
Eroded material is Transported by streams in 3 different ways:
1) Bed load: Large particles, such as sand, pebbles, or cobbles, that bounce or roll along a
stream bed. Most of the bedload only moves during periods of high discharge.
2) Suspended load: Tiny solid grains carried along by a stream without settling to the floor
of the channel.
3) Dissolved load: Ions dissolved in a stream’s water.
Saltation : The movement of a sediment in which grains bounce along their substrate,
knocking other grains into the water column (or air) in the process.
Competence: is the maximum size of particle (clay, silt, sand, etc.) that a stream can carry.
High versus Low
Capacity: is the amount of material a stream can carry. Depends on competence and
discharge.
Meandering Steams

Consist of fine grained

particles that are transported

Meanders: sweeping
bends in a stream form
by lateral erosion. Occurs
when stream reaches a
gradient when deepening
no longer occurs.

Eventually, meanders can

get cut off to form oxbow
lakes.
Point Bar and Cut Bank
• Meandering streams erode the
outside curve (Cut Bank) and deposits
sediment on the inside curves (Point
Bar)
Floodplain: The flat land on
either side of a stream that
becomes covered with
water during times of high
discharge.

Natural levees form by

sediment dropped by river
when it tops its channel.
They are built by successive
flooding over many years.
Valley Deepening Valley Widening Continued Widening
In youth, a steep gradient As the gradient becomes In old age, the gradient
allows for downward erosion less steep, streams begin becomes even less steep, larger
to dominate to meander and erode meanders, greater lateral
Rapids laterally erosion
Waterfalls Floodplain Wider floodplain
Streams are relatively straight development Oxbow lakes
Floods and Flood Control
• Floods occur as the discharge of a stream/river
becomes larger then the channel can hold
• Produced by:
• Melting of snow and heavy rains
in spring
• Extremely heavy rains over a
very short period of time
• Ground already saturated with
water
• Ice-Jams building up along a
river in the winter
• Human activity
 Flood Control
• Engineering efforts
• Artificial levees
• Flood-control dams
• Channelization
• Nonstructural
approach through
sound floodplain
management
 Evaluating Flood
Hazards

• Recurrence Interval – A flood of

a given size is defined as the
average number of years
between successive floods of at
least this size
• Flood risks are calculated as
probabilities
• Discharges plotted on semi-
logarithmic paper against
recurrence intervals yield a
straight line
• The probability of a given
discharge, as % chance of
occurrence, can be determined
by graph inspection
Human Impact on Rivers - Pollution
• Point Source - discharge
pollution from specific
locations
• Factories, power
plants, drain pipes
• Nonpoint Source -
scattered or diffuse,
having no specific location
of discharge
• Agricultural fields,
feedlots, golf courses,
residential
construction sites
Factors Influencing Storage and Groundwater
Movement
• Pore – An open space in soil
or rock
• Porosity – Total volume of
rock that consists of pore
space
• Primary – Original open pore
space in soil or rock after it
forms
• Secondary – Open space that
forms after soil or rock is
“created”
 Porosity: Proportion of Open Space

Which of the following have lower porosity and which

have higher porosity?
High porosity
Rounded, sorted clasts do not fit tightly
Clay particles
do not fit
tightly

High Lower
porosity porosity
Crystals in
granite fit
tightly

Poorly sorted clasts fit more tightly

Low porosity

17.03.c
Factors Influencing Storage and Groundwater
Movement
• Permeability – The ability of a
material (such as rock or soil)
to allow fluid (ie.
Groundwater) to flow through
it (hydraulic conductivity)
• Impermeable – Material that
does not have inter-connected
pore space, thus not allowing
water to flow through it
• Permeable – Material that has
interconnected pore space
which allows water to flow
through it
• Depends on:
• Number of available conduits
• Size of conduits
• Straightness of conduits
Permeability: Pores Connected So Fluids Flow

Which of the following have lower permeability and

which have higher permeability?
High permeability High permeability

Granite Loosely
with many cemented
fractures gravels

Porous
Compact-ed volcanic rock
clay (shale) with separate
pores

Low permeability Low permeability

17.03.c
 Groundwater

• Groundwater - Water that resides under

the surface of the earth within the zone
of saturation. It occurs within soil,
bedrock, or in caves.
• Aquifer - Rock and/or sediment that is
saturated with groundwater, and is
sufficiently permeable to allow
economically viable quantities of
groundwater to wells and springs.
• Aquitard – Sediment or rock with low
permeability, regardless or porosity.
• Unconfined Aquifer - Formations that are
exposed to atmospheric pressure
changes and that can provide water to
wells by draining adjacent saturated rock
or soil
Confined Aquifer: saturated
groundwater that is enclosed
by impermeable layers both
below and above it. Artesian
wells are an example.

Potentiometric surface is the

elevation that confined
groundwater would rise, due
to pressure, but it is not
allowed because of
aquitards.
 Distribution of Groundwater
Water table: Rock under the surface of the earth that separates
fully saturated soil/rock from partially saturated soil/rock
Zone of Aeration: zone above water table where infiltration
occurs. Includes capillary fringe and belt of soil moisture (BoSM)
Zone of Saturation: zone where pore space is filled with
groundwater.
 Wells

• Wells - Bring groundwater to the

surface through pumping or natural
means.
• Ordinary Well – base of the well
penetrates an aquifer below the
water table.
• Dry Well – a well that does not
supply water because the well has
been drilled into an aquitard or into
rock that lies above the water table.
• Artesian Well - Penetrates a
confined aquifer in which water has
enough pressure to rise on its own
to a level above the top surface of
the aquifer.
Cone of Depression: Cone shaped depression in the water table due to
drawdown.

Drawdown: Lowering of the water table due to well pumping.

 Groundwater Mining
• Amount of water withdrawn from
an aquifer exceeds the aquifer’s
sustained yields
• Causes shallow wells to go dry
• Increases cost of lifting water to the
surface as water levels drop
• May cause ground subsidence
• San Joaquin Valley, California
• Withdrawal began in the mid-1920’s
• Land subsidence exceeded 28 feet by
1970
• Subsidence decreased for a few years
• Drought 1976-1977 caused
subsidence to resume
• Half the entire valley affected
• Damaged buildings, highways,
bridges, water lines and wells
Groundwater contamination: addition to the
groundwater, mostly through anthropogenic
means, of elements that are harmful and
make the groundwater dangerous to
consume.

Injection wells are wells that discharge

waste from industrial areas (either
chemicals or hot water) deep into aquifers.

Some groundwater contaminants move

along the bottom of aquifers due to their
densities.

Rates at which contaminants move varies

due to rock type
 Groundwater Contamination
• Every year trillions of gallons of contaminating liquids enter the groundwater in
the US every year (infiltration, leaking tanks, pumped down)
• Contaminates include:
• Agricultural Waste (fertilizers, pesticides)
• Industrial Waste (dangerous chemicals)
• Effluent from Septic Tanks and Landfills (includes bacteria and viruses)
• Petroleum Products (leaking storage tanks)
• Radioactive Waste
• Acid from some Coal and Metal Mines
 Geologic Work by Underground Water

Water is naturally acidic, and

acid rain makes it even more
so; therefore, it can dissolve
calcite, limestone, and
marble to form caves and
other karst features.

A karst topography is an
area that is full of caves,
sinkholes, valleys and
disappearing streams.
Glaciers
• Glaciers are parts of two basic cycles
• Hydrologic cycle
• Rock cycle
• Glacier – a thick mass of ice that originates on land from the
accumulation, compaction, and recrystallization of snow
• Accumulate, transport, and deposit rocks and sediment
Mountain Glaciers Continental Glaciers
• Can be very small. • Enormous glaciers that flow out in all
directions from on or more snow-
• Occur in Mountainous accumulation centers
Areas • Completely bury underlying
• When glaciers erode landscape
stream valleys, they • Two Left Today
both deepen and • Greenland
• Antarctica
straighten them. • Continental Ice Sheets
 How Glaciers Move

The upper 50 meters of a

glacier behaves in a brittle
fashion, breaking as the ice
moves.
Below 50 meters the weight
of the ice causes it to flow in
a plastic fashion.

The friction between rock and the bottom

and sides of the glacier causes the
bottom and sides to move slower than
other parts.
Move by flowing, basal sliding and
fracturing
 Budget of a Glacier
• Zone of Accumulation – Area where snow and ice build up
• Zone of Wastage - Area where snow and ice are melting
• Glacial Budget=Balance between accumulation and wastage
• When glaciers move forward
they are advancing.
• When glaciers are melting back
they are retreating.
• Melting back of a glacier from
a solid to a liquid is called
ablation.
• Melting back of a glacier from
a solid to a gas is called
sublimation.
• Ice within a Glacier is always
moving forward
 Glacial Erosion
• Plucking – Ice loosens, lifts, and
incorporates rock as it moves
• Abrasion – Ice and the debris
within it grind the Earth like
sandpaper
• Occurs along the bottom of a
glacier Rock formation created by a passing glacier

• These glacial striations are an

example of a glacier eroding by
abrasion
dire
ctio
n of i
ce
mo
tion
• Linear features that provides clues to
the direction of ice flow
 Types of Glacial Drift
• Sediments of glacial origin
• Two distinct types
• Till - Unsorted sediment
deposited directly by the
glaciers
• Stratified Drift - Sorted
sediments deposited by
glacial meltwater
• Erratic-Large boulders
found in glaciated areas
that the rock type of the
erratic usually does not
match the local bedrock
type.
 Moraines

• Moraines - Piles of glacial

derived sediment that forms
layers or ridges
• Lateral Moraine – a moraine
that forms along the sides of
a valley glacier
• Medial Moraine – formed by
the joining of two or more
lateral moraines. Parallel to
the direction of ice motion
• End (terminal) Moraine: A low sinuous ridge of glacial till that forms when a
glacier stops moving forward. State of equilibrium between ablation and ice
accumulation.
• Recessional Moraine: Any moraine deposited behind the end moraine.
• Ground Moraine: Gently rolling layer of till deposited as the ice front recedes.
Has a leveling effect.
 Fjord

Fjord: A deep glacially carved U-

shaped valley that was flooded by
rising sea levels. Formed by valley
glaciers

Fjords in Canada. Note the glacier is

still occupying the valley.
 Most of Ohio was an area of deposition
during the last glacier maximum (~21,000 Much of Ohio has been
y.b.p.). To the north the glacier eroded the Deposited with glacial
Earth’s surface till, including our area.
Glaciers left Ohio about 14, 000 years ago
What Causes Glaciers to Form?
• There are many ideas:
• Plate Tectonics
• Variations in the Earth’s
orbit over time
• Plate Tectonics
• Ice ages occur when plate
move from tropical latitudes
to colder higher latitudes.
• Increased volcanic activity
• Mountain belts change
atmospheric patterns
• Doesn’t account for last
glacial maximum
Variations in the Earth’s Orbit –
Milankovic Cycles

• Eccentricity: every 100,000 years

the Earth’s orbit becomes more
elliptical and then returns back to
more of a circle.
• Obliquity: The tilt of the Earth
changes from ~21.5° to ~24.5° every
41,000 years.
• Precession: Or the wobble of the
Earth’s axis occurs during a 26,000
year period.
 Other Factors Included
• Changing albedo – reflecting more sunlight
• Interrupting the global heat conveyor – Cooling
temperatures yields less evaporation. Decrease in
ocean salinity might stop the system of currents that
bring warm water to higher latitudes
• Biological processes that change carbon dioxide
concentration – Organisms that extract carbon
dioxide flourish resulting in lower greenhouse gasses
• Solar variability – changes in radiation output by the
sun
 Renewable Energy Resources: energy
resources that can be replaced at a rate
equal to, or faster than they are
consumed.
This includes solar, water, wood, wind,
tidal forces, and geothermal.

Nonrenewable Energy Resources:

energy resources that can not be
replaced at a rate equal to, or faster
than they are consumed.
This includes oil, natural gas, coal, and
radioactive material.
 Hydrocarbon
Resources
• Hydrocarbon Compounds:
chemical compounds that
consist of hydrogen and carbon.
• Petroleum, also known as crude
oil, is a hydrocarbon with the
chemical formula ranging from
C5H12 to C18H38
• Short chain molecules tend to
be less viscous and more volatile www.chemistryland.com
 Oil and Gas
Formation
• Oil and natural gas forms after
organic material (plants not
animals) is chemically
transformed by heat and
pressure over long periods of
time after it was quickly buried
• Organic material needs to be
buried quickly so that there is
no oxygen present when the
chemical transformation take
place.
• Organic matter -> Kerogen -> Oil
and Gas
 Hydrocarbon Resources

• Conventional – Hydrocarbon
reserve that can be extracted by
pumping from a reservoir rock.
• Unconventional – An
accumulation of hydrocarbons
that are too viscous to flow,
and/or that occur in impermeable
rock, so that they cannot be
pumped by drilling a well (tar
sand, oil shale, shale oil/gas)
 Reservoir Rocks and
Hydrocarbon Migration

The source rock is the rock where the

organic material is chemically turned into
oil and natural gas. The source rock is
permeable enough to allow the
hydrocarbons to migrate upward.
The reservoir rock is a porous rock layer
where the oil and natural gas are stored
due to an impermeable caprock above it. Source Rock
 The Formation of
Coal

• Coal - Fossilized plant

material preserved by
burial in sediments and
compacted and condensed
by geological forces into
carbon-rich fuel.
• Most laid down during
Carboniferous period (286
million to 360 million years
ago).
The Classification of Coal
• Lignite coal has undergone low
degrees of metamorphism;
therefore, it has a high volatile
content.
• Anthracite coal has undergone
high degrees of metamorphism;
therefore, it has a low volatile
content and burns “hot and
clean.”
• Rank of coal
• Peat → Lignite → Subbituminous
→ Bituminous → Anthracite
 Finding and Mining
Coal
• Search for sequences of
strata deposited in tropical to
semitropical, shallow-marine
to terrestrial environments –
swamps
• Over 87% of electricity in
Ohio comes from coal
burning (we have 26 coal
burning power plants), and
Ohio ranks third in the US in
coal consumption
(www.ohiocoal.com)
 Nuclear Reactor
• Nuclear Fission
• Most commonly used fuel is
U235, a naturally occurring
radioactive isotope of uranium.
• When struck by neutrons,
radioactive uranium atoms
undergo nuclear fission,
releasing energy and more
neutrons.
• Triggers nuclear chain reaction
• Seventy percent of nuclear
power plants are pressurized
water reactors (PWR).
• Water is circulated through core
to absorb heat from fuel rods
and then pumped to steam
generator where it heats a
secondary loop
• Steam from secondary loop drives
high-speed turbine producing
 Geothermal Energy

 Geothermal Energy - Tapping natural

underground reservoirs of steam and
hot water
 Few places have geothermal steam,
but can use Earth’s warmth
everywhere by pumping water
through buried pipes using heat
pumps
 Deep wells for community
geothermal systems are being
developed.
 Heat from Earth’s crust is never
exhausted.
 Can reduce heating costs by one-half.
 Solar Energy
• Solar Heating Without Photo Cells
• Passive solar heating: no
mechanical assistance
• Active solar heating:
mechanical circulation of solar-
heated water
• Invention of amorphous silicon
collectors has allowed production of
lightweight, cheaper cells.
• Photovoltaic Cells
• Capture solar energy and
convert it directly to electrical
current by separating electrons
from parent atoms and
accelerating them across a one-
way electrostatic barrier.
• Roof tiles with photovoltaic cells can
generate enough electricity for a
home.
Cellulosic Ethanol May Offer Hope (cont.)

• Miscanthus x giganteus, called

elephant grass, comes from Asia and
may be an excellent biofuel crop.
• Miscanthus can produce 5x as much
biomass per acre as corn.
• Using corn or switchgrass to produce
enough ethanol to replace 20% of U.S.
gasoline usage would require ¼ of all
U.S. cropland.
• Miscanthus could produce the same
amount of ethanol on one-half that
acreage and can be grown on marginal
soils with less fertilizer.
Could Algae Be A Hope For The Future?

• Algae might be an even better

biofuel crop.
• Algae growing in a photobioreactor
could theoretically produce more
biofuel (30x) than Miscanthus.
• They could be grown next to
conventional power plants where
carbon dioxide from burning fossil
fuels could be captured and used
for algae growth.
Hydropower
◦ Hydroelectric Power is generated
by turning turbines with falling
water.
No
emissions, but, must build dams
which can alter ecosystems by
reducing water temperature.
◦ In 1925, falling water generated
40% of world’s electric power.
◦ Hydroelectric production capacity
has grown 15-fold but fossil fuel
use has risen so rapidly that
hydroelectric only supplies 20%
of electrical generation.
Wind Power
• Wind Power generates electricity
by wind turning blades, which
turn an electromagnet, which
generates electricity. Taller
towers and larger blades
generate more electricity.
• There are an estimated 80
million Mega Watts of wind
power could be commercially
tapped worldwide.
• This is five times the total current
global electrical generating
capacity.
 Dams
• Much of hydropower in recent years
has been from enormous dams
• These dams cause the following
unwanted effects:
• Human Displacement
• Ecosystem Destruction
• Wildlife Losses
• Large-Scale Flooding due to Dam
Failures
• Sedimentation
• Herbicide Contamination
• Evaporative Losses
• Nutrient Flow Retardation
 Wind Power Pros and Cons

• Pros:
• no fuel costs or emissions
• generates income for farmers
who rent land for turbines or
sell electricity
• short planning and
construction time

• Cons:
• intermittent source
• not enough wind everywhere
• bird mortality
• power lines needed to
transmit the electricity
 The Atmosphere is a Complex
System

• Weather – short-lived,
local patterns
temperature and
precipitation due to
circulation of the
troposphere.

• Climate – long term

patterns of temperature
and precipitation.
Evidence for a Lack of Free Oxygen
in Earth's Early Atmosphere

• Lack of oxidized iron in the oldest sedimentary rocks.

(Instead, iron combined with sulfur to form sulfide
minerals like pyrite. This happens only in anoxic
environments.)
• Urananite and pyrite are readily oxidized today, but are
found unoxidized in Precambrian sedimentary rocks.
• Archean (4.6-2.5 billion years old) sedimentary rocks are
commonly dark due to the presence of carbon, which
would have been oxidized if oxygen had been present.
Formation of an Oxygen-rich Atmosphere
• The development of an oxygen-rich atmosphere is the result
of:
• Photochemical dissociation - Breaking up of water
molecules into H and O in the upper atmosphere, caused
by ultraviolet radiation from the Sun (a minor process
today due to ozone layer)
• Photosynthesis
 Banded Iron Formation
• Banded iron formations (BIF)
appear in the Precambrian (1.8 -
about 3 b.y.). Cherts with
alternating laminations of red
oxidized iron and gray unoxidized
iron.
• Formed in association with blue –
green algae
• Signifies a change in the oxygen
content in the atmosphere
• Great economic importance;
major source of iron mined in the
world.
Carbon Cycle
• Biogeochemical Cycles – passage
of chemicals among living and
non-living reservoirs in the Earth
System (ie. Hydrologic, N, P, S)
• Intake of CO2 during
photosynthesis. Carbon atoms are
incorporated into sugar which is
eventually released by cellular
respiration either in the plant or in
organisms that consumed it.
• Burning of coal and oil as well as
deforestation releases carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere.
Some carbon is also locked in
calcium carbonate (fossil shell
deposits of limestone).
Greenhouse Gasses and the Greenhouse Effect
• Most solar energy reaching the Earth is near infrared.
• Greenhouse effect – carbon dioxide and other greenhouse
gasses prevent infrared radiation form escaping the Earth’s
atmosphere.
• Greenhouse gases: water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2),
methane (CH4), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and
chlorofluorocarbons (CFC).
•
 • The changing proportion of spruce pollen to grass
pollen in a sedimentary sequence records changes in
vegetation linked to change in climate.
Growth Rings and Microfossils •
Spruce forests grew much farther south 12,000 years
ago.
• Different plant species live in different climates.

Spruce: colder

Grass:
warmer
 Oxygen-Isotope
Ratios
• 18
O to 16O ratios in ice cores and marine
sediments can provide temperature data
• Ratio is larger in snow that forms in warmer
air and smaller in colder air
• Oxygen isotope ratios indicate the
temperature of past environments. Two
oxygen isotopes are used: 16O, which is
lighter, and 18O, which is heavier. 16O water
evaporates faster than 18O water.
• During ice ages, the 16O water evaporated
more readily and was trapped on land as
glacial ice. Seas then become 16O-depleted
and 18O-enriched (the 18O/16O ratio
increased).
• Shells grown in this seawater preserve the
18
O/16O ratio.
 Recent Changes are Unusually Rapid

• Increases in carbon dioxide

concentrations since the beginning of
the industrial revolution (burning of
fossil fuels) appear to exceed the range
of natural fluctuations that occurred
during the last 800,000 years.
• 47-55 MA – 1000 ppm
• Anthropogenic climate change is the
most important environmental issue of
our time.
• Earliest data from an observatory on
Mauna Loa volcano in 1957.
• Carbon dioxide levels increasing at 0.5%
per year since data collection began.
Greenhouse Gasses

• Methane – ruminants and

rice paddies are sources
• Microbial decay in anoxic
conditions
• Nitrous Oxide – vehicle
engines, agriculture
processes are major sources.
• The relative effects of each
greenhouse gas can be seen
by converting them to CO2
Equivalents.
 Reasons for Climate Change
• Milinkovic Cycles – variations in the
Earth’s orbit
• Amount of solar radiation
• Geologic Activity
• Plate Tectonics – Continents at higher or
lower latitudes
• Volcanic Activity – Aerosols in the
atmosphere
• Ocean Currents – Distribute heat
• Surface Albedo
• More = Cooling
• Less = Warming
• Effects of organisms – Cyanobacteria and
humans
• Concentration of Greenhouse Gasses –
fluctuations in certain gas concentrations
will have a warming or cooling effect.
 Observations of Climate Change
• Melting of Greenland, Ice Sheets,
and Artic Sea Ice
• Sea level rise
• Acidification of ocean waters
• Coral Bleaching
• Change in growing season length
• Drought