1. APES Earth Systems & Resources

2. I. Earth Science
A. Geologic Time
1. Age of Earth is about
4.5 billion years old.
2. (Longest) eon  era
 period  epoch (shortest)
3. Are we in a new epoch
called the anthropocene?

3. B. Plate Tectonics
1. Earth’s crust is divided into large plates that move about 1cm/yr
a. driving force is thought to be convection currents in the mantle
b. oceanic crust is more dense, continental is less dense

4. 2. Three types of plate boundaries
a. convergent = subduction zones, mountains, volcanoes
b. divergent = mid ocean trenches, rift valleys
c. transform = earthquakes

6. What color represents young rock?

7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loFxYSHxTf0 (15 sec)

8. C. Earthquakes
1. usually along plate boundaries, especially the “Ring of Fire”
2. Richter scale is a
logarithmic scale
based on energy
released
3. Mercalli scale is
based on damage
to property

9. 4. liquifaction is a hazard in areas with saturated sediment

11. Right Lateral?
Left Lateral?

12. Marina Dist. Liquefaction in SF

13. Liquefaction in 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake

14. Livermore Liquefaction

15. D. Volcanoes
1. usually along plate boundaries, esp. the Ring of Fire
2. may be active, dormant (eruption in past 10,000 yrs), or extinct
3. hazards include lahars, pyroclastic flows, and gasses
lahar pyroclastic flow

16. E. Solar Intensity
1. solar energy is greatest when rays strike the ground at 90o
2. as latitude increases, solar energy decreases

17. Review!
What is the age of the Earth?
List hazards associated with plate boundaries.
What part of the Earth receives the most solar input/energy?

18. II. Atmosphere
A. Composition
1. approx. 79% N2, 20% O2, less than 1% other (CO2, Ar, H2O...)

19. stratosphere = ozone layer troposphere = weather (earth)
B. Structure
1. (space)
thermosphere
mesosphere
stratosphere = ozone layer
troposphere = weather
(earth)
2. layers based on changes
in temperature
View from Space Station (2:30)

20. C. Weather vs Climate
1. climate is long terms trends over a large area
a. Livermore has a Mediterranean Climate
2. weather is short term atmospheric conditions over a small area

21. D. Wind
1. Coriolis Effect, caused by earths rotation, causes prevailing winds (major global wind patterns).
2. uneven heating of earth from different solar intensities at equator and poles
3. uneven heating of land and water caused by different specific heat capacities

22. Solar energy Air cools and descends at lower latitudes.
Cold deserts
Air cools and descends at lower latitudes.
Westerlies
Forests
30°N
Northeast trades
Hot deserts
Warm air rises and moves toward the poles.
Forests 0°
Solar energy
Equator
Air cools and descends at lower latitudes.
Southeast trades
Hot deserts
30°S
The highest solar energy input is at the equator.
Figure 7.3
Global air circulation. The largest input of solar energy occurs at the equator. As this air is heated it rises and moves toward the poles. However, the earth’s rotation deflects the movement of the air over different parts of the earth. This creates global patterns of prevailing winds that help distribute heat and moisture in the atmosphere.
Westerlies
Forests
Cold deserts
60°S
Fig. 7-3, p. 142

23. Uneven heating of land and water
Figure 7.4
Energy transfer by convection in the atmosphere. Convection occurs when hot and wet warm air rises, cools, and releases heat and moisture as precipitation (right side). Then the denser cool, dry air sinks, gets warmer, and picks up moisture as it flows across the earth’s surface to begin the cycle again.

24. E. ENSO (El Nino Southern Oscillation)
1. a year with large amount of precipitation in the western Americas
2. caused by weakened ocean upwelling and trade winds

25. El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO)

26. Review!
What does the Coriolis Effect create?
In what part of the atmopshere is the ozone layer found?
What percent of the atmosphere is nitrogen? Oxygen? All other gasses?
Contrast weather and climate.

27. III. Water
A. Global Distribution
1. 97% = saline
2. 3% = fresh (2% frozen, 1% liquid)

28. B. California Distribution
1. majority of precipitation is in
the north in the winter, yet
majority of demand is in the
south in the summer. How does
California solve this problem?
a. temporal imbalance solved
by storage in Sierra Nevada
snow pack and reservoirs
b. spatial imbalance solved by
conveyance with aqueducts

29. 2. ~2/3rds of Calif. depends on The Detla for its water.
a. fresh water snow melt picks up salt from SF Bay
b. weak/old levees
c. on top of earthquake faults
d. ecological problems with Delta Smelt (fish)

30. 3. path of Livermore’s municipal water
a. Sierra Nevada snow pack 
Lake Oroville 
Sacramento River 
Delta 
South Bay Aqueduct 
Livermore

31. C. Rain Shadow Effect
results in a wet and dry side of a mountain range
(ex. Sierra Nevadas)
2. when moist air is forced up due to a mountain
(orographic lifting) it expands, cools and
releases moisture.
3. when it descends down the other side of mountain it
is now dry, it compresses, warms and absorbs moisture.

32. Prevailing winds pick up moisture from an ocean.
On the leeward side of the mountain range, air descends, warms, and releases little moisture.
On the windward side of a mountain range, air rises, cools, and releases moisture.
Prevailing winds pick up moisture from an ocean.
Figure 7.7
The rain shadow effect is a reduction of rainfall and loss of moisture from the landscape on the side of a mountain facing away from prevailing surface winds. Warm, moist air in onshore winds loses most of its moisture as rain and snow on the windward slopes of a mountain range. This leads to semiarid and arid conditions on the leeward side of the mountain range and the land beyond. The Mojave Desert in the U.S. state of California and Asia’s Gobi Desert are both produced by this effect.
Fig. 7-7, p. 145

33. D. Ocean Circulation
1. ocean currents caused by differences in water temperature and salinity
2. gyres are large scale circular currents
3. ocean redistribute solar energy from equator and regulate climates

34. Earth’s Major Ocean Currents

35. Warm, less salty, shallow current
Figure 7.5
Connected deep and shallow ocean currents. A connected loop of shallow and deep ocean currents transports warm and cool water to various parts of the earth. This loop, which rises in some areas and falls in others, results when ocean water in the North Atlantic near Iceland is dense enough (because of its salt content and cold temperature) to sink to the ocean bottom, flow southward, and then move eastward to well up in the warmer Pacific. A shallower return current aided by winds then brings warmer, less salty—and thus less dense—water to the Atlantic. This water can cool and sink to begin this extremely slow cycle again. Question: How do you think this loop affects the climates of the coastal areas around it?
Cold, salty, deep current
Fig. 7-5, p. 143

36. E. Ground Water
1. aquifer - an area of groundwater (Ogallala in America’s Midwest)

37. 2. subsidence – sinking of earth’s surface from over pumping groundwater

38. 3. salt water intrusion – movement of saline water into a fresh water aquifer due to over pumping.

39. Review!
What is an aquifer?
Do oceans play a role in the distribution of heat on Earth?
What percent of water is saline? Fresh?
What is a rain shadow effect?

40. IV. Soil – 1 inch takes 100yrs to form!
A. Rock Cycle
1. minerals are the building block of rocks
2. minerals are recycled through the rock cycle
3. rock types include igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic

41. B. Composition
1. 45% minerals
25% air
25% water
5% organic material

42. C. Soil Profile
1. O horizon – humus (decayed organic material)
2. A horizon – topsoil (lots of biological activity: roots, burrowing animals, fungus)
3. B horizon – subsoil (compact, little biological activity)
4. C horizon – partially eroded
rock (parent material)
5. Bedrock – solid rock

43. D. Properties
1. porosity – percent of void space in soil
2. permeability – the ability to allow water the move through soil
3. macronutrients – NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium)
4. classification – based on percent sand, silt, and clay
porosity permeability

44. Classifying Soil

45. Review!
List the 4 components of soil.
What is found in the A Horizon of a soil profile?
What are the 3 macronutrients?

46. End Notes.