NATS-101  Intro. to Global Change Fake Quiz 4     FOR M/C SELECT BEST ANSWER AMONG CHOICES

The quiz will cover lecture material from March 20-March 31 (pages 165-169, 171-193, 225-263 of Mackenzie)

 

___1. We cannot calculate mean residence time of carbon for which one of the following because it is not a pool/reservoir/box in the global carbon cycle? (it is a flux)

A. oceans                              B. biosphere                          C. respiration                        D. atmosphere

                               

___2. Which of the following is NOT a mechanism whereby humans input the greenhouse gas, CO2, to the atmosphere?

A. calcining (cement manufacture)                   B. fossil-fuel burning           C. land-use changes            D. nuclear power plants

                                               

___3. The largest reserves of oil on our planet are located in _________________.        

A. China                B. North America C. Middle East                      D. South America E. Antarctica

               

___4. Which of the following would be a renewable energy resource (in terms of the perspective of human lifetimes)?

A. coal                   B. oil                       C. natural gas                        D. ethanol/alcohol                               E. uranium

                                               

___5. Evidence that the massive extinction 250 million years ago may have been cause by a meteorite/asteroid impact comes from the presence of ______ in sedimentary rocks of that age.

A. iridium anomalies                                            C. “Bucky Balls” containing gases of extraterrestrial isotopic composition

B. nickel anomalies                                              D. cone-in-cone structures in dinosaur bones

 

___6. The seasonal fluctuations in atmospheric CO2 measurements are generated from photosynthesis and respiration of Earth's biosphere.  You would find the greatest amplitude of fluctuation ______________________.                                             

A. at the equator                  C. in Alaska                           E. everywhere; it is uniform world-wide

B. at the South Pole             D. in Australia                                                                                                     

               

___7. “Carrying capacity” (max. population that can be sustained) is NOT dependent on which ONE of the following?

A. raw materials                    C. energy availability                           E. food availability                                              

B. male:female ratio              D. removal of wastes

 

___8. A surge (increase) of world population was not associated with which of the following events?                                            

A. the tool-making revolution                            C. the Industrial Revolution

B. the agricultural revolution                             D. the Black Plague

 

­­­___9. The current atmospheric CO2 concentration is ________________.                                                            

A. almost 380 ppm                                               C. the lowest it has ever been

B. the highest it has ever been                          D. a little over 6 Gigatons

 

___10. The highest atmospheric CO2 levels over the last 600 million years occur or occurred ________.        

A. 500 million years ago                      B. 20,000 years ago              C. now                    D. 1965 during above-ground nuclear testing

 

___11. The 38,000 Gt of carbon in the marine hydrosphere (ocean) is dominantly found in which one of these forms/compounds?

A. kerogen                            B. limestone                         C. CH2O                                 D. HCO3-                                E. CH4

 

___12. In the mid-1950s, _____ established the first continuous world monitoring of atmospheric CO2 levels (at Mauna Loa).

A. Suess                                                B. Malthus                            C. Ehrlich                               D. Keeling                             E. Fuller

 

___13. If the size of a reservoir is 50 Gt, and the flux out is 25 Gt per year, what is its mean residence time (MRT)?

A. 1250 years        B. 1250 per year                    C. 2 years               D. 0.5 years           E. 2 per year          F. 0.5 per year

 

14. Describe in complete but simple terms why the carbon cycle is “out of balance” (as a result of human activities).

15. Explain an example of how the nitrogen cycle might be linked to the carbon cycle.          

16. If a country has a population of 100 million, and its population is increasing at a rate of 3.5% per year, how long will it take to double to 200 million people?                             

17. Even if birth rate and death rate are equal, explain how a country’s population might continue to increase so that “zero population growth” (ZPG) is not achieved.

18. What are “land-use changes” in the context of this class?

19. Tropical rain forests and savannas have similar amounts of dry organic matter. How does its distribution differ?