EarthScience(Glossary)
Terms
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- moraine
- a landform that is made of unsorted sediments deposited by a glacier
- Eccentricity
- The degree of elongation of an elliptical orbit
- benthos
- Organisms that live at the bottom of oceans and fresh water
- Caldera
- A large, cirvular depression that forms when the magma chamber below a volcano partially empties and causes the ground above to sink
- oort cloud
- a spherical region that surrounds the solar system, that extends from just beyond plutos orbit to almost halfway to the nearest star,
- Barometer
- Istrument used to measure atmospheric pressure
- Compound
- A substance that is composed of two or more differant elements
- siesmograph
- an instrument that records vibrations in the ground
- thermocline
- a layer in a body of water in which water temperatures drop with increased depth faster than it does in other layers
- lode
- Mineral deposit within a rock formation
- Artesian formation
- a sloping layer of permeable rock between two layers of impermeable rock and exposed at the surface
- solstice
- the point at which the sun is as far north or as far south of the equator as possible
- Discharge
- The volume of water that flows within a given time
- internal plastic flow
- the process by which glacier flow slowly as grains of ice deform under pressure and slide over each other
- Cenozoic Era
- The Current geologic era........Aka "Age of mammals"
- uniformitarianism
- the idea that past events explain current ones
- Alluvial fan
- Fan shaped mass of rock deposited by a stream when the slope of the land decreases sharply, ......form were streams flow from mountains to flat land
- mare
- A large, dark area of basalt on the moon
- Deflation
- Form of wind erosion in which fine, dry soil particles are blown away
- Black hole
- Object so massive and dense that even light cannot escape its gravity
- thermosphere
- the uppermost layer of the atmosphere, in which temperature increases as altitude increases:includes the ionosphere
- pelagic zone
- the region of an ocean or body of freshwater above the benthic zone
- Mesosphere
- Literally, the "middle sphere" the lower part of the mantle between the asthenosphere and the outer core, also the coldesr layer in the atmosphere
- paleomagnetism
- the study of the alignment of magnetic minerals in rock, specifically as it relates to the reversal of earths magnetic poles
- Hydrosphere
- Portion of earth that is water
- Climatologists
- A scientist who predicts weather
- law of crosscutting relationships
- principle that a fault or body of rock is younger than any other body of rock that it cuts through
- Astronomical unit
- the average distance between the earth and the sun...about 150 million kilometers
- El Nino
- The warm water phase of the El Nino southern Oscillation.......a periodic occurence in the eastern pacific ocean in which the surface warer temperature becomes unusally warm
- Asteroid
- most asteroids are located between the orbits of mars and jupiter
- ventifact
- any rock that is piited, grooved, or polished by wing abrasion
- Body wave
- In geology, a seismic wave that travels through the body of a medium
- Anemometer
- an instrument used to measure wind speed
- Countour line
- a line that connects points of equal elevation on a maps
- Chemical sedimentary rock
- rock that forms when minerals precipitate from a solution or settle from a suspension
- Albedo
- The fraction of solar radiation that is reflected off the surface of an object
- igneous rock
- rock that forms when magma cools and solidifies
- Molecule
- smallest unit of matter that can exist by itself and still retain all of a substances chemical properties
- Cirrus cloud
- A feathery cloud that is composed of ice crystals and that has the highest altitude of any cloud
- Biomass
- Plant material, manure, or any other organic matter that is used as an energy sourse
- law of superposition
- principle that a sediment layer is older than the layers above it and younger than the layers below it, if layers are not disturbed
- Air mass
- body of air in which temp and moisture content are similar throughout
- Gyre
- A huge circle of moving ocean water found above or below the equater
- Galilean Moon
- any one of the four largest satalite of Jupiter, Lo, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, that were discovered by Galileo in 1610
- Adventive cooling
- proces by which thetemp of an air mass decreases as the air mass moves over a cooler surface
- Felsic
- Describes magma or igneous rock that is rich in feldspar and silica and is generally light in color
- Barrier Island
- Long ridge of sand or narrow island that lies Parallel to the shore
- Meteoroid
- a small rocky object that travels through space
- Cirque
- Depression left behind by a glacier....Bowl shaped
- Esker
- A long, winding ridge of gravel and course sand deposited by glacial meltwater stream
- aquifer
- a body of rock or sediment that stores groundwaterand allows the flow of the water
- Conduction
- The tranfer of heat through a material
- Arete
- A sharp, jagged ridge that forms between cirques
- Hydrolysis
- A chemical reastion between water and another substance to form two or more new substances
- pyroclastic material
- fragments of rock that form during a volcanic eruption
- kettle
- Bowl shaped depression in an glacial drift deposit
- latitude
- the distance N or S from the equator...expressed in degrees
- Big bang theory
- that all matter & energy in the universe compressed into a small volume that 13 billion to 15 billion years ago exploded and began expanding in all directions
- Coalescence
- The formation of a larger droplet by the combination of smaller ones
- Half-life
- the time required for half a sample of radioactive isotope to break down by radioactive decay to form a daughter isotope
- Basal slip
- The process that causes the ice at the base of a glacier to melt and the glacier to slide
- troposphere
- the lowest layer of the atmosphere...in which temperature drops at a constant rate as altitude increases
- carbonation
- the conversion of a compound into a carbonite
- apogee
- the the point at which the satellite is farthest from earth
- Doppler effect
- An observed change in the frequency of a wave when the course/observer is moving
- P wave
- A primary wave, or compressed wave
- parallax
- the apparent shift in position of an object when viewed from differant locations
- Gas gaint
- A planet that has a deep, Massive atmosphere such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Or Neptune
- coriolis Effect
- The curving path of a moving object from an otherwise straight path due earths rotation
- Alpine glacier
- a narrow, wedge shaped masss of ice that forms in a mountainous region and that is confined to a small area by surrounding topography: ex. inculde valley glaciers, cirque glaciers, and peidiment glaciers
- Clastic sedimentary rock
- Sedimentary rock that forms when fragments of preexisting rocks are compacted or cemented together
- atmosphere
- a mixture of gases that surround the planet/moon
- Contact metamorphism
- a change in the texture, structure, or chemical composition of a rock due to contact with magma
- Bowen reaction series
- The simplified pattern that illustrates the order in which minerals crystallize from cooling magma according to thier chemical composition and melting point
- Dependant variable
- In an experiament, the factor that changes as a result of manipulation of one or more other factors
- Asthenosphere
- The solid plastic layer of the mantle beneath the lithosphere...made of mantle rock that flows very slowly......plates move above this
- pulsar
- a rapidly spinning nuetron star that emits pulses of radio and optical energy
- cementation
- the process in which minerals precipitate into pore spaces between sediment grain and bind sediments together
- Corona mass ejection
- coronal gas that is thrown into space from the sun
- Geosphere
- The mostly solid, rocky part of earth...extends from the center of the core to the surface or the crust
- stratosphere
- the layer of the atmosphere that lies between the troposphere and the mesosphere and in which temperature increases as altitude increases
- perigee
- the point at which a satellite is closest to earth
- Cleavage
- The tendency of a mineral to split across specific planes of weakness
- independent variable
- in an experiment the factor that is deliberately manipulated
- map projects
- a flat map that represents a spherical surface
- Chromosphere
- Thin layer of the sun that is just above the photosphere and that flows a reddish color during eclipses
- latent heat
- the heat that is absorbed or released by a substance during a phase change
- Biosphere
- The Part of earth were all life exists
- Glacial drift
- The material depositied by Glaciers
- Eleastic rebound
- The sudden return of elstically deformed rock to it original shape
- Epoch
- A subdividion of geologic time that is loner than an age but shoerter than a peroid
- tidal oscillation
- the slow rocking motion of the ocean that occurs as tidal bulges move around the ocean basins
- photosphere
- the vissable surface of the sun
- Apparent magnitude
- the apparent brightness of a star from earth
- Abrasion
- The grinding and wearing away of rock through mechanical action of other rocks or sand
- stratus cloud
- a gray cloud that has a flat, uniform base and that commonly forms at very low altitudes
- Cloud seeding
- Process of introducing freezing nuclei or condensation nuclei into a cloud in order to cause rain
- Benthic zone
- The bottom region of oceans and bodies of fresh water
- extrusive igneous rock
- rock formed from the cooling and solidification of magma beneath the earths surface
- Cosmology
- Study of the orgin, properties, processes and evolution of the universe
- hurricane
- considered so when winds exceed 120 Kmh
- sublimation
- the process in which a solid changes directly into a gas(also use to describe the reverse process)
- Absolute magnitude
- the brightness that a star would have at a distance of 32.6 LY from earth
- lava
- Magma that flows onto earths surface.....
- jet stream
- a narrow band of strong winds that blow in the upper troposphere
- meteor
- meteroid that burns up in earths atmosphere
- Absolute Humidity
- The mass of water vapor in per unit volume of air, expressed as grams of water per cubic meter
- Mafic
- Describes magma or igneous rock that is rich in magnesiumand is generally dark
- Estuary
- And area where fresh water from a river mixes with salt water from the ocean
- Gradient
- The change of elevation over a given distance
- Aphelion
- the point in the orbit of a planet at which the planet is farthest from the sun
- Longitude
- the angular distance from east to west from the prime meridian
- light year
- distance light travels in a year.....about 9.46 trillion kilometers
- topography
- the size and shape of the land surface features of a region, including it relief
- isotope
- an atom that has the same # of protons as the atoms of the same element do but that has different number of nuetrons
- Loess
- fine grained sediments
- Horn
- A sharp, pyramid like peak that forms because of the erosion of cirques
- Condensation nucleus
- a solid particle in the atmos-phere that provides the surface on which water vapor condenses
- Focus and/or Epicenter
- Place inside earth were first movement occured
- Electron
- Sub particle that has a negative bound
- Astronemy
- the scientific study of the universe
- lithosphere
- the solid, outer layer of the earth that consists of the crust and the rigid upper part of the mantle
- Constellations
- One of 88 regions into which the sky is divided into.......a group of stars recognised by a pattern
- Extrusive igneous rock
- forms from the cooling and solidification of lava at earths surface
- Absolute Age
- The # age of an object or even, often stated in years before the present
- perihelion
- the point at which the orbit of a planet is closest to the sun
- Erratic
- A large rock transported from a distant source
- Sosmic background radiation
- Radiation uniformaly detected from every direction in space....remnant of the big bang
- Era
- Includes 2 or more peroids
- Foliation
- The metamorphic rock texture in which mineral grains are arranged in planes or bands
- Comet
- Small body of ice, rock, and cosmic dust that follows the orbit arund the sun and gives of has and dist in the form of a rails as ir moves across the sky
- nonfoliated
- the metamorphic rock texture in which mineral grauns are nor arranged
- ionic bond
- attraction between 2 oppositley charged ions
- Cumulus cloud
- A low-lvl billowy cloud that commonly has a top resembling cotton balls
- paleontology
- scientific study of fossils
- system
- a set of particles or interacting components considered to be a distinct physical entity for the purpose of a study
- inertia
- the tendency of an object to resist being moved or, if the object is moving, to resist a change in speed or direction until an outside force acts on the object
- Abyssal plain
- A large, flat, almost lvl of the ocean plain
- Milankovitch theory
- theory that cyclical changes in earths orbit and tilt or earths axis occur over thousands of years and cause climatic changes
- Covalent bond
- A bond formed when atoms share one or more electrons
- adiabatic cooling
- process by which the temperature of an air mass decreases as the air mass risees/expands(pg582)
- Aurora
- Colored lights produced by charged particles from the solar wind and from the magnetosphere that reachs with and ecites the oxygen and nitrogen of earths upper atmosphere
- Corona
- Outer most layer of the suns atmosphere
- Core sampling
- A cynlindrical piece of sediment,roc,soil,snow, or ice that is collected by drilling