ENVIRSC 3CC3 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Faint Young Sun Paradox, Silicate Minerals, Weathering

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Document Summary

Greenhouse era: an interval of warm climate on earth, such as the cretaceous, with ice. Icehouse era: an interval of cold climate on earth, such as the present, with ice sheets. Albedo: the decimal fraction or percentage of incoming solar radiation reflected from a sheets absent even in polar regions present in polar regions surface. Asphalt, low albedo, absorbs most of the solar radiation. Faint young sun paradox: the paradox that astronomical models indicate a much weaker sun through earth"s early history but geologic evidence indicates the earth never froze at this time them. Thermostat: a mechanism that senses changes in temperature and acts to moderate. Chemical weathering: dissolving or other alteration of minerals to a different form by chemical reactions in the presence of water. Hydrolysis: form of chemical weathering in which silicate minerals (rich in silicon and oxygen) react with water to produced dissolved ions removed in rivers and clays left on the landscape.