Chapter 3 Flashcards
A violent upheaval of change in the earth’s crust
Cataclysm
Those who believed in an old earth developing over billions of years tried to explain that the surface of the earth was gradually shaped by observable natural processes over cast spans of time
Uniformitarianism
What most professional geologists call themselves today
Neocatastrophists
The outer “skin” of the earth
Crust
The layer of hot, plastic material that is after the Crust
Mantle
What the surface of the earth is divided into
Continents
The variation in the landscape
Landform
The three types of landforms
Mountains, Plains, Plateaus
The formation where several mountains appear together
Mountain Range
Wide areas of level land
Plains
Wide areas of relatively flat land but they rise abruptly above surrounding lands
Plateaus
Deposits of sediment
Alluvium
The covering of air that surrounds our planet
Atmosphere
The solid part of the earth
Lithosphere
The water on the earth’s surface
Hydrosphere
The system where all the oceans flow into each other
World Ocean
Rivers that “feed” other rivers
Tributaries
The main river and all its tributaries
River System
What features determine the “greatest” river systems
Length, Discharge, Drainage Area
Arms of the ocean partially enclosed by land
Seas
The theory that the plates crash into and pull apart from one another, releasing energy from the earth’s interior and causing earthquakes and volcanoes
Plate Tectonics Theory
Deep cracks in the earth’s surface where two pieces of land have moved in different directions
Faults
The latitude zone that lies between the equator and the Tropic of Cancer (Northern Hemisphere) and the Tropic of Capricorn (Southern Hemisphere)
Low Latitudes
The latitude zone that lies between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Ocean (Northern Hemisphere) and between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle (Southern Hemisphere)
Middle Latitudes
The latitude zone that lies between. the Arctic Circle and the North Pole (Northern Hemisphere) and between the Antarctic Circle and the South Pole (Southern Hemisphere)
High Latitudes
Another name for low latitudes
Tropics
Another name for middle latitudes
Temperate Zone
Another name for high latitudes
Polar Regions
Warm air holding a lot of water vapor
Humidity
The point at which water vapor begins condensation
Dew Point
When the temperature drops, the water vapor loses energy, condensation occurs, and water falls to the earth
Precipitation
The process of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation
Hydrologic Cycle
When a warm mass of humid air passes over a mountainous area, the air moves upward and cools rapidly. Water vapor condenses into droplets, clouds form, and precipitation quickly follows
Orographic
The land beyond the mountains that is usually very dry because little water vapor survives passage over the mountains.
Rainshadow
Water that seeps through the soil and forms slow-moving rivers under the ground
Ground Water
The line where two air masses meet
Front
The rise of warm air over a hot surface
Convection
The typical weather in a region over a long period of time
Climate
The atmospheric conditions of a location at a specific moment in time
Weather
The five climates of the world
Tropical Rainy, Dry, Moderate, Cold, Other
The rate the temperature drops that happens at higher elevation
Lapse Rate
Any large region where distinct populations of plants and animals are found living together
Biome
The three main types of biomes
Forests, Grasslands, Wastelands
Trees that produce their seeds in a cone
Conifers
Trees that lose their leaves during a particular season of the year
Deciduous
Soil that remains frozen year-round
Permafrost
