Unit 3: The Lithosphere

Front 1

____ is an inorganic, nonliving, natural compound having a specific chemical formula and usually possessing a crystalline structure.

Back 1

Mineral

Front 2

_______: is one that solidifies and crystallizes from a molten state. Compose 90% of earth’s crust.

Back 2

Igneous rock

Front 3

_______: derive from fragments of existing rock or organic materials. Bits and ices of former rocks—principally quartz, feldspar, and clay minerals—erode and then are mechanically transported by water, ice, wind, and gravity

Back 3

Sedimentary rock

Front 4

_____: by going through profound physical or chemical changes under pressure and increased temperature.

Back 4

Metamorphic rock

Front 5

_________: processes include upwelling of magma; lithospheric plate movements; sea floor spreading and lithospheric subduction; earthquakes; volcanic activity; and lithospheric deformation such as warping, folding, and faulting

Back 5

Plate tectonics

Front 6

______: is the name Wegener gave this one land mass, meaning, “all Earth”.

Back 6

Pangaea

Front 7

______: refers to vertical elevation differences in the landscape.

Back 7

Relief

Front 8

______: is a region where a craton is exposed at the surface.

Back 8

Continental shield

Front 9

_____: they are slowly migrating crustal pieces, which have come attached or accreted to the plates.

Back 9

Terrane

Front 10

______: literally means the birth of mountains.

Back 10

Orogenesis

Front 11

_______: Instruments record vibrations transmitted as waves of energy throughout Earth’s interior and in the crust.

Back 11

Seismograph

Front 12

______: when rock is broken and disintegrated without any chemical alteration.

Back 12

Physical weathering

Front 13

______: refers to actual decomposition and decay of the constituent minerals in rock due to chemical alteration n of those minerals.

Back 13

Chemical weathering

Front 14

______: applies to any unit movement of a body of material, propelled and controlled by gravity.

Back 14

Mass movement

Front 15

_______ the steepness of the resulting slope depends on the size and texture of the grains.

Back 15

Angle of repose

Front 16

___: is a dynamic natural material composed of fine particles in which plants grow, and it contains both mineral fragments and organic matter.

Back 16

Soil

Front 17

_____: each distinct layer exposed in a pedon

Back 17

Soil horizon

Front 18

_____: is not just a single material; it is a mixture of decomposed and synthesized organic materials, usually dark in color.

Back 18

Humus

Front 19

_____: an individual point of upwelling materials originating in the asthenosphere, or deeper in the mantle; tends to remain fixed relative to migrating plates; some 100 are identified worldwide, exemplified by Yellowstone national park, Hawaii, or Iceland

Back 19

Hot spots

Front 20

_____: the subsurface area along a fault plane, where the motion of seismic waves is initiated; also known as hypocenter, of an earth quake

Back 20

Focus

Front 21

_________: the area at the surface directly above the focus

Back 21

Epicenter

Front 22

______: is the study of landforms; their origin, evolution, form, and special distribution

Back 22

Geomorphology