Question | Answer |
compares the strengths of earthquakes using a range of numbers from 2-9 | Richter scale |
a large mass of slowly moving ice that gravity causes to move downhill gradually, shaping the land in many ways | glacier |
an instrument used by people who study earthquakes to record vibrations | seismograph |
formed when one plate sinks under another, forcing magma up through an opening in earth's crust and out onto earth's surface | volcano |
the point at which rock first breaks or moves, causing an earthquake | focus |
layer of impermeable rock where groundwater can accumulate & flow freely | aquifer |
heated water that rises to the surface & erupts in a fountain of hot water & steam | geyser |
dark-colored matter in the soil formed when dead plants & animals decay | humus |
crack in the earth's crust along which rock layers move | fault |
processes that gradually break rock down into smaller & smaller fragments | weathering |
formed when a glacier melts and deposits its sediments at the base of a mountain | moraine |
theory which states that the lithosphere is made up of a series of larger & smaller plates that fit together like puzzle pieces | plate tectonics |
rocks & soil that have eroded away from riverbeds & are carried along by the river, helping to sculpt or mold the land | sediments |
fossil of an organism that existed on earth for a short time over a wide area | index fossil |
solid layer of earth's crust that floats in plates on a layer of melted rock | lithosphere |
1st layer of the soil profile | topsoil |
most frequently occur along plate boundaries when plates shift due to a build-up of pressure under the plate | earthquakes |
most frequently occur along cracks in earth's crust which are formed when one plate is subducted under another | volcanos |
2nd layer of the soil profile | subsoil |
point along a fault where rock first breaks or moves, causing an earthquake | focus |
all earth's continents were once thought to have been part of this single supercontinent | pangaea |
circle of volcanos surrounding the Pacific Ocean | Ring of Fire |
reason why earth appears to be older than it is | God created it with age |
3rd layer of the soil profile | bedrock |