chpt.3 Flashcards
geosphere
any of the almost spherical concentric regions of matter that make up the earth and its atmosphere, as the lithosphere and hydrosphere
hydrosphere
all the waters on the earth’s surface, such as lakes and seas, and sometimes including water over the earth’s surface, such as clouds.
crust
the tough outer part of a loaf of bread.
mantle
mantle is a layer inside a planetary body bounded below by a core and above by a crust. Mantles are made of rock or ices, and are generally the largest and most massive layer of the planetary body. Mantles are characteristic of planetary bodies that have undergone differentiation by density
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
the rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle.
asthenosphere
the upper layer of the earth’s mantle, below the lithosphere, in which there is relatively low resistance to plastic flow and convection is thought to occur.
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
relating to chemistry, or the interactions of substances as studied in chemistry.
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
In earth science, erosion is the action of surface processes that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth’s crust, and then transports it to another location.
atmosphere
the envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet
troposphere
he lowest region of the atmosphere, extending from the earth’s surface to a height of about 3.7–6.2 miles (6–10 km), which is the lower boundary of the stratosphere.
stratosphere
the layer of the earth’s atmosphere above the troposphere, extending to about 32 miles (50 km) above the earth’s surface (the lower boundary of the mesosphere).
ozone
a colorless unstable toxic gas with a pungent odor and powerful oxidizing properties, formed from oxygen by electrical discharges or ultraviolet light. It differs from normal oxygen (O2) in having three atoms in its molecule (O3).