Google Earth Tour

Question 1

1) In textbook section 19.1, you learned that there are multiple reasons for land to be dry. Examine the first stop on the Google Earth tour, the Patagonian desert, and assess which of the following causes is likely to the the reason that southern Argentina is so dry.

a. This is a subtropical desert near the Tropic of Cancer, where descending dry air precludes rainfall.

b. This is a subtropical desert near the Tropic of Capricorn, where descending dry air precludes rainfall.

c. This is a rainshadow desert, where moist air from the Atlantic moves westward, and has all the moisture extracted by coastal cities such as Buenos Aires.

d. This is a rainshadow desert, where moist air from the Pacific moves eastward, and has all the moisture extracted by the coastal mountain ranges of the Andes.

e. This is a west coast subtropical desert, caused by cold upwelling ocean currents (air chilled by contact with these cold waters is more dense and thus resists rising and triggering precipitation).

Question 2

A stretch of coastline with no sand at any time of the year most likely has:

Select one:

a. High energy waves hitting it all year long.

b. Low energy waves hitting it all year long.

c. No waves are hitting that coastline at all.

Question 3

Discuss Darwin’s theory of organic evolution and its relationship to uniformitarianism.

Color is not a good physical property to identify minerals. For example, feldspars can be a variety of colors.

Explain why this is so. What can the color tell you about the mineral?What is Walther’s Law?

Why is it important?

Distinguish between a stable isotope and an unstable isotope.How do oxygen isotopes in the skeletons of marine organisms provide a record of past ocean temperatures?

What are sedimentary structures? How can they be used to interpret geologic history?What are “oozes”? Why are carbonate oozes not found in deep marine deposits?Distinguish between the various types of metamorphism.Why is it important to identify unconformities when correlating different stratigraphic columns?

Compare prokaryotes to eukaryotes.What is evolutionary convergence? Give an example.Explain how the concept of punctuated equilibrium accounts for the origin of new species.

Compare this with phyletic gradualism