This Geography quiz is called 'The Climate Over the Past Two Million Years' and it has been written by teachers to help you if you are studying the subject at middle school. Playing educational quizzes is a fabulous way to learn if you are in the 6th, 7th or 8th grade - aged 11 to 14.
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If you haven’t heard of climate change then you haven’t been listening in class, or to the news, or reading things on the internet, or reading things in general! I’m sure you’ll agree that there is a lot of information out there about climate change. Depending on where your information comes from, you either hear that climate change is going to be catastrophic for the planet or that it’s a media conspiracy intended to cause a panic.
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However, science can use hard facts to examine the evidence of climate change. We can look at how things have changed over millions of years in the past to see if we can predict how the climate might be changing in the near future, and how that will impact us and our settlements and industry.
Before we can look at climate change we have to decide what actually is climate? The dictionary defines climate as 'the long term pattern of weather in a particular area'. We can examine things from millions of years ago but most syllabuses only expect you to know some of the changes over the past 2 million years. A geological time span known as the Quaternary Period.
During the Quaternary Period the climate has varied between times of glaciation, also known as ice ages, and interglaciations. The last ice age is generally considered to have ended between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago. Since then we have been going through one of the Earth’s warmest periods. The difficulty for scientists is to separate natural climate change, including global warming, from man-made impacts.
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1.
|
Which of the following is not a natural cause of global climate change? |
|
[ ] |
Change in Earth's orbit |
[ ] |
Change in tilt of the Earth |
[ ] |
Change in the Sun's activity |
[ ] |
Burning fossil fuels |
|
|
2.
|
How do rocks and fossils help scientists track the trends in climate change over millions of years? |
|
[ ] |
They show the sediments, plants, and animals at different places over a long time period. These can be used to reconstruct the environments |
[ ] |
Certain rocks only form at certain temperatures. By examining the rocks scientists can tell what temperatures they formed at |
[ ] |
Since some rocks form underwater, any rocks formed in this way can be used to reconstruct the original sea floor |
[ ] |
Many animals grow faster when temperatures are warmer. By measuring the growth of various fossils. Scientists can measure the temperature of the climate from this growth |
|
|
3.
|
Ice cores are cylinders of ice drilled out of an ice sheet or glacier. These are often extracted from Antarctica. What can ice cores tell us about the climate from millions of years ago through to the present day? |
|
[ ] |
The size of the trapped snowflakes tell us what the conditions were like when they were formed |
[ ] |
The ice contains trapped bubbles of air from the atmosphere, which allows scientists to measure the concentrations of different gasses in the past |
[ ] |
Thousands of animals are trapped in the ice. The cores contain these animals and DNA testing can tell us what was living on the ice at different times |
[ ] |
Some years no snow fell and the layers melted. This is recorded in the ice cores and can show periods when there was no ice at the poles |
|
|
4.
|
What data have scientists gathered from ice cores about the carbon dioxide concentration over the past 1,000 years? |
|
[ ] |
In general they have only shown a tiny increase in levels of carbon dioxide over the past millennium |
[ ] |
There has been a sharp fall in atmospheric carbon dioxide as the use of fossil fuels has pulled it from the atmosphere |
[ ] |
The carbon dioxide levels have remained constant for most of the millennium, until the early 19th century when they rose sharply |
[ ] |
Oxygen levels have fallen sharply as fossil fuels have used up the oxygen |
|
|
5.
|
What is the relationship between carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and temperature? |
|
[ ] |
The more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere the cooler the temperature |
[ ] |
As carbon dioxide levels reach a critical number the temperature suddenly drops |
[ ] |
As the temperature falls it causes a rise in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere |
[ ] |
The more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere the warmer the temperature |
|
|
6.
|
Scientists studying climate change refer to paleoclimates. What does this term refer to? |
|
[ ] |
The Earth's past climates |
[ ] |
Archeological evidence that show the past climates |
[ ] |
Today's climate |
[ ] |
Different theories of climate change |
|
|
7.
|
Over the past 10,000 years what temperature has our climate averaged in degrees celcius? |
|
[ ] |
21 |
[ ] |
14 |
[ ] |
0 |
[ ] |
80 |
|
|
8.
|
Glacial retreat may be caused by increased temperature. What is another possible reason for glacial retreat? |
|
[ ] |
Increased river flow under the ice |
[ ] |
Human erosion |
[ ] |
Lack of snowfall |
[ ] |
Deforestation |
|
|
9.
|
Why do scientists study pollen, rather than leaves and plants, to investigate climate change over millions of years? |
|
[ ] |
Pollen is tougher and more likely to survive in the fossil record, marshes and ice cores than plants and leaves are |
[ ] |
Pollen is rarer than plants and leaves and so easier to identify, meaning a more accurate picture of the environment can be built up |
[ ] |
Pollen from all plants is only released at a single time of the year, meaning that scientists can use it as a form of clock |
[ ] |
Plants never survive even in the fossil record. Only skeletal remains will ever be discovered |
|
|
10.
|
Some people that don't support the theories of man-made global climate change point out that some scientists also disagree with the theories. What percentage of scientists support the theory that climate change is being driven by human activities? |
|
[ ] |
A large majority |
[ ] |
50% |
[ ] |
0% |
[ ] |
A small minority |
|
|
1.
|
Which of the following is not a natural cause of global climate change? |
|
[ ] |
Change in Earth's orbit |
[ ] |
Change in tilt of the Earth |
[ ] |
Change in the Sun's activity |
[x] |
Burning fossil fuels |
|
|
2.
|
How do rocks and fossils help scientists track the trends in climate change over millions of years? |
|
[x] |
They show the sediments, plants, and animals at different places over a long time period. These can be used to reconstruct the environments |
[ ] |
Certain rocks only form at certain temperatures. By examining the rocks scientists can tell what temperatures they formed at |
[ ] |
Since some rocks form underwater, any rocks formed in this way can be used to reconstruct the original sea floor |
[ ] |
Many animals grow faster when temperatures are warmer. By measuring the growth of various fossils. Scientists can measure the temperature of the climate from this growth |
|
|
3.
|
Ice cores are cylinders of ice drilled out of an ice sheet or glacier. These are often extracted from Antarctica. What can ice cores tell us about the climate from millions of years ago through to the present day? |
|
[ ] |
The size of the trapped snowflakes tell us what the conditions were like when they were formed |
[x] |
The ice contains trapped bubbles of air from the atmosphere, which allows scientists to measure the concentrations of different gasses in the past |
[ ] |
Thousands of animals are trapped in the ice. The cores contain these animals and DNA testing can tell us what was living on the ice at different times |
[ ] |
Some years no snow fell and the layers melted. This is recorded in the ice cores and can show periods when there was no ice at the poles |
|
|
4.
|
What data have scientists gathered from ice cores about the carbon dioxide concentration over the past 1,000 years? |
|
[ ] |
In general they have only shown a tiny increase in levels of carbon dioxide over the past millennium |
[ ] |
There has been a sharp fall in atmospheric carbon dioxide as the use of fossil fuels has pulled it from the atmosphere |
[x] |
The carbon dioxide levels have remained constant for most of the millennium, until the early 19th century when they rose sharply |
[ ] |
Oxygen levels have fallen sharply as fossil fuels have used up the oxygen |
|
|
5.
|
What is the relationship between carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and temperature? |
|
[ ] |
The more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere the cooler the temperature |
[ ] |
As carbon dioxide levels reach a critical number the temperature suddenly drops |
[ ] |
As the temperature falls it causes a rise in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere |
[x] |
The more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere the warmer the temperature |
|
|
6.
|
Scientists studying climate change refer to paleoclimates. What does this term refer to? |
|
[x] |
The Earth's past climates |
[ ] |
Archeological evidence that show the past climates |
[ ] |
Today's climate |
[ ] |
Different theories of climate change |
|
|
7.
|
Over the past 10,000 years what temperature has our climate averaged in degrees celcius? |
|
[ ] |
21 |
[x] |
14 |
[ ] |
0 |
[ ] |
80 |
|
|
8.
|
Glacial retreat may be caused by increased temperature. What is another possible reason for glacial retreat? |
|
[ ] |
Increased river flow under the ice |
[ ] |
Human erosion |
[x] |
Lack of snowfall |
[ ] |
Deforestation |
|
|
9.
|
Why do scientists study pollen, rather than leaves and plants, to investigate climate change over millions of years? |
|
[x] |
Pollen is tougher and more likely to survive in the fossil record, marshes and ice cores than plants and leaves are |
[ ] |
Pollen is rarer than plants and leaves and so easier to identify, meaning a more accurate picture of the environment can be built up |
[ ] |
Pollen from all plants is only released at a single time of the year, meaning that scientists can use it as a form of clock |
[ ] |
Plants never survive even in the fossil record. Only skeletal remains will ever be discovered |
|
|
10.
|
Some people that don't support the theories of man-made global climate change point out that some scientists also disagree with the theories. What percentage of scientists support the theory that climate change is being driven by human activities? |
|
[x] |
A large majority |
[ ] |
50% |
[ ] |
0% |
[ ] |
A small minority |
|
|