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86 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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geomorphology |
study of landforms |
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asthenosphere |
plastic layer in the mantle that convects |
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lithosphere |
crust and the rigid upper part of the mantle |
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moho |
division between the crust and the mantle, distinct change in density. |
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subduction zone |
collision of two plates with one being pushed back on the mantle |
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minerals |
building blocks of rocks |
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rocks |
combinations of minerals |
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diastrophism |
deforming the earth's crust |
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isotacy |
balance or equilibrium of adjacent blocks of crust |
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focus |
point of origin in an earthquak |
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epicenter |
point of the earth's surface directly above the focus of an earthqake, strongest L waves. |
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drainage basin |
all land surface drained by stream system |
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cryosphere |
portion of the hydrosphere and ground that is perennially frozen. |
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firm line |
division between the zone of accumulation and zone of ablation in a glacier |
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cirque |
bowl-like ampitheater shaped valley carved otu at the head of an alpine valley glacier |
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arete |
sharp ridge between two valley glaciers |
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horn |
sharp peak formed by three or more valley glaciers |
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moraine |
ridge or mound of debris depositied by glaciers |
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kettles |
basin/depression left in glacial deposits by melting chunk of glacial ice |
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drumlins |
odd shaped hills with steep slope facing advancing ice |
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soils |
thin layer/skin covering the land |
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ecosystem |
community of organisms functioning together in an interdependent relationship with the environment |
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succession |
progression of natural vegitation from one plant community to the next |
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biome |
assemblages of plants and animals that interact with their environments in large areas of earth |
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Tectonic process |
building up forces driven by internal heat engine; |
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gradational process |
wearing down driven by external heat engine
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P-waves |
PRIMARY fastest, pass through solid and liquid |
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S-waves |
SECONDARY SLOWER, passes on through solids |
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L-waves |
surface causes the most damage to our living environment |
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Difference between the inner and outer core? |
both have iron and nickel, but the inner core is solid and the outer is liquid |
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what layer makes up eight percent of earth's volume? |
mantle |
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within which layer is the athenosphere? |
mantle |
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how do we define the boundary between the mantle and crust? |
Moho; distinct change in density, depth faries with being deepest under continents |
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What 2 types of crust are there? |
Oceanic - more dense Continental - thicker |
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Wegner's theory |
THEORY OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT based on fossils, climate change, shape, how they moved. HE COULDN'T EXPLAIN WHY THEY MOVED IN THE FIRST PLACE |
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Theory of plate tectonics |
reason for continental growth, locations of volcanic and earthquake activity, and creation of mountain ranges. the lithospehre is broke up in solid tectonic plates that interact along three types of boundaries |
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What are the three types of plate boundaries |
diverging converging transform all have earthquakes diverging and converging have volcanoes |
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What causes plate movement? |
heat from teh center of the earth leading to convection to the athenosphere |
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What are the two most common elements found in the earth's crust? |
oxygen and silicon |
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igneous rocks
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formed from magma or lava |
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sedimentary rocks |
formed from composition and solidification of sediments |
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metamorphic |
formed from other rocks being exposed to extensive heat and pressure, forming new rocks |
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shield volcano |
mostly lava, not explosive, hot spots and diverging boundaries |
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composite cone volcano |
alva and ash, very explosive, convering boundaries |
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Cinder cone |
smaller, mostly ash and pyroclastics |
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Law of horizontality
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layers form horizontally with the youngest on top |
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Law of superposition |
Youngest layers are on top and oldest are on the bottom |
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What causes warping? |
major increases or decreases in weight usch as the presence of melting of a glacier |
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What causes folding? |
compressional stress over a logn period of time |
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What causes faulting |
stress over a long period of time resulting in a fracture of the surface |
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What type of rocks reveals distophic movements the most visibly |
sedimentary |
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Rift valleys |
occur in diverging plate boundaries |
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What two steps are involved in degredation? |
erosion and transportation |
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what does aggredation involve? |
deposition |
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What are the two type sof weather? |
physical weather - change in size chemical weathering - decomposing of rocks |
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What affects the rate and type of weathering? |
initial rock structure, moisture present, temperature of moisture, topography vegetation |
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radial stream |
cone shaped pattern |
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centripidal stream |
basin feature |
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trellis stream |
folding |
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retangular stream |
faulting |
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dendritic stream |
lack of pattern |
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Delta fan vs alluvial fan |
both when weather flow slows/stops; delta is still in water. alluvial on open plain, both sorted debris |
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youth - stream stage |
fast flowing, down cutting erosion wiht v-shaped valley, straight flow, rapids and waterfalls, large stream load. |
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mature - stream stage |
meandering, lateral erosion with U-shaped valley, more transportation and deposition |
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Old age - stream stage |
nearing base level, very wide meanders, oxbow lakes, swamps and marshes, mainly depositions |
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what are the two types of glaciers |
alpine/valley continental/ice sheet |
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What type of glaciers form moraines |
Both |
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What must occur in order for a glacier to be sustained and advance |
more snow accumulate than melt |
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What is the difference between glacial till and stratified drift |
Till is unsorted |
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What is the main difference between landscapes shaped by an alpine glacier vs a continental drift |
alpine landscapes are very rugged/sharp, continental landscapes are rounded with less relief |
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WHy is soil so important |
Crucial to many life-forms; unifies all four spheres of life (litho, atmos, bio, hydro) |
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What are the four basic components of soil? |
water air organic matter minerals |
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what are the factors of soil |
parent material, time, eliminate, slopes/topography, vegetation |
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How are soils classified? |
sands silt clay |
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What makes up the best soils |
Even mix of three types |
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How is human activity having a negative impact on soils |
Poor land-use practices fertilizer nutrient-deletion slinization desertificant |
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how does biodiversity effect the stability and resilience of an ecosystem |
the greater the biodiversity, the more stable and resilient and the more porductive it will be |
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What is another name for latitude? |
parallels |
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What is another name for longitude? |
meridians |
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What are the reasons for the seasons? |
revolution tilt rotations constant parallelism shape |
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What is the circle of illumination? |
anything that splits the world in half with half in dark and half in light |
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How does movement across the international dateline affect the day or date? |
Going left you enter a new day, but going right you enter the old day |
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What gases make up the atmosphere |
78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen |
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What gas in the atmosphere is the main culprit for global warming? |
Carbon dioxide |
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5 types of heat transfer |
radiation conduction convection advection latent heat of condensation |
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Doldrums |
calm winds near the equator |
