Layers of the Earth
What is the outermost layer of the Earth called?
Crust
Who developed the Theory of Plate Tectonics?
Alfred Wegener
How many pieces of seismometer data do you need to determine the location of an Earthquake's epicentre?
Three
What are the two types of volcano?
Describe the shape of each.
Stratovolcano (concical) and shield (gentle sloping sides) volcano
The Earth's _________ is divided into seven main slabs called tectonic plates
Lithosphere
What does the lithosphere contain?
The crust and the upper mantle
What is a plate boundary?
What are the three types, and describe their movement.
The borders of a tectonic plate, where two plates meet.
Convergent - plates moving together
Divergent - plates moving apart
Transform - plates moving past each other
What causes an earthquake?
Movement along a fault line. Friction causes energy to build up, until there is a sudden slip and energy is released as seismic waves.
In what three places can volcanoes be formed?
Convergent boundaries
Divergent boundaries
Over hot spots
The Theory of Continental Drift states that the continents are moving and were once connected as one supercontinent. What name do we give this supercontinent? Bonus points: What name is given to the two continents that it first divided into .
Pangea
Gondwana and Laurasia
Which layer of the Earth contains the asthenosphere?
Mantle
What causes tectonic plates to move, and what two forces are involved in this movement?
Convection currents (moving magma in the mantle, due to rising hotter magma and sinking cooler magma).
Ridge push and slab pull.
What is a fault?
What are the three types of fault, and show me their direction of movement?
A fracture in the Earth's crust.
Normal, reverse, and strike-slip (transcurrent)
What is magma and what is lava?
Magma is molten (melted) rock. Lava is magma that has reached the Earth's surface
What is it called when one plate slides under another plate?
Bonus points: Which plate slides underneath and why?
Subduction
Whichever one is more dense = oceanic
What is the state and composition of the outer core?
Liquid iron and nickel
Describe three pieces of evidence which support the Theory of Continental Drift.
Shape of continents - puzzle pieces.
Fossil evidence - similar fossils found on different continents.
Glacial evidence - striations left behind from moving glaciers.
Rocks - similar rocks found on different continents.
Mountain ranges - similar mountains line up on different continents.
List three ways in which earthquakes can impact the biosphere or lithosphere.
Lithosphere - Landslide, avalanche, land ruptures.
Biosphere - loss of animal habitat, loss of animal/human life.
Describe how a volcanic eruption can negatively impact Earth's atmosphere and hydrosphere.
Release toxic gases and ash into the air. This can cause acid rain as the gases dissolve into the water/rain.
Name the three types of seismic waves and the order in which they are detected.
Bonus points: What information does the P-S interval give us?
Primary waves, secondary waves, surface waves.
How far away the earthquake occurred (NOT where it occurred)
What is the main source of heat in Earth's inner core?
Radioactive decay
Since the Theory of Continental Drift was developed, what more information do we know about, now called the Theory of Plate Tectonics?
It is not the continents that are moving, but the plates which continents AND oceans sit on top of
Compare the focus and the epicentre.
The focus is the point along a fault where movement occurs, and it is the origin of seismic waves (an earthquake).
Epicentre is the point on the Earth's surface directly above the focus.
Compare the volcanic eruptions from strato vs shield volcanoes.
Strato - releases ash, gas, lava, pyroclastic flow (hot rock). More explosive due to more gas trapped in the lava.
Shield - less violent eruptions, runnier lava
In regards to measuring earthquakes, what is the difference between magnitude and intensity?
Bonus points: Name three things that can impact the intensity of an earthquake.
Magnitude is the amount of energy that is released in an earthquake - measured on the Richter scale.
Intensity is the impact the earthquake had. This can depend on where the earthquake occurred, population density, infrastructure, and depth of earthquake.