Theories
"The present is the key to the past." The same processes we observe today are responsible for forming most of the geological features of the Earth.
What is uniformitarianism?
The preserved remains of a once living organism.
What is a fossil?
When sediments are mixed with water and then settle to form layers.
What is deposition?
What are the three main compositional layers of the earth
What are core, mantle and crust
A surface of erosion that separates one layer of rock from another.
What is an unconformity?
Much of Earth's geological features we see today are the result of catastrophic processes and events that occurred in the Earth's past.
What is catastrophism?
The decayed remains of a once living organism.
What is Humus?
The type of rock that forms from deposited sediments (laid down by water).
What is sedimentary rock?
The part of the Earth's inner structure composed of solid iron and nickel.
What is the inner core?
The layer of the Earth made up of the crust and the solid outer part of the mantle.
What is the Lithosphere?
"The present is the key to the past," over millions of years, but occasional catastrophes have occurred.
What is neo-catastrophism?
The process of wearing or grinding something down by wind, water, or other natural agents.
What is erosion?
The type of rock formed by magma or erupting lava.
What is Igneous rock?
Liquid iron and nickel make up this part of the inner structure of Earth.
What is the outer core?
A theoretical picture in which layers of rock from around the world are meshed together in a single, unbroken record of Earth's past. Much fossil evidence shows it to be incorrect, although it is still widely taught as factual.
What is a geological column?
A scientific theory describing the large-scale motion of seven large plates and the movements of a larger number of smaller plates of Earth's lithosphere, since tectonic processes began on Earth between 3.3 and 3.5 billion years ago.
What is plate tectonic theory?
The process that occurs when large rocks are broken into small rocks from forces such as ice, temperature changes and abrasion of sand or running water.
What is physical weathering?
The type of rock that is formed when another type of rock changes as a result of high heat and pressure.
What is metamorphic rock?
The noticeable change in density at the bottom edge of the Earth's crust as it sits on the mantle
What is the Moho?
Flat areas of the Earth formed when sediments are carried and deposited by rivers as they flow and then slow down when the river path forms a bend.
What are alluvial plains?
Before the flood of Noah's time, a massive amount of water existed beneath Earth's crust, and Earth only had one large supercontinent. Earth's crust rapidly cracked from the pressure and the water violently spewed up into the atmosphere.
What is the hydroplate theory?
The process that occurs when the minerals in rocks chemically react with water or air- changing their composition.
What is Chemical Weathering?
Inorganic crystalline substances found naturally in the Earth.
What are minerals?
Layer of the mantle that is acts like plastic rock.
What is the Asthenosphere?
The process when organic material chemically changes into rock.
What is petrification?