[Mission 2023] STATIC QUIZ, 23 March 2023 – Environment

Solution: c)

Biomagnification, also known as bioamplification or biological magnification, is the increasing concentration of a substance, such as a toxic chemical, in the tissues of tolerant organisms at successively higher levels in a food chain. 

Solution: d)

What is Fly Ash?

Popularly known as Flue ash or pulverised fuel ash, it is a coal combustion product.

Composition:

Composed of the particulates that are driven out of coal-fired boilers together with the flue gases.

Depending upon the source and composition of the coal being burned, the components of fly ash vary considerably, but all fly ash includes substantial amounts of silicon dioxide (SiO2), aluminium oxide (Al2O3) and calcium oxide (CaO), the main mineral compounds in coal-bearing rock strata.

Minor constituents include: arsenic, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, hexavalent chromium, cobalt, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, thallium, and vanadium, along with very small concentrations of dioxins and PAH compounds. It also has unburnt carbon.

Solution: a)

Arctic haze is the phenomenon of a visible reddish-brown springtime haze in the atmosphere at high latitudes in the Arctic due to anthropogenic air pollution. A major distinguishing factor of Arctic haze is the ability of its chemical ingredients to persist in the atmosphere for significantly longer than other pollutants. Due to limited amounts of snow, rain, or turbulent air to displace pollutants from the polar air mass in spring, Arctic haze can linger for more than a month in the northern atmosphere.

Solution: c)

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are organic compounds that are resistant to degradation through chemical, biological, and photolytic processes. They are toxic chemicals that adversely affect human health and the environment around the world. Because they can be transported by wind and water, most POPs generated in one country can and do affect people and wildlife far from where they are used and released.

Most POPs are pesticides or insecticides, and some are also solvents, pharmaceuticals, and industrial chemicals.

Some of the “dirty dozen” POPs identified by the Stockholm Convention include aldrin, chlordane, heptachlor, DDT and dioxins.

Solution: d)

The whitening of coral colonies due to the loss of symbiotic zooxanthellae from the tissues of polyps is called as Coral Bleaching.

Zooxanthellae are unicellular algae that provide colour to corals. They also provide food to corals and their deaths lead to breakdown of the symbiotic relationship between them. This breakdown of symbiotic relationship causes starvation and resultant deaths of coral polyps.

This condition exposes the white calcium carbonate skeletons of the coral colony. There are several stresses or environmental changes that may cause bleaching.

These causes include disease, excess shade, increased levels of ultraviolet radiation, sedimentation, pollution, salinity changes, and increased temperatures etc.