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Earth & Space Vocab
Earth & Space Vocabulary Words
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Lithosphere | The rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle. |
| Transform Plate Boundaries | Is a type of fault whose relative motion is predominantly horizontal, in either a sinistral (left lateral) or dextral (right lateral) direction. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| Magnetic field | A region around a magnetic material or a moving electric charge within which the force of magnetism acts. |
| Convergent 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. |
| Doppler Effect | An increase/decrease in the frequency of sound, light, or other waves as the source and observer move toward (or away from) each other. The effect causes the sudden change in pitch noticeable in a passing siren, as well as the redshift. |
| Hydrosphere | All the waters on the earth's surface, such as lakes and seas, and sometimes including water over the earth's surface, such as clouds. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| Magnetosphere | The region surrounding the earth or another astronomical body in which its magnetic field is the predominant effective magnetic field. |
| 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. |
| Mantle | The region of the earth's interior between the crust and the core, believed to consist of hot, dense silicate rocks (mainly peridotite). |
| Atmosphere | The envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet. |
| Radiation | The emission of energy as electromagnetic waves or as moving subatomic particles, especially high-energy particles that cause ionization. |
| Seismograph | An instrument that measures and records details of earthquakes, such as force and duration |
| Dynamo Effect | A geophysical theory that explains the origin of the Earth's main magnetic field in terms of a self-exciting (or self-sustaining) dynamo. |
| 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 (as in the upper atmosphere and in fluorescent lamps) or at very high temperatures. |
| Seismic waves | An elastic wave in the earth produced by an earthquake or other means. |
| Continental Drift Hypothesis | The idea that all of the continents were once formed together. |
| Geomagnetic reversals | Change in a planet's magnetic field such that the positions of magnetic north and magnetic south are interchanged, while geographic north and geographic south remain the same. |
| Seafloor 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. |
| Subduction zone | A subduction zone is the biggest crash scene on Earth. These boundaries mark the collision between two of the planet's tectonic plates. |
| Coriolis Effect | An effect whereby a mass moving in a rotating system experiences a force acting perpendicular to the direction of motion and to the axis of rotation. |
| Xenolith | A piece of rock within an igneous rock that is not derived from the original magma but has been introduced from elsewhere, especially the surrounding country rock. |
| Lamproites | Lamproites are ultrapotassic mantle-derived volcanic and subvolcanic rocks. |
| Ophiolite | An igneous rock consisting largely of serpentine, believed to have been formed from the submarine eruption of oceanic crustal and upper mantle material. |
Created by:
kaleybarfield
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