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
Internal Structure
Vocab
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Lithosphere | the rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle |
| Asthenosphere | the upper layer of the earth's mantle, below the lithosphere, in which there is relatively low resistance to plastic flow and convection is thought to occur |
| Magnetic Field | also known as the geomagnetic field, is the field that extends from the Earth's interior out into space, where it meets the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun |
| Hydrosphere | is the part of a planet that's made of water. Oceans, rivers, lakes, and clouds are all typically included |
| Magnetosphere | is the region around a planet dominated by the planet's magnetic field |
| Atmosphere | The blanket of gas on the surface of a planet or satellite. Note: The atmosphere of the Earth is roughly eighty percent nitrogen and twenty percent oxygen, with traces of other gases |
| Dynamo Effect | is a geophysical theory that explains the origin of the Earth's main magnetic field in terms of a self-exciting (or self-sustaining) dynamo |
| Continental Drift Hypothesis | Alfred Wegener was the scientist who proposed that the continents had once been joined, and over time had drifted apart |
| Subduction Zones | the process by which collision of the earth's crustal plates results in one plate's being drawn down or overridden by another, localized along the juncture (subduction zone) of two plates |
| Lamproites | ultrapotassic mantle-derived volcanic and subvolcanic rocks. Lamproites are geographically widespread yet are volumetrically insignificant. |
| Transform Plate Boundaries | where the two plates slide against each other in a sideways motion. As two plates slide past one another, in a transform boundary, neither plate is added to at the boundary, nor destroyed |
| Divergent Plate Boundaries | A tectonic boundary where two plates are moving away from each other and new crust is forming from magma that rises to the Earth's surface between the two plates |
| Convergent Plate Boundaries | also known as a destructive plate boundary (because of subduction), is an actively deforming region where two (or more) tectonic plates or fragments of the lithosphere move toward one another and collide |
| Conduction | the process by which heat or electricity is directly transmitted through a substance when there is a difference of temperature or of electrical potential between adjoining regions, without movement of the material. |
| Convection | the movement caused within a fluid by the tendency of hotter and therefore less dense material to rise, and colder, denser material to sink under the influence of gravity, which consequently results in transfer of heat |
| Radiation | the emission of energy as electromagnetic waves or as moving subatomic particles, especially high-energy particles that cause ionization |
| Plasma | an ionized gas consisting of positive ions and free electrons in proportions resulting in more or less no overall electric charge, typically at low pressures or at very high temperatures |
| Geomagnetic Reversals | A change in the Earth's magnetic field resulting in the magnetic north being aligned with the geographic south, and the magnetic south being aligned with the geographic north |
| Coriolis Effect | is an apparent deflection of the path of an object that moves within a rotating coordinate system. The object does not actually deviate from its path, but it appears to do so because of the motion of the coordinate system. |
| Ophiolite | an igneous rock consisting largely of serpentine, believed to have been formed from the submarine eruption of oceanic crustal and upper mantle material |
| Global Warming | a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants. |
| Plate Tectonics | a theory explaining the structure of the earth's crust and many associated phenomena as resulting from the interaction of rigid lithospheric plates that move slowly over the underlying mantle. |
| Doppler Effect | an increase (or decrease) in the frequency of sound, light, or other waves as the source and observer move toward (or away from) each other; causes the sudden change in pitch noticeable in a passing siren, as well as the redshift seen by astronomers. |
| Greenhouse Effect | the trapping of the sun's warmth in a planet's lower atmosphere due to the greater transparency of the atmosphere to visible radiation from the sun than to infrared radiation emitted from the planet's surface. |
| Mantle | the layer of the earth, about 1800 miles (2900 km) thick, between the crust and the core. |
| Seismograph | an instrument that measures and records details of earthquakes, such as force and duration. |
| Seismic Waves | a wave of energy that is generated by an earthquake or other earth vibration and that travels within the earth or along its surface. |
| Sea-Floor Spreading | the formation of new areas of oceanic crust, which occurs through the upwelling of magma at midocean ridges and its subsequent outward movement on either side. |
| Xenolith | A rock fragment foreign to the igneous mass in which it occurs. Xenoliths usually become incorporated into a cooling magma body when pieces of the rock into which the magma was injected break off and fall into it |
Created by:
averie.zamora
Popular Earth Science sets