Give the details of the three main components of the Milankovitch cycles
What will be an ideal response?
Answer: The eccentricity of Earth's orbit changes cyclically on several time scales, with a cycle of about 100,000 years being especially prominent. The tilt of the Earth's axis, obliquity, also varies cyclically, but with a dominant period of about 41,000 years, during which it varies between 22.1° and 24.5° off the perpendicular. Though the summer solstice for the Northern Hemisphere currently occurs near the time of aphelion, this changes through time because the axis wobbles on a 27,000-year cycle. In other words, the axis of rotation gyrates so that in about 13,500 years it will point to a different star, Vega, instead of Polaris .This change in orientation of the Earth axis, called precession, directly alters the timing and intensity of the seasons.
You might also like to view...
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are most common in what parts of a lake?
A. Around islands B. In the middle C. Near river outflows D. Along the bottom
What is a gene? Why are so many of an organism's traits determined by its genes?
What will be an ideal response?
Chemical weathering is greatest under conditions of
A) higher rainfall, but lower temperatures. B) higher rainfall and temperatures. C) lower rainfall, but higher temperatures. D) lower rainfall and temperatures.
There are two basic types of shorelines in terms of plate tectonics: leading edge (active) and trailing edge (passive). Which of the following best describes leading edge shorelines?
A. gentle slopes, straight coastline, broad beaches B. steep slopes, straight coastline, restricted beaches C. steep slopes, irregular coastline, restricted beaches D. steep slopes, irregular coastline, broad beaches E. gentle slopes, irregular coastline, broad beaches