Final Exam Geo-103 (Dynamic Planet) (Terms)

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Endogenic system

Back 1

internal earth processes that create landforms, such as tectonics and volcanism

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Exogenic system

Back 2

Landform-making processes that are active at the Earth's surface, such as erosion by water, waves and currents, glacial ice and wind

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geologic time scale

Back 3

The geologic time scale provides a system of chronologic measurement relating stratigraphy to time that is used by geologists

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uniformtarianism

Back 4

The theory that changes in the earth's crust during geological history have resulted from the action of continuous and uniform processes

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seismic waves

Back 5

waves sent out during an earthquake by faulting or other crustal disturbance from an earthquake focus and propagated through the solid Earth

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core

Back 6

interior layer in the earth that is rich with iron and nickel

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geomagnetic reversal

Back 7

is a change in the Earth's magnetic field such that the positions of magnetic north and magnetic south are interchanged

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Mantle

Back 8

rock layer or shell of the earth beneath the crust and surrounding the core, composed of ultramafic igneous rock of silicate mineral composition

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asthenosphere

Back 9

soft layer of the upper mantle, beneath the rigid lithosphere

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lithosphere

Back 10

strong, brittle outermost rock layer of the earth lying above the asthenosphere

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crust

Back 11

Outermost sold shell or layer of the earth composed largely of silicate minerals

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Moho

Back 12

contact surface between the Earth's crust and mantle, name of the seismologist who founded it Mohorovicic

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Isotasy

Back 13

principal describing the flotation of the lithosphere

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Element

Back 14

A part or aspect of something, esp. one that is essential or characteristic

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Rock

Back 15

natural aggregate of minerals in the solid state; usually hard and consisting of one, two or more mineral varieties

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rock cycle

Back 16

An idealized cycle of processes undergone by rocks in the earth's crust.

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igneous

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Having solidified from lava or magma.

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metamorphic

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rock altered in physical structure and or chemical composition by the action of heat, pressure, shearing stress, or infusion of elements all taking place at substantial depth beneath the surface

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sedimentary

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That has formed from sediment deposited by water or air

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Magma

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Hot fluid or semifluid material below or within the earth's crust from which lava and other igneous rock is formed by cooling

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lava

Back 21

Hot molten or semifluid rock erupted from a volcano or fissure, or solid rock resulting from cooling of this.

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continental drift

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The gradual movement of the continents across the earth's surface through geological time.

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Pangea

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a hypothetical continent including all the landmass of the earth prior to the Triassic period when it split into Laurasia and Gondwanaland)

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plate tectonics

Back 24

a theory of global tectonics in which the lithosphere is divided into a number of crustal plates, each of which moves on the plastic asthenosphere more or less independently to collide with, slide under, or move past adjacent plates.

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sea-floor spreading

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a process that occurs at mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust is formed through volcanic activity and then gradually moves away from the ridge.

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mid-ocean ridge

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a general term for an underwater mountain system that consists of various mountain ranges (chains), typically having a valley known as a rift running along its spine, formed by plate tectonics.

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subduction zone

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the process that takes place at convergent boundaries by which one tectonic plate moves under another tectonic plate and sinks into the mantle as the plates converge. Regions where this process occurs are known as subduction zones.

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hot spots

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are volcanic regions thought to be fed by underlying mantle that is anomalously hot compared with the mantle elsewhere.