Chapter 11 & 12
The 2 main gases the Earth's atmosphere is composed of are
Oxygen and Nitrogen
Lines of equal temperature are called...
Isotherms
Due to the amount of water covering the Earth, what is another name Earth is known as?
The “blue” planet
Chains of underwater mountains that run throughout the ocean basins are called...
Mid-ocean ridges (underwater mountains)
What did the early mapmakers notice about the shapes of the continents?
They fit together like pieces from a puzzle
The opening in the crust where lava erupts through called what?
Vent
A bowl-shaped depression that forms around the vent at the top of the volcano is called...
A crater
The amount of energy released during an earthquake is measured by its
Magnitude
Layer of gas formed by the addition of a 3rd oxygen atom to a normal oxygen molecule is called
Ozone
What is the transfer of energy that occurs when molecules collide (have to come in contact with each other) called?
Conduction
What are the 2 sources Earth’s water originated from?
Volcanoes
Meteorites
What are the 2 sources of salt in the ocean?
Volcanoes
Weathered pieces of crustal rock
What type of plate boundary has plates moving away from each other?
Divergent boundaries
Internal resistance to flow is called...
Viscosity
What is elastic deformation?
When a material is deformed by stress, but once stress is gone it goes back to normal.
A record of Earth’s history from its origin 4.6 billion years ago to the present
geologic time scale
The layers of the atmosphere in order are
Troposphere
Stratosphere
Mesosphere
Thermosphere
Exoshpere
What are isobars?
Lines of equal pressure
Tides are caused by the gravitational attraction between which three objects?
The sun, moon, and Earth
List the structures included in the continental margin
Continental shelf
Continental slope
Continental rise
What is the theory of plate tectonics?
That Earth’s crust and rigid upper mantle are broken into enormous pieces called plates
What are the 3 types of volcanos
Shield volcanoes
Composite volcanoes
Cinder-cone volcanoes
What are the 3 types of stresses that cause different strain patterns?
- Tension (pull apart)
- Compression (squeezing)
- Shear (twisting)
What does the measure of intensity of an earthquake tell someone?
The amount of damage done during an earthquake
What is Meteorology?
The study of atmospheric phenomena
What is convection?
The transfer of energy by the flow of a heated substance
List the structures in the ocean basin.
Abyssal plains
Deep-sea trenches
Mid-ocean ridge
Hydrothermal vents
Describe hydrothermal vents
Holes in the seafloor through which fluid heated by magma erupts
What is seafloor spreading theory?
New ocean crust is formed at the ridges and destroyed at the trenches.
Name the two other types of plate boundaries that ARE NOT the boundary where plates move away from each other. What happens to the plates in each of these types of boundaries?
Convergent boundaries - plates move toward each other
Transform boundaries - plates slide horizontally past each other
Give the name of the instrument that is used to measure and record seismic vibrations and the name of the record it produces.
Seismometer
Siesmogram
What is radioactive decay?
Emission of atomic particles at a constant rate and its resulting change into other elements over time
What is the difference between weather and climate?
Weather is the current state of the atmosphere while
Climate is long-term variations in weather for a particular area
What are the names for a long-term forecasting method and a short-term forecasting method you learned?
Analog forecasts (long-term)
Digital forecasts (short-term)
Give descriptions of both abyssal plains and deep-sea trenches
Abyssal plains - smooth, flat part of the seafloor covered with fine-grained muddy sediments and sedimentary rocks
Deep-sea trenches - are elongated, arc-shaped depressions in the seafloor
Give a description of both Mid-ocean ridges and continental shelf
Mid-ocean ridges - chains of underwater mountains that run throughout the ocean basins
Continental shelf - the shallowest part of a continental margin extending
Describe continental slope and continental rise
Continental slope - sloping oceanic region found beyond the continental shelf that marks the edge of the continental crust
Continental rise - the gently sloping accumulation of deposits from turbidity currents that forms at the base of the slope
What are the 3 types of magma and which is the most explosive?
Basaltic
Andesitic
Rhyolitic - most explosive
Define stress and strain
Stress - the forces per unit area acting on a material
Strain - the deformation of materials in response to stress
What are the 4 units of time used in the geologic time scale listed largest to smallest?
- Eon (largest)
- Era
- Period
- Epoch (smallest)
Describe a cold front vs a warm front:
In a cold front cold air pushes warm air up while in a warm front warm air pushes cold air down and cross Earth
Describe both a stationary front and an occluded front
Stationary front - warm air and cold air have equal masses and stay stalled
Occluded front - 2 cold air masses push a warm air mass between them up
What was Alfred Wegener’s theory about continental movement called and what was the name of the landmass?
Continental drift: proposed Earth’s continents had once been joined as a single landmass
Pangaea
What is a hotspot?
Unusually hot regions of Earth’s mantle where high-temperature plumes of mantle material rise toward the surface
What are the 4 principles dealing with the rock record?
Uniformitarianism - processes have always been occurring
Original horizontality - sedimentary rocks are deposited in horizontal layers
Superposition - oldest rocks on bottom and younger at top
Cross-cutting relationships - intrusion or a fault is younger