Vocabulary and Facts on Planet Earth Evolution
Terms
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- Planetesimal
- small planet that orbited the sun in the early universe
- Heresy
- having an opinion that is contradictory to the established religious beliefs
- Galaxy
- section of stars, gas, and dust that contributes to the universe
- Asteroid
- small celestial body that revolves around the Sun
- Meteorite
- space stone that has fallen to Earth from outer space
- Hemisphere
- northern, southern, western, or eastern half of the Earth as divided by the Equator and Prime Meridian
- Scientific Heresy
- having a scientific belief contradictory to the established religious beliefs
- Evolution
- Darwin's theory of Natural Selection
- Geologist
- a person who studies the Earth
- Ocean Trenches
- low places in the ocean
- Inner Core
- the small, magnetic core of the Earth that gives us our magnetic field and axis
- Outer Core
- the layer of Earth around the inner core
- Mantle
- the layer of Earth between the crust and the core
- Index fossil
- a fossil of an organism that is known to have lived in a certain geological time, used to date the rock layer in which it is found and other layers
- Crust
- the outer layer of the Earth
- Continental Shelf
- the part of a continent that gradually slopes down in shallow water until a drop off
- Continental Drift
- the drift of continents from plate tectonics
- Plain
- an area of land lower than places around it
- Convection
- the transfer of heat in a gas or liquid
- Atmosphere
- the gas envelope that surrounds the Earth
- Radiation/radioactivity
- the emission of elements from one body and absorbance of them by another body
- Magnetosphere
- the sphere around the Earth that pushes aside harmful radiation from the sun
- Lithosphere
- the outer layer of the Earth containing the plates
- Asthenosphere
- the layer directly under the lithosphere, holding up the plates
- Plate Tectonics
- a theory that says that the lithosphere is divided into tectonic plates which slip, collide, and move around
- Magma
- the molten rock under the Earth's surface from which igneous rock is formed
- Subduction zone
- the area where one plate slips under another plate
- What are the four main layers of the Earth?
- crust, mantle, inner core, outer core
- How old is the Earth?
- 4.6 billion years old
- How long ago were the continents formed?
- 100 million years ago
- How did water get to earth?
- Ice bearing comets contributed heavy water; volcanic steam contributed the rest
- How much of the Earth's surface is water?
- 70%
- HARD!!!List the continents smallest to largest
-
Australia Europe Antarctica
South America North America Africa Asia - what are the world's largest landmasses?
- continents
- what features are found on all continents?
- mountains and lakes
- HARD!!!Four geological eras, time span, life
- Precambrian era was the first 4 bil. yrs with single celled life forms. Paleozoic era was next 320 mil. yrs. with trilobites, marine animals, amphibians, and trees. Mesozoic era was next 294 mil. yrs. with marine reptiles, dinosaurs, and small mammals. Cenozoic era was from 66 mil. yrs. ago to now, with large mammals and humans.
- Radiocarbon Dating
- method of dating old things by seeing how much of a certain kind of carbon is in them
- Sea vs. Ocean?
-
Sea = small, partly surrounded by land
Ocean = large, uninterrupted