Geology quiz 1/26
Terms
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- The earth is _______ yrs old.
- 4.6 billion
- Catastrophism
- earth was formed at a specific time by a single event.
- Uniformitarianism
-
James Hutton- The father of geology.
"the present is the key to the past" - Lyell
- wrote first books on geology
- Holmes
- wrote first textbook
- Atmosphere
- the envelope of gas around the earth.
- Troposphere
- lower 50,000 of the atmosphere where all life and geology processes occur.
- Lithosphere
- solid rocks of the earth crust
- Crust
- 3-30 miles thick up to 60
- Sial
- light crust rocks
- Sima
- Heavy deep basement complex rocks
- Mantle
- molten rocks-magma- 1800 miles thick-3 layers.
- the three layers of the mantle
-
1-Asthenosphere- layers directly below the crust that EXERTSPRESSURE on the crust.
2-upper mantle
3-lower mantle - Core
- 2200 miles to the center- solid inner- liquid outer.
- What is mainly in the core?
- Mostly nickle and iron compounds
- Plate Tectonics Theory
- explains how the crust is broken in to 9 major and 22 minor chunks.
- Convection Cells
- Rotating units in the mantle that exert pressure on the crust.
- Three Plate Boundaries
-
1) Divergent- pulling apart (Crystal plates)...Rift Valleys, Volcanic Act, Mid ocean ridges.
2) Convergent- pushing together- result in subduction- trench formation and Volcanic act.- Continental collisions-mt. ranges.
3) Transformed- sliding (horizontal displacement) along a sliding plate boundary. (Cali) - Plate Tectonics
- Theory that the Earths lithosphere consists of large, rigid plates that move hoizontally in response to the flow of the asthenosphere beneith them, and that interactions among the plates at their borders cause most major geologic activity, including the creation of oceans, continents, mountains, volcanoes, and earthquakes.----9 main - 22 minor.
- Rock Cycle
- Natural transformation of PRIMARY IGNEOUS ROCKS into ROCKS-aggrogates composed of one or more minerals
- Igneous Rocks
- Rocks that form from molten solutions of MAGMA (below the surface) and Lava (on the surface)--> 95% of all
- Product of cooling and __________
- crystallization
- Metamorphic
- any rocks which are altered by heat and by pressure.
- Sedimentary
- form as either CLASTIC (fragment) accumulations or as organic precipitates.
- Lithification
- changing settlements to rock
- Minerals
-
-naturally occurring, INORGANIC, solids composed of elements, having distinct chemical and CRYSTALLINE properties.
-over 4,000 varieties
-most are compounds - crystalline
- distinct atomic structure carbon
- Formation
-
Below the surface
-Molten solution-igneous
-Through rushes of water - Atom
- smallest part of an element