A Living Planet (Geography)
Terms
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- continent
- landmass above the Earth
- solar system
- consists of the sun and nine known planets as well as other celestial bodies
- core
- the earth’s center made up the iron and nickel; the inner core is solid and the outer core is liquid
- mantle
- a rock layer about 1800 miles thick that is between the crust and the core
- magma
- the molten rock material formed when solid rock in the mantle or crust melts
- crust
- thin layer making up the earth’s surface
- atmosphere
- the layers of gases immediately surrounding the earth
- lithosphere
- solid rock portion of the earth’s surface that includes the crust and uppermost mantle
- hydrosphere
- the waters comprising the earth’s surface, including oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, vapor and in the atmosphere
- biosphere
- all the parts of the earth where plants and animals live, including the atmosphere, the lithosphere, and the hydrosphere
- continental drift
- the hypothesis that all continents were once joined into a supercontinent that split apart over millions of years
- hydrologic cycle
- the continuous cycle of water among the atmosphere, the oceans, and the earth
- drainage basin
- an area drained by a major river and its tributaries
- ground water
- the water held under the earth's surface, orten in and around the pores of rock
- water table
- the level at which rock is saturated
- landform
- naturally formed feature on the surface of the earth
- continental shelf
- the earth's surface from the edge of a continent to the deep part of the ocean
- relief
- the difference in elevation of a landform from the lowest point to the highest point
- topography
- the combined characteristics of landforms and their distribution in a region
- tectonic plate
- an enormous moving shelf that forms the earth's crust
- fault
- a fracture in the earth's crust
- earthquake
- a sometimes violent movement of the earth, produced when tectonie plates grind or slip past each other at a fault
- seismograph
- a device that measures the size of the waves created by an earthquake
- epicenter
- the point on the earth's surface that corresponds to the location in the earth where an earthquake begins
- Richter scale
- a way to measure info collected by seismographs to determine the relative strength of an earthquake
- tsunami
- a giant ocean wave caused by an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption, with great destructive power
- volcano
- a natural even formed when magma, gases, and water from the lower part of the crust or mantle collect in underground chambers and eventually erupt and pour out of cracks in the earth's surface
- lava
- magma that has reached the earth's surface
- Ring of Fire
- the chain of volcanoes that lines the Pacific Rim
- weathering
- physical and chemical processes that change the characteristics of rock on or near the earth's surface, occuring slowly over many years
- sediment
- small pieces of rock produced by weathering processes
- mechanical weathering
- natural processes that break rock into smaller pieces
- chemical weathering
- a process that changes rock into a new substance through interactions among elements in the air or water and the minerals in the rock
- erosion
- the result of weathering on matter, created by the action of wind, water, ice, or gravity
- delta
- fan-like landform made of deposited sediment, left by a river that slows as it enters the ocean
- loess
- wind-blown silt and clay sediment that produces very fertile soil
- glacier
- a large, long-lasting mass of ice that moves b/c of gravity
- glaciation
- the changing of landforms by slowly moving glaciers
- moraine
- a ridge or hill of rock carried and finally deposited by a glacier
- humus
- organic material in soil