Earth’s Layers & Plate Tectonics
The Earth layer made mostly of iron and nickel.
What is the core?
Rock formed when magma or lava cools.
What is igneous rock?
The breakdown of rock in place.
What is weathering?
The force that constantly pulls weathered material downhill.
What is gravity?
The permanent base level for rivers.
What is sea level?
Plates move apart at this type of boundary.
What is a divergent boundary?
This type of rock forms from layers of sediment that are compacted and cemented.
What is sedimentary rock?
The movement of sediment by water, wind, ice, or gravity.
What is erosion?
Downslope movement of soil, rock, or debris caused by gravity.
What is mass wasting?
Smaller streams that flow into a larger river are called these.
What are tributaries?
Hot rock rises and cool rock sinks in the mantle through these currents.
What are convection currents?
Heat and pressure change rock into this type without melting it.
What is metamorphic rock?
Material being dropped when moving water loses energy.
What is deposition?
The slowest common form of mass wasting.
What is soil creep?
A tree-branch shaped drainage pattern.
What is dendritic drainage?
At this boundary, plates slide past each other and earthquakes often occur.
What is a transform boundary?
Slow underground cooling creates these in igneous rock.
What are large crystals?
Freeze-thaw, root wedging, and exfoliation are examples of this type of weathering.
What is mechanical weathering?
Rounded particles are less stable than jagged ones because they do this more easily.
What are roll and slide?
The principle that lower undisturbed rock layers are older than layers above them.
What is superposition?
Scientists study this to learn about Earth’s interior.
What are seismic waves?
Limestone changing into marble is an example of this process.
What is metamorphism?
Land built up by deposition is called this.
What is aggradation?
Frozen ground below the surface blocks drainage, causing waterlogged soil to slowly flow downhill in this process common in permafrost regions.
What is solifluction?
The idea that present-day processes help explain past landscapes.
What is uniformitarianism?