Term
How long ago did the Earth form?
What was the early Earth like? |
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Definition
4.5 billion years ago
it was a ball of magma and molten rock. it was unsustainable for life |
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Term
| Hadean Archean and Proterozoic are also known as |
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Definition
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Term
When was the Paleozoic Era? What was the most common life form during the Paleozoic? What landmass formed during the Paleozoic?
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Definition
The Paleozoic era was around 570-245 million years ago.
Common life during this era are trilobites, brachiopods, and giant insects.
Pangaea formed during this time period. |
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Term
What Era was called the “Age of Reptiles” and why? When was this Era?
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Definition
| The Mesozoic era because dinosaurs thrived during this era. The era lasted from 245-65 million years ago. |
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Term
| What Era was called the “Age of Mammals” and why? When was this Era? |
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Definition
| The Cenozoic era because the early mammals thrived during this era. This the current era. |
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Term
| What is radiometric dating? |
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Definition
| A method of determining the age of earth materials or objects based on measurement of short-lived radioactive elements or long-live radioactive elements. |
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Term
| What time period, Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, or Cenozoic is the longest? About how long was it? |
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Definition
| Paleozoic was the longest time period and it lasted for about 325 million years. |
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Term
| What is the principle of Uniformitarianism? Who is responsible for this idea? |
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Definition
| The process that act on the earth’s surface today happened in the past. James Hutton |
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Term
| What is an index fossil? Does this help us with absolute or relative age of rocks? |
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Definition
Index fossils are fossils used to define and identify geologic time periods. Yes it does, if you find an index fossil and knew when it lived, it can help you determine the age of the rock.
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Term
| What is the Law of Superposition? |
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Definition
The law of superposition states that undisturbed rock layers would consist of older layers being on the bottom and younger layers found on the top, each layer being younger than the one beneath it and older than the one above it. |
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Term
| What are the three types of rocks? What type of rock are fossils most likely found? |
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Definition
sedimentary fossils are found most commonly in sedimentary rock
igneous
metamorphic |
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Term
| What are Earth’s layers in order? Please write the simple version and more complex version |
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Definition
Simple: inner core, outer core, Mantle, Crust
More Complex: Inner Core, Outer Core, Asthenosphere, Lithosphere |
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Term
| What instrument detects shock waves produced by an earthquake? How are these waves used to determine the materials inside of the Earth? |
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Definition
| A seismogram detects seismic waves from an earthquake. |
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Term
| What type of rock makes up continental crust? |
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Definition
| Mostly igneous rock makes up the continental crust. It is mostly granite. |
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Term
| What type of rock makes up oceanic crust? |
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Definition
| Mostly igneous rock makes up the oceanic crust. It is mostly basalt. |
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Term
| What is the difference between oceanic crust and continental crust? What happens during subduction? |
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Definition
| Oceanic Crust is less dense than continental crust. Subduction is when crust sinks below another, into the mantle. It is always the less dense plate that is pushed under the denser plate and becomes part of the mantle. |
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Term
| What are the two parts of Earth's core? What are they made of? How are they different? |
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Definition
inner core- is made of solid nickel and iron.
outer core- made of liquid iron and nickel |
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Term
| What is Continental Drift? Who is credited with the idea and was it accepted? Was it a hypothesis or a theory? What was Pangea? |
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Definition
| Continental Drift is the THEORY that all the continents were all once connected and formed a super continent called PANGEA and that the movement of the continents were caused by continental drift. Millions of year passed by and the continents broke apart and "floated" to where they are now. This theory was credited by ALFRED WEGENER and it was not accepted until much later time. |
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Term
| What is a mid-ocean ridge? What happens along the mid-ocean ridge? |
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Definition
) A mid-ocean ridge is a chain of mountains that extends into all of Earth’s oceans.
B) At a mid-ocean ridge, molten material rises from the mantle, and erupts. Also, it pushes the older rock to both sides of the mid-ocean ridge.
-Therefore, the younger rock is towards the middle of the ridge. |
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Term
| What are three pieces of evidence that confirmed Continental Drift? What was the new theory called after it was confirmed? |
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Definition
Fossils of plants and animals from different continents matched together
2) Africa looked like it could fit onto South America
3) each year, the continents are a few inches off from where they were the past year |
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Term
| What happens at divergent, convergent and transform plate boundaries? |
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Definition
divergent- tectonic plates move away from each other
convergent- plates come together and collide
transform- plates slide past each other horizontally |
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Term
| Where is the Ring of Fire? Why is it called this name? |
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Definition
| The Ring of Fire is located on the Pacific Rim. It is called that because the area around is filled with volcanic activity and earthquakes. |
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Term
| What is the difference between a rock and a mineral? |
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Definition
| A rock is a naturally occuring, organic solid. A mineral is a naturally occurring inorganic solid. Also, rocks are made of many minerals. |
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Term
| What is the difference between a mineral’s color and its streak? |
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Definition
Streak is the true color of a mineral. A mineral like quartz can be in many different colors, but have the same streak.
The streak of a mineral is the color of the powder of a mineral |
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Term
| What is luster? What is a metallic luster? Would quartz or diamond give off a metallic luster? |
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Definition
| Luster is the way light reflects off a mineral. Metallic luster is when a mineral has a metallic light to it (as opposed to many sparkles or no light reflecting at all). Neither quartz or diamond give off a metallic luster. |
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Term
| What do the physical properties of minerals called ductility and malleability describe? |
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Definition
| The flexibility of a mineral and capability of it being bent into another shape or form without breaking. |
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Term
| What is the difference between fracture and cleavage? |
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Definition
| Fracture is the way a mineral breaks on a curved surface and cleavage is the way a rock breaks in a straight surface. |
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Term
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Definition
| The Moh’s scale is a scale based on hardness of a mineral. 1 is the lowest mineral on the scale and it is very easily scratched. 10 is almost impossible to scratch and is a diamond. |
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Term
| Define density. What units are used for solid density? |
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Definition
| Density is mass divided by volume. |
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Term
| How are igneous rocks formed? What are the two different types? |
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Definition
| Igneous rocks are formed through melting and cooling. Two different types are extrusive and intrusive igneous rocks. |
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Term
| How are metamorphic rocks formed? What are the two different types? |
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Definition
| Metamorphic rocks are formed through heat and pressure. two different types are foliated and non-foliated metamorphic rock. |
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Term
| How are sedimentary rocks formed? What are the three different types? |
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Definition
| WEDCC: weathering, erosion, deposition, compaction, and cementation, |
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Term
| Define weathering, erosion, and deposition. |
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Definition
weathering- when rocks are broken down into smaller fragments.
erosion- when rock fragments are moved from place to place
deposition- when rock fragments are laid down in a new location |
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Term
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Definition
| Is a layer of soil or soil material that lies approximately to the land surface. It differs from adjacent related layers in properties such as: color structure, texture, consistence, and chemical, biological, and mineralogical composition. The presence or absence of certain diagnostic soil horizons determines the place of a soil in the classification system. |
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Term
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Definition
Loam is soil with slit, clay, sand.
Humus is organic matter that will not break down further. |
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Term
| What is a watershed? Why is “protecting” them important? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the water cycle? Where is water most often found/stored in the water cycle? |
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Definition
| The water cycle is a cycle in which water is moved and placed in another reservoir through precipitation. Water is mostly found and stored in the ocean. |
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Term
| What is the water cycle? Where is water most often found/stored in the water cycle? |
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Definition
| The water cycle is a cycle in which water is moved and placed in another reservoir through precipitation. Water is mostly found and stored in the ocean. |
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Term
| When precipitation hits the ground, what two things can happen? (use the correct terms) |
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Definition
| The rain either accumulates in one spot or the water gathers into nearby streams, rivers, oceans, etc. called runoff. |
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Term
| What is the dew point? Why is it a more important piece of data for meteorologists than just the temperature? |
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Definition
| The dew point is a temperature. Sometimes in the morning when it is cool enough for the water vapor to condense, you see drops of water on the grass. The outside temperature when that happens is the dew point. The dew point is important because it shows what temperature the water vapor will cool at. |
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Term
| What causes wind and tides? What about seasons? |
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Definition
| The moon has a gravitational pull to the Earth, water is pulled toward the moon causing tides. Wind is caused by air flowing from high pressure to low pressure. its direction is influenced by Earth’s rotation. Seasons depend on the position of the Earth, Sun; how much light/heat an area on Earth receives. |
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Term
| What are fossils? What does extinct mean? |
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Definition
| Fossils are the remains of a prehistoric organism with it’s shape engraved in rock. Extinct means that something does not exist anymore, that it has been completely wiped off the Earth. |
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