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Chapter 1 Earth Science

Terms

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Pangaea
Wegener's name for the supercontinent meaning "all lands".
Convection
Heat transfer by the movement of a heated fluid,
Asthenosphere
A soft, bendable layer. Its material can flow slowly.
Lithosphere
Formed by the uppermost part of the mantle and the crust.
Sea-floor spreading
The process that continually adds new materials to the ocean floor. This was Hess's idea.
Trasform boundary
A place where two plates slip past each other, moving in opposite diorectinos.
Inner core
A dense ball of solid metal, made up of iron and nickel.
Outer Core
A layer of molten metal that surounds the inner core. made of iron and nickel.
Convergent boundary
The place where two plates come together.
Deep-ocean trenches
Forms where the ocean crust bends downward.
Fossil can be formed from...
A bone, tooth, shell, or other part of an organism.
Conduction
Heat trasfer by direct contact of particles of matter.
Cast
A copy of the shape of an organism.
Relative dating
This is used to determine which of two fossils is older.
Mold
A hollow space in sediment in the shape of an organism or part of an organism.
Pressure
The forces pushing on a surface or area.
Absolute dating
Allows sceintists to detmine the actual age of fossils.
Radioactive elements
Unstable elements that decay, or break down, into different elements.
Fossil record
The millions of fossils that scientists have collected.
Half-life
The time it takes for half of the atoms in a sample to decay.
Subduction
The process by which the ocean floor sinks beneath a deep-ocean trench and back into the mantle.
Heat transfer
The movement of energy from a warmer object to a cooler object.
Extinct
No members of that species are still alive.
Faults
Breaks in EArth's crust where rocks have slipped past each other.
Scientific theory
A well-tester concept that explains a wide range of observations.
Density
A measure of how much mass there is in a volume of a substance.
Mantle
A layer of hot rock.
Petrified fossils
Minerals dissolved in the water soak into the buried remains. Gradualy, the minerals replace the remains, changing them into rock.
Plates
Separate sections that break down the lithosphere.
Wegener's hypothesis
All the continents ahd once been joined together in a single landmass and have since drifted apart.
Seismic waves
When earthquakes occur, seismic waves are produces. The speed of these seismic waves and the paths they take revela how the palnet is put together.
Convection current
The flow that trasfers heat within a fluid.
Geology
The study of planet Earth, which began in the 1700's.

Rock
The material that forms Earth's hard surface.

Constructive forces
Forces that shape the suface by building up mountains and landmassses.
continents
surrounded by oceans.
Punctuated equilibria
According to this theory, species evolve during short periods of rapid change.
Geoligist
A scientist that studies the forces that make and shape planet Earth.

Geaoligists stugy the process that create Earth's features and search for clues about Earth's history.
Continetal drift
Wegener's idea that the continents slowly moved over Earth's surface.
Plate tectonics
The geologic theory that states that pieces of Earth's lithosphere are in constant, slow motion, driven by convection currents in the mantle.
Sonar
A device that bounces sound waves off under water objects and then records the echoes of these sound waves.
Rift valley
Forms along the divergent boundary.
Radiation
The trasfer of energy through empty space.
Fossil
Any trace of an ancient organism that has been preserved in rock.
Destructive forces
Forces that slowly wear away mountains and, eventually, every other feature on the surface.
Gradualism
Proposes that evolution occurs slowly but steadily. According to this theory, tiny changes in a species gradually add up to major changes over very long periods of time.
Sedimentary rock
Layers of sediments build up and cover the dead organisms. Over millions of years, the layers harden to become sedimentary rock.
Mid-ocean ridge
The longest chain of mountains in the world.
Granite
A rock taht has larger crystals than basalt na dis not as dense. Granite makes up most ogf the continental crust.
Basalt
Dark, dense rock with a fine texture. Basalt makes up most of the oceanic crust.
Crust
The crust is a layer of rock that ofrms Earth's outer skin. There is oceanic crust and continental crust.
Divergent boundary
The place where two plates move apart.

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