Introduction to Environmental Geology, 5e (Keller)
Chapter 1 Philosophy and Fundamental Concepts
1.1 Multiple-Choice Questions
1) Why is human population growth often considered the foremost environmental problem?
A) The Earth will run out of open land space within the next 50 years.
B) Increasing population strains resources and creates additional wastes.
C) There is no way to provide food for additional people.
D) There is insufficient oxygen production on Earth for more than 10 billion people.
2) What is exponential growth?
A) growth that occurs at a constant rate
B) growth that is logarithmic in nature
C) growth that occurs as a constant percentage of the existing amount
D) growth that doubles the existing number
3) What is uniformitarianism?
A) a uniform method by which science is conducted
B) a concept that states that present processes operated in the past, at similar rates
C) a concept stating that environmental conditions in the past were the same as those of today
D) a method by which the uniformity of population growth is assessed
4) How are the impacts of natural hazards linked to population growth?
A) Population growth concentrates people and resources, such that the impacts of an individual
natural hazard can be greater.
B) Population growth changes the rates of geologic processes, in turn changing the frequency of
hazardous events.
C) Population growth weakens societal defenses against natural hazards.
D) Natural hazards strongly influence population growth.
5) What is sustainability?
A) development that can be sustained for at least ten years
B) the ability of a population to sustain its growth
C) the ability of a population to sustain its economy
D) development that ensures that future generations will have equal access to the resources that
our planet offers
6) What does the concept of environmental unity state?
A) One action leads to subsequent actions in linked systems.
B) All humans live on Gaia, and therefore we are subject to the same environment.
C) All people on Earth agree on the nature of and solutions to environmental problems.
D) All systems are related to one another.
7) What is a theory?
A) a possible explanation for a set of observations
B) a hypothesis that has withstood extensive testing
C) a set of ideas that unifies a field of inquiry
D) an idea that is based only on logical thought
8) How does an open system contrast with a closed system?
A) An open system is open to scientific scrutiny, while a closed system is not.
B) An open system is able to convert energy from one form to another, while a closed system is
not able to do so.
C) An open system is prone to collapse, while a closed system is typically more sustainable in
the long term.
D) An open system exchanges energy and/or materials with its surroundings, while a closed
system does not.
9) What is average residence time?
A) the average time required for the total stock of a material to be cycled through a system
B) the average time that a human population can stay in an area before environmental conditions
force them to move
C) the average time required for an open system to convert to a closed system
D) the average time for a system to run out of energy
10) What has caused the Aral Sea to shrink dramatically over the past 40 years?
A) global climate change
B) water diversions in streams feeding the sea
C) excessive growth of shoreline plants due to excessive agricultural fertilizer runoff
D) extremely high evaporation rates
11) What is Earth systems science?
A) the study of the entire planet as a system of interrelated components
B) the study of the atmosphere
C) the study of population growth on Earth
D) the study of physical systems on the Earth’s surface
12) What is the Gaia hypothesis?
A) a hypothesis that states the Earth is alive
B) the concept of environmental unity
C) the hypothesis lying at the root of uniformitarianism
D) a set of hypotheses that likens the Earth to a superorganism with interrelated, mutually
adjusting systems
1.2 True/False Questions
1) An open system exchanges energy and materials with its surroundings.
2) The scientific method begins with the development of a theory, which is then tested.
3) Because human population is becoming quite large, the doubling time for population has
decreased.
4) Earth systems science depends on the validity of the Gaia hypothesis.
5) The concept of environmental unity states that one action causes subsequent actions in linked
systems.
6) A closed system is not amenable to scientific scrutiny.
7) Ducktown, Tennessee, suffered extreme environmental modification due to a large earthquake
in 1811.
8) The principle of uniformitarianism can be extended to prediction of future natural hazards.
9) The health of the Aral Sea has become compromised by extensive aquatic pollution.
10) The concept of a land ethic maintains that we are responsible to the entire environment, not
just to humans.
11) The approach of Earth systems science maintains that application of technological systems is
the best means to address environmental degradation.
12) Humans are causing rapid extinction, leading to a reduction in biodiversity.
1) The society of ________ Island was destroyed by environmental degradation.
2) Previous environmental degradation led to catastrophe in the 2010 earthquake in ________.
3) The law of ________ states that rocks with similar fossils are most likely of a similar geologic
age.
4) ________ growth implies that a constant percentage of humans are added each year.
5) The maximum number of people Earth can hold without causing prohibitive environmental
degradation is called ________.
6) Large-scale ________ of Earth materials will be required to meet future resource demands.
7) A(n) ________ system is one that exchanges energy and/or materials with its surroundings.
8) ________ analysis evaluates change in open systems by examining the relative rates at which
materials enter and leave a system.
9) ________, a principle proposed by James Hutton in 1785, is often summarized in the phrase,
“the present is the key to the past.”
10) The principle of ________ states that one action leads to subsequent actions in linked
systems.
11) Humans evolved during the ________ Epoch of geologic time.
12) The ________ suggests that scientific certainty is not necessary in order to address a serious
environmental problem.
13) ________ is helping natural hazards to become catastrophes.
14) A(n) ________ is a hypothesis that has withstood testing through a sufficient number of
experiments.
15) Environmental geology is particularly concerned with ________ geologic time.