Question | Answer |
Magma | Liquid rock in the Earth |
Deforestation | Act of cutting down trees |
Plate Tectonics | Theory that Earth's crust is divided into rigid plates moving across the mantle |
Continental Drift | Process by which Earth's plates slowly move across the mantle |
Evaporation | Process by which the suns heat turns a liquid into a gas |
Condensation | Process by which air cools and gas turns into a liquid forming clouds |
Watershed | An entire region drained by a river and its tributaries |
Drainage Basin | A region drained by a river and its tributaries |
Ore | Mineral-bearing rocks |
Desalinazation | Process by which salt is removed from seawater |
Weathering | Process by which rocks break and decay over time |
Erosion | Movement of surface material from one place to another by means of water, wind and ice |
Fault | Places where rock masses have been broken apart and are moving away from each other |
Estuaries | An area where a river meets and ocean or sea and saltwater mixes with freshwater |
Water Table | The groundwater level at which all the cracks spaces in rock are filled with water |
Landform | A geographic feature created by plate tectonics, weathering and erosion |
Precipitation | clouds become heavy and gravity pulls the Water to the ground and returns it to the lakes, rivers and water table |
Convergent Fault | Plates collide and can create mountains or a subduction zone |
Divergent Fault | Plates spread apart and create trenches and volcanoes |
Strike-Slip Fault | Plates rub together and create earthquakes |
Rift Valley | Places on the earth's surface where the crust stretches until it cracks |
Abyssal Plains | Area of the ocean floor where rocks sink because they have no heat below to support them |
Continental Shelves | Areas where continental surfaces extend under the shallow waters around the continents |
Sediment | Small particles of weathered rock |
Headwaters | first and smallest streams formed from the run off of mountains forming rivers |
Tributaries | any smaller river that flows into a larger one |
Groundwater | Water found below the surface |
Humus | Broken down plant and animal matter in soil |
Leaching | Downward movement of minerals and humus in soils |
Soil Exhaustion | Condition where soil has lost its nutrients and is nearly useless for growing crops |
Irrigation | Process where water is artificially supplied to the land |
Aquifer | Rock layers where groundwater is plentiful |
Fossil Fuels | Energy resources made from the remains of ancient plants and animals |