Fossil friends
Beyond Earth
Motion of the Ocean
Subduction leads to Orogeny
Minerals Matter
100
These squid-like critters thrived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous, and had internal bullet-shaped skeletons
What is a belemnite?
100
It is the largest volcano in the solar system.
What is Olympus Mons?
100
This current transports warm water into the North Atlantic
What is the Gulf Stream?
100
With a protolith of basalt, this metamorphic rock forms under high pressures but relatively low temperatures
What is blueschist?
100
This common mineral has a chemical formula of silicon and oxygen, has a hardness of 7, and makes up most beach sand.
What is quartz?
200
Olenellus is an early Cambrian trilobite, and it had a very small one of these on its rear end
What is a pygidium?
200
This rock type makes up the lunar maria
What is basalt?
200
This happens when gravity tugs on ocean water
What are the tides?
200
This jumbled pile of seafloor sediment and oceanic crust often clogs up a deep sea trench
What is an accretionary wedge?
200
DAILY DOUBLE
This common mineral has a chemical formula of calcium, carbon and oxygen, has a hardness of 3, and reacts with hydrochloric acid.
What is calcite?
300
This distinctive arrangement of four spikes on the tail of Stegosaurus draws its name from a gag in a Far Side cartoon
What is the thagomizer?
300
This rock type makes up the lunar highlands
What is anorthosite?
300
These gravity-driven currents transport lots of clastic sediment into the deep ocean
What are turbidity currents?
300
This rock type shows green omphacite and red garnet: .jpg)
What is eclogite?
300
This common mineral has a chemical formula of aluminum, silicon and oxygen, plus either calcium or sodium or both, has a hardness of 7, and is the most common mineral in Earth's crust.
What is plagioclase feldspar?
400
This Pennyslvanian aged weirdo from the Mazon Creek Fauna is the state fossil of Illinois
What is the Tully Monster?
400
DAILY DOUBLE
This is the name of a Mars-sized body that impacted the almost-formed Earth, generating the Moon
What is Theia?
400
Chemosynthetic bacteria and archaea live here, the foundation of an isolated ecosystem that includes giant tube worms
What are black smokers (or deep sea geothermal vents)?
400
A block of crust that started off somewhere else may be delivered to a subduction zone and then snap off, to become accreted to the edge of the overriding plate.
What is a terrane?
400
This uncommon mineral has a chemical formula of carbon, has a hardness of 10, and displays an adamantine luster.
What is diamond?
500
These primitive sponges are shaped like double-walled ice cream cones, and they are a Cambrian-only specialty
What are archaeocyathids?
500
This arcuate features on the surface of Mercury probably formed due to shrinkage of the planet
What are reverse fault scarps?
500
This change in oceanic circulation in the central Pacific causes major weather swings in south America and Australia/southeast Asia.
What is El Niño?
500
Like the Andes today or the Sierra Nevada during the Mesozoic, this line of volcanoes results from subduction.
What is a continental volcanic arc?
500
This common mineral has a chemical formula of carbon, has a hardness of 1.5, and is used for taking good geology notes.
What is graphite?