Geography Test 2 2
Terms
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- What is Geomorphology?
- The study of landforms
- Plate Tectonics
- Refers to how the earth's surface is built of plates
- Theory of Plate Tectonics
- Earth crust is fragmented into a dozen or more large and small plates that move relative to one another
- Continental Drift
- Put forth by Alfred Wagener in 1912-1915. It was based on the same fossils that were found on different continents.
- Pangea
- Means "all lands". There are 14 major plates and numerous micro plates. These plates float atop the asthenosphere.
- 3 types of boundaries between plates:
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Divergent - plates move apart (Mid Atlantic Ridge)
Convergent - two plates collide and one slides beneath the other. "Subduction" (N. Cali and Washington State)
Transform - plates slide horizontally against each other and lithosphere is conserved. (San Andreas Fault) - Hot Spots
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developed by J. Tuzo Wilson
"mantle thermal plume" - plates move over the plum created island - Ring of Fire
- located along western coast and extends down to South America and around the Pacific Ocean. Place of high volcanic activity
- 3 types of rocks:
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Igneous - formed from cooling molten rock. If the magma cools slowly, it forms a coarse grained rock such as granite. If magma cools quickly, it form a fine grained or glassy rock such as basalt or obsidian.
Sedimentary Rocks - composed of particles of gravel, sand, silt, and clay. Pressure and cementing process cause rocks to form. (Silt and Clay form shale.) 2 types: Classic - made of fragments of existing rock (ie sandstone or shale) and Chemical - existing rocks are dissolved, transported in a solution, and precipitate from the solution ro form rock (ie limestone)
Metamorphic - formed from older "parent" rock (either igneous or sedimentary) under intense heat and/or pressure with considerable depths beneath the earths surface (marble - met from limestone and slate - met from shale) - Gradation
- weathering, erosion, and mass wasting
- Weathering
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physical and chemical breakdown of rocks and minerals
physical weathering - breaks rocks into smaller pieces
chemical weathering - breaks rocks down chemically by adding or removing chemical elements - Types of physical weathering
- thermal expansions, freeze thaw, salt, vegetation
- Chemical Reactions that cause Chemical Weathering
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Redox - reduction/oxidation reaction (ie rust)
Carbonation - reaction of carbonate and biocarbonate ions with minerals (ie carbonic acids)
hydrolysis - chemical union of water molecules with minerals to form different, more stable, mineral compounds (ie clay) - Erosion
- The breakdown of existing landforms
- Agents of Erosion
- water, wind, ice, and gravity
- Deposition
- the decrease in velocity of wind, water, and ice (wind deposition=dunes and ice deposition=glaciers)
- What is an earthquake?
- the shaking or vibrating of the earth. It is a sudden release of energy caused by volcanos, movement of plates, and man-made sources
- What is a focus?
- where the earthquake starts
- What is a seismic wave?
- waves of energy coming from the focus
- Epicenter
- point directly above the focus on the surface of the earth
- Earthquakes are measured by...
- Richter Scales and Seismographs
- Weather and Climate
- "Climate is what you expect, Weather is what you get."
- What affects air temperature?
- water vapor, cloud cover, land vs. water, elevation above sea level, degree and direction of air movement, solar energy
- Air Pressure
- weight of air (14.7 pounds per square inch). It is measure by the barometer.
- Convection System
- shows pressure systems
- Pressure Gradiant
- difference between high and low pressure > the pressure gradiant, the stronger the winds
- Sea Breeze
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the wind from sea to land.
at night - cooler land surface, warmer sea surface - High/Low Pressure
- occur in belts in a fixed location/latitude
- Coriolis Effect
- indirect curving of wind caused by rotation of earth
- What affects ocean currents?
- winds and water density (salinity)
- 3 types of Precipitation
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convectional - summer rain
orographic - occurs in mts.
cyclonic - collision of cold and warm air masses between the boundary of 2 air masses - El Nino and La Nina
- deals with oceanic currents. El Nino causes normally cold waters to cool down and vice versa. La Nina causes normally cool waters to be extremely cold
- How much does the sea rise each year?
- 0.22 centimeters
- Natural Resources
- must be naturally occuring and a material that society deems significant
- Renewable Resources
- can be replaced by nature (ie trees, soil, fresh/salt water wetlands, forests
- Nonrenewable Resources
- finite resources (ie oil, natural gas, and coal)