Rock Cycle
This type of rock is formed when magma or lava cools and hardens.
What is Igneous rock?
The transfer of heat through direct contact, like your hand touching a hot spoon.
What is conduction?
This type of boundary is responsible for mountain building when it occurs between two continental (land) plates?
What is a convergent boundary?
This law states that in undisturbed rock layers, the oldest layer is at the bottom.
What is the Law of Superposition?
This layer of the Earth is broken into the tectonic plates.
What is the lithosphere?
The process where rocks are broken down into smaller pieces by wind, water, or ice.
What is Weathering?
This is the primary cause of all wind and ocean currents on Earth.
What is uneven heating by the Sun?
This type of boundary occurs where two plates slide past each other, often causing earthquakes.
What is a transform boundary?
Scientists use these widely distributed fossils to determine the relative age of rock layers.
What are index fossils?
Air moves from areas of ______ pressure to areas of ______ pressure.
What is high to low?
These rocks are created under intense heat and pressure, often deep underground.
What is Metamorphic rock?
During the day, the land heats up faster than the water, creating this type of local wind.
What is a sea breeze?
New seafloor is created at this type of boundary, where plates move apart.
What is a divergent boundary?
While relative dating tells you which layer is older, this type of dating gives an actual age in years.
What is absolute dating?
This type of rock is the most likely place to find a well-preserved fossil.
What is sedimentary rock?
This specific process turns loose sediment into solid sedimentary rock through "gluing" minerals together.
What is compaction/cementation?
This method of heat transfer involves the movement of liquids or gases in "cells" or loops.
What is convection?
This process happens when a dense oceanic plate sinks beneath a less dense continental plate.
What is subduction?
This is the specific method of absolute dating that uses the decay of isotopes like Carbon-14.
What is radiometric (or radioactive) dating?
Mid-ocean ridges are associated with ________ boundaries.
What is divergent?
To go from a Metamorphic rock back to an Igneous rock, this phase must happen first.
What is Melting into Magma?
Wind is the movement of air from high-pressure areas to low-pressure areas. This entire process is driven by the fact that the sun's rays hit the equator directly while hitting the poles at an angle, a phenomenon caused specifically by these two physical characteristics of our planet.
What are Earth's spherical shape and its tilt (on its axis)?
These are the circular movements in the mantle that act as the "engine" driving plate movement.
What are convection currents?
Layers of sedimentary rock can be used to determine relative ages of Earth's features. These layers are often made visible in the side of cliffs or canyons by this process.
What is erosion?
While the Law of Superposition puts older rock layers at the bottom, this tectonic process can cause these layers to shift and may place older layers higher than adjacent younger layers.
What is faulting?