Ch 3 key term Flashcards
geosphere
There are several conflicting definitions for geosphere. The geosphere may be taken as the collective name for the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, and the atmosphere. The different collectives of the geosphere are able to exchange different mass and/or energy fluxes.
hydrosphere
The hydrosphere is the combined mass of water found on, under, and above the surface of a planet, minor planet or natural satellite. Although Earth’s hydrosphere has been around for about 4 billion years, it continues to change in shape.
crust
In geology, a crust is the outermost layer of a planet. The crust of the Earth is composed of a great variety of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. The upper part of the mantle is composed mostly of peridotite, a rock denser then rocks common in the overlying crust.
mantle
The mantle is the mostly-solid bulk of Earth’s interior. The mantle lies between Earth’s dense, super-heated core and its thin outer layer.
core
Earth’s inner core is the innermost geologic layer of the Earth. It is primarily a solid ball with a radius of about 1,220 kilometres, which is about 20% of the Earth’s radius or 70% of the Moon’s radius. There are no samples of the Earth’s core available for direct measurement, as there are for the Earth’s mantle.
lithosphere
A lithosphere is the rigid, outermost shell of a terrestrial-type planet, or natural satellite, that is defined by its rigid mechanical properties. On Earth, it is composed of the crust and the portion of the upper mantle that behaves elastically on time scales of thousands of years or greater.
asthenosphere
The asthenosphere is the highly viscous, mechanically weak and ductile region of the upper mantle of the Earth. It lies below the lithosphere, at depths between approximately 80 and 200 km below the surface. The lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary is usually referred to as LAB.
tectonic plate
Plate tectonics is a scientific theory describing the large-scale motion of seven large plates and the movements of a larger number of smaller plates of Earth’s lithosphere, since tectonic processes began on Earth between 3.3 and 3.5 billion years ago.
chemical
A compound or substance that has been purified or prepared, especially artificially.
weathering
Weathering is the breaking down of rocks, soils, and minerals as well as wood and artificial materials through contact with the Earth’s atmosphere, water, and biological organisms.
erosion
Erosion is the geological process in which earthen materials are worn away and transported by natural forces such as wind or water.
atmosphere
An atmosphere is the layers of gases surrounding a planet or other celestial body. … These gases are found in layers (troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere) defined by unique features such as temperature and pressure.
troposphere
The troposphere is the lowest layer of Earth’s atmosphere, and is also where nearly all weather conditions take place. It contains 75% of the atmosphere’s mass and 99% of the total mass of water vapor and aerosols.
stratosphere
The stratosphere is the second major layer of Earth’s atmosphere, just above the troposphere, and below the mesosphere.
ozone
The ozone layer or ozone shield is a region of Earth’s stratosphere that absorbs most of the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation. It contains a high concentration of ozone in relation to other parts of the atmosphere, although still small in relation to other gases in the stratosphere.
radiation
In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium.
conduction
Conduction is the process by which heat energy is transmitted through collisions between neighboring atoms or molecules. Conduction occurs more readily in solids and liquids, where the particles are closer to together, than in gases, where particles are further apart.
convection
Convection is the transfer of heat due to the bulk movement of molecules within fluids, including molten rock. Convection includes sub-mechanisms of advection, and diffusion. Convection cannot take place in most solids because neither bulk current flows nor significant diffusion of matter can take place.
greenhouse effect
The greenhouse effect is the process by which radiation from a planet’s atmosphere warms the planet’s surface to a temperature above what it would be without this atmosphere. Radiatively active gases in a planet’s atmosphere radiate energy in all directions.
water cycle
The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or the hydrological cycle, describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth
evaporation
Evaporation is a type of vaporization that occurs on the surface of a liquid as it changes into the gas phase. The surrounding gas must not be saturated with the evaporating substance. When the molecules of the liquid collide, they transfer energy to each other based on how they collide with each other.
condensation
Condensation is the change of the physical state of matter from the gas phase into the liquid phase, and is the reverse of vaporization. The word most often refers to the water cycle.
precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets and hail.
salinity
Salinity is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water. This is usually measured in.
