GEOLOGY BASICS
What is geology?
The study of the makeup of Earth and the processes that shape and change it.
Which type of rock forms when magma cools?
Igneous rock.
What are tectonic plates?
Large pieces of Earth’s crust and mantle that move slowly.
What is an earthquake?
The shaking of the ground caused by rocks moving along a fault.
What is physical weathering?
Breaking rocks into smaller pieces without changing them chemically.
Name the four layers of the Earth.
Crust, mantle, outer core, inner core.
Which type of rock forms from sediments compacted together?
Sedimentary rock.
What can tectonic plate movement cause?
Earthquakes, volcanoes, mountains, ocean trenches.
What is a fault?
A crack in Earth’s crust.
What is chemical weathering?
Breaking rocks through chemical reactions.
What is a rock?
A naturally occurring nonliving solid made of minerals.
Which type of rock forms from heat and pressure?
Metamorphic rock.
What happens when plates move apart?
A mid-ocean ridge forms (seafloor spreading).
What is a tsunami?
A giant ocean wave caused by an underwater earthquake.
What is erosion?
The movement of rock and soil by wind or water.
What instrument records earthquakes?
A seismograph.
What is the rock cycle?
The continuous process where rocks change from one type to another.
What forms when one plate moves under another?
An ocean trench (subduction).
What is a dormant volcano?
A volcano that has not erupted recently but may erupt again.
The Grand Canyon is an example of what two processes?
Weathering and erosion.
What scale measures the magnitude (strength) of an earthquake using numbers?
The Richter Scale.
Name two processes in the rock cycle.
Melting, cooling, weathering, pressure (any two).
Who proposed the Continental Drift Hypothesis?
Alfred Wegener.
What is the difference between the Richter Scale and the Modified Mercalli Scale?
Richter measures magnitude (energy).
Mercalli measures intensity (damage and effects).
What is a hydrothermal vent?
A deep-sea geyser that releases very hot, mineral-rich water.