Earth's Internal Processes
What is convection?
The movement of tectonic plates is primarily driven by this process occurring in the mantle.
This natural agent is responsible for weathering, erosion, and deposition and is the most powerful in shaping the Earth's surface.
Water.
What is the difference between gradual and catastrophic processes?
Gradual: slow-moving processes act continuously over very long time spans-billions of years—, and include ero-sion, sedimentation, or tectonic plate
Catastrophic: These unusual geological processes are very intense and act over short periods of time—from seconds to a few years—, such as a meteorite impact or a volcanic eruption.
What is a light year?
The distance light can travel in one year at 300,000 km/s.
This layer of Earth is solid and made primarily of iron and nickel.
Inner core.
Explain all 3 types of plate boundaries.
Divergent boundaries occur where plates move apart, creating new crust. Convergent boundaries occur where plates collide, resulting in one plate sliding beneath the other or forming mountain ranges. Transform boundaries occur where plates slide past each other horizontally, often causing earthquakes.
This type of weathering changes the chemical composition of rocks.
Chemical weathering.
When was Earth formed approximately?
4.5 billion years ago.
A group of billions of stars and nebuale:
Galaxy.
The tilt of Earth’s axis causes this regular pattern of climate changes.
The seasons.
This type of plate boundary is associated with deep ocean trenches and volcanic arcs.
What is a convergent boundary?
Wind is most effective at shaping landscapes in this type of climate.
Arid or desert climate.
An exceptional process which only occurs under very specific conditions in the sedimentary environments where sedimentary rocks form.
Fossilization- fossil formation
What are nebulae?
These are large clouds of gas and dust in space where new stars are born.
Rocks that form from the cooling and solidification of magma or lava are called this.
Igneous rocks
What is the name of the seismic waves that arrive first during an earthquake. Explain what they are.
P-waves are the fastest seismic waves. They can travel through all materials: liquid, solid, and gases. The more rigid the material, the faster the p-wave travels. These longitudinal waves push and pull rock in the way that the wave is traveling.
This process occurs when materials transported by wind or water are dropped in a new location.
Deposition.
We are currently in the Phanerozoic Eon, the Cenozoic Era, and the Quaternary Period..
What is the Big Bang theory?
Glaciers carve out these U-shaped features in mountainous regions.
Glacial valleys.
The San Andreas Fault is an example of this type of plate boundary where plates slide past one another.
Transform boundary.
Name the 4 components of soil.
Mineral matter, organic matter, water, and air.
Name and explain the dating method based on natural radioactivity.
Radiometric dating is a dating method based in natural radioactivity. Each particular chemical element has its isotope variants, types of atoms which differ only in neutron number. Some isotopes are radioac-tive: they emit energy and subatomic particles spontaneously. Through this process, called decay, these isotopes end up becoming isotopes of other elements.Each type of radioactive isotope is characterized by its half-life (t,2), the time required for one-half of the radioactive parent atoms in a sample to convert to the stable daughter products.
This astronomer proposed a heliocentric model that placed the Sun at the center of the universe, challenging the geocentric model.
This geologic eon division includes the appearance of multicellular life and most major groups of animals.
Phanerozoic Eon