Environmental Science Pretest and Post test

Cracks in rocks widen as water in them freezes and thaws. How does this affect the surface of the Earth? 

• A.  it reduces the rates of soil formation 

• . It changes the chemical composition of the rocks

• it exposes the rocks to increased rates of erosion and weathering

• it limits the exposure of rocks to acid precipitation.

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SEV1

Subsurface ocean currents continually circulate from the warm waters near the equator to the colder waters in other parts of the world. What is the main cause of these current

• Differences in the topography along the ocean floor

• Differences in density of ocean water

• The rotation of Earth on its axis

• Movement of the jet stream

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SEV1

The oceans and the atmosphere work together through global currents that do what?

• A.      Cycle energy and matter to support the biosphere 

• Cycle energy and matter to support plate tectonics

• A)    Cycle energy and matter to provide nutrients to secondary consumers

• A)    Cycle energy and matter to support the biosphere as a closed energy system

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SEV1

The Earth’s atmosphere supports the biosphere by providing

• Protection from all of the sun’s electromagnetic radiation

• Gases that reflect energy back to the Earth 

• Energy that powers the ocean’s tides 

•   Matter cycling that moves materials between the atmospheric layers

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SEV2

The troposphere of the Earth’s atmosphere supports life because it contains 

 

• Water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, other greenhouse gases 

• Water, nitrogen, helium, and argon 

• Water, oxygen, carbon monoxide, methane 

• Water, nitrogen, oxygen, carbon monoxide

According to the graph at right, atmospheric CO₂ has been ____________, and as a result the ________has occurred. 

•   increasing, Earth’s temperature is increasing 

• increasing, ozone hole is larger 

• decreasing, Earth’s temperature is increasing 

• decreasing, ozone hole is smaller

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SEV1

How do nitrogen-fixing bacteria help cycle nitrogen through ecosystems? 

          

• They change nitrogen into forms usable by plants 

•   They convert water and carbon dioxide into sugar 

• They release the chemical energy in nitrogen for respiration 

• They convert sunlight into chemical energy stored in nitroge

According to the scenario depicted in the image on the left, what process does the arrow labeled B represent in the water cycle of a forest ecosystem? 

 

 

• Evaporation from the forest canopy

• Precipitation onto the forest floor 

• Infiltration into the forest soil

• Runoff into the forest stream 

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SEV1

The biggest difference between the phosphorous and the water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles is ___________. 

• Water, carbon, and nitrogen are limiting factors for producers, whereas phosphorous is not. 

• Excess nitrogen can create an imbalance in aquatic ecosystems and excess phosphorous impacts terrestrial ecosystems. 

• Phosphorous has no atmospheric component. 

• Nitrogen, water, carbon, and phosphorous cycles all depend on a land component and therefore have no differences.

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SEV1

Carbon cycles through Earth’s atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere (crust). Once carbon is trapped in the lithosphere, it can be released directly into the atmosphere through? 

• volcanic eruptions 

• carbon fixing bacteria 

• physical weathering of rock 

• evaporation

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SEV2