Term
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Definition
| study of climate and its variability, including long-term weather patterns over time and space and the controls that produce Earth's diverse climatic conditions |
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Definition
| climate types- determined by temperature and precipitation |
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| shows monthly temperature and precipitation for a representative weather station at a selected city |
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| North America climate type? |
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Definition
| humid subtropical hot-summer and dry-winter climates along southeastern US. OFten have dramatic thunderstorms and tornadoes |
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| Eastern US climate anomaly |
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Definition
| In Appalachian highlands, which are in the humid subtropical hot-summer area, increased elevation affects temps causing a cooler summer and isolated area of marine west coast climate |
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Definition
| humid continental hot-summer until 98 degrees West. This type of climate has the warmest summer temps |
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Definition
| humid continental mid-summer goes from northern planes into northeast region, from N Dakota to Maine. Less precipitation than the south but more snow |
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Definition
| Soil that is below the surface and partially frozen. Releases methane when melts. Found in subarctic climates |
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Definition
| continuous layer of ice covering an extensive continental region. Ice cap is smaller in extent. Melting of ice sheets is main reason for sea level rise, esp Greenland |
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| 3 Key Elements of Climate Change Science |
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Definition
1) study of past climates
2) measurement of current climate change
3) modeling and projection of future climate scenarios |
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Definition
| human activities producing Co2 is adding to Earth's greenhouse gases. Population increase in 1950 caused spike and now is at it's highest level since dinosaurs. Most recorded in May and least in October |
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Definition
| study of Earth's past climates. Use proxies that can go way back to measure this. Ex: tree rings, ice cores, fossils and rocks (speleothems which can be radiocarbon dated) |
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Term
| Lyell's theory of Uniformitarianism |
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Definition
| Said that the past is the key to the present. Everything that happens today has happened in the past |
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| Basis for long-term climate reconstruction |
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Definition
| Isotope Analysis. Important: Oxygen isotopes. O16 ad O18. 16 is lighter (more common) and is found in time of glacial highs and 18 is heavier and found in sediment cores as well as microorganisms because it is in water as well as calcium carbonate. These are more stable than radiocarbon |
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Term
| What geological epoch are we in? What was before |
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Definition
| Holocene. 11,700 years ago to now. Interglacial period (not ice age). Pleistocene was 11,700- 2 million years ago |
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Definition
| measuring the rate of decay of atomic carbon (C14) by using it's half life, the time it takes for half of a sample to decay. C14's half life is 5730 years. |
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Definition
| annual layers of lake sediments that can be seen in lake cores and contain pollen charcoal and fossils that can be dated using carbon isotopes. |
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Definition
| Dating of tree rings. studying the climate with these rings is dendroclimatology* |
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Definition
| Limestone (sedimentary rock that is easily dissolved by water) makes stalactites (on ceiling) and stalagmites. Speleothems form as water drips or seeps from the rocks and the water evaporates leaving residue of CaCO3 that builds up over thousands of years. They have rings that can tell us about precipitation, temperature, and humidity. Have oxygen and carbon isotopes. |
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Definition
| Last glacial maximum, about 20,000 years ago) |
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Definition
| Younger Dryas. About 14,000 years ago it was warm and then temperatures dropped again and it was called Younger Dryas. This means it went back to glacial conditions because the thermohaline cycle was shut down, about 11,700 years ago. |
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Term
| Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) |
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Definition
| 800-1200. Mild climatic episode which meant temps were warmer and people started to settle and grow crops further north. Ended with Little Ice Age |
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| Natural Mechanisms that affect Earth's climate |
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Definition
| solar variability (irradiance or insolation), Earth's orbital cycles, continental position and topography, atmospheric gases and aerosols, climate feedbacks and the carbon budget |
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Definition
| synonymous with insolation. Sun's output of energy toward Earth. Has increased by 1/3 since formation of solar system, and when sunspot activity is high the solar output increases. On an 11 year cycle. |
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Term
| Long term and recent solar variability |
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Definition
| Maunder minimum was little sunspots and caused Little Ice Age. IPCC says solar irradiance hasn't been much of a factor in recent climate changes because temp is increasing but we are in a solar minimum. |
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Term
| How Earth's orbital cycles affect climate change |
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Definition
| distance from sun (varies due to orbital path), orientation to sun (changes because of Earth's wobble on it's axis), varying axial tilt. Shape of ellipse changes on 100,000 year cycle |
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Definition
| Ellipse. The shape of Earth's orbit changes. Ellipse means farther away from sun and takes longer to get around |
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Definition
| Earth's wobble which changes the orientation of the hemispheres and land masses to the sun |
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Definition
| Earth's axial tilt. Varies from 21.5 degrees to 24.5 on a 41,000 year period. Right now it is on 23.5. |
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Definition
| Consitent orbital cycles that influence Earth's climate system. Important cause of glacial-inter-glacial cycles |
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Definition
| processes that either amplify or reduce climatic trends, toward either warming or cooling |
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| Biggest source of natural CO2 |
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Definition
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| 20th Century Temperatures |
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Definition
| 2000-2010 warmest decade in NH. Data from long term climate reconstructions point to the present time as warmest in 120,000 years. |
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Definition
| doesn't affect sea level rise because the volume stays the same. Arctic sea ice known as pack ice is important for global climate because of its effects on surface albedo |
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Definition
| Value based on average tidal levels recorded hourly at a given site over many years. Used as a reference to elevation on Earth. Overall sea level changes relate to temperature |
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Definition
| Rate of rise along US east coast is greater than along the west coast. 2/3 comes from melting of land ice and 1/3 comes from thermal expansion of sea-water that occurs as oceans absorb heat from the atmosphere |
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Term
| Greenhouse gas's affect depends on three factors |
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Definition
| which wavelengths of energy the gas absorbs, the gas's residence time, and length of time that it resides in the atmosphere |
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Definition
| 402 ppm. Fossil fuel burning accounts for 70% of co2 emissions |
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Term
| Methane as greenhouse gas |
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Definition
| second most prevalent in atmosphere after carbon dioxide. Has 12 year residence time. 2/3 of sources are anthropogenic |
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Term
| Nitrous Oxide as greenhouse gas |
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Definition
| third most important greenhouse gas and is produced by human activity. residence time is 120,00 years and the recent rise is due to emissions associated with agriculture |
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Term
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Definition
| gases only produced by human activities that have high global warming potential, Fluorinated gases are a large portion of this groups and the most important is CFC's and hCF's which were produced to replace CFCs but are still bad. Levels decreased after Montreal Protocol. Most potent greenhouse gases and have longest residence times |
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Term
| Radiative Forcing/Climate forcing |
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Definition
| describes the amount by which some perturbation causes Earth's energy balance to deviate from 0. Positive forcing means warming and negative means cooling. |
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Definition
| has negative forcing on Earth |
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| Factors that cause positive forcing (warming) |
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Definition
| greenhouse gases, stratospheric water vapor, black carbon on snow, and contrail cirrus clouds |
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Definition
| Guessed that sea levels will rise 1 foot in the lowest areas and 6.6 feet on the high end |
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Definition
| 84 countries signed this in 1997. Legally binding international agreement that set specific targets to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. |
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Term
| Endogenic and exogenic processes |
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Definition
-Endogenic: operate at Earth's interior and are driven by heat and radioactive decay
-Exogenic: processes at the surface driven by solar energy and the movement of air, water, and ice |
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Definition
| study of Earth's history, composition, internal structure, surface features, and processes acting on them. |
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Definition
| Study of Earth's landforms- a subfield of both physical geography and geology, Primarily related to exogenic systems and is ongoing |
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| Geologic TIme Scale biggest to smallest units |
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Definition
| Eons, eras, periods, epochs. We are in Cenozoic era, quaternary period, and holocene epoch |
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Definition
| Age of one feature with respect to another within a sequence of events. based on law of superposition (things on top are younger) |
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Definition
| oldest rocks. 4 billion years old, know because of zircon which has a very long half life |
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Definition
| shock waves that travel throughout the planet and can tell us about the composition/state of material under the Earth's surface through velocity and direction. This is the science of seismic tomography |
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Definition
| third of Earth's mass but only a sixth of its volume. Outer and inner core separated by Gutenberg Discontinuity. |
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Definition
| about 80% of earth's total volume, there's an upper and lower, it is rich in iron and magnesium. Dark and mafic material that grades to lesser densities towards the top. |
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Definition
| undulations and other variations in the shape of Earth's surface, plus its relief |
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Definition
| 11 day period in 2000 when instruments on the Space Shuttle surveyed about 4/5 of Earth's land surface |
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Definition
| 1) coarsest level of landforms including continental landmasses and ocean basins 2) intermediate level of landforms including mountain ranges, plains, lowlands, mid-oceanic ridges, ocean trenches. 3) |
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Definition
| separates uppermost mantle from the crust. 1 mile |
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| measurement of land elevation relative to sea level. 12.5 miles from highest peak on Earth to lowest oceanic trench (low relief) Mt Everest to Mariana Trench (subduction zone) |
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| Three Categories of Crustal Regions |
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Definition
| residual mountains and stable continental cratons, tectonic mountains and landforms, volcanic landforms |
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Definition
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Definition
| large region where a crayon is exposed at the surface. sedimentary rocks surrounds them. Most stable rocks on Earth's crust. In areas that are not tectonically active |
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Definition
| different number of neutrons and therefore a changed atomic weight |
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Definition
| originates in asthenosphere and wells up along mid-ocean ridges. Goes back down into magma, remelts, and then rises again in the form of intrusive granitic igneous rock to form more continental crust |
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Definition
| crustal pieces that became attached to the major tectonic plates. They can be called micro plates or exotic terranes. Particularly prevalent in regions surrounding Pacific Ocean |
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Definition
| any force that affects an object. Measured as force per unit area & the three types are tension (stretching), compression (shortening) and shear (parallel movement) |
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Definition
| dimensionless measure of the amount of deformation undergone by an object. Seen in rocks by folding or faulting. Whether a rock breaks is determined by its composition and the amount of pressure it undergoes |
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Definition
| occurs when rocks are deformed as a result of compressional stress and shortening |
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Definition
| arch-shaped upward fold that shows up in folding. Natural gas is found here because it is usually made of permeable rocks like sandstone that will collect oil. When eroded forms DOME. Oldest rocks at center |
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Definition
| trough shaped downward fold. strata slope upward away from the center axis. Erosion may form a synclinal ridge. If one is uplifted and then erodes over time it can form a BASIN. Oldest rock strata are at outside of circular structure |
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Definition
| horizontal line when there is folding that defines the part of the fold with the sharpest curvature. if it is not parallel with Earth's surface it is said to be plunging or dipped down at an angle |
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Definition
| Occurs when rocks on either side of the fracture shift relative to the other side |
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Definition
| areas where the fractures in the rock demonstrate crustal movement. |
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Definition
| the fracture surface along which the two sides of a fault move. Tilt and orientation of this are the basis for differentiating between types of faults |
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Definition
| Caused by tensional stress |
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Definition
| caused by compressional stress. Rocks move up along the fault plane |
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Definition
| caused by lateral shearing stress |
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Definition
| downward shifting side of a fault which drops relative to the footwall block |
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Definition
| displacement of the ground surface caused by faulting |
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Definition
| occurs when the fault plane forms a low angle relative to the horizontal. the overlying block has shifted far over the underlying block |
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Definition
| lateral shear causes horizontal movement along a plane. Occurs along transform plate boundary. Ex: San Andreas fault |
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Definition
| applies to upward faulted blocks. |
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| down faulted block. Western US has a lot, in the form of mountain ranges with valleys in between. Great Basin example |
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Definition
| large region that is identified by several geologic or topographic traits |
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Definition
| physiographic province recognized for its north-and-south-trending basins and mountains. They're roughly parallel mountains and valleys that are aligned pairs of normal faults |
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| mountain building landscape |
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Definition
1) oceanic-continental: produces subduction zone as the denser oceanic plate goes below
2) oceanic oceanic collision: can produce curving belts of mountains called island arcs that rise from the ocean floor
3) continental continental: mainly mechanical, subject to intense folding, overthrusting, faulting, and uplifting. ex himalayas |
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Definition
| pacific plate area and surrounding area is subduction zone |
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Term
| Tilted Fault Block Mountain Range |
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Definition
| Tetons and Sierra Nevada. Normal fault along one side of a range produces a tilted linear landscape |
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Term
| Appalachian Mountain Regions |
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Definition
| App Plateau, Ridge and Valley Province, Blue Ridge Province, Piedmont, Coastal Plain |
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Definition
| Western edge, plateau of eroded sedimentary rock |
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| Ridge and Valley Province |
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Definition
| consists of elongated sequences of older sedimentary strata. folded anticlines and synclines form prominent linear ridges. |
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Definition
| crystalline rock, where NC Virginia and TN converge |
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| region of hilly to gentle terrain along most of the eastern and southern margins of the mountains. Where we are. |
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| consists of gentle hills descending to flat plains that extend to the Atlantic Coast |
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| Area in GA where the rocks change dramatically |
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| Rivers that show where the watercourse flows through a mountain ridge. Means that river was there before the mountains |
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| When humans drilling or putting waste into water (like oil and gas) causes earthquake activity. |
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| Focus is the subsurface area where motion of seismic waves is initiated and the area at the surface directly above that is the epicenter |
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Definition
| roman numeral scale for earthquakes |
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Definition
| measure of energy released and provides way to compare earthquake size. |
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| Amplitude of an Earthquake |
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Definition
| height of seismic wave and directly related to the amount of ground movement |
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Definition
| size and timing of maximum seismic wave height |
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Definition
| earthquake scale that is more accurate for large earthquakes than the Richter Scale. Considers the seismic moment |
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Definition
| stud of the mechanics of how a fault breaks. 2 ides along fault are locked by friction and then they eventually break |
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Definition
| one approach to earthquake casting where you look at history of plate boundaries and the frequency of past earthquakes |
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Definition
| has erupted at least once in recorded history |
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| Three places for volcanic activity |
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Definition
1)subduction boundaries: continental-oceanic plate convergence or oceanic-oceanic plate convergece
2) seafloor spreading centers: along the ocean floor and along areas of rifting on continental plates
3)hot spots: where individual plumes of magma rise to the surface |
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Definition
| rough and jagged basalt with sharp edges |
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Definition
| shiny and smooth basalt that resembles coiled, twisted rope |
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Definition
| circular surface depression found at or near the summit of a volcano |
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Definition
| small, cone-shaped hill less than 1500 feet high associated with volcanoes. made of loose material and doesn't stay on landscape for very long |
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Definition
| large basin shaped depression that forms when summit material on a volcanic mountain collapses inward after an eruption or other loss of magma |
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Definition
| outpouring of low-viscosity magma. Comes from linear vents (fissures) or the flank of a volcano through a side vent. Forms gently slope mountain called a shield volcano. |
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Definition
| driven by the pressure buildup in magma Two types of magma have merged together and formed a plug that eventually had too much pressure on it and broke. Makes composite volcano |
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Definition
| Youngest and most active volcano in Cascade range. Composite. No activity in last 120 years. Largest slumping event and largest landslide. |
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Definition
| makes up small fraction of Earth's mass, thickness varies. Oceanic about three miles on average and continental 19 miles regularly and 31-37 under mountains |
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| Contents of Oceanic vs Continental Crust |
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Definition
| granite is main thing in continental and basalt is main thing in oceanic. Oceanic is way lighter |
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Term
| Two ways to classify Earth's layers |
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Definition
chemical- core, mantle crust
rigid or plastic- lithosphere and asthenosphere |
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Definition
| includes curst and uppermost mantle. Rigid cooler layer of Earth |
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Definition
| plastic layer, lies within mantle |
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Definition
| principle that something less dense floats in something more dense |
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Definition
| Balance between buoyancy and gravitational forces. Explains elevations of continents and depths of ocean floors as determined by vertical movements of Earth's crust |
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Definition
| Uplift of crust after the removal of a surface load |
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Definition
| fluid outer core creates 90% of the magnetic field on Earth and every now and then (9 times in last 4 million years) the magnetic field fades to zero and then completely switches to south pole |
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Definition
| inorganic, nonliving, natural solid compound. specific chemical formula possessing a crystalline structure |
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Definition
| study of the composition, properties, and classification of minerals |
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Definition
| made of silicon and oxygen and are 95% of Earth's crust |
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Definition
| assemblage of minerals bound together, or a mass of a single mineral, or undifferentiated material, or solid organic material like coal |
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Definition
| Movement of material by the three main rock processes |
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Definition
| formed from molten material. 90% of Earth's crust. Intrusive or extrusive based on if it cools above or below the surface |
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Definition
| formed from compaction or chemical processes |
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Definition
| altered by heat and pressure |
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Definition
| Intrusive igneous rock body that cool slowly in the crust form these |
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Definition
| largest plutonic form made of multiple plutons |
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Definition
| smaller plutons that include magma conduits of ancient volcanoes and form parallel to layers of sedimentary rock |
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Definition
| plutons that cross layers of the rock they invade |
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Definition
| a lens shaped body where magma has bulged between rock strata |
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