Rocks & Fossils
A rock type that commonly contains fossils?
What are sedimentary rocks?
This is the approximate percentage of Earth's water that is salty.
What is 97%?
This water quality indicator measures the cloudiness from suspended particles.
What is turbidity?
Coal is an example of this type of resource that can't be replenished.
What is nonrenewable?
This process can break rocks into smaller pieces through wind or water.
What is weathering?
Principle stating older layers lie beneath younger layers.
What is the Law of Superposition?
A coastal area where freshwater mixes with saltwater. Very ecologically diverse.
What is an estuary?
This indicator measures water's acidity or alkalinity. 7 is neutral.
What is pH?
Energy source from the sun.
What is solar energy?
This process moves weathered material from one place to another.
What is erosion?
This type of fossils is used to correlate rock layers across regions. They help scientists to determine the relative age of the rock layers.
What are Index Fossils?
A two-word term for the movement of water driven by temperature and salinity differences.
What is thermohaline circulation?
A nutrient that often causes algal blooms and is commonly found in fertilizers.
What are nitrates?
The liquid fossil fuel that formed from ancient plants and animals over millions of years.
What is petroleum (oil)?
This is the second largest division of time on the geologic time scale.
What is an Era?
This is a feature, made of magma, that cools below the Earth's surface and cuts across rock layers, causing it to be a younger feature.
What is an igneous intrusion?
This is a warm ocean current that influences North Carolina's climate.
What is the Gulf Stream?
A common chemical used to disinfect drinking water. It can also cause your eyes to burn if you open them underwater in a pool!
What is chlorine?
This gas is a greenhouse gas and is of primary concern regarding global warming.
What is carbon dioxide?
Scientists use this type of dating to determine how old a rock layer is compared to other rock layers and fossils around it.
What is relative dating?
This type of rock can transform other types of rocks into new rock through intense heat and pressure.
What is metamorphic rock?
An area of permeable rock in which groundwater is contained.
What is an aquifer?
This term is used to describe a complex process where excess nutrients cause an algal bloom which leads to dangerously low dissolved oxygen levels.
What is eutrophication?
This structure is used to capture the energy of moving air and convert it into electricity.
What is a wind turbine?
Alfred Wegener developed this theory that states that all of Earth's landmasses were once joined together in a supercontinent known as Pangaea.
What is Continental Drift?