Oceanography 320

Final Examination

December 19, 2003

 

Name: ______________________________________

Social Security Number: ________________________

 

 

1)      The oxygen sag is the result of

a)      Depletion of oxygen in the hypolimnion of a lake during the summer

b)      Discharge of wastes containing a high concentration of BOD into a stream

c)      Development of anoxia during the night in a body of water containing a high concentration of organisms

d)      Failure of a wastewater treatment plant to maintain an adequate concentration of oxygen in the anaerobic digester

 

2)      During the 1960s, Hawaiian sugar mills along the Hamakua coast discharged wastewater into the ocean containing as much as 3-4 times as much BOD as raw sewage, yet oxygen concentrations in the discharge areas never dropped below 80-90% of saturation.  This fact is attributable to which one of the following:

a)      Mixing and currents in the ocean rapidly diluted the BOD concentrations in the discharge areas

b)      Although the BOD concentrations in the wastewater were high, the mills actually discharged very little wastewater

c)      The wastewater contained such high concentrations of toxic substances that microbial metabolic rates in the vicinity of the outfalls were greatly reduced

d)      The high concentrations of nutrients in the wastewater stimulated the production of oxygen by phytoplankton

 

3)      Irrigation of sugar cane with mill wastewater throughout the two-year growth cycle of the cane results in less sugar production than is the case with conventional irrigation and fertilization because

a)      The high concentrations of toxic substances in the wastewater retard the growth of the cane

b)      The mill produces more wastewater than is needed to irrigate the cane, and the soil becomes waterlogged

c)      The high nutrient concentrations in the mill wastewater cause the cane to produce more leafy biomass and store less sugar during the second year of the growth cycle

d)      The high concentrations of BOD in the wastewater retard the growth of the cane by depleting oxygen concentrations in the soil near the roots.

 

4)      Which one of the following practices was not adopted by the Hawaii sugar cane industry to reduce the adverse environmental effects of cane growing and milling operations

a)      No further discharges of cane trash and bagasse

b)      With the exception of Hamakua coast mills, no discharges of mill wastewater

c)      Engineer fields to minimize tailwater runoff

d)      Use of Toft harvester by all sugar plantations to eliminate need for cane cleaning prior to milling

 

5)      The principal use of pesticides in the United States is to control which one of the following kinds of pests

a)      Insects

b)      Weeds

c)      Rodents

d)      Fungi

 

6)      Which one of the following is an unequivocal example of the adverse effects of pesticide use on a non-target species

a)      Death of Western Grebes on Clear Lake, CA as a result of use of DDD to control gnats in 1954 and 1957

b)      Decline in the numbers of juvenile sea trout in the Laguna Madre during the 1960s as a result of use of DDT in the watershed

c)      Failure of the Lake George trout hatchery in 1955 and 1956 as a result of DDT use in the watershed

d)      Reduction of photosynthetic rates in the ocean during the 1960s as a result of widespread use of DDT

 

7)      A study carried out during the 1960s on the reproduction of mallard ducks revealed that birds given 2.5 or 10 parts per million (ppm) DDT in their feed produced about 30% more offspring during the second year of the study than control birds given no DDT.  This result has been cited by pro-DDT advocates as evidence that DDT is good for birds and that, “DDT has increased the number of birds in the U.S.”  Even if ingestion of food containing 2.5-10 ppm DDT causes birds to produce more offspring, why is this result irrelevant to the impact of widespread use of DDT on the reproduction of birds?

a)      Widespread use of DDT during the 1960s resulted in concentrations of DDT much higher than 2.5-10 ppm in sources of food eaten by birds

b)      In the environment, most DDT breaks down to DDE, which does have a very serious effect on the reproduction of birds

c)      At that time the analytical methods used to measure DDT concentrations could not distinguish between DDT and a number of other chlorinated organic compounds, including in particular PCBs.

d)      Because DDT interacts in a supra-additive way with many other pesticides, the impacts of DDT use would be seriously underestimated from studies in which birds were exposed only to DDT.

 

8)      Screwworm flies were eradicated from the United States by which one of the following methods

a)      Importation of a wasp that parasitizes the eggs of the fly

b)      Insertion of the gene that codes for the production of the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin into livestock

c)      Use of pheromones to bait lethal screwworm fly traps

d)      Release of large numbers of sterile male screwworm flies

 

9)      Which of the following is an example of integrated pest management?

a)      Crop rotation to check the buildup of a pest specific to one crop

b)      Fallowing for a year to retard the development of crop pests

c)      Use of ridge-till to facilitate weeding

d)      Use of rope-wick application of herbicides

e)      All of the above

f)        None of the above

 

10)  PCBs are similar in chemical structure to which one of the following kinds of pesticides

a)      Chlorinated organics

b)      Organophosphates

c)      Carbamates

d)      Pyrethroids

 

11)  In a conventional electric power plant in the United States, the so-called cooling water is heated to a temperature

a)      0-5oC above ambient

b)      5-15oC above ambient

c)      15-25oC above ambient

d)      as close to 100oC as possible

 

12)  Hawaiian Electric was forced to modify the cooling water system at its Kahe Point plant because

a)      The hot water discharged by the plant was killing corals

b)      Too many fish were being killed as a result of screen impingement

c)      The use of chlorine to control fouling of the heat exchangers was killing larval fish

d)      The temperature rise across the heat exchangers exceeded EPA criteria

 

13)  Thermal pollution of Biscayne Bay by the Florida Power and Light power plant at Turkey Point was eliminated by

a)      Installation of natural draft wet cooling towers

b)      Installation of mechanical draft dry cooling towers

c)      Installation of a system of cooling canals

d)      Relocating the discharge to Card Sound

 

14)  The organisms that suffer the greatest mortality as a result of screen impingement are

a)      Large fish

b)      Small fish

c)      Zooplankton

d)      Phytoplankton

 

15)  A cogeneration power plant produces hot water that is

a)      0-5oC above ambient

b)      5-15oC above ambient

c)      15-25oC above ambient

d)      as close to 100oC as possible

 

16)  Most mercury in fish is present as

a)      Metallic mercury

b)      Mercurous mercury

c)      Mercuric mercury

d)      Methyl mercury

 

17)  At the present time the principal use of mercury in the United States is

a)      Batteries

b)      Chlor-alkali production

c)      Dental fillings

d)      Measuring and control devices

 

18)  Your parents are going to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary by going out for a seafood dinner.  They have heard that some fish contain high concentrations of mercury and, because they know that you have taken OCN 320, they ask you for advice as to what sort of fish to eat.  Below are the possibilities they are considering.  Where would you advise them to eat to minimize their consumption of mercury?

a)      A dinner of fresh Ahi at John Dominis

b)      A dinner of fresh swordfish at Fisherman’s Wharf

c)      A dinner of fresh shark at the Chart House

d)      A dinner on River Street with some skid row bums who are cooking shrimp they stole from a local market

 

19)  Surveys of fish in the United States and Canada during the 1960s revealed mercury concentrations in some fish as high as the concentrations found in fish from Minamata Bay, Japan.  Yet no incidents of health effects comparable to Minamata disease ever occurred in the United States or Canada.  The explanation for the absence of health effects in the United States and Canada is

a)      People in the U.S. and Canada eat much less fish than the people in Minamata

b)      People in the U.S. and Canada normally do not eat the bones of the fish

c)      People in the U.S. and Canada normally cook their fish before eating it

d)      The mercury in the fish and shellfish in Minamata Bay was present in a much more toxic form than the mercury found in U.S. and Canadian fish

 

20)  The principal use of cadmium in the United States is

a)      Batteries

b)      Pigments

c)      Stabilizer in plastics

d)      Control rods in nuclear power plants

 

21)  Production of cadmium is closely correlated with production of which one of the following metals?

a)      Aluminum

b)      Copper

c)      Manganese

d)      Zinc

 

22)  Itai-itai disease was associated with which one of the following symptoms?

a)      Softening of the bones

b)      High blood pressure

c)      Brain damage

d)      Anemia

 

23)  People who suffered from Itai-itai disease were exposed to cadmium because they ate contaminated

a)      Fish

b)      Beef

c)      Rice

d)      Tofu

 

24)  The fact that cadmium is less toxic in hard water than soft water is attributed to the chemical similarity of cadmium to which one of the following?

a)      Magnesium

b)      Sodium

c)      Potassium

d)      Calcium

 

25)  In the United States the principal use of lead is

a)      Batteries

b)      Ammunition

c)      Paint pigments

d)      Gasoline additive

 

26)  Most lead in fish is found in the

a)      Muscle tissue

b)      Lipid tissue

c)      Bones

d)      Liver

 

27)  In the United States large numbers of aquatic birds have been killed by lead poisoning as a result of the use of lead in which one of the following?

a)      Anti-fouling paint

b)      Ammunition

c)      Solder

d)      Gasoline additive

 

28)  The use of lead as a gasoline additive was phased out in the United States as a result of which one of the following?

a)      Concern over human exposure to lead

b)      Knocking could be controlled at less expense through more sophisticated gasoline refining techniques

c)      Contribution of lead to acid rain

d)      Concern over smog

 

29)  Many young children in poor neighborhoods suffer health effects from exposure to lead as a result of the use of lead in which one of the following?

a)      Gasoline

b)      Paint

c)      Solder for tin cans

d)      Batteries

 

30)  LOT and COW are strategies intended to reduce oil pollution from which one of the following sources?

a)      Drydocking of oil tankers

b)      Oil tanker accidents

c)      Routine release of bilge and fuel oil from vessels

d)      Routine ballasting of oil tankers

 

31)  From the standpoint of ingestion, the most toxic fraction of oil is the

a)      Alkanes

b)      Cycloalkanes

c)      Aromatics

d)      Alkenes

 

32)  Degradation of spilled oil is likely to proceed most rapidly in which one of the following?

a)      A coarse sand beach at temperatures of 25-30oC

b)      A fine sand beach at temperatures of 25-30oC

c)      A coarse sand beach at temperatures of 0-5oC

d)      A fine sand beach at temperatures of 0-5oC

 

33)  Following the Exxon Valdez oil spill, a federal administrator stated, “Sometimes the best, and ironically the most difficult, thing to do in the face of an ecological disaster is to do nothing.”  Which of the following actions prompted this statement?

a)      Attempts to burn the oil slick

b)      Attempts to sink the oil by adding sand to the slick

c)      Attempts to disperse the oil slick by adding chemical dispersants

d)      Attempts to remove the oil from soiled beaches with high pressure hoses and hot water

 

34)  In the case of the Exxon Valdez spill, bioremediation took which one of the following forms?

a)      Seeding the oil with genetically engineered oleophilic bacteria

b)      Application of fertilizer to soiled beaches

c)      Use of detergents to clean oiled marine mammals

d)      Release of hatchery-raised salmon and herring to replace fish that died as a result of the spill

 

35)  In the case of the tanker Florida oil spill in Buzzards Bay, there were almost no adverse effects associated with oiling because

a)      The spill occurred far from land

b)      Weathering removed most of the high molecular weight components of the oil

c)      The spill involved a refined product rather than crude oil

d)      Most of the cargo was offloaded before the tanker broke up

 

36)  The requirement that tankers that trade in U.S. waters have double hulls is a provision of which one of the following

a)      MARPOL

b)      1978 Port and Tanker Safety Act

c)      1990 Oil Pollution Act

d)      International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships

 

37)  For most people in the United States, the dominant source of radiation exposure is

a)      Daughters of radon-222

b)      Strontium-90

c)      Cesium-137

d)      Cosmic rays

 

38)  Thyroid cancer is most likely to be caused by ingestion of which one of the following radionuclides

a)      Carbon-14

b)      Iodine-131

c)      Phosphorus-32

d)      Uranium-238

 

39)  Uranium-235 is the only fissionable isotope of uranium because

a)      The nucleus of uranium-238 cannot be split by bombarding it with neutrons

b)      Uranium-235 has a much shorter half-life than uranium-238

c)      Splitting the nucleus of uranium-235 with neutrons produces enough additional neutrons to sustain a chain reaction

d)      The neutrons produced by splitting the nucleus of uranium-235 are slow neutrons

 

40)  Iodine-131 has a half life of 8 days.  This means that after 80 days, the radioactivity of iodine-131 is reduced by a factor of about

a)      10

b)      100

c)      1,000

d)      10,000

 

41)  The radioisotopes primarily responsible for generating the heat in high-level radioactive waste are

a)      Uranium-238 and uranium-235

b)      Iodine-129 and iodine-131

c)      Plutonium-239 and phosphorus-32

d)      Strontium-90 and cesium-137

 

42)  The United States is presently hoping to store its high-level radioactive wastes in a permanent repository at

a)      Yucca Mountain, Nevada

b)      Oak Ridge, Tennessee

c)      Los Alamos, New Mexico

d)      Hanford, Washington

 

43)  Rainwater in the eastern U.S. has a lower pH than rainwater in the western U.S. because

a)      Most electric power plants in the eastern U.S. burn coal, while most electric power plants in the western U.S. burn oil

b)      Coal in the eastern U.S. has a higher sulfur content than coal in the western U.S.

c)      Higher humidity in the eastern U.S. results in greater production of acids from nitrogen and sulfur oxides

d)      Electric power plants in the eastern U.S. generally burn their fuel at a higher temperature and hence produce more oxides of nitrogen and sulfur than western U.S. power plants

 

44)  The principal strategy electric power plants use to reduce the emission of nitrogen oxides during the burning of fossil fuels is to

a)      Absorb the nitrogen oxides in a perforated bed of crushed limestone

b)      Convert the nitrogen oxides to ammonia

c)      Burn the fuel at a lower temperature

d)      Burn the fuel in an atmosphere of pure oxygen rather than ordinary air

 

45)  High elevation lakes have been more affected by acid rain than low elevation lakes because

a)      Most electric power plants have very tall stacks

b)      There is more efficient conversion of nitrogen and sulfur oxides to acids in the upper atmosphere

c)      Cooler temperatures at high elevation slow the rates of chemical reactions that neutralize the acids

d)      High elevation lakes contain few natural buffers

 

46)  The disappearance of fish from high elevation Adirondack lakes is believed to have been caused by mobilization of which one of the following toxic metals due to the interaction of acid rain with soils and rocks in the watersheds

a)      Aluminum

b)      Mercury

c)      Cadmium

d)      Lead

 

47)  A company operates a landfill for several decades and then goes bankrupt.  Subsequently, the aquifer under the landfill is found to be contaminated.  Which one of the following federal laws could be used to appropriate funds to clean up the contaminated aquifer?

a)      RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act)

b)      SDWA (Safe Drinking Water Act)

c)      CWA (Clean Water Act)

d)      CERCLA (Comprehensive Environment Response, Compensation and Liability Act)

 

48)  An aquaculture company producing shrimp intends to discharge the wastewater from its shrimp ponds into the ocean.  In order to discharge that wastewater, it must obtain a discharge permit under the authority of which one of the following federal laws?

a)      RCRA

b)      SDWA

c)      CWA

d)      CERCLA

 

49)  Why has the EPA’s policy of “pump and treat” been characterized as a waste of taxpayers’ money by critics of the agency’s approach to restoring contaminated aquifers?

 

 

 

 

50)  The most likely explanation for the fact that some marine animals appear to deliberately ingest plastic resin pellets is

 

 

 

51)  The most likely explanation for the fact that sea turtles ingest plastic bags is

 

 

 

52)  According to Annex V of MARPOL, it is legal to dump plastic items into the ocean

a)      More than 3 nautical miles from shore

b)      More than 12 nautical miles from shore

c)      More than 25 nautical miles from shore

d)      All of the above

e)      None of the above

 

53)  Precipitation more effectively removes phosphorus from lakes than the ocean because

a)      The concentration of calcium is higher in the ocean than in lakes

b)      The concentration of iron is higher in lakes than in the ocean

c)      The pH of the ocean is higher than the pH of most lakes

d)      The ocean is much deeper than lakes

 

54)  By adding nitrogen and phosphorus to the water, Canadian scientists were able to produce massive blooms of phytoplankton in experimental lakes in Canada despite the fact that the concentration of inorganic carbon in the water was much too low to produce an algal bloom.  Where did the inorganic carbon come from the produce the blooms of phytoplankton?

a)      Discharges of wastewater from sewage treatment plants

b)      Bicarbonate stored in the sediments of the lakes

c)      Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

d)      Dissolution of calcium carbonate deposits

 

55)  How would you account for the fact that standard primary treatment removes about twice as much of the suspended solids as BOD from raw sewage?

 

 

 

 

 

56)  Which one of the following pathogens should be a concern to people who go wading in streams in Hawaii?

a)      Leptospira

b)      Hepatitis A virus

c)      Vibrio cholera

d)      Salmonella

 

57)  Which one of the following indicator organisms is currently recommended by the EPA to determine whether water is polluted with fecal pathogens?

a)      Total coliforms

b)      Enterococcus

c)      Fecal coliforms

d)      E. coli

e)      Clostridium perfringens

 

58)  Why is the use of ultraviolet light to kill pathogens a viable alternative to chlorination in wastewater treatment but not in the treatment of public water supplies, i.e., drinking water?

 

 

 

 

59)  Correct the grammar/spelling/punctuation errors in the following sentences

a)      The current population of Hawaii is approximately 1.2 million and the number of visitors is approximately 8 million per year.

b)      On the islands of Maui and Hawaii recycling has played a bigger roll in reducing our dependence on landfills.

c)      Increased recycling will create jobs, and bring money into Hawaii.

d)      Almost 500,000 tons of waste was recycled on Oahu alone.

 

60)  Correct the grammar/spelling/punctuation errors in the following sentences

a)      The waste is run through screens which remove all dirt, sand, and glass.

b)      Shredders process the remaining waste, which is then combusted in a broiler to produce steam.

c)      Some of the specific goals are to heighten public awareness, to divert 80% of solid waste from the landfill, decrease illegal dumping, and to work closely with the county council.

d)      Those modifications prevent the stream from filtering the pollutants like a natural stream would.