Lithosphere
This is the thinnest, outermost layer of the Earth.
The Crust
This is the process of removing salt from seawater to make it suitable for drinking or irrigation.
Desalination
This is the lowest layer of the atmosphere where all human activity and weather occur.
Troposphere
This term describes a species that is at very high risk of extinction in the wild.
This type of energy resource, such as solar or wind, is naturally replenished on a human timescale.
A Renewable Resource
The scale most commonly used by scientists today to measure the total energy released by an earthquake.
The Moment Magnitude Scale
This term refers to an underground layer of water-bearing rock from which groundwater can be extracted.
Aquifer
This layer within the Stratosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing the majority of the sun's harmful UV radiation.
The Ozone Layer
This is the maximum population size of a species that an environment can sustain indefinitely.
Carrying Capacity
This mining technique involves removing the overburden of rock and soil to reach a coal seam or mineral deposit below.
Surface or Open-cast Mining?
This soil conservation method involves carving steps into a hillside to prevent water runoff and erosion.
Terracing
This phenomenon describes the periodic warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean.
El Nino
This international agreement, signed in 1987, successfully phased out the use of CFCs to protect the atmosphere.
Montreal Protocol
This treaty regulates the international trade of wild animals and plants to ensure it does not threaten their survival.
CITES
This term refers to the total amount of a resource that is known to exist and is economically and legally feasible to extract.
A Reserve
These plate boundaries occur where two tectonic plates are sliding past each other horizontally
Transform boundary
This zone of the ocean is the sunlit top layer where photosynthesis can occur.
The Euphotic or Photic Zone
This weather phenomenon occurs when a layer of warm air sits on top of cool air, trapping pollutants near the ground.
Temperature Inversion
These are the two primary types of "Succession" that describe how an ecosystem recovers or develops over time.
Primary and Secondary Succession
This specific process is used to extract natural gas from shale rock by injecting high-pressure liquid into the ground.
Fracking
This type of mass movement involves a rapid downslope movement of rock and soil, often triggered by heavy rain or seismic activity.
A Landslide
This process occurs when excess nutrients enter a water body, leading to algal blooms and oxygen depletion.
Eutrophication
These are the three main Milankovitch Cycles that describe the Earth's long-term orbital changes affecting climate.
Eccentricity, Obliquity, and Precession?
This demographic term refers to the average number of children a woman will have in her lifetime within a specific population.
The Total Fertility Rate
This concept describes the ratio of the amount of energy spent to get a certain amount of energy
EROI or Energy Return on Investment