GEOG 1010 EXAM NOTES CARLETON UNIVERSITY QUESTIONS WITH PASSED ANSWERS GRADED A+

1. Additions: precip, organic matter, nutrients 2. Transformation: organic matter to humus. Primary (unaltered rock) to secondary minerals (chemically altered, original rock not apparent) by chemical change, dissolution and reprecipitation and biological change. 3. Translocation: Eluviation, Illuviation. 4. Losses: erosion: Leaching. - Soil formation process 1. Cation exchange capacity (CEC): the ability of soil colloids to exchange cations between the surface and the soil solution. This indicated soil fertility. 2. Acidity (pH): cations that acidify the soil, effects low pH reduced CEC, pH influences soil nutrients available and toxicity. 3. Colour: affected by organic matter, water and presence of oxygen. - Chemical properties of soil 1. Cirque glacier: circle shape. 2. Valley glacier: elongated. 3. Piedmont glacier: spreads out into a fan. 4. Ice-field: occupies topography basins, constrained by topography, feed interconnect valley glaciers. - Types of mountain/alpine glaciers 1. Continuous permafrost (most northerly, >80% of the ground surface, no major breaks). 2. Discontinuous permafrost (in middle, 30-80% ground surface, many breaks). 3. Sporadic/isolated permafrost (most southerly, <30% ground surface, isolated pockets of permafrost in the unfrozen region) 4. Alpine permafrost (on mountain tops). 5. Subsea (frozen sediments beneath seawater). - Main types of permafrost1. Crysol: permafrost with 1 meter of surface, at the tundra/at high latitude. 2. Podzol: organic matter, Al and usually Fe is accumulated in the podzolic B horizon, commonly found in coniferous forests and sometimes heath 3. Organic: composed mainly of organic matter, obvious absence of mineral soil particles and common in swamps, fens or bogs. 4. Chernozem: thick dark A horizon, very fertile, CaCO3 deposition in B. 5. Regosol: young and underdeveloped. - Soil classification 1. Frost creep. 2. Solifluction: slow. 3. Thaw slumping. 4. Melting caused by debris flow. 5. Active layer failure. 6. Rock glacier. - Features of permafrost: Mass movement 1. Patterned ground: polygon pattern, elongated patterns, patterned vegetation. 2. Ice core mounds: palas ~10m high, ice-covered, heaved ground. 3. Pingos: conical ice cored hill. 4. Thermokarst topography: local melting of ground ice and the subsequent setting of the ground creates lake basins and circular lowlands. Creates drunken forest and beaded channels and well as thaw lakes. - Features of permafrost: Unique landforms. 1. Pore ice: related to soil porosity and soil water. 2. Segregated ice: lense of almost pure ice, grow by capillary attraction of soil water by freezing front. 3. Ice wedges: underlying patterned ground. - Features of permafrost: ground ice. 1. Powerful agent of geomorphic change. 2. Source of freshwater - ~77% of all freshwater are locked in glaciers. 3. Release nutrients locked up in rocks. 4. Contributes to change in sea level. - Environmental significance of glaciers1. Rainforest 2. Broadleaf forest 3. Grassland 4. Dessert 5. Tundra 6. Needle leaf forest - The 6 major biomes 1. Tropical rainforest: equatorial belt - amazon, Africa, Malaysia. Year-round warmth, and moisture. Very high biodiversity 2. Temperate rainforest: Midwinter and mild summers for latitude. Western Canada and California. Lush evergreen and deciduous trees include tallest trees and earth-redwoods. - Rainforest A layer of soil that lies apparent parallel to the land surface. - Soil horizons A rocky peak, protruding above ice field. Important refuge for plants and animals during glacial times. - Nunatak A secondary valley that enters the main valley at an elevation well above the main valley floor - often with a waterfall. Tributary glaciers with smaller ice volume (less erosion) flows into the main glacier. - Hanging valley An unconsolidated mineral matter on the surface of the land, that is able to support rooted plants in a natural environment, must be differentiated into horizons or layers and must be distinguishable form the initial minerals by colour, texture and chemistry. - Soil Balance of input (snow, rime) to output (ice, meltwater, water vapour. - Mass balanceBoreal/taiga/ coniferous forest. Cold winter, warmish short summer. Moderate summer precip. Trees with needle and cones. Relatively low species diversity. - Needle leaf forest Can act as limiting factors on population; isolation, nutrient cycling. The factors that limit geographic distribution: 1. Climate: light, precip and temp 2. Soil/substance: nutrients, air, and water. - Abiotic Can act as limiting factors on the population; producers (plants), consumers (animals), decomposers (bacteria). The factors that limit geographic distribution: 1. Food supply: primary producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, etc. 2. Competition: population density, competition for niches. 3. Predation. 4. Disease/Parasitism - Biotic Change over time. - Time: controls on soil Cold, dry? Tundra Cool, wet? Needle leaf forest Dryish? Grassland Dry? Desert Warm, wet? Broadleaf forest Hot, wet? Equatorial rainforest - Distribution of biomes controlled by patterns of rainfall and temperature Confined by topography, generally steep slope, usually small, slow is governed by topography. - Mountain/alpine glaciersCreates blockfields (felsenmeer). - Features of permafrost: frost shattering Debris froze into the basal layer. - Plucking Deposited at base of ice under pressure, no sorting, no layering, tightly packed. The site of deposited: under the ice. - Lodgement Dry tropics - Africa, Australia, southern USA. Hot and dry all year. Limited vegetation cover, plants adapt to conserve water. - Desert and semi-deserts