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33 Cards in this Set

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Where and when was the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill?
1989, Prince William Sound, Alaska.
How did they fix the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill?
Physically removed as much oil as possible, then promoted decomposition by indigenous micro-organisms
What is the progression of Oil Spills?
25% lost within hours by evaporation and dissolving in water
Over next weeks and months, photochemical and biochemical changes. Tar balls formed.
how does oil kill animals?
Hypothermia in birds and mammals- fur and feathers lose insulation
Ingested oil causes liver cancer and destroys red blood cells
What are 3 physical cleanup methods of oil spills?
Hot water washing of beaches and animals
Restricting oil spread at sea with booms
Absorbing with sawdust
What is bioremediation?
Using organisms to remove a contaminant from an environment
How did they increase bacterial populations for bioremediaton of the Exxon Valdez oil spill?
Added fertilizer (N, P)
What are the chlorinated synthetic chemicals?
DDT, PCBs, TCE, Dioxin
What is DDT?
A chlorinated pesticide that kills malaria-carrying mosquitos. Is banned in US and Europe
Why is DDT bad?
Decimated pelicans,
Caused thin-shelled eggs bc of Ca metabolism,
Biomagnification in the food chain
What are PCBs used for?
Electricity Insulators in transformers.
Why are PCBs bad?
Worldwide pollutant, esp sediments of harbors and estuaries.
mimic sex hormones
What creates Dioxin?
Produced during bleaching in paper mills, hypochlorite reacts with wood pulp.
Incineration of hazardous wastes
By-product of chlorochemical manufacture
What is bad about Dioxin?
Potent carginogen,
hormone distruptor,
feminisation of males
What is TCE?
Commonest dry cleaning solvent
What does TCE pollute and how do they get rid of it?
Contaminates groundwater, use methane oxidising bacteria to decompose it
What is Atrazine and what is its bad effect?
Common herbicide used in corn growing
Turns male frogs into hermaphrodites
Where does Mercury usually come from?
Atmosphere
What are the Heavy metals?
mercury and lead
What happened at Minnamata Bay, Japan?
Mercury was dumped, converted into a mobile form, accumulated in fish, many people killed or mentally impaired from eating fish.
What kind of lead was used in gasoline?
"anti-knock" or lead tetraethyl
What do levels of lead in ice cores show?
Steep rises in lead from 1950s onwards
What products was lead used in?
water pipes/tanks, food cans, paint, toothpaste tubes, pesticides
What are the symptoms of lead poisoning?
blindness, kidney failure, cancer, convulsions, hallucinations, coma, death.
Who was Clair Patterson and what did he do?
geologist at Caltech,
dates Earth to 4.55 BY,
invented ice core method,
campaigned to stop use of antiknock.
How do Shellfish biomagnify pollutants?
filter off particles that have synthetic chemicals/toxic metals.
toxic metals bound in animal tissue by protective proteins (metallothioneins)
Why are plastics bad for environment?
undegradable.
nets/lines trap and criple animals.
plastics are swallowed.
some have hormonal effects in fish
how do we fix the plastics problem?
make them with inserts that degrade in sunlight OR by bacterial attack
Where is sewage commonly dumped?
into coastal waters
what kind of solid waste is dumped into the sea?
industrial waste, war surplus, bombs, nuclear waste
why are landfills bad?
pollute groundwater, local soil, and air
How could abyssal plains be good for waste disposal?
low animal populations, should stay there for 1000 years.
What is the idea behind disposing in subduction zones?
radioactive wastes and toxic chemicals could be subducted into the mantle.