Geology
What is basalt and where is it found?
a mafic, extrusive igneous rock that makes up most of the oceanic crust.
What is the dew point?
This temperature is reached when air becomes saturated and condensation begins.
What is perihelion?
The point in a planet’s orbit where it is closest to the Sun.
What is transpiration?
The process by which plants release water vapor into the atmosphere.
What is the thermocline?
the layer of the ocean characterized by a rapid decrease in temperature with depth, separating warmer surface water from colder deep water.
The mineral property describing how a mineral breaks along flat planes due to atomic structure.
What is a stationary front?
The boundary separating two air masses of different densities where neither is advancing
What is Kepler’s Second Law?
This law states that a planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times as it orbits the Sun.
What is an aquifer?
The layer of permeable rock that can store and transmit significant quantities of groundwater.
What is Ekman transport?
the net movement of surface water occurs 90 degrees to the direction of wind in the Northern Hemisphere due to the Coriolis effect.
What is the asthenosphere?
The zone of partially molten rock in the upper mantle that allows lithospheric plates to move.
What is the stratosphere?
This atmospheric layer contains the ozone maximum that absorbs most ultraviolet radiation.
What are O-type stars?
the spectral classification for the hottest and most massive main-sequence stars
What is the water table?
The boundary below which all pore spaces in soil or rock are fully saturated with water.
What is thermohaline circulation?
the global circulation system driven by differences in water density caused by temperature and salinity variations.
What is tensional stress?
This type of stress pulls rocks apart and is commonly associated with normal faulting.
What is adiabatic cooling?
The process by which rising air cools due to expansion without heat exchange with its environment.
What is redshift?
The shift toward longer wavelengths observed when an object in space is moving away from the observer.
What is infiltration?
The downward movement of water through soil due to gravity and capillary forces.
What is upwelling?
The process that occurs when surface waters diverge, causing deeper, nutrient-rich water to rise and support high biological productivity.
What is the Principle of Original Horizontality?
The principle stating that sedimentary layers are deposited horizontally under the influence of gravity.
What is the Hadley cell?
The circulation cell, located between 0° and ~30° latitude, that is characterized by rising air near the equator and sinking air in the subtropics.
What is the Chandrasekhar limit?
the limit (approximately 1.4 solar masses) for the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf star
What is a gaining stream?
a type of stream that gains water from groundwater input and typically flows year-round.
What is the pycnocline?
the layer in the ocean where density changes rapidly with depth due to variations in temperature and salinity.