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For Studying for finals

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Term
Definition
Geosphere   any of the almost spherical concentric regions of matter that make up the earth and its atmosphere, as the lithosphere and hydrosphere.  
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Biosphere   the regions of the surface, atmosphere, and hydrosphere of the earth (or analogous parts of other planets) occupied by living organisms.  
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Cryosphere   The Cryosphere is the frozen water part of the Earth system  
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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.  
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Atmosphere   the envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet.  
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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.  
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Divergent 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.  
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Convergent Boundaries   A tectonic boundary where two plates are moving toward each other. If the two plates are of equal density, they usually push up against each other, forming a mountain chain.  
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Transform Boundaries   Many transform boundaries are found on the sea floor, where they connect segments of diverging mid-ocean ridges. California's San Andreas fault is a transform boundary.  
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Plate Boundary Zones   Plate boundary zones are the zones of interaction between adjacent plates where they collide, pull apart or slide past each other. These zones may be anything from a few kilometres to a few hundred kilometres wide.  
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Open System   a material system in which mass or energy can be lost to or gained from the environment.  
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Closed System   a closed system is a physical system that doesn't exchange any matter with its surroundings, and isn't subject to any force whose source is external to the system  
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Half-Lifes   the time taken for the radioactivity of a specified isotope to fall to half its original value.  
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Pangea   Pangaea or Pangea was a super-continent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It assembled from earlier continental units approximately 335 million years ago, and it began to break apart about 175 million years ago.  
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Crater   a large, bowl-shaped cavity in the ground or on the surface of a planet or the moon, typically one caused by an explosion or the impact of a meteorite or other celestial body.  
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Lithosphere   the rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.  
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Mantle   the region of the earth's interior between the crust and the core, believed to consist of hot, dense silicate rocks (mainly peridotite).  
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Crust   form into a hard outer layer.  
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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.  
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Mesosphere   the region of the earth's atmosphere above the stratosphere and below the thermosphere, between about 30 and 50 miles (50 and 80 km) in altitude.  
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Core   the dense central region of a planet, especially the nickel–iron inner part of the earth.  
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Ejecta   material that is forced or thrown out, especially as a result of volcanic eruption, meteoritic impact, or stellar explosion.  
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Law of superposition   a basic law of geochronology, stating that in any undisturbed sequence of rocks deposited in layers, the youngest layer is on top and the oldest on bottom, each layer being younger than the one beneath it and older than the one above it.  
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Meteoroids   a small body moving in the solar system that would become a meteor if it entered the earth's atmosphere.  
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Meteorites   a meteor that survives its passage through the earth's atmosphere such that part of it strikes the ground. More than 90 percent of meteorites are of rock, while the remainder consist wholly or partly of iron and nickel.  
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Comet   a celestial object consisting of a nucleus of ice and dust and, when near the sun, a “tail” of gas and dust particles pointing away from the sun.  
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Asteroid   a small rocky body orbiting the sun. Large numbers of these, ranging in size from nearly 600 miles (1,000 km) across (Ceres) to dust particles, are found (as the asteroid belt ) especially between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter  
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Uniformitarianism   the theory that changes in the earth's crust during geological history have resulted from the action of continuous and uniform processes.  
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Relative age   The geologic age of a fossil organism, rock, or geologic feature or event defined relative to other organisms, rocks, or features or events rather than in terms of years.  
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Strata   a layer or a series of layers of rock in the ground.  
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Absolute age   the true age of a rock or fossil.  
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Radiometric Dating   a method of dating geological or archeological specimens by determining the relative proportions of particular radioactive isotopes present in a sample.  
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Carbon Dating   the determination of the age or date of organic matter from the relative proportions of the carbon isotopes carbon-12 and carbon-14 that it contains.  
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Geologic Time Scale   is a system of chronological dating that relates geological strata (stratigraphy) to time.  
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Isotope   each of two or more forms of the same element that contain equal numbers of protons but different numbers of neutrons in their nuclei, and hence differ in relative atomic mass but not in chemical properties  
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Subduction   the sideways and downward movement of the edge of a plate of the earth's crust into the mantle beneath another plate.  
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Trench   a long, narrow, deep depression in the ocean floor, typically one running parallel to a plate boundary and marking a subduction zone.  
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Volcano   a mountain or hill, typically conical, having a crater or vent through which lava, rock fragments, hot vapor, and gas are being or have been erupted from the earth's crust.  
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Erosion   the process of eroding or being eroded by wind, water, or other natural agents.  
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Plate Boundary   Earth's outer layer, the crust, is divided into a set of large moving plates.  
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Mid-Ocean Ridge   a long, seismically active submarine ridge system situated in the middle of an ocean basin and marking the site of the upwelling of magma associated with seafloor spreading. An example is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.  
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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.  
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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.  
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Mountains   a large natural elevation of the earth's surface rising abruptly from the surrounding level; a large steep hill.  
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Volcanic Arc   Volcanic arcs form as the result of rising magma formed by the melting of the downgoing plate.  
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Hot Spot   a small area or region with a relatively hot temperature in comparison to its surroundings.  
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Oceanic Crust   the relatively thin part of the earth's crust that underlies the ocean basins. It is geologically young compared with the continental crust and consists of basaltic rock overlain by sediments.  
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Continental Crust   the relatively thick part of the earth's crust that forms the large landmasses. It is generally older and more complex than the oceanic crust.  
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Ridge Push   Ridge push or sliding plate force is a proposed driving force for plate motion in plate tectonics that occurs at mid-ocean ridges.  
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Slab Pull   Slab pull is the portion of motion of a tectonic plate that can be accounted for by its subduction.  
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Fault   an extended break in a body of rock, marked by the relative displacement and discontinuity of strata on either side of a particular surface.  
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Matter   physical substance in general, as distinct from mind and spirit; (in physics) that which occupies space and possesses rest mass, especially as distinct from energy.  
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Energy   power derived from the utilization of physical or chemical resources, especially to provide light and heat or to work machines.  
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System   (in chronostratigraphy) a major range of strata that corresponds to a period in time, subdivided into series.  
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First Law of Thermodynamics   the branch of physical science that deals with the relations between heat and other forms of energy (such as mechanical, electrical, or chemical energy), and, by extension, of the relationships between all forms of energy.  
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Second law of Thernodynamics   The laws of thermodynamics describe the relationships between thermal energy, or heat, and other forms of energy, and how energy affects matter.  
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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.  
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Nitrogen Cycle   the series of processes by which nitrogen and its compounds are interconverted in the environment and in living organisms, including nitrogen fixation and decomposition.  
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Nitrogen Fixation   the chemical processes by which atmospheric nitrogen is assimilated into organic compounds, especially by certain microorganisms as part of the nitrogen cycle.  
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Carbon Cycle   involving the incorporation of carbon dioxide into living tissue by photosynthesis and its return to the atmosphere through respiration, the decay of dead organisms, and the burning of fossil fuels.  
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Carbonate   a salt of the anion CO32–, typically formed by reaction of carbon dioxide with bases.  
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Photosynthesis   the process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water  
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Cellular Respiration   Cellular respiration is a set of metabolic reactions and processes that take place in the cells of organisms to convert biochemical energy from nutrients into adenosine triphosphate  
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Phosphorus Cycle   The phosphorus cycle is the biogeochemical cycle that describes the movement of phosphorus through the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere  
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Water Cycle   the cycle of processes by which water circulates between the earth's oceans, atmosphere, and land, involving precipitation as rain and snow, drainage in streams and rivers, and return to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration.  
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Condensation   the conversion of a vapor or gas to a liquid.  
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Precipitation   the action or process of precipitating a substance from a solution.  
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Evaporation   the process of turning from liquid into vapor.  
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Ecology   the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.  
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Abiotic   physical rather than biological; not derived from living organisms.  
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Biotic   relating to or resulting from living things, especially in their ecological relations.  
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Ecosystem   a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.  
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Producer   An autotrophic organism that serves as a source of food for other organisms in a food chain. Producers include green plants, which produce food through photosynthesis, and certain bacteria  
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Consumer   a person or thing that eats or uses something.  
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Decomposer   an organism, especially a soil bacterium, fungus, or invertebrate, that decomposes organic material.  
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Carrying Capacity   the number of people, other living organisms, or crops that a region can support without environmental degradation.  
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Homeostasis   the tendency toward a relatively stable equilibrium between interdependent elements, especially as maintained by physiological processes.  
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Food Chain   a hierarchical series of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food.  
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Food Web   a system of interlocking and interdependent food chains.  
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Energy Pyramid   An energy pyramid is a graphical model of energy flow in a community. The different levels represent different groups of organisms that might compose a food chain  
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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.  
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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.  
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Ozone   a colorless unstable toxic gas with a pungent odor and powerful oxidizing properties, formed from oxygen by electrical discharges or ultraviolet light. It differs from normal oxygen (O2) in having three atoms in its molecule (O3).  
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Weather   the state of the atmosphere at a place and time as regards heat, dryness, sunshine, wind, rain, etc.  
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Climate   the weather conditions prevailing in an area in general or over a long period.  
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Sustainability   avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance.  
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Renewable Resource   A renewable resource is a substance of economic value that can be replaced or replenished in the same or less amount of time as it takes to draw the supply down  
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Non renewable resource   A nonrenewable resource is a resource of economic value that cannot be readily replaced by natural means on a level equal to its consumption. Most fossil fuels, such as oil, natural gas and coal are considered non-renewable  
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Biodegradable   (of a substance or object) capable of being decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms.  
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Non-Biodegradable   Waste and pollution. a substance or chemical that is non-biodegradable cannot be changed to a harmless natural state by the action of bacteria, and may therefore damage the environment opposite biodegradable  
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Troposphere   the lowest region of the atmosphere, extending from the earth's surface to a height of about 3.7–6.2 miles (6–10 km), which is the lower boundary of the stratosphere.  
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Mesosphere   the region of the earth's atmosphere above the stratosphere and below the thermosphere, between about 30 and 50 miles (50 and 80 km) in altitude.  
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Stratosphere   the layer of the earth's atmosphere above the troposphere, extending to about 32 miles (50 km) above the earth's surface (the lower boundary of the mesosphere).  
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Thermosphere   the region of the atmosphere above the mesosphere and below the height at which the atmosphere ceases to have the properties of a continuous medium. The thermosphere is characterized throughout by an increase in temperature with height.  
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Albedo   the proportion of the incident light or radiation that is reflected by a surface, typically that of a planet or moon.  
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Natural Resources   materials or substances such as minerals, forests, water, and fertile land that occur in nature and can be used for economic gain.  
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