Earth And Environmental Science Flashcards

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Pluton

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A large body of intrusive igneous rock less than about 30 km in diametre

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Lava Flow

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A mass of flowing or solidified lava

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Plate Tectonics

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The theory that the surface of the earth is divided into a number of constantly moving crustal plates. This movement of the crustal plates can be used to explain the present position of the continents, and hence the present distribution of living things

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Mafic rocks

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Dark coloured igneous rocks due to high concentration of ferromagnesian minerals

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Felsic rocks

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A light coloured igneous rock, with relatively large amounts of feldspars and quartz.

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Seismic waves

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Describing movements within the Earth, e.g. seismic waves (earthquake waves) produced by Earth movements

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Subduction zone

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The process by which one crustal plate descends beneath another, such as along a deep oceanic trench

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Ocean Ridge

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An ocean ridge is an underwater mountain system formed by plate tectonics.

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Hot Spot

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A mantle plume where rising magma can reach the surface, especially away from the edge of crustal plates

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Global Positioning System (GPS)

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A satellite-based positioning or navigation system, each satellite carrying atomic clock, to provide a receiver anywhere on Earth with extremely accurate measurements of its position, velocity and time.

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Isostasy

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The equilibrium that exists between parts of the earth's crust

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Divergent zones

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Where two plates diverge or separate from each other.

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Convergent zones

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When two crustal plates move towards each other and collide.

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Fold

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To bend a layer of rock, e.g. anticline, syncline and monocline

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Fault

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A crack in the crust of the Earth where one side of the fracture move with respect to the other side.

The site of earthquakes

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Fold Limb

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A geological fold occurs when one or a stack of originally flat and planar surfaces, such as sedimentary strata, are bent or curved as a result of permanent deformation. Synsedimentary folds are those due to slumping of sedimentary material before it is lithified.

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Hinge

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The axial surface is the surface defined by connecting all the hinge lines of stacked folding surfaces. If the axial surface is a planar surface then it is called the axial plane and can be described by the strike and dip of the plane. ... Often, the fold axis is the same as the hinge line.

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Reverse Fault

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A fault where the rocks above the fault line move up compared to rocks below

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Normal Fault

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A fault where the rock above the fault line has moved down relative to the rock below

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Strike-Slip Fault

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A fault in which rock strata are displaced mainly in a horizontal direction, parallel to the line of the fault.

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Syncline

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A trough of stratified rock in which the beds dip toward each other from either side in a roughly U shape.

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Anticline

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Rock Strata in which the layers curve downward (Upside down U) to form a crest or ridge

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Tension forces

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Forces pulling in opposite directions

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Shear Force

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The effect of applied forces that causes or tends to cause two parts of a body to slide relatively to each other in a direction parallel to their plane of contact.

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Compression forces

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The effect of forces acting in opposite direction, causing rock to shorten by bending or fracturing

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Craton

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Rocks that underwent intense deformation in Precambrian times and are composed of granite and various metamorphic rock.

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Shield

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Cartons exposed at the surface

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Fold Belt

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An elongated region that has undergone folding or other deformation, e.g. Lachlan fold belt

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Basin

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1. An area in which the rock strata dip downward from all sides towards the centre

2. Deep areas of the sea surrounded by shallowler

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Platform

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Relatively thin layers of undisturbed sedimentary rocks lying over a shield.

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Block

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Fault blocks are very large blocks of rock, sometimes hundreds of kilometres in extent, created by tectonic and localized stresses in the Earth's crust.

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Cinder Cone Volcano

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A cone-shaped structure formed by the accumulation of volcanic debris around a vent

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Composite Volcano

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A volcano consturcted of alternating layers of lava and pyroclastics. Sometimes has the classic volcano shape such as Mt Fuji.

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Shield Volcano

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A broad gently sloping volcano formed from many flows of basaltic lava.

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Pyroclastic flow

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A fast-moving mixture of hat gases and hot volcanic ash from a volcano.

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Lahar

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A mudflow or landslide of Pyroclastic material occuring on the side of a volcano

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Seismograph

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A device used to measure the intensity of an earthquake

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Earthquake

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The shaking of the ground due to movements in the Earth's curst when rocks slide past each other.

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Seismogram

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A record produced by a Seismograph

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Epicentre

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A point on the surface of the Earth which is directl above the foucs of an Earthquake and where the Earthquake waves reach first.

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Primary (P) waves

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The first seismic wave that reaches a seismograph from an earthquake; a compression wave

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Secondary (S) waves

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The second waves to arrive at a seismograph from an Earthquake. A transverse wave

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Long (L) Waves

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An earthquake wave that travels over the surface of the earth

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Richter scale

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A scale for expressing the magnitude of an earthquake: 1.5 smallest earthquake felt; 4.5 can cause slight damage; 8.5 is a devastating earthquake.

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Mercalli Scale

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The Mercalli intensity scale is a seismic scale used for measuring the intensity of an earthquake.

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Intraplate Eathquakes

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An Earthquake that occurs away from the edge of a crustal plate.

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Liquefaction

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Liquefaction is a term used in materials sciences to refer to any process which either generates a liquid from a solid or a gas,

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Stratosphere

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The part of the Earth's atmosphere which extends about 11km above the surface to 50km above the earth in which clouds rarely form. It is between the troposphere and the ionosphere.

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Paleoatmosphere

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An atmosphere, particularly that of Earth, at some unspecified time in the geological past.

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Thermosphere

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The region of the atmosphere above the mesosphere and below the height at which the atmosphere ceases to have the properties of a continuous medium. The thermosphere is characterized throughout by an increase in temperature with height.

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Mesopause

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The boundary in the earth's atmosphere between the mesosphere and the thermosphere, at which the temperature stops decreasing with increasing height and begins to increase.

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Ionosphere

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The layer of the earth's atmosphere which contains a high concentration of ions and free electrons and is able to reflect radio waves. It lies above the mesosphere and extends from about 80 to 1,000 km above the earth's surface.

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Phanerozoic

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The youngest Eon in the geological time scale, extending from the present to 570 million years ago. The Eon that contains most life forms.

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Mesosphere

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the region of the earth's atmosphere above the stratosphere and below the thermosphere, between about 50 and 80 km in altitude.

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Stratopause

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The interface between the stratosphere and the ionosphere.

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Troposphere

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The lowest region of the atmosphere, extending from the earth's surface to a height of about 6–10 km (the lower boundary of the stratosphere).

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Chemosynthesis

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The synthesis of organic compounds by bacteria or other living organisms using energy derived from reactions involving inorganic chemicals, typically in the absence of sunlight.

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Ozone

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A strong smelling form of oxygen, O3 instead of the more common O2. It is produced naturally by the action of ultraviolet light on normal, oxygen high in the stratosphere. It is also produced by electrical sparks, especially lighting flashes. Human activity is reducing (depleting) the amounts thus increasing the risk of cancer.

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Strata

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Sedimentary rocks that are formed in layers

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Law of superposition

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Geology: a basic law of geochronology, stating that in any undisturbed sequence of rocks deposited in layers, the youngest layer is on top and the oldest on the bottom, each layer being younger than the one beneath it and older than the one above it.

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Stratigraphy

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Stratigraphy is a branch of geology which studies rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks.

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Geological time scale

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The geological time scale (GTS) is a system of chronological dating that relates geological strata (stratigraphy) to time, and is used by geologists, paleontologists, and other Earth scientists to describe the timing and relationships of events that have occurred during Earth's history.

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Lithology

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The study of the general physical characteristics of rocks.

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Relative dating

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Relative dating is the science of determining the relative order of past events (i.e., the age of an object in comparison to another), without necessarily determining their absolute age, (i.e. estimated age).

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Absolute dating

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Absolute dating is the process of determining an age on a specified chronology in archaeology and geology. Some scientists prefer the terms chronometric or calendar dating, as the use of the word "absolute" implies an unwarranted certainty of accuracy.

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Half Life

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The time it takes for half a sample of radioactive atoms to decay

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Evolution

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Ther biological changes that have taken place as life changed from simpler to more complex organisms

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Natural selection

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The mechanism proposed by C.Darwin in his book Origin of species, that is summarised to as survival of the fittest. If the environmental conditions should change, then a few organisms may have a mutation that gives them some advantage of survival, such as finding food, mates or shelter, or escaping predators. These organisms are thus 'fitter', leaving more offspring, that that their new features spread across the population.

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Selective Pressure

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Any cause that reduces reproductive success in a portion of a population potentially exerts evolutionary pressure, selective pressure or selection pressure. With sufficient pressure, inherited traits that mitigate its effects—even if they would be deleterious in other circumstances—can become widely spread through a population.

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Variation

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The differences between members of the same species of plants, animals etc.

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Physiology

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Physiology is the scientific study of normal mechanisms, and their interactions, which operate within a living system. A sub-discipline of biology, its focus is in how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system.

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Anatomy

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Anatomy is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts.

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Biogeography

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The study or regions of the world containing characteristic plant and animal life, e.g. Australasian region with monotremes and marsupials

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DNA

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Short for deoxyribonucleic acid. The 'molecule of life', mostly found in the nucleus of a cell. Contains a chemical sequence of organic bases that specify the genetic code. The genes that control what happens in a cell are thus arranged in a sequence along this thing long module. The two strands of DNA molecule are wound around each other in the form of a double helix

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Amino Acid

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Amino acids are organic compounds containing amine and carboxyl (-COOH) functional groups, along with a side chain (R group) specific to each amino acid. The key elements of an amino acid are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, though other elements are found in the side chains of certain amino acids. About 500 amino acids are known and can be classified in many ways.

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Kingdom

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The five major groups into which living things are divided, e.g. Plants, Animals, Fungi, Monera and Protista. Kingdoms are divided into phyla.

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Phylum

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In biology, a phylum is a taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class.

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Class

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Place things into groups where the members of a group are alike in some way.

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Family

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A group consisting of two parents and offspring, in which the offspring share similarities with the parents, but the parents share minute similarities

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Genus

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A genus is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms in biology.

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Species

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The smallest commonly used scientific unit of classification. An ideal definition is a group of living things that can be breed with each other to produce fertile offspring.

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Extinction

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1. No longer existing. No living example can be found on earth 2.The disappearance of a fossil from the geological record.

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Depletion

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Reduction in quantity of something. Such as layers in soil or rock. Or a depletion of nutrients in soil

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Soil Fertility

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Soil fertility refers to the ability for soil to be able to sustain agricultural growth.

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Nutrient

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A substance that provides essential nourishing maintenance for the Ma of life and growth

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Lateritic

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Is a soil or rock type rich in iron and aluminium, and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas.

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Weathering

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The breakdown or decay of rocks into smaller particles

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Erosion

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The removal of sediment by moving wind, water or ice