Earth Science Vocab

Front 1

Cartographers

Back 1

A person who makes maps

Front 2

Elevation

Back 2

the height above average sea level; also called altitude

Front 3

Mineral

Back 3

element or compound, formed by nature but not formed by living things, that has a specific crystal structure and physical and chemical properties

Front 4

Theory of continental drift

Back 4

hypothesis that continents were once part of a single landmass that broke apart and moved to their present positions; led to the theory of plate tectonics

Front 5

Theory of Plate Tectonics

Back 5

theory that describes and explains the way that continents separated into today's land masses from one large ancestral land mass.

Also the study of lithospheric plates, their movements and Earth features that they affect.

Front 6

Ring of Fire

Back 6

string of volcanoes around the rim of the Pacific Ocean, resulting from plate boundary activity

Front 7

Epicenter

Back 7

point of the Earth's surface directly above the location (focus) of an earthquake

Front 8

Richter scale

Back 8

way of measuring the severity of earthquakes, based on the energy released

Front 9

Fossil

Back 9

remains, impressions, track, or other evidence of ancient organisms

Front 10

Ozone

Back 10

form of oxygen that has three atoms in one

molecule

Front 11

Cloud

Back 11

group of tiny liquid water droplets hanging in the air.

Front 12

Barometric Pressure

Back 12

a measure of the weight of the atmosphere per unit area on Earth's surface; also called air pressure

Front 13

Climate

Back 13

the general pattern of weather in a particular part of the world over a long period of time.

Front 14

El Nino

Back 14

unusually war ocean current that occurs in the eastern Pacific near the equator, and shifts ocean current patterns

Front 15

Axis

Back 15

imaginary line passing through the center of a planet , such as Earth, that the planet spins around

Front 16

Rotation

Back 16

spinning of a planet, moon or sun, or other object, around its axis

Front 17

Solstice

Back 17

one of two days in the year when hours of daylight and hours of darkness are at their greatest and least; summer solstice marks the beginning of summer and they longest period of daylight; winter solstice marks the period of the shortest period of daylight

Front 18

Equinox

Back 18

one of two days in the year when the hours of daylight equal the hours of darkness over the Earth as a whole. Vernal Equinox marks the beginning of Spring; Autumnal Equinox marks the beginning of fall.

Front 19

Eclipse

Back 19

when one solar system object passes between the Sun and another object, casting a shadow.

Front 20

Asteroids

Back 20

objects of rock, metal, and ice that are smaller than planets and revolve around the Sun

Front 21

Comet

Back 21

solar system objects made mostly of ice, which follow a long, narrow orbit around the sun; a comet comes near the Sun only occasionally

Front 22

Meteor

Back 22

a piece of rock from space that enters Earth's atmosphere and burns, creating a bright streak of light across the sky; Meteorite is a piece of that rock that lands on Earth

Front 23

Light-Year

Back 23

distance light travels in a vacuum in one year

Front 24

Galaxy

Back 24

group of millions of stars; Earth is party of the Milky Way galaxy

Front 25

Constellations

Back 25

an apparent pattern of stars in the sky, such as the Little Dipper (Ursa minor)