Earth
Primarily made up of granite
What is the continental crust
Composed of gravel, sand, silt, and clay
What is soil
The study of earth’s physical structure, its history, the processes acting on it, and the rocks of which it is composed
What is geology
Through the work of ice, water, wind, and temperature earth’s crust can be broken down into minerals or transformed into other materials
What is weathering
Primarily made up of basalt
What is the oceanic crust
Inorganic crystalline substances found naturally in the earth
What are minerals
Molten rock on the surface of the earth
What is lava
The process of wearing or grinding something down by wind, water, or other natural agents
What is erosion
Igneous
Sedimentary
Metamorphic
What are the 3 basic rock types
Forms as the water hits the cavern floor
What are stalagmites
Molten rock inside the earth
What is magma
Process that changes the chemical composition of material
What is chemical weathering
The decayed remains of once-living creatures
What is humus
When stalactites and stalagmites meet they form
What is a column
Great Unconformity
What is the Grand Canyon
Process that changes physical appearance of material (rocks)
What is physical weathering
Believed to be massive plates floating under the earth's crust
What is the lithosphere
Created when mineral-rich water seeps down through cracks in the cavern roof
What are stalactites
A three-dimensional impression of an organism or part of an organism that has been preserved in sedimen
What is a mold
Sediments settle out of the water and often done in layers, heavier materials settling out first and the lighter materials settling out later
What is deposition
Believed to be liquid
What is the outer core
Layers, typically of sedimentary rock
What is strata
A three-dimensional imprint of an organism that forms when sediment fills an empty space in the remains of an animal or plant
What is a cast
Organic material chemically changes into rock
What is petrification
Believed to be solid due to pressure
What is inner core
Sierra Nevada mountain range
What is fault-block
A surface of erosion that separates one layer of rock from another
What is unconformity
Preserved remains of a once-living organism
What are fossils
The core of the earth is believed to be made up __________________ and ________________
What is iron and nickel
Appalachian Mountains
What are folded mountains
Due to higher pressure and temperature, the rock in the mantle behaves like a thick, syrup material
What is plastic rock
A fossil that has been preserved as a thin film of carbon, usually black in color, that forms a silhouette of the original organism
What is carbonization
Mount Fiji is similar to
What is domed mountain
Veins of igneous rock shoot right through several layers of sedimentary rock
What are intrusions