Earth and Environmental Science flashcards

52 HSC Earth and Environmental Science cards across 4 modules (8 definitions, 44 key facts, 0 fill-the-gap, 0 formulas). Each session gives you 20 cards, due cards first. Swipe right for easy, left for hard, down for again. Keyboard: Space to flip, 1 to 4 to rate.

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What this deck covers

Module 5: Earth's Processes (16 cards, 7 dot points)
Module 6: Hazards (11 cards, 5 dot points)
Module 7: Climate Science (13 cards, 5 dot points)
Module 8: Resource Management (12 cards, 5 dot points)

Sample cards from this deck

Definition
Fossils and geological time: HSC Earth and Environmental Science Module 5
Define index fossil (or guide fossil)
An index fossil (or guide fossil) is a fossil of a species that was geographically widespread but existed for only a short interval of geological time, making it ideal for correlating and relatively dating the rock layers in which it occurs.
Definition
Hazard monitoring and risk management: HSC Earth and Environmental Science Module 6
Define Risk
Risk is the expected harm from a hazard, often modelled as risk equals hazard multiplied by exposure multiplied by vulnerability. We can rarely reduce the hazard itself, but we can reduce exposure (where we build) and vulnerability (how we build and prepare), which is the core of hazard management.
Definition
Carbon cycle and the greenhouse effect: HSC Earth and Environmental Science Module 7
Define carbon reservoir (or sink)
A carbon reservoir (or sink) is a store that holds carbon, such as the oceans, forests, soils or fossil-fuel deposits. A flux is the movement of carbon between reservoirs, such as photosynthesis or combustion.
Definition
Mining impacts and rehabilitation: HSC Earth and Environmental Science Module 8
Define Acid mine drainage
Acid mine drainage is the acidic, metal-rich runoff produced when sulfide minerals exposed by mining react with air and water to form sulfuric acid.
Definition
Minerals: formation and identification: HSC Earth and Environmental Science Module 5
Define mineral
A mineral is a naturally occurring, inorganic solid with a definite (or narrowly variable) chemical composition and an ordered crystalline structure. By this definition, ice is a mineral but coal, opal and glass are technically mineraloids because they lack a fully ordered lattice or are organic.
Key fact
Earthquakes and plate tectonics: HSC Earth and Environmental Science Module 6
Tell me about Elastic rebound
The elastic rebound theory explains the release. Rock on either side of a locked fault bends elastically as the plates move, storing strain energy like a compressed spring.
Definition
Climate models and future projections: HSC Earth and Environmental Science Module 7
Define emissions scenario
An emissions scenario is a plausible storyline of future greenhouse-gas emissions based on assumptions about population, economy, energy and policy.
Definition
Sustainability and Indigenous land management: HSC Earth and Environmental Science Module 8
Define ecological footprint
The ecological footprint is the area of biologically productive land and water required to supply the resources a population consumes and to absorb its waste. When a population's footprint exceeds the biocapacity available to it, that consumption is unsustainable and draws down natural capital.
Key fact
Energy flow through Earth's spheres: HSC Earth and Environmental Science Module 5
Tell me about Convection: the key transfer mechanism
Convection is the transfer of heat by the bulk movement of material. In the mantle, hot rock near the core is less dense and rises slowly; cooler rock near the surface is denser and sinks.
Key fact
Meteorological hazards: HSC Earth and Environmental Science Module 6
Tell me about Drought
Drought is a prolonged shortage of water caused by below-average rainfall, often intensified by high temperatures and evaporation. In Australia drought is closely tied to the El Nino phase of ENSO, when warmer ocean water shifts to the central Pacific and rainfall over eastern Australia falls.