Natural Resources and the Environment
Exam Materials
Course Introduction
This course explores the interrelationship between natural resources and the environment, focusing on how resources such as water, minerals, forests, soil, and biodiversity are distributed, managed, and conserved. Students will examine ecological principles, human impacts on the environment, and the challenges of sustainable resource management in the face of increasing global demand. Topics include environmental policy frameworks, conservation strategies, resource extraction, and the social, economic, and ethical considerations inherent to resource use. Through case studies and practical examples, the course aims to equip students with a comprehensive understanding of natural resource issues and the skills to evaluate solutions for achieving environmental sustainability.
Recommended Textbook
Physical Geography A Landscape Appreciation 10th Edition by Darrel Hess
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20 Chapters
3397 Verified Questions
3397 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Introduction to Earth
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198 Verified Questions
198 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The term "a.m."
A) was first used in the 1880s.
B) refers to standard time at Greenwich.
C) is no longer used by most of the world.
D) means "before solar noon".
E) means "at solar noon".
Answer: D
Q2) The vertical distance between Earth's highest mountain and the deepest ocean trench is close to 20 kilometers.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) Rotation of the Earth causes ________.
A) tides
B) Coriolis effect
C) local variations in temperature
D) day and night
E) all of the above
Answer: E
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Portraying Earth
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166 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A ________ is another name for a loxodrome.
Answer: rhumb line
Q2) The scale of "an inch on the map represents two miles on the surface of the Earth" would be CLOSEST to which representative fraction?
A) 1:120,000
B) 1:200,000
C) 1:1,000,000
D) 1:60,000
E) 1:12
Answer: A
Q3) On a conic projection, the circle of tangency becomes the principal parallel of the map.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q4) On Mercator projection, Greenland's size relative to the United States is greatly exaggerated.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 3: Introduction to the Atmosphere
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170 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) On the average, the tropopause is highest above the surface over the ________.
A) North Pole
B) Arctic Circle
C) South Pole
D) Equator
E) Antarctic Circle
Answer: D
Q2) A variable gas in the atmosphere nearly absent from the higher elevations is
A) carbon dioxide
B) ozone
C) sulfur dioxide
D) carbon monoxide
E) water vapor
Answer: E
Q3) Earth's atmosphere does not penetrate below the surface.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Insolation and Temperature
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188 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Although several factors are involved, the main factor controlling the distribution of annual average temperature for Earth as a whole is
A) longitude.
B) latitude.
C) altitude.
D) land/water contrasts.
E) ocean currents.
Q2) Solar radiation is most plentiful in the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Draw a schematic diagram illustrating the paths and transformations of solar energy as it travels through the Earth system.
Q4) In an inversion, which is true?
A) Wind speeds are very high.
B) Large storms tend to be formed.
C) Air rises quickly.
D) The temperature decreases with altitude.
E) The temperature increases with altitude.
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Chapter 5: Atmospheric Pressure and Wind
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171 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The two enormous "convective" circulations of the tropics are known as ________ .
Q2) Wind farms are located on high ground because the wind speeds and power production are higher.
A)True
B)False
Q3) ________ refers to a seasonal reversal of winds and is derived from an Arabic term.
Q4) Very dry, "desert" islands are common in the zone of the trade winds.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The city of Chicago has a latitude (42°N) within which part of the global circulation?
A) trade winds
B) subtropical high
C) polar easterlies
D) antitrade winds
E) westerlies
Q6) In the Northern Hemisphere, ________ is the direction of the trade winds.
Q7) At the surface, air ________ into the center of a cyclone and then rises.
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Chapter 6: Atmospheric Moisture
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178 Verified Questions
178 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Air that resists vertical movement is said to be ________.
A) unstable
B) stable
C) cyclonic
D) anticyclonic
E) adiabatic
Q2) Most of Earth's cloudiness can be said to result directly from ________.
A) sublimation
B) evaporation
C) air pollution
D) vertical temperature gradient
E) adiabatic cooling
Q3) Orographic precipitation stems from air flowing over high terrain, usually a mountain range, along which air is forced upward.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Relative humidity is a measure of how close air is to saturation.
A)True
B)False
Q5) An upslope fog is also known as a(n) ________ fog.
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Atmospheric Disturbances
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is the least likely zone of formation for a large air mass?
A) eastern Siberia
B) northern Sahara
C) under an oceanic subtropical high
D) Caribbean Sea
E) the U.S. Midwest
Q2) Most midlatitude cyclones have ________.
A) short (less than 1,000 km) paths
B) paths from north to south
C) paths from east to west
D) completely unpredictable paths
E) paths determined by the upper air flow
Q3) The average directional movement of tornadoes is ________.
A) east to west
B) west to east
C) north to south
D) south to north
E) southwest to northeast
Q4) Explain how midlatitude cyclones are associated with midlatitude anticyclones.
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Chapter 8: Climatic and Climate Change
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187 Verified Questions
187 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The treaty called the ________ Protocol addresses global warming.
Q2) Throughout the ET climates, ________ is/are very prevalent.
A) tornadoes
B) radiation fogs
C) winter rain
D) easterly waves
E) heat waves
Q3) A prime characteristic of tropical wet climates is the low average annual temperature range.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of the midlatitude desert climate type?
A) colder than its tropical counterpart
B) far removed from oceanic moisture
C) blocked from oceanic moisture by mountains
D) found in Asia, North America, and South America
E) a winter maximum of precipitation
Q5) Dfc, Dfd, Dwc, and Dwd are known ________ climates.
Q6) ________ is the climate of western Europe.
Page 10
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Chapter 9: The Hydrosphere
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183 Verified Questions
183 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) After hydrogen and oxygen the most abundant substances in seawater are ________ and chlorine.
Q2) Water not in oceans accounts for ________ percent of the world's total water.
A) 2.8
B) 12.8
C) 28
D) 56
E) 74
Q3) The term hydrosphere describes one of the Earth's "spheres" and it includes all of the ________.
A) water on and below the continents
B) fresh water on the planet
C) liquid water on the Earth minus ice
D) waters on the surface of the continents
E) water in the Earth system
Q4) Glaciers comprise about 2 percent of the total moisture on Earth.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Many lakes are ________, meaning they contain water only during the wet season.
Q6) Earth's widest ocean is the ________.
Page 11
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Chapter 10: Cycles and Patterns in the Biosphere
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163 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) ________ is the term for the total complex of plant and animal life in an area.
A) Ecosystem
B) Flora
C) Ecotone
D) Fauna
E) Biota
Q2) Animal wastes on the ground form a part of the ________ cycle.
A) oxygen
B) carbon
C) phosphorous
D) nitrogen
E) copper
Q3) How do plants create carbohydrates?
Q4) The Linnaean classification system is based mainly on ________.
A) flower type
B) anatomical similarities
C) root depth
D) edaphic factors
E) all of the above
Q5) Encompassed in life, water is classified as in transit or ________.
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Terrestrial Flora and Fauna
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172 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The true mosses, peat mosses, and liverworts are sporebearing plants belonging to the group called bryophytes.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The ________ is a South American plant that has been translocated and accidentally clogs Florida's waterways.
A) bamboo plant
B) sugar cane
C) day lily
D) water hyacinth
E) lilac bush
Q3) Which of the following are two characteristics possessed by all animals?
A) Hairy, motile
B) Warm-blooded, hairy
C) Not capable of manufacturing food from air, water, and sunlight; warm-blooded
D) Motile, not capable of manufacturing food from air, water, and sunlight
E) Always larger than microscopic size, motile
Q4) All wetland vegetation falls into the category of riparian vegetation.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 12: Soils
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171 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Soils made up of mainly ________ do not develop a true soil structure.
A) peds
B) sand
C) loam
D) humus
E) none of the above
Q2) ________ is the soil order covering the greatest surface area on Earth.
A) Vertisols
B) Mollisols
C) Aridosols
D) Entisols
E) Spodosols
Q3) A soil with a high cation exchange would likely be
A) dark in color.
B) very sandy.
C) fertile.
D) impermeable.
E) thin.
Q4) Reddish and yellowish soil colors indicate ________ stains on the outside of soil particles.
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Chapter 13: Introduction to Landform Study
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174 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Metamorphic rocks are probably the most common rock type found in the Earth's crust.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Rapid cooling in molten, extrusive materials makes the resulting materials
A) soft
B) hard
C) fine-grained
D) large-grained
E) dense
Q3) Foliation refers to this characteristic of rocks:
A) numerous joints.
B) large crystals.
C) small crystals.
D) wavy, banded lines.
E) hollow cores.
Q4) The ________ is a concentric layer layer comprising less than 1 percent radius and 0.4 percent of Earth's mass.
Q5) Explain why geographers are as interested as geologists in geomorphology.
Page 15
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Chapter 14: The Internal Processes
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Sample Questions
Q1) The original large continental mass containing all of the present continents prior to separation millions of years ago has been named ________.
A) Laurasia
B) Gondwanaland
C) Pangaea
D) Transcurrent
E) Subduction
Q2) Which of the following is one of the reasons scientists strongly believe in plate tectonics?
A) the ability to explain oceanic trenches
B) the ability to explain midoceanic ridges
C) the ability to explain many volcanic zones
D) the ability to explain many earthquake zones
E) the ability to explain all of the above
Q3) The most widespread of all the intrusive forms in this list is the ________.
A) batholith
B) stock
C) lava flow
D) dike
E) volcano
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Chapter 15: Preliminaries to Erosion: Weathering and Mass Wasting
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Sample Questions
Q1) Exfoliation is a type of weathering which is produced by oxidation.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Rock glaciers form on flat surfaces.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Landslides will probably happen again at the California coastal town of La Conchita.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Gravity is the main force impelling movement in all of the following except ________.
A) creep
B) slide
C) solifluction
D) hydrolysis
E) fall
Q5) Explain how salt wedging and frost wedging are alike and unalike.
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Q6) To cause solifluction, the ________ layer of the permafrost melts during the summer.
Chapter 16: Fluvial Processes
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Sample Questions
Q1) Surface indicators of turbulence in streamflows include eddies and ________.
A) meandering
B) whirlpools
C) braided streams
D) dissolved load
E) fluvial processes
Q2) The portion of the terrain in which a drainage system is clearly established is known as a(n) ________.
A) interfluve
B) valley
C) valley side
D) valley bottom
E) drainage divide
Q3) If a stream carries water only during and immediately after a rain, it is classified as ________.
A) ephemeral
B) perennial
C) exotic
D) intermittent
E) dendritic
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Chapter 17: Karst and Hydrothermal Processes
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Sample Questions
Q1) Yellowstone Park has the three necessary ingredients for hydrothermal activity: molten material close to the surface, broken rock material, and ________.
Q2) Commonly, materials flowing out of hot springs build a ________.
A) dome
B) sinkhole
C) geyser
D) cavern
E) doline
Q3) The term "karst" is derived from the language and topography in a section of
A) New York City
B) Brazil
C) the former Yugoslavia
D) the former Soviet Union
E) Australia
Q4) Water in hot springs is usually impregnated with a great deal of dissolved mineral water.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 18: The Topography of Arid Lands
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Sample Questions
Q1) Dry lake beds with especially heavy salt concentrations are most properly called ________.
A) arroyos
B) wadis
C) playas
D) salinas
E) all of the above
Q2) One of the primary special characteristics of deserts is their ________.
A) complete absence of precipitation
B) lack of trees other than palms
C) prevalence of soil creep
D) basins of internal drainage
E) complete absence of vegetation
Q3) The most common landscape forms in the dry western U.S. are the basin and range and the ________.
A) mesa and scarp
B) claypan
C) playa
D) bajada
E) hamada
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Chapter 19: Glacial Modification of Terrain
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Sample Questions
Q1) A nunatak is a rocky pinnacle poking through a(n) ________.
A) moraine
B) ice field
C) outwash plain
D) tarn
E) esker
Q2) The lowering of sea level during the Pleistocene caused the formation of the ________ between Alaska and Russia.
Q3) Antarctica's ice sheet encompasses about ________ percent of the world's total land ice.
A) 10
B) 25
C) 55
D) 75
E) 85
Q4) A glacier grows when the accumulation zone grows faster than the ablation zone.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The Finger Lakes district of upstate New York is a prime example of the glacial feature called ________.
21
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Chapter 20: Coastal Processes and Terrain
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Sample Questions
Q1) The ________ is the area where waves break and surf action is greatest.
A) berm
B) offshore zone
C) beach
D) backshore zone
E) foreshore zone
Q2) The largest storm waves stir the subsurface water down to the ________.
A) depth of tens of millimeters
B) depth of tens of meters
C) depth of tens of kilometers
D) bottom, however deep it is
E) depth at which the temperature goes below freezing
Q3) Which of the following coastal features does NOT belong with the others?
A) lagoon
B) mudflat
C) barrier island
D) wave-cut bench
E) spit
Q4) If it emerges from the sea, a ________ will appear as a broad, flat coastal plain.
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