Question
click below
click below
Question
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Geology Final Exam
Review for Geology Final Exam
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Where do Valley glaciers move and form? | in Mountains and move downwards |
What is the Mid ocean ridge? | an underwater mountain chain, deep narrow rift valley running t hrough its center it is above sea level in iceland |
What suppports the theory of continental drift? | rock formations, fossils, fit of continents |
what connects the magma to the volocnanos opening? | vents |
what are lacoliths | domed shaped masses of igneous rock |
What are plutons? | intrusive igneous rocks |
what are p waves? | primary, compressional, fastest and travel through anything |
what are s waves? | secondart and cant travel through liquid or gas |
how can epicenters be found? | triangulation of 3 seismographs |
what is a u shaped fold in a rock? | syncline |
what is a reverse fault | one side of fault palne driven up over other |
What are submarine canyons | anchient riverbed below sea level |
A(n) _____ is the sharp peak that remains after cirques have cut back into a mountain on several sides | horn |
Pencil lead is made of _____. | graphite |
Petroleum, natural gas and propane are all considered _____ because they formed from the buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. | fossil fuels |
Most geologic resources are ____, they form very slowly and are extracted much faster than nature replaces them. | nonrenewable |
deep center of the earthquake within the earth’s crust | focus |
point on the surface directly above the focus | epicenter |
How do glaciers flow? | Basal slip = they slide along their base. Plastic flow = the ice flows plastically (changes shape) |
How do glaciers erode rock? | Plucking - break off rock and carry the pieces away. Abrasion - rock fragments entrained in the ice act like sandpaper and grind away (abrade) bedrock. |
What is geothermal energy? | Hot water is produced when groundwater is heated by an igneous intrusion. Steam from the hot water is piped to the surface, where it drives turbines that generate electricity. |
What is nuclear energy? | Uranium = the energy source for nuclear reactors. Heat energy from fission of uranium is used to generate steam that drives turbines to generate electricity. |
Any rock altered in the solid state from preexisting rocks by any combination of heat, pressure, and chemically active fluids. | metamorphic rock |
Crust | The upper part of Earth’s lithosphere, which is separated from the mantle by the Moho; consists of continental crust with an overall granitic composition and thinner, denser oceanic crust made up of basalt and gabbro |
system | The fundamental unit in the hierarchy of time–related parts that interact in an organized manner. Earth’s systems include the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, as well as Earth’s lithosphere, mantle, and core. |
delta | A deposit of sediment where a stream or river enters a lake or the ocean |
Pangaea | Alfred Wegener’s name for a Late Paleozoic supercontinent made up of most of Earth’s landmasses |
hotspot | Localized zone of melting below the lithosphere; detected by volcanism at the surface. |
Wegener | Continental Drift |
theory | An explanation for some natural phenomenon with a large body of supporting evidence; theories must be testable by experiments and/or observations, such as plate tectonic theory. |
Magma | Molten rock material below the surface |
seafloor spreading | The phenomenon involving the origin of new oceanic crust at spreading ridges that then moves away from ridges and is eventually consumed at subduction zones |
Lava | Magma that reaches the surface. |
Asthenosphere | Part of the upper mantle over which the lithosphere moves; it behaves as a plastic and flows |
mass extinction | Greatly accelerated extinction rates resulting in marked decrease in biodiversity, such as the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous |
outer core/ inner core | The inner part of Earth from a depth of about 2900 km consisting of a liquid outer part and a solid inner part; probably composed mostly of iron and nickel. |
principle of superposition | A principle holding that sedimentary rocks in a vertical sequence formed one on top of the other so that the oldest layer is at the bottom of the sequence whereas the youngest is at the top |
Nonconformity | An unconformity in which stratified sedimentary rocks overlie an erosion surface cut into igneous or metamorphic rocks |
sedimentary rock | Any rock composed of (1) particles of preexisting rocks, (2) or made up of minerals derived from solution by inorganic chemical processes or by the activities of organisms, and (3) masses of consolidated organic matter as in coal. |
chemical sedimentary rock | Rock formed of minerals derived from materials dissolved during weathering |
glacier | a mass of ice on land that moves by plastic flow and basal slip |
principle of original horizontality | According to this principle, sediments are deposited in horizontal or nearly horizontal layers |
angular unconformity | An unconformity below which strata generally dip at a steeper angle than those above. |
parent element | An unstable element that changes by radioactive decay into a stable daughter element |
daughter element | An element formed by radioactive decay of another element, for example, argon 40 is the daughter element of potassium 40 |
valley glacier | a glacier confined to a mountain valley |
metamorphic rock | Any rock altered in the solid state from preexisting rocks by any combination of heat, pressure, and chemically active fluids. |
principle of cross-cutting relationships | A principle holding that an igneous intrusion or fault must be younger than the rocks it intrudes or cuts across |
Disconformity | A type of unconformity above and below which the strata are parallel |
convergent plate boundary | The boundary between two plates that move toward one another |
Fossil | Remains or traces of prehistoric organisms preserved in rocks |
Rock | An aggregate of one or more minerals as in granite (feldspars and quartz) and limestone (calcite), but also includes rocklike materials such as natural glass (obsidian) and consolidated organic material (coal). |
moraine | a ridge or mound of unsorted unstratified debris deposited by a glacier |
Hypothesis | A provisional explanation for observations that is subject to continual testing and modification if necessary. If well supported by evidence, hypotheses may become theories. |
divergent plate boundary | The boundary between two plates that move apart; characterized by seismicity, volcanism, and the origin of new oceanic lithosphere |
Mantle | The inner part of Earth surrounding the core, accounting for about 85% of the planet’s volume; probably composed of peridotite. |
transform plate boundary | Plate boundary along which adjacent plates slide past one another and crust is neither produced nor destroyed |
Atom | The smallest unit of matter that retains the characteristics of an element |
Lithosphere | The outer, rigid part of Earth consisting of the upper mantle, oceanic crust, and continental crust; lies above the asthenosphere. |
isostasy | the concept of earth’s crust floating on the more dense underlying mantle |
igneous rock | Rock formed when magma or lava cools and crystallizes and when pyroclastic materials become consolidated. |
cirque | a steep walled, bowl shaped depression formed on a mountainside by glacial erosion |
Mineral | Naturally occurring, inorganic, crystalline solid, having characteristic physical properties and a narrowly defined chemical composition |