English for Geographers

English For Geographers_____________________________________________

To understand the crust we need to know what supports it from below. Beneath the crust temperatures and pressures rise to such levels that the rock material becomes viscous (sticky, rather like hot tar). Chemical change generates the heat that keeps rocks in such a viscous or even molten state, and much of the earth’s interior is continuously in motion. The crust averages from 6 to about 25 miles (10 to 40 km) in thickness.

The earth consists of a series of layers, with an extremely dense, heavy ball known as the inner core at its centre. This solid inner core has a radius of about 780 miles (1250 km) and is surrounded by a heavy liquid layer forming the outer core. Incredible heat and pressure keep the heavy metallic material of this outer core in a molten state to a thickness of nearly 1400 miles (over 2200 km). Outside the core lies the mantle of the earth, where the rock material is lighter and less dense than in the core; the complex mantle contains zones of viscous and liquid matter as well as solid rock. Some earthquakes are known to originate as much as 400 miles (650 km) into the mantle.

Overall, the mantle is about 1800 miles thick. In the late 1980s, scientific research based on more refined recording and interpretation of earthquake (seismic) waves began to unlock some of the mantle’s secrets. It is known, for example, that the mantle’s material is in continuous motion in giant convection cells. The moving material in these cells drags along the bottom of the solid crust and pushes and pulls pieces of the crust along. Seismic waves also indicate that in the mantle there is a significant change (a discontinuity) at a depth of some 420 miles from the earth’s surface. It is already clear that interior forces change the upper surface of the crust: volcanic eruptions and earthquakes prove that. But the slow, continuous movement of material in the mantle causes more subtle changes in the crust, slowly pushing, pulling, warping, and even bending it.

3.Translate the sentences from the text with the words in bold type.

4.Answer the following questions:

a.What is the surface of the Earth?

b.What does the crust consist of?

c.How can lava penetrate into the crust and flow out onto the surface?

d.How can we know the surface?

e.What processes go on beneath the crust?

f.What is in the centre of the Earth?

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g.What is the mantle of the Earth?

h.What do we know about the mantle?

5.Put questions to the following statements:

1.The surface of the earth is the outer skin of the crust.

2.Liquid rock (lava) can penetrate through the vents of volcanoes and through fissures to flow out onto the surface.

3.Chemical change generates the heat that keeps rocks in a viscous state.

4.Continuous movement of material in the mantle causes subtle changes in the crust.

5.The solid inner core has a radius of about 780 miles (1250 km).

6.There is a significant change at a depth of some 420 miles from the earth’s surface.

7.Incredible heat and pressure keep the heavy metallic material of the outer core in a molten state.

6. Unscramble the following words and translate them:

oteru, ivsocus, liosphtheer, fscientiic, espice, tchik, amnlet, lovlera, ednes, ndiiceat, scrut, aredayl, ustble, gniat, ppuer, freine, nuoclk, rsuounrd, btoh, xeapmle, wbeol, lascgier, atr, giorintae, pllu, tineorir, wnid, wvaes, eenv, inern, draius, sictky, cinrebdile, aervage, ecll, tboomt, laeyr, folw, dpeht, kepe, talhugoh, eetrexmly, mlotne, psuprot, change, mootin.

7. Match the word with its explanation:

English For Geographers_____________________________________________

8.Insert the missing letters and translate the following words: vo…ca…ic, inte…p…etation, ma…t…e, ge…era…e, ro……, fi……ures, vi…lentl…, co…ti…uously, f…actu…e, dis…ont…nuity, vi…co…s, s…gn…ficant, bo……om, s..l…d, b…nd, in…eri…r, ……lten, wa…p, con…ectio…, l…qu…d.

9.Fill in the correct words from the list below:

interior, major, solid, outside, familiar, iron, rock, molten, outer, core, fluid, inner, shell, includes, floats.

1. ……… of the Earth has four ……… layers. 2. On the ……… is the crust made of ……… soil and rock. 3. Under this is the mantle, which is solid

……… with a ……… layer at the top. 4. The inside or ……… of the Earth has two sections: an outer core of thick ……… , and a solid ……… core. Earth’s outer ……… is called the lithosphere. It ……… the crust and parts of the upper mantle. The crust ……… on the asthenosphere, like an iceberg on the sea. 5. The Earth probably comprises a ……… core, ……… liquid core, and a solid mantle of ……… and magnesium silicates.

Section 2

1. Read and translate the following text using a dictionary:

What lies beneath

It all began in 1989, when Russian scientists at a remote Antarctic research field station, in the centre of the mighty East Antarctic glacial plateau, 1,250 km from the South Pole in one direction and 1,260 km from the coast in the other, started to drill a hole into the ice. The researchers knew exactly what they were looking for: trapped in the ice, which had steadily built up over hundreds of thousands of years, would be tiny bubbles of air that carried secrets of earth’s past climate. It worked, and the now famous Vostok ice core (named after the station) was the first to show a clear link between raised carbon dioxide levels and a warmer atmosphere over the past 400,000 years.

But, as scientists drilled, it became clear that something else was lurking under the ice. For years Russian pilots in the area had noticed a strange flat region on the surface, and as the drillers neared a depth of 4,000m, the ice they dragged back to the surface started to look very different. It was not snow squeezed from the surface, through thousands of years of compaction, but refrozen water. Seismic surveys and satellite images

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confirmed the scientists’ suspicions: lying directly underneath the Russian station, way down in the freezing depths, was a lake of fresh, liquid water.

The scale of the underground reservoir, now called Lake Vostok, stunned experts. Covering an area twice the size of Yorkshire, it is up to 1,200 m deep. Its icy roof has probably sealed the lake from the rest of the planet for at least 15 m years. With no sunlight, and just traces of nutrients to provide energy, biologists quickly realised that if there is life in the lonely waters of Lake Vostok – and there is life everywhere else on Earth where there is fresh water – it might be very different from life on the rest of our planet.

At its most far-reaching, life that evolved in the lake from the simple organisms that drained into it millions of years ago could show us what we might find in the watery depths predicted to lie beneath the icy crust of

Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, which is the prime candidate for finding life on another world.

Vostok is the biggest and most famous lake underneath Antarctica, but not the only one. Some 145 have been identified so far, and more will follow. Formed by geothermal heat melting the base of the ice sheet, which then acts as an insulating blanket to stop the water refreezing, all the lakes are dark, isolated from the outside world, and all pose the same problem to scientists who want to probe them for life.

Subglacial lakes stay liquid only if their ice blanket is thicker than about 3,000 m, which makes them awkward to access. But some are more awkward than others, and among the easiest to explore is Lake Ellsworth in West Antarctica, about 3,400 m down. If there is life in Lake Ellsworth, it is bound to be simple. “It will be basic stuff like single-celled organisms, algae, some viruses and fungi – that kind of thing”, says one of the experts. It will be living under crushing pressure because of the weight of frozen water above, and nothing would survive being brought to the lower-pressure surface as it will just get blown apart.

2.Answer the following questions to the text:

1.What interesting were Russian scientists looking for in 1989 in the centre of the mighty East Antarctic glacial plateau?

2.What was it?

3. Is there a clear link between raised carbon dioxide levels and a warmer atmosphere over the past 400,000 years?

4.Did seismic surveys and satellite images confirm the scientists’ suspicions of the fact that lying directly underneath the Russian station, way down in the freezing depths, was a lake of fresh, liquid

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water?

5.Is Vostok a single lake underneath Antarctica?

6.What is the biggest and most famous lake underneath Antarctica?

7.Why do subglacial lakes stay liquid?

3.Insert the missing letters and translate the following words:

r…m…te, i…enti…ied, a…k…ard, u…dern…ath, sub…la…ial, in…ulat…ng, ge…the…mal.

4. Match the word with its explanation:

researcher - someone who works or is trained in science; scientist - someone who is involved into serious study of

a subject, in order to discover new facts or test new ideas;

- a scientific laboratory, a research station in the area of interest;

- a large area of flat land and ice, or formed by glaciers that is higher than the land around it;

- the top layer of an area of water or land;

- the way due to which substance is arranged so that it fits neatly into the space available;

- to find information, or to succeed in reaching a place;

- the hard outer layer of the Earth or something;

- a simple type of plants that has no leaves or flowers and that grows on plants or other surfaces; mushrooms and mould are both fungi;

- a very simple plant without stems or leaves that grows in or near water.

5.Put questions to the following statements:

1.The scale of the underground reservoir stunned experts.

2.It will be living under crushing pressure because of the weight of frozen water above.

3.The researchers knew exactly what they were looking for.

4.It all began in 1989, when Russian scientists at a remote Antarctic research field station started to drill a hole into the ice.

5.Biologists quickly realised that if there is life in the lonely waters of Lake Vostok it might be very different from life on the rest of

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our planet.

6.For years Russian pilots in the area had noticed a strange flat region on the surface.

7.Life that evolved in the lake from the simple organisms that drained into it millions of years ago could show us what we might find in the watery depths predicted to lie beneath the icy crust of Europe.

6.Match a word in A with a word in B and translate the wordcombinations obtained:

English For Geographers_____________________________________________

Unit 3

Section 1

1. Learn the following words and their translations. Check up yourself by back translation:

quake-prone mid-ocean originate shield epicentre collide

cliff scarp scale

2. Read and translate the following text using a dictionary:

Earthquakes and Volcanoes

The earth's crust is in constant motion. The earth's most quake-prone belts surround the Pacific Ocean and cross Eurasia along the Alps and the Himalayas. The mid-ocean ridges can also be regarded as belts of frequent earthquakes. The shield areas of the continents, on the other hand, are much less affected.

Earthquakes originate within the crust as well as the upper mantle, but most begin within 3 miles (5 km) of the surface. The point of origin is the earthquake's focus, and the location directly above this focus, at the surface of the crust, is the epicentre. An earthquake results from the sudden movement of rock that has been subjected to prolonged stress. When two lithospheric plates collide, stresses are set up that cause certain rocks to fracture. Such fractures in the crust are called faults, and some faults such as the San Andreas Fault in California are well known as the source of repeated severe earthquakes. It was a movement along this fault that caused the 1906 earthquake that destroyed much of San Francisco.

Repeated earthquakes along a fault zone can produce cliffs called scarps. Earthquakes also generate landslides that block streams and change the character of river valleys. Occasionally a powerful earthquake with

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a submarine focus creates a mighty ocean wave, or tsunami, capable of doing severe damage to coastal settlements.

The field of seismology (a branch of geophysics) has contributed much to the unravelling of the mysteries of the earth's interior. In 1935, Charles F. Richter, seismologist at the California Institute of Technology, devised a scale of earthquake magnitudes that is still in use. It ranges from 0 to 9, and the numbers represent the calculated energy released at the earthquake focus. Earthquakes measuring from 0 to 4 are minor, from 4 to 7 moderate, and over 7 severe and destructive. Quakes with a magnitude over 7 are recorded all over the world, and these severe shocks generate the waves that penetrate the globe and permit analysis of the interior. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake had a magnitude of 7.8, and the 1964 Alaska earthquake about 8.5. Even though Anchorage was severely damaged, this earthquake's epicentre was 75 miles (120 km) from the city. In 1976, an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.4 struck east of Beijing, the capital city of China. This was one of the century's most destructive earthquakes.

3.Answer the following questions:

a.Where are the most quake-prone regions?

b.Are shield areas affected as well?

c.Where do earthquakes originate?

d.What is the epicentre of the earthquake?

e.What happens when two lithospheric plates collide?

f.What are faults?

g.What can repeated earthquakes produce?

h.What is a tsunami?

i.What science deals with the mysteries of the earth’s interior?

4.Fill in the correct words from the list below:

coast, edges, movement, molten, burst, lava, ash, spew, destruction, earthquake, slight, mild, severe, huge, young.

Most volcanoes are found near the …….…or under the ocean. They usually form at plate ……… Here crust ……… allows hot …..…. rock called magma to rise up from the inside the Earth and …….… through the crust. Hot magma is called ……… when it flows out of a volcano ……… , steam, and gas also ……… out and cause great ……… .

More than a million times a year, the Earth’s crust suddenly shakes during an ……… . Most of the world’s earthquakes are fairly ……… . A …….… earthquake can feel like a truck passing; a ……… one can destroy roads and buildings and cause the sea to rise in ……… waves. Earthquakes

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often happen near volcanoes and ……… mountain ranges: at the edges of the earth’s plates.

5. Match the word with its explanation:

Section 2

1.Before reading try to answer the following questions:

Think of as many words as possible related to the theme

“Woodlands”.

Why are trees important? In what way are forests damaged? What can be done to prevent damage being done to the environment?

Try to answer the following questions by guessing, then read the text and find out if your guesses were correct.

A.What is happening to Europe’s trees?

B.What are the causes of this environmental problem?

C.What will happen if forests continue to be damaged?

D.What is European Parliament going to do about the problem?

2.You are going to read a newspaper article about environmental damage to Europe’s forests. Choose from the list (A-H) the sentence which best summaries each part (1-6) of the article. There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use:

A.More research is needed to find out the reasons for tree damage.

B.The situation in Europe may soon get better.

C.Environmental damage is threatening certain European industries.

D.Planting more trees is only part of the solution.

E.Threatened trees need European protection.

F.Europe’s trees have been harmed in a variety of ways.

G.The forestry industry has acted more quickly than European governments.

H.Europe should pay more attention to its own environmental problems.

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Europe’s trees in danger

Forestry experts have called on the European Union to use its powers in order to protect the continent’s woodlands. This follows the publication of a recent report showing that one quarter of Europe’s trees showed signs of severe damage. The experts are asking for wide-ranging action as it now seems clear that Europe’s forests are reaching crisis point.

The study examined trees across the whole of Europe and found that they were being damaged throughout the continent. Twenty-six per cent of

Europe’s trees had lost significant numbers of leaves, while more than ten per cent showed signs of discoloration.

The report also put forward factors such as air pollution and climate change as causes of this environmental problem. Responding to the report, a European spokesman said it was too early to be certain about what was causing the widespread damage. The European Commission has now begun a more detailed 20-year study which will hopefully produce clearer answers.

Although Europe is quick to condemn tropical countries over their forestry policies, it has been ignoring the crisis in its own backyard. Europe now has fewer forests than any other continent except Antarctica, and has less protected woodland than any other region in the world.

Less than one per cent of ancient forests remain. If this is allowed to continue, the damage to Europe’s forest systems will result in a reduction in water quality and will cause a crisis in the fishing, tourist and timber industries, as well as threatening the ecological balance in Europe.

The forestry industry has made substantial progress in organizing a programme of forest management, but European governments have not been acting quickly enough. There is a need for further European action on commitments made at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.

Soon the World Wildlife Fund for nature (WWF) will be reporting on how well governments around the world have kept their Rio summit promises. Most governments are expected to get poor results. The situation in Europe may, however, be about to improve as the European Parliament is to begin investigating forest protection and may ask for new safeguards to protect the health of Europe’s trees.

3.Fill in the gaps with the correct word(s) from the list below: condemned, commitment, put forward, experts, reductions, discoloration, wide-ranging, responded, backyard, woodland.

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