Things of Earth
What is the sandy, gently sloping underwater plain that borders the coasts of continents?
continental shelf
What are hills that form when advancing glaciers overrun old piles of till?
drumlins
What space program first landed a man on the moon?
Apollo
The natural ridges formed when water flow causes sediments to drop along the edge of a river's channel
levee
What convection cell exists between latitude 30° and latitude 60°?
Ferrel cell
What forms when rocks along one side of a fault move horizontally along the fault?
strike-slip fault
What calendar has leap years every four years with no exceptions?
Julian
What is the process in which an atom of an element with a large nucleus breaks into two atoms of elements with smaller nuclei?
nuclear fission
What layer of the atmosphere acts like a giant mirror, bouncing certain types of radio waves back down toward the ground?
ionosphere
What is the main agent of chemical weathering?
water
What is a device that safely starts and controls a fission chain reaction called?
nuclear reactor
The best explains for why planets closer to the sun orbit the sun faster than those farther away?
The sun's gravitation pulls more strongly on closer planets.
On what did Darwin evolutionary ideas?
natural selection
What type of oceanographic vessel is lowered from a surface ship near the area to be studied and can operate without any outside guidance?
AUV
What sedimentary rock consists of rough, angular fragments embedded in hardened sand or clay?
breccia
Throughout the year, the length of a sidereal day does not change. Why not?
The stars do not seem to move as Earth orbits the sun.
What gemstone consists of corundum with traces of iron or titanium that give it a distinctive blue color?
sapphire
Which view claims that understanding modern geological processes is the key to understanding the earth's geological history?
uniformitarianism
The oceans' surface currents move in circular paths
gyres
A situation in which warm air rests on top of a layer of cold air, trapping the cold air against Earth's surface
temperature inversion