Study Target Areas - Exam 3 - Environmental Geology - Spring 2010

Stratospheric Ozone Balance

-Mechanism for formation of Ozone in Stratosphere and mechanism for destruction of Ozone by CFC's
-Natural and artificial impacts on Ozone production and destruction.
-What is the Montreal Protocol?
-Polar night, PSC's, Circumpolar Vortex, Reactive Nitrogen Compounds

Greenhouse Effect, Global Warming, and  Global Climate Change Through Time

-Composition of the Atmosphere
-Positive and negative feedback mechanisms and how they relate to the greenhouse effect and global warming
-Greenhouse gases with emphasis on Carbon Dioxide.
-Annual cycle of carbon dioxide and its causes
-Predicted temperature changes in the 21st century.
-Consequences of human induced rise in greenhouse gases
-Proxies for Long-Term Temperature Records
-Hot houses and Ice Houses
-Current global temperature rise in context of changes through geologic time

Rivers and Floods
-Major components of a river valley
-Gradient, velocity, discharge
-Load, competency, capacity
-Causes of flooding
-Interpretation of a hydrograph
    -affects of urbanization on storm hydrograph
-Recurrence Interval/Probability of Exceedence
    -calculate
    -interpret from graph
-Upstream flood vs. downstream flood
    -case studies
-Structural and non-structural approaches to flood control
-Atchafalaya Diversion project

Water Supply and Use

-Components of the hydrologic cycle
-General ranking of various reservoirs for world's water supply
    -all water sources   
    -fresh water
-Concept of residence time in various reservoirs (atmosphere, lakes, groundwater, glaciers, oceans, rivers)

-Confined vs. unconfined aquifer
-Unsaturated zone, zone of saturation
-Water budgets
-Instream and offstream water uses
-Consumptive and non-consumptive water uses  
-Purpose and types of pools within a reservoir
-The Colorado River system
-Ground water depletion
    -causes
    -impacts
-Alternatives to supply issues

Water Contamination
-Point vs. nonpoint source contamination

-Units of measure
-Pesticide example (concept not specific names or concentrations)
-What are drinking water standards?

-Case study nutrient and nitrate impacts to water in Arkansas.
-Eutrophication.
-Pathogens
-Arkansas example
-World Example
-What is BOD and Relation to DO
-Hypoxia and the dead zone

-HAB’s

-Bioaccumulation
    -Arkansas Example
-Acid Mine drainage
-Tar Creek Case Study