Earth and Space
This theory suggests that the universe began as an infinitely small, hot, and dense point roughly 13.8 billion years ago.
What is the Big Bang Theory?
This layer of Earth, located just below the crust and extending to about 2,900 kilometers deep, is known for its semi-fluid properties and convection currents.
What is the mantle?
This sphere of the earth includes all the glaciers, polar ice caps, and frozen tundra (permafrost).
What is the Cryosphere?
This scientist proposed the theory of continental drift in the early 20th century, suggesting that continents were once joined together in a supercontinent called Pangaea.
Who is Alfred Wegner?
At this type of boundary, two tectonic plates move away from each other, often creating new oceanic crust.
What is a divergent boundary?
The formation of our solar system began from a giant cloud of gas and dust known as a this.
What is a Nebula?
The rigid lithosphere lies on top of this layer of the upper mantle, responsible for driving plate tectonics.
What is the Asthenosphere?
The Earth's magnetic field protects us from Solar winds. The interaction between the field and the winds causes this phenomenon.
What is the Aurora Borealis.
Name two of the pieces of evidence Wegner gave for the continents being one landmass.
This transform fault boundary, located in California, is famous for its seismic activity and significant earthquakes.
What is the San Andreas Fault?
The most widely accepted age of Earth, determined through radiometric dating of meteorites and rocks is this.
What is 4.5 billion years?
These currents, occurring in the mantle, are crucial for the movement of tectonic plates and the overall dynamics of Earth's interior.
What are mantle convection currents?
This is the term for the location of the magnetic north pole in the past.
What is a paleopole?
The initial reception of Wegener’s theory was poor due to the lack of this scientific support, which was later provided by discoveries in oceanography and seismology.
What is mechanism for movement?
The symmetrical patterns of these on either side of mid-ocean ridges provided key evidence for sea floor spreading.
What are magnetic anomalies or magnetic stripes?
This process describes the gradual cooling and solidification of Earth's surface, leading to the formation of the planet's layers.
What is differentiation?
This term refers to the rate at which temperature increases with depth below Earth's surface.
What is the geothermal gradient?
The Earth's magnetic field is created by this process.
What is the solid inner core rotating against the liquid outer core?
While studying the ocean floor, scientists noticed that the layer of sediment was thicker farther away from this.
What are mid-ocean ridges?
The movement of tectonic plates is driven by these two forces in the asthenosphere and lithosphere.
What are ridge push and slab pull forces?
The planets in the solar system can be divided into these two main categories depending on how they formed.
These seismic waves travel through solids but cannot travel through liquids, providing clues about the Earth's interior structure.
What are S-waves?
To find the relative plate velocity, you measure what variables?
The distance between the ridge axis and known ocean crust and divide by age.
The zone where sea floor sinks back into the mantle is known as this.
What is the subduction zone?
The presence of this type of rock, formed from magma that cools and solidifies below the surface, supports the theory of plate tectonics through the study of magnetic patterns on the ocean floor.
What is Basalt?