Earth's Interior/Plate Tectonics
What do we call the land mass the last time all the continents were together?
Pangaea
What is the opening of a volcano called?
Vent
What are all rocks made of?
Minerals
How does the temperature in the atmosphere change as you get further from the Earth?
Decreases, then increases, then decreases, and then continues to increase.
How is wind produced?
Air moves from high to low pressure.
Difference in air pressure.
How are weather and climate different?
Weather is day to day, climate is the average for a region.
What is the largest section of the Earth's interior?
Where do most earthquakes occur?
- plate boundaries
- fault lines
- where plates are coming together
What is the difference between weathering and erosion?
Weathering is breaking down of rock into smaller pieces. Erosion is the transport/removal of weathered rock.
What are the 4 main layers/divisions of the atmosphere?
Troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere.
How do clouds form?
Condensation of water vapor in the atmosphere.
What causes there to be 4 seasons in Kentucky?
The tilt and rotation of the Earth.
What are the 3 types of plate boundaries?
Divergent, Convergent, Transform
What are 2 of the 3 types of volcanoes?
Composite, Shield, Cinder Cone
What are 2 types of weathering and give an example of each.
Physical and Chemical
What are the 3 types of clouds?
Cumulus, cirrus, stratus
What is transpiration?
The release of water vapor by plants into the atmosphere.
Which layer of the atmosphere does most of our weather occur in?
Troposphere
Give one piece of evidence that supports plate tectonics/continental drift?
- coastlines fit together
- same fossils on continents far apart
- alternating bands of rock at ocean trenches
What is a zone of subduction?
A convergent boundary where oceanic crust dives down below continental crust.
Explain how the 3 different types of rock are formed.
Igneous - molten rock cooling
Sedimentary - layers of weathered rock are compacted/cemented together
Metamorphic - extreme heat and pressure changes one type of rock into another
State two ways carbon dioxide is put into the atmosphere.
Cellular respiration, combustion of fossil fuels, decomposition.
What is the difference between runoff and percolation?
Runoff is the flow of water on the surface of the earth into a larger body of water.
Percolation is the slow seeping and purifying of water as it travels through the ground into the groundwater.
Explain how topography (the size, shape of the land of a region) effects climate.
Mountains block moisture - humid and warm on one side, dry and cold on the other.
Open plains allow for high winds.
What is the asthenosphere, which layer is it found in, why is it important to plate tectonics?
- a semisolid or plastic-like layer found in the upper part of the mantle
- lithosphere/tectonic plates sit on the mantle and the convection currents within the mantle cause the plates to move
How does a seismologist determine the epicenter of an earthquake?
- difference in arrival times of P and S waves
- 3 seismographs in order to triangulate one location
Explain the principle of superposition in dating rocks.
- rocks are put down in layers
- oldest layers/rocks are at the bottom and newest are at the top
Explain the greenhouse effect.
- Sun heats the Earth
- Earth radiates the heat back into the atmosphere
- Greenhouse gases absorb the heat and warm the atmosphere.
Explain the Coriolis Effect and how does it effect the winds in the northern hemisphere.
The curving of the natural path of an object due to the Earth's rotation.
Causes winds in the northern hemisphere to move clockwise.
Explain the 2 types of fronts? What type of weather is likely to accompany each.
warm front - mass of warm air moves over cold air, cloudy day with steady precipitation
cold front - mass of cold air edges under warm and and pushed it up quickly, severe weather of high winds, thunderstorms, tornadoes follow