Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Earth Science Terms
Midterm Study Guide Questions
| Definition | Term |
|---|---|
| Margins that consist of a continental shelf, continental slope, and continental rise. They are not associated with plate boundaries and therefore experience little volcanism and few earthquakes. | Passive Continental Margin |
| A large wedge- shaped mass of sediment that accumulates in subduction zones. Here, sediment is scrapped from the subducting oceanic plate and accreted to the overriding crustal block. | Accretionary Wedge |
| A crustal block bounded by faults, whose geologic history is distinct from the histories of adjoining crustal blocks. | Terrane |
| These steep-sided volcanoes erupt in an explosive manner. The explosiveness of their eruptions is due to the thick, highly viscous lava that is produced by composite cone volcanoes. | Composite Cone |
| As you might expect from the name, these volcanoes consist almost entirely of loose, grainy cinders consisting typically of basaltic and andesitic material and almost no lava. | Cinder Cone |
| Are less explosive than composite volcanoes, as the lava tends to pour out of the volcano's vent, creating the low-profile layers of lava that are characteristic of these volcanoes. | Shield Volcano |
| A very large igneous intrusion extending deep in the earth's crust. | Batholith |
| A body of intrusive igneous rock. | Pluton |
| A long wall or embankment built to prevent flooding from the sea. | Dike |
| The sudden release of stored strain in rocks that results in movement along a fault. | Elastic Reboud |
| A type of seismic wave that involves alternating compression and expansion of the material through which it passes. | Primary Wave |
| A seismic wave that involves oscillation perpendicular to the direction of propagation. | Secondary Wave |
| Seismic waves that travel along the outer layer of the Earth | Surface Wave |
| The very thin outermost layer of the earth. | Crust |
| The 2,900- km thick layer of Earth located below the crust. | Mantle |
| Located beneath the mantle, it is the inner most layer of the Earth. The Core is divided into an outer core and an inner core. | Core |
| A subdivision of the mantle situated below the lithosphere. This zone of weak material exists below a depth of about 100 km and in some regions extends as deep as 700km. The rock within this zone is easily deformed. | Asthenosphere |
| The ridged outer layer of Earth, including the crust and upper unit. | Lithosphere |
| An all-embracing term for sediments of glacial origin, no matter how, where, or in what shape they were deposited. | Glacial drift: |
| Sediments deposited by glacial meltwater | Stratified Drift |
| Unsorted sediment deposited directly by a glacier | Till |
| A steep-sided hill composed of sand and gravel originating when sediment is collected in openings in stagnant glacial ice. | Kame |
| Sinuous ridge composed largely of sand and gravel deposited by a stream flowing in a tunnel beneath a glacier near its terminus. | Esker |
| A relatively flat, gently sloping plain consisting of materials deposited by meltwater streams in front of the margin of an ice sheet. | Outwash Plain |
| Lateral moraines are parallel ridges of debris deposited along the sides of a glacier. The unconsolidated debris can be deposited on top of the glacier by frost shattering of the valley walls and/or from tributary streams flowing into the valley. | Moraine |
| An all-embracing term for sediments of glacial origin, no matter how, where, or in what shape they were deposited. | Glacial Drift |
| A streamlined asymmetrical hill composed of glacial till. The steep side of the hill faces the direction from which the ice advantage. | Drumlin |
| Depressions created when blocks of ice became lodged in glacial deposits and subsequently melted. | Kettle |
| An amphitheater-shaped basin at the head of a glaciated valley produced by frost wedging and plucking. | Cirque |
| A narrow knifelike ridge separating two adjacent glaciated valleys | Arête |
| A pyramid-like peak formed by glacial action in three or more cirques surrounding a mountain summit. | Horn |
| Is a barren area of land where little precipitation occurs and consequently living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to the processes of denudation. | Desert |
| A loosely compacted yellowish-gray deposit of windblown sediment of which extensive deposits occur, e.g., in eastern China and the American Midwest | Loess |
| A large area of flat unforested grassland in southeastern Europe or Siberia | Steppe |
| Unconsolidated sediment deposited by a stream. | Alluvium |
| A loop like bend in the course of a stream. | Meander |
| The area of active erosion on the outside of a meander. | Cut Bank |
| A crescent-shaped accumulation of sand and gravel deposited on the inside of a meander. | Point Bar |
| The size of a stream channel is largely determined by the amount of water supplied from the drainage basin. The measure most often used to compare the size of streams is discharge. | Stream Discharge |
| The upper level of the saturated zone of groundwater. | Water Table |
| The volume of open spaces in rock or soil. | Porosity |
| A measure of a material’s ability to transmit water. | Permeability |
| Rock or soil through which groundwater moves easily. | Aquifer |
| Is accomplished by physical forces that break rock into smaller and smaller pieces without changing the rocks mineral composition. | Mechanical Weathering |
| Involves a chemical transformation of rock into one or more new compounds. | Chemical Weathering |
| A consolidated mixture of minerals | Rock |
| A rock formed by the crystallization of molten magma. | Igneous Rock |
| Rocks formed by the alteration of preexisting rock deep within Earth (but still in the solid state) by heat, pressure, and/or chemically active fluids. | Metamorphic Rock |
| Rock formed from the weathered products of preexisting rocks that have been transported, deposited, and lithified. | Sedimentary Rock |
| Igneous rocks composed mainly of iron and magnesium-rich minerals. | Ultramafic |
| Describes the overall appearance of an igneous rock, based on the size and arrangement of its interlocking crystals. | Texture |
| Process of generally cementation and/or compaction, of converting sediments to solid rock. | Lithify |
| A substance that cannot be decomposed into simpler substances by ordinary chemical or physical means. | Element |
| Isotope: Varieties of the same element that have different mass numbers; their nuclei contain the same number of protons but different numb | Isotope |
| A chemical bond formed by the sharing of a pair of electrons between atoms. | Covalent Bond |
| The attraction of oppositely charged ions to one another, producing an electrically neutral compound. | Ionic Bond |
| Any naturally occurring inorganic solid that possesses an orderly crystalline structure that can be represented by a chemical formula. | Mineral |
| Is the appearance or quality of light reflected from the surface of a mineral. A luster can be described as a Metallic, Submetallic, and a Nonmetallic Luster. Metallic Lusters are when minerals appear to look as if they were metal regardless of their colo | Mineral Luster |
| Streak is the color of the mineral in powdered form. It is used as identification. | Streak |
| is the measure of resistance of a mineral to abrasion or scratching. It is determined by rubbing a mineral of unknown hardness against one of known hardness. | Hardness |
| is the tendency of a mineral to break or cleave along planes of weak bonding. It can be identified by the relatively smooth, flat surfaces that are produced when the mineral is broken. | Cleavage |
| Is defined as mass per unit of volume and is often expressed in grams per cubic centimeter. It is an important property of matter. | Density |
| Is minerals having chemical bonds that are equally or nearly equal, strong in all directions. When minerals fracture most produce uneven surfaces and are described as exhibiting irregular fracture. But smooth breaks are called conchoidal fractures. | Fracture |
Created by:
haydanss
Popular Earth Science sets