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Geology Final (Sandvol)

Terms

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Breccia
A clastic sedimentary rock that's very coarse and angular grained.
Conglomerate
A clastic sedimentary rock that's very coarse and rounded grained.
Arkose
A clastic sedimentary rock that's coarse and angular grained.
Sandstone
A clastic sedimentary rock with sandsized clasts (primarily quartsz grains)
Shale
A clastic sedimentary rock with very fine grains.
Graywacke
A clastic sedimentary rock that contains a mixture of grain sizes.
Heliocentric Model
The model that says the earch and other heavenly bodies orbit the sun. It was proposed by Greek philosophers. Idea was was reviewed during the renissance by Galileo and Copernicus.

* They knew that this model was true by payinng attention to the phases of Venus and Mercury and how much they were illuminated by the sun.
Big Bang Theory
The thought that our universe began about 13 to 14 billion years ago with a cosmic "explosion."
Geocentric Model
The belief that all heavenly bodies rotated around the Earth. Also proposed byt the Greeks.

* This ide was rejected because Venus did go through different phases of illumination which proved that the planet rotated around the Sun and not Earth.
The Earth is approximately ...
5 billion years old
Earths magnetic Field
Is a dipole that is known to have experienced numerous polarity reversals, as demonstrated by remnant magnetization of iron-rich minerals in rocks.
Formation of the Solar System
Gravity caused nearby matter to move towards one another and the material rotated around a center of mass. As the matter condensed it contined to rotate faster and faster and angular momentum was conserved. Finally a diffused roughly spherical slowly rotating nebula began to contract.
The most common elements in our Univers and solar system are...
hydrogen and helium
The gas giants or Jovian planets are...
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
Earth's radius is approximately
6,370 km
Examples of chemical bonding
1. Covalent
2. Ionic
3. Metallic
Convection
When the difference in temperature in a fluid (ex. oceans, the atmospher, a pot of water on the stove, etc.) causes that fluid to flow and move.
Earth's Magnetic field is generated by whaty?
The flow of the liquid outer core.
The 4 most common elements on Earth are...
1. Iron
2. Magnesium
3. Silicon
4. Oxygen
Topographically; Most of the ocean floor is comprised of
Ocean plains
Natural Gas
When moten material freezes so quickly that the atoms do not have sufficient time to produce an orderly arrangement.
Moho
The seismic-velocity discontinuity that marks the crust-mantle boundary.
Crust v. Mantle
The crust and mantel have different compositions (mineral content).
Lithosphere v. Asthenosphere
They have differnt degrees of physical rigidity resulting from temperature. The asthenosphere is fluid and the lithosphere is more rigid.
Wegner's support for Pangea
1. The good fit of the outline of the continents.
2. The matching of distribution of similar fossils across the continents
3. Paleoclimatic evidence of extreme climate changes in some areas.
The thickness of Earth's crust
Approximately 5-80 km thick
Global Positioning System
Can be used to determine the rates of plate motion.
Magnetic declination
The difference between geographic north (direction towards the pole of Earth's rotational axis) and magnetic north at a given locality.
Sea-floor Spreading
Occurs along mid-ocean ridges. It also affects marine magnetic anomaly belts and makes them wider when sea-floor spreading rates are relatively rapid.
Theory of Plate Tectonics
Plates are discrete pieces of lithosphere at the surface of the solid Earth that move with respect ot one another. Tectonic plates might consist of either oceanic or continental lithosphere, or a combination of both.
Continental Crust v. Oceanic Crust
Continental crust is generally more silicic and thicker than typical oceanic crust.
The Lithosphere
Is composed of the crust and the uppermost mantle
Convergent plate boundaries
Convergent plate boundaries are two opposed plates that move towards one another. These boundaries are usually the site of the deepest earthquakes.
Triple Junction
A place on the Earth's surface where the boundaries of three lithosperic plates meet at a single point.
Marine Magnetic anomalies
Run parallel to mid-ocean ridges. During particularly rapid Sea-floor spreading they become much larger.
The Principle of Unifomitarianism
The geologic processes we observe today have operated in the past.
Hot Spots
Can occur within either continental or oceanic plates.
Mid-Ocean Ridge
Are divergent boundaries where the former rift valley when a continental rift successfully breaks a single continent into two discrete pieces. the youngest sea floor occurs along these ridges.
Continental Lithosphere v. Oceanic Lithospher
Continental lithosphere is thicker than oceanic lithosphere. Oceanic lithosphere thickens away from mid-ocean ridges primarily due to the addition of new lithosphere mantle as a result of cooling.
Minerals
Are naturally occuriring, crystalline, have a specific chemical composition
Silica Tetrahedra
Form the backbone of silicate minerals of silicon and oxygen atoms.
nuclear fusion
Fuels our Sun
Magnetostratigraphy
Takes advantage of the fact that Earth's magnetic field has experienced numerous polarity reversals.
Shield Volcanoes
Have the most gently sloping sides due to low viscosity of the lava flows that form them.
Caldera
A broad depresseion formed by a portion of the volcano that has collapsed due to an explosive or voluminous eruption.
Effusive eruptions
Non-violent eruptions characterized by extensive basaltic flows.

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