8th Grade Science Test 6 (Semester Exam) Flashcards
A volcano consisting primarily of erupted volcanic ash and rock fragments held together loosely is a
cinder-cone volcano
The upper layers of the ground stripped away by surface mining are the
overburden
Some glaciers extend into the ocean without breaking to form
ice shelves
Which type of weathering involves the breaking or peeling away of rock into layers?
exfoliation
What is an alloy of iron and carbon?
steel
What is the land that borders a river and is covered by river water in flood time?
floodplain
The amount of matter in an object is the
mass
Man is classified as Homo
sapiens
What type of mountain formed when rocks on one side of a fault were forced upward and the rocks on the other side were forced downward?
fault-block
What is the narrow zone of active volcanoes that encircles the Pacific basin?
Ring of Fire
What is the resistance of a smooth surface of a mineral to being scratched?
hardness
The largest group of minerals, which compose over 90% of the earth’s crust, are the ___.
silicates
What plant food element promotes the ripening of fruits?
phosphorus
What is the upper surface of ground water?
water table
Lava that hardens into rough, jagged rocks with a crumbly or “blockY” texture is ___ lava.
aa
What deep-sea-fish living fossil was once thought to be the ancestor of the first amphibians?
coelacanth
What are crystalline substances found naturally in the earth?
minerals
A fan-shaped deposit of sediments at the mouth of a river is a(n)
delta
The sudden appearance of life in the fossil record is called the
Cambrian explosion
Which australopithecine was known as “upright man”?
Homo erectus
sandy, gently sloping underwater plain near a continent
continental shelf
underwater mountain range
mid-oceanic ridge
one of the deep depressions in the earth’s surface where the oceans are contained
ocean basin
underwater mountain
seamount
beginning marked by shelf break
continental slope
one of the huge, muddy valleys that cut through portions of the abyssal plain
trench
large fissure in the continental shelf
submarine canyon
a pool of shallow, salty water at the center of an atoll
lagoon
a huge level region of the deep ocean floor
abyssal plain
rhythmic back-and-forth motions of water that transfer energy are called
waves
crystals are generally characterized by many flat surfaces called
faces
oceanographers collect water samples from the ocean depths using ___ bottles
Niskin
the process in which wind lifts particles for short distances then drops them abruptly
saltation
movements of ocean water caused primarily by the moon are called
tides
the study of the earth
geology
the revolutionary submersible design invented by Auguste Piccard
bathyscaphe
Gentle, rolling waves that appear even in calm weather
ocean swells
seventy-sigh percent of the salt in the ocean is
sodium chloride
The region where cold, deep water meets sun-warmed surface water is the
thermocline
the earth’s rotation causes surface currents to move in circular paths called
gyres
a ___ is a device with an open tube that is dropped to the sea floor, allowing its weight to puncture the sediment
gravity corer
huge chunks of floating glacial ice
icebergs
the process that breaks rocks down into soil
weathering
the study of fossils
paleontology
when water from heavy waves rapidly flows away from the shore through a gap in a sandbar, the water forms a(n)
rip current
regions of the earth’s surface where limestone is exposed and abundant are
karst regions
the deepest regions of the sea, with depths greater than 6000 meters (19,690 feet) are in the ___ zone
hadal
one idea that attempts to reconcile the Bible and evolution
theistic evolution
the deepest known point in the sea
Challenger Deep (or Marianas Trench)
a mineral test that leaves a line of powder on a plate
streak test
the most abundant element in the earth’s crust
oxygen
a low hill formed when a glacier overruns a moraine
drumlin
when two rock layers are pushed violently together, causing the layers to buckle, ___ mountains form.
folded
the red variety of corundum
ruby
what device uses sound waves to detect underwater objects?
sonar
What is a warm surface current that flows in the Atlantic Ocean north of the equator?
Gulf Stream
What are large almond- or teardrop-shaped pieces of ejecta formed when lava solidifies?
volcanic bomb
halfway between the spring tides are weaker-than-normal tides called
neap tides
what type of fold occurs when rocks buckle upward
anticline
what hypothetical time scale supposedly charts both the earth’s history and the sequence of the rock layers in the earth’s crust
geologic column
emerald and aquamarine are two forms of what mineral
beryl
the amount of dissolved salt in seawater
salinity
a theory that has never been proven false
law
what is a winding, looping curve in a river on flat ground
meander
what type of mountain is formed when molten rock collects beneath an overlying rock layer, forcing the layer upward into a blister like structure
domed
What theory states that the earth’s crust and upper mantle consist of huge plates slowly drifting as a result of convection currents in the mantle?
plate tectonics
the daily or twice-daily period when the ocean levels are at their highest point
neap tide
the false belief that all geological processes have always proceeded t the same rate
uniformitarianism
metal more valuable than gold or silver
platinum
what scale do chemists use to express acidity and basicity of substances
pH
the study of the earth’s oceans
oceanography
percent of the earth’s surface covered by water
70%
the term for an upward-flowing current
upwelling
the scientific term for water pressure
hydrostatic pressure
what does scuba stand for
self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
the substance that makes up the physical world
matter
device serves as a framework for many water collection bottles, allowing oceanographers to collect water from different depths
rosette
the point on the earth’s surface directly above an earthquake’s focus
epicenter
the highest point of a wave
crest
popularized evolution with his book On the Origin of Species
Charles Darwin
