ESS 120 - Final Exam Questions with Correct Solutions Verified By Experts 2024

Is class correlated with the grade earned? - Yes Is soil science also studied in the other academic settings? Which one? - Yes, Art What soil order is commonly the site of most disaster cleanups related to water? - Enitsols Soils have many uses which are sometimes conflicting, explain two conflicting land uses? - - Housing - Landfills What are the two most common soil orders found in Tennessee? What are the soil forming factors critical to their development? - - Alfisols & Utisols (older soils) - Time & Biota What soil order is the most productive in the world? - Mollisols What caused the shrinking of the Aral Sea? - Irrigation for cotton (not sustainable) What soil order will catch fire and why? - Histosol (sugar cane is pre-coal) Explain how land and commodity prices are related as well as land use practices based upon recent commodity prices. - As commodity prices fo up, so do land prices Why are land prices increasing and are somewhat close to land prices here in the US? - Limited resources = more desire The development of agriculture provided the framework for what changes in rural society? - 1. Permanent villages 2. Increased populations 3. Could feed specialists (inventors, soldiers, kings) Why can crops move East and West and not North and South? - Day length doesn't vary - it changes with latitude Explain why climate change is a fact. - By looking at isotope ratios in CO2 concentrations in glaciers, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing Be able to explain the effect of a linear increase versus a geometric increase...will the hungry portion of the population increase linearly or geometrically? - Malthus stated that: - food production will increasing linearly - population will increase exponentially Is the problem food production or food distribution? - Distribution Explain why the demands on prime farmland is similar for many land uses. - A lot of demand on prime farmland, which raises the cost Explain the two general timeframes for erosion occurrence... - 1. Geological - always occurring 2. Accelerated - due to humans, animals, recreational vehicles Explain the effect of soil erosion on intrinsic soil fertility. - The most fertile part of the soil is the topsoil, you can't get it back after erosion takes it away Explain the magnitude of erosion scars that can be seen after the event. Describe reactive versus proactive approaches to erosion control. - Erosion scars: water carries silt away, causing galleys in the soil Arable land is needed to support large populations. Describe the factors that drive the land available on a per capita basis. Describe current trends. - - Decline in cropland, 50% decline in per capita cropland since 1960 - decline in topsoil Describe the effects of erosion on soil productivity. - - Reduction in topsoil depth, exposes less desirable subsoil - Higher acidity, lower fertility, higher clay level - Reduced rooting zone - Lower nutrients What are some of the off-site effects of erosion? - Sediments are the #1 pollutant of surface waters - Water supply degradation - Aquatic habitat destruction - Water quality Describe the three erosion processes... - - Detachment - Transport - Deposition Types: water, wind, gravitational Forms: splash on bare soil, surface runoff or sheet erosion, channel erosion