Chapter 1-3
What is a contour line?
Contour lines are lines on a topographical map that connect points of equal elevations.
Distinguish between magma and lava.
Magma is molten rock inside the earth, while lava is molten rock flowing on the surface.
List Wegner's four arguments for continental drift.
The fit of the continents
Fossil evidence
Similarity of rock types
Ice-age deposits
Describe the shape of the Earth.
The shape of Earth is roughly spherical, or more accurately oblate spheroid. It is a flattened sphere where the equator has a greater radius than the measurement from the center to a pole.
What is a lunar eclipse?
A lunar eclipse occurs when Earth's shadow covers the face of the moon.
What is a solstice? Name both of them.
Solstices are the times of the year when Earth's axis is tilted eitehr directly toward or away from the Sun. There are two of them, summer (toward) and winter (away).
Distinguish between minerals and ore.
An ore is a mineral that can be mined for a profit. Whether a mineral is an ore depends on the price of that mineral and the concentration of the mineral in a given area.
Divergent boundary is where plates are moving apart form each other
Convergent boundary is where two plates collide with each other
Transform boundary involves two plates sliding past each other.
List, in order, the phases of the Moon throughout the lunar cycle.
New Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, Waning Crescent?
What is a nonrenewable natural resource?
A nonrenewable natural resource is one that is not replaced when it is removed from nature for human use, such as iron, ore, or coal.
Describe three ways Earth is "just right" for complex life.
Earth is an ideal size, so that its atmosphere is neither too thin nor too dense.
Earth has a good amount of water, enough to support life but not so much that it covers the planet.
Earth has the right chemical composition, not too much or too little carbon.
What is the difference between a mineral and a rock?
A mineral is a naturally occurring, inorganic, crystalline solid with a definite chemical composition and definite physical properties.
How are folding and faulting related to plate tectonics?
Folding and faulting contribute to the formation of most mountain ranges. The formation of mountain ranges are closely connected to plate tectonics because the movement of tectonic plates provides the energy necessary to cause uplift and deformation.
What are the three types of tectonic plate boundaries?
Divergent plate boundary, convergent plate boundary, transform boundary
What is a seamount?
A seamount is an isolated volcanic mountain on the seafloor.
Why were marine navigators able to determin latitude long before they were able to determine longitude?
By observing Polaris, the North Star
Mariners did not have tools for accurately determining longitude until the mid-1700s. John Harrison invented the marine chronometer that marine navigators could get fairly accurate longitudinal measurements.
Describe two different ways in which minerals form.
Many minerals can form by evaporation from seawater or mineral-rich water from lakes in arid regions.
Minerals can be formed in crystallization from magma or lava. Because magma contains a dnumber of different elements, it "freezes" into a mixture of different minerals.
Minerals can also from through alteration, when minerals are transformed from one mineral to another by the addition or subtraction of elements.
Differentiate between Atlantic-type and Pacific-type continental margins.
Atlantic-type margin has a continental shelf, a steep seafloor drop known as continental slope, and a gently-sloping region called the continetal rise. Beyond the rise is the abyssal plain.
Pacific-type margin are much narrower. In some places there is almost no continental shelf, and the seafloor slopes steeply down to the deep-ocean trenches.
Explain why good stewardship of Earth is a biblical concept.
In Genesis, God makes Adam and Eve vice-regents, ruling Earth in God's place. Wea re to be stewards of creation for God's glory, for the good of all the people of Earth, and for the flourishing of the creation itself.
Truth is the way things really are.
Draw the Cycle of Scientific Enterprise.
Facts > Theory (our best explanation at present) > Hypothesis (an informed prediction based upon a theory) > Experiment (putting the hypothesis to the test) > Analysis (are the experimental results consistent with the theory we started with) > Yes (hypothesis confirmed)
Name the three mineral properties.
Luster, color, and streak.
What is seafloor spreading and who discovered it?
Seafloor spreading is the theory which states that new oceanic crust forms at mis-ocean ridges and then slowly moves away from the ridge crest.
Harry Hess, 1960s
Distinguish between theories and hypotheses.
A scientific theory is an explanation that seeks to account for all related facts, and is a mental model that explains how something in the universe works. A hypothesis is a proposed answer to a scientific question, often stated in the form of a prediction.
What is a map legend?
A key that shows what each symbol on a map represents.